The ‘Seductive Promise’ and Peril of Microfinance
For decades microfinance was touted as a novel solution to poverty. The idea is simple – give poor women tiny loans to jumpstart small businesses and create profit. But when journalist Mara Kardas-Nelson moved to West Africa she met women who were jailed when they couldn’t pay their mounting debt. In her book, “We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky: The Seductive Promise of Microfinance,” Kardas-Nelson explores the complex history that led to microfinance banking empires, the painful reality gripping women who have taken out loans and also the ways that microloans have been a successful tool in…
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