Kiva (organization) - Impact On Women

Impact On Women

As of April 1, 2012, 80.46% of Kiva’s loans have been made to women entrepreneurs. Kiva emphasizes supporting women because women can gain the most from microcredit. Patriarchy and a strict division of labor still dominate the societies of many developing countries, and women often suffer the most from poverty because scarce resources are often allocated to a family's males, rather than its females. In their non-fiction book Half the Sky, Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn tell stories of women whose lives were transformed through the microfinance institutions Kiva sponsors. With microloans, women gain spending power and spend less on instant gratification vices like alcohol, prostitution, and drugs. With extra income, they are able to educate their children, renovate their residences, or buy modern technologies and medicines. Along with economic power, a woman with a microloan often gains more independence and respect from her husband. Kristof and WuDunn write “microfinance has done more to bolster the status of women, and to protect them from abuse, than any laws could accomplish.” Women are able to empower themselves and become self-sufficient through the investments given by Kiva users.