The Ugly Truth About Micro Loans

Micro loans. They're presented as a benevolent force, especially the NGO's operating in Bangladesh. Most forms of capital, i.e. loans, have been traditionally denied to the poor, who had no collateral to offer. However,  micro loans in Bangladesh are offered without the expectation of collateral, barring the strategic use of honor and shame. 

According to Lamia (1998), honor and shame already play a heavy role in Bangladesh society, beginning with women. Honor is an exemplarary asset to wield in rural Bangladesh, and can be measured and lost by how honorable a woman behaves. Even as micro loans are offered to women,  Lamia (1998)concludes that over 90% of the loans are used by the men of the household. Therefore, the practice of lending money to rural women under the pretense of economic freedom seems a bit misleading, further complicated by the issue of shame.

As theorized by Spradley & McCurdy (2009), philanthropic efforts and/or gifts, usually come with unseen strings attached. With micro loans, the unseen string is shame. To lose face, or experience shame, in Bangladesh is something a family might not recover from. Since women are the extensions of family honor, and therefore shame, when the loans are not paid on time, shame is a powerful instrument used by NGO's to secure a return on their investment.  Lamia (1998) goes into detail about how women are shamed into paying back their debt: spitting on them as they go by, pulling their hair, hitting, cursing them publicly.  Lamia (1998) suggests that the 98% repayment of micro loans can be viewed in a whole new way when shaming is considered.

Overall, micro loans in Bangladesh have positives and negatives,  but mostly negatives.  One positive thing about the micro loans would be the 50-60% interest, compared to that of rural loans, which can inflate to 120% interest (Lamia, 1998). Many negatives attached to micro loans stem from the revolving sides of honor and shame.  If not for those two societal elements already present in the society of Bangladesh, the high success rate in repayments would probably be a lot lower than it is. 

Read more about micro loans here.

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Watch the documentary Women's Bank of Bangladesh.

Honor in Poetry

Poems are written to affect different genres and different moods. Elegies, epigraphs, and friendship are common themes found in poetry. An elegy is a piece of prose that is designed to strike a sadder note, and it can be used at a funeral. Thomas Gray wrote an elegy entitled, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”. Death is apparent throughout the lines of the poem, but is most affluent in lines 83-84, “In still small Accents whisp’ring from the Ground/ A grateful Earnest of eternal Peace,” (Greenblatt et al, 2006, p. A9).

Epigraphs are quotations, comments, or lead-ins to other literary works. An epigraph adds to a story or poem to sum up the overall theme, or it may relate to a previous work. “The Answer” is an epigraph Anne Finch wrote in response to Alexander Pope’s “Impromtu to Lady Winchilsea”. Pope’s poem makes fun of women, their wit, and most importantly, Finch’s writing capabilities: “Fate doomed the fall of every female wit,/ But doomed it then when first Ardelia [Finch’s pen name] writ,” (Greenblatt et al, 2006, p. 2596). To counter that, Finch’s poem consists of lines like, “Alexander! have a care,/ And shock the sex no more,” and, “We rule the world our life’s whole race,/ Men but assume that right,” (Greenblatt et al, 2006, p. 2596).

Friendship is a theme that is hard to discern, at least in Mary Wroth’s sonnet “103”. At first, the poem could be about love, or a lost love. When reading in between the lines, it becomes obvious that the narrator is describing a relationship beyond love; “Leave the discourse of Venus and her son/ To young beginners,” (Greenblatt et al, 2006, p. 1461). Wroth is perhaps saying that passion such as new lover’s experience is not a part of the relationship being depicted.

One common thread of these four poems is honor. In their own way, each poem mentions honor as it relates to the situation in the poem. For example, Gray’s elegy says “Large was his Bounty & his heart sincere;/ Heaven did a Recompence as largely send./ He gave to misery all he had, a Tear,” (Greenblatt et al, 2006, p. A11). The character being described is full of honor and misery, even shedding a tear in his sad state. Wroth’s form of honor in “The Answer” comes when she writes, “Our admiration you command/ For all that’s gone before,” (Greenblatt et al, 2006, p. 2597). “The Answer” is an epigraph that demands respect of women, or the same honor that is bestowed on any man. Wroth speaks of honorable traits in her poem, like “truth, which shall eternal goodness prove,” (Greenblatt et al, 2006, p. 1461).

Greenblatt, et al. [Eds]. (2006). The norton anthology english literature (8th ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.