Why does Self-Help lend primarily to women?
For several reasons. First, the feminization of poverty is a worldwide trend. Seventy percent of the world’s poor are women, largely because of their limited access to education or to productive resources like land and credit. Another worldwide trend is an increase in woman-headed households, in which a mother provides the sole support for her children. Most victims of severe poverty are children. According to UNICEF, at least half of the 12 million children aged five or younger who die each year, die from malnutrition associated with severe poverty. The most direct way to improve children’s’ survival and welfare is to strengthen their own mothers’ ability to take care of them. In some cultures, men initially express fear of women becoming empowered from their participation in the groups. However, after a few loan cycles, most men realize that group activities benefit the family as a whole, and so they support the effort. In some instances, men even become partners or employees in thei
