Women's World Banking

Women, Poverty, and Wealth

The need for organized efforts to transform women's financial access is made clear by the often-quoted 1980 United Nations report, which starkly summarizes, “Women constitute half the world's population, perform nearly two-thirds of its work hours, receive one-tenth of the world's income and own less than one-hundredth of the world's property.” After many years of neglect in post-World War II development programs, women became a focus in development projects and poverty alleviation programs such as micro-finance because it was found that women were more likely to invest funds back into the well-being of their families and communities. A number of NGOs such as Freedom from Hunger based in Davis, California, and INDCARE in New Delhi, India, offer microcredit as part of their strategies to alleviate poverty and hunger with women borrowers/micro-entrepreneurs as a primary vehicle for improving the well-being of entire communities. WWB is one of many NGOs with this strategy, but it is perhaps the oldest and the largest run by women and serving women.

Women's World Banking Programs

WWB has grown to serve 23 million borrowers worldwide providing information, training, resources, and advocacy through its network. For example, the Linkages and Learning Team brings together people working in microfinance at various levels to learn from each other through thematic workshops, peer-to-peer exchanges, and leadership development initiatives. The Financial Products and Services team helps new regional microfinance institutions to grow by matching them with other organizations. Shoring up material realities, WWB even acts as a partial guarantor (up to 50 percent), making loans possible for some who would otherwise not have access and making lower-interest loans possible for other members in their network. WWB is funded by individual [Page 920]member contributions, and from governments and foundations such as the Swiss, Dutch, and Norwegian governments; the Ford Foundation; and the Citigroup Foundation.

WWB Members

Members of the WWB network include SEWA Bank in India, which has been a member since 2001. SEWA serves the poorest in India, including those known as the “untouchables,” who have occupations as trash pickers and bidi wrappers. SEWA's work is representative of how financial services for poor women need to be tailored to the local needs and situations with door-to-door services and sensitivity toward matching the collection schedule with cash flow. The 2007 president of SEWA is a woman who participated in the bank for 31 years and is a trash picker by trade, so the organization exemplifies grassroots responsiveness to local needs. Another example of a WWB member organization is the Microcredit Organization Mi-Bospo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which caters to women entrepreneurs in hopes of increasing educational access of children and empowering women.

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