Microcrédito e empoderamento na perspectiva de gênero: um estudo do Banco do Povo no município de Palmas, estado do Tocantins

Abstract

The microcredit has been adopted in several countries as efficient mode of generation income, reducing social inequalities and empowering women. In this sense, the objective of this research had analyze the effects of microcredit on the empowerment of beneficiaries of Banco do Povo in the municipality of Palmas, Tocantins’s state, with a focus on the gender perspective. The research theme was selected because of the importance of analyzing whether female empowerment is one of the results of municipal investments in public microcredit policies that have existed since 2005 in Palmas-TO. The methodology adopted was the Oral History that pointed out traits and specificities in the lives of these women and in their relationship with microcredit, giving them the opportunity to talk about their experiences. The Oral History lay bare networks of the daily life of these beneficiaries bringing to light the processes triggered from the signing of the microcredit contract. The analysis of the interviews was carried out based on theoretical assumptions regarding empowerment and gender roles. The interviews have evidence that, even though bring improvements in the living conditions of the women surveyed, microcredit did not reach the empowerment of these clients in order to give them conditions of emancipation, autonomy, social participation, selfesteem and educational formation, important factors for the real empowerment of these women and with a direct impact on the education of their children and all the people who live together.