Prisoners' Wives : Microcredit as a Contributior to Women Empowerment in Medellín, Colombia

Sammanfattning: Microcredits is a widely researched topic within development research, however it seems like little research is done on how it helps to empower prisoners’ wives. The literature is mixed, with both positive and negative results of microfinance as a contributor to development, and the most known research on prisoners’ wives is almost 30 years old. This study shows the link between microfinance and empowerment of prisoners’ wives in Medellín, Colombia, a country with a high crime rate and overpopulated prisons. The study was conducted in Medellín through qualitative interviews with 19 borrowers, the head of the microfinance project of one organization, and a prison pastor. From these interviews, the women seem to have been empowered financially, as well as with human resources. Microcredits provided to these women seem to make it possible for prisoners’ wives to fulfil some of their dreams and achievement by running a business, however it doesn’t seem to give them much increase in the social sphere. This study is not just an addition to others within the field of microfinance, but also an investigation to see whether microfinance is a contributor to women empowerment in families where the male partner is not present, and in what ways.