Gender: Still more mountains left for women to climb
Stabroek News – October 30, 2007
My objective is to awaken, rekindle or reinforce in each of you the awareness of the absolute importance of women in business and the role each of us can and must play at the personal and professional levels in ensuring that this awareness translates into action and results especially here in Guyana.
The informal slogan of the decade of women was “women do two-thirds of the world’s work, receive 10% of the world’s income and own 1% of the means of production.”
From a corporate perspective – at Scotiabank the issue of the advancement of women was high on the policy makers’ agenda since the early 1990s and today receives the attention of the Chairman of the Board of Directors. A task force was put in place to examine strategies for the advancement of women in the bank both in Canada and internationally, keeping the following top of mind:
* leveraging the talents of our existing workforce: 70% of Scotiabank employees worldwide were women and of the 72% of Scotiabank employees in Canada who were women, less than 30 per cent of senior leaders were women. In our international locations, the percentage of women in senior positions was even lower.
* Maintaining our competitive position in the war for talent – re: the increasing number of women graduates at every level compared with prior years.
Action was key to improving business performance: this included recognition of data which supported the link and total shareholder return to high representation of women in senior management and women’s economic power and force as consumers. As a result the advancement of women initiative was launched in 2003. as a business driven initiative. It has influenced the increase in representation of women in senior management positions from 20% to 31 % to date.
In January 2007, Scotiabank was recognized for its efforts in the advancement of women with the 2007 Catalyst Award. The award is presented annually by Catalyst, a leading research and advisory organization, for innovative and effective approaches – with proven results – in addressing the recruitment, development and advancement of women.
My appointment is an example of the strategy at work – the first female Country Manager for Scotiabank in its 40 years in Guyana as well as the first Guyanese to hold this position.
Globally, strides have been made over the last 50 years or so, however there is still a lot to be done. According to the authors Alice Eagly and Linda Carli in their articleWomen and the labyrinth of leadership (Harvard Business Review, September 2007) “despite years of progress by women in the workforce (they now occupy more than 40% of all managerial positions in the United States, but within the upper income bracket, they remain as rare as hens’ teeth.”
Of the group of the most highly paid executives of Fortune 500 companies-those with titles such as Chairman, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Operating Officer, only 6% are women.. Most notably, only 2% of the CEOs are women, and only 15% of the seats on the Boards of Directors are held by women. The situation is not much different in other industrialized countries.
The authors opined that the challenge facing women today is equal to that of the labyrinth. It’s an image with a long and varied history. In ancient Greece, India, Nepal, native North and South America, medieval Europe, and elsewhere. as a contemporary symbol, it conveys the idea of a complex journey toward a goal worth striving for. Passage through a labyrinth is not simple or direct, but requires persistence, awareness of one’s progress, and a careful analysis of the puzzles that lie ahead.
For women who aspire to top leadership, routes exist but are full of twists and turns, both unexpected and expected. Because all labyrinths have a viable route to the centre, it is understood that goals are attainable. The metaphor acknowledges obstacles but is not ultimately discouraging.
Some of the long – standing obstacles that must be overcome in order to attain even a semblance of gender-balanced leadership are:
1.Overcoming prejudices – prejudices that benefit men and penalize women
2. Resistance to women leadership
3· Questions or issues of leadership style and authenticity
4· Demands of family life – this is very challenging for women
5· Building of social capital – time for socialization and the building of professional networks among others.
What, you may ask, can be done in the face of such a multifaceted problem? First we need to recognize that it is a problem, albeit of varying degrees and an effective approach includes but is not limited to:
* increased awareness of the psychological drivers of
prejudice toward female leaders, and work to dispel
those perceptions.
* Establish family-friendly human resource practices and change the long-hours norm.
* Reduce subjectivity when evaluating performance
* Create opportunities for mentoring relationships
* Focus on preparing both men and women for leadership positions
As stated earlier, there have been significant advancements for women around the world. The most outstanding is the Philippines which has women in senior positions in 97 percent of all businesses and half of the senior jobs in the country is occupied by women, according to a recent report by Grant Thornton International Business Report.
In the global context, we cannot have a discussion without highlighting the contributions of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, from Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank in pioneering a new concept called mircrocredit, which advances small sums of money to people, most of whom would never be taken seriously by other banks, so that they can create a decent living for themselves.
It started in 1976 when Yunus himself gave 42 village women a total of US$27 to buy some weaving stools. The women got their stools, started to weave quickly and repaid him quickly. He continued to offer small loans like this with a focus on helping women with credit since most banks shy away from women as much as they do the poor.
You will recall that Scotiabank used the Grameen concept in forming Scotiaenterprise in 1993, a microenterprise centre whose portfolio is now managed by Fundaid Microfast Trust. Our experience was that of the loans disbursed, 80% was primarily to women mainly in the distributive trade i.e. buying and selling of food items, clothing etc.
In the Caribbean women have been making a significant contribution to the development of the SME sector. The majority of women are involved in traditional businesses such as: the buying and selling trade, garment manufacture, hairdressing, handicraft, day-care centres, food and pastries’ preparation, etc.
The 1995 ILOl-ISS1 study observed that 46 per cent of the small enterprises surveyed were owned and managed by women. in Jamaica the ratio was almost 50:50 in 1996 compared to 60:40 (males to females) in 1992, while in Trinidad and Tobago, the 1996 national baseline survey indicated that women constituted only 36.1 per cent in the small business sector.
In Guyana the National Policy Paper on women stated that only 34.8 per cent of women were self-employed in 1992 of which 45.3 per cent were in the distributive trade with 28.1 per cent in agriculture, forestry and fishing. In Barbados and Grenada women are more active in the informal sector as compared to the formal sector.
With respect to women seeking credit from financial institutions 54.89 per cent of total loans were given to women by the Trinidad and Tobago based micro lending agency -FUNDAID.
In Guyana, among IPED’s clients 30.7 per cent were women while another 33.6 per cent were joint male and female clients. Nearly 40 per cent of the MIDA loans in Jamaica were disbursed for projects owned by women. In Grenada, 50 per cent of the national development foundation’s loans disbursed were to women clients.
Financial institutions acknowledge that the delinquency rate among women is minimal due to the fact that female clients take extra effort to repay loans.
All over the world, the evidence is empirical that women can and do make a difference to social and economic development, especially when they are allowed an equal opportunity to contribute in business. In some countries like the United States and Canada, and in Europe women have been given equal opportunity and unquestionable progress has been made.
On International Women’s Day the UN issued a statement calling for more women in the boardrooms for businesses worldwide. This move was to encourage more countries to follow the example of Norway which passed a law requiring every business in the country to have women occupy 40 percent of the seats in company boardrooms within two years or risk having their businesses dissolved.
There are implications at the political level as well. According to a UN report, the Chairperson for the Commission, Adekunbi Abibat Sonaike of Nigeria, responded to questions of gender equality in the least developed nations in Africa in this way, “the African Union, itself, had made it explicit that, especially at the political level, women should be represented at the level of at least 30 per cent. In Rwanda, the representation of women and men was almost 50-50. The political will had been established. In Africa, education was the key to exposing women to different areas and allowing them to realize their potential. Poverty remained a constraint, however, and its feminization must become a thing of the past. She believed strongly that women would soon take their rightful place in society.
As a developing country what should concern Guyana are the areas in which the development of women is hindered. Progress has not been made in several areas and if we can identify and acknowledge those areas we may seek to address the underlying issues like poverty and exclusion. If we can empower women in Guyana, we can give them equal opportunity to become part of the business community and to contribute meaningfully to development, which for us is always the underlying issue. For some time to come, women may not hold a great number of the top managerial positions in major firms of the private sector, however if we can support and encourage a sustainable presence of women in business especially small business we just may see, sooner than we expect, a sustained growth that will surely influence the development of women in society.
We need to invest in women because when we do so, we invest in the homes, we invest in the youth, and in so doing we invest in the future.
In my capacity as the Country Manager of Scotiabank in Guyana, I take this opportunity to confirm that we at Scotiabank are fully committed as demonstrated by the following:
* Focus on small businesses in 2008 and beyond which will include an introduction of products and services specific to this sector
* Active participation in the AOW initiative through the international arm WIN.
* Renewed commitment to and reinforcement of specific areas of the effective approach which I mentioned earlier and which we are already in place e.g. performance evaluation, mentorship and leadership opportunities.
Women's Issues In Guyana 
on June 16, 2008 on 10:23 am
Burning question: Has micro credit done a lot?
found a good article and book on micro credit and grameen
bank: http://microcredit-book.blogspot.com/
Contributors of this book are Doug Henwood, Patrick Bond, Bosse Kramsjo, Badruddin Umar, Susan F. Feiner and Durcilla K. Barker, Farooque Chowdhury, Robert Pollin, Gina Neff , Anu Mohammad, Omar Tareq Chowdhury.
Here of the excellent article of this book:
The metamorphosis of micro-credit debtor
Farooque Chowdhury
Micro-credit, the well-propagated mantra in the fight against poverty, is now expanding crossing the national boundaries as capital has done for centuries. Countries in the centre and in the periphery in the present world system are near-spellbound by this mantra. The actors include kings, queens, statesmen, bankers, charity foundation initiators, economists, development workers and the poor. Only the last one is at the receiving end.
The metamorphosis of the micro credit debtor exposes the acts the capital plays in the act of micro credit and makes all its pious pronouncements hollow. The metamorphosis takes not only to the debtor, but also to other members of the debtor-household.
The debtor of the micro credit turns owner of the tools or raw materials necessary for producing commodity as the debtor returns home from market after purchasing these with the credit money. But with the joy of ownership a poor debtor enjoys through this metamorphosis there comes a new burden, the burden an industrial proletariat does not have to bear: the burden and responsibility of maintaining, repairing and replacing the tools, equipments or parts of these and the costs that accompany it as the debtor is going to produce and going to be a producer of commodities. It is an extra burden. Usually the job is done not only by the debtor, but also by the other members of the debtor—household. That means time, necessary or surplus labour, depending upon a situation. The proud ownership carries another intricate calculation. An industry owner provides premise, shade, light, water, storage facilities, transport, etc. for producing a commodity and before hiring a wage slave the owner has to spend money for these ranging from construction, power and water connections, supervision, etc. which are calculated before the surplus value is appropriated. But in case of the micro credit debtor turned independent owner of tools of production all these burdens fall upon the debtor. It is the responsibility of the debtor turned owner to repair/replace/heal and to spend money for these. That means the debtor has to arrange the constant capital, and sometimes, the variable capital. The creditor does not always provide the money required for these purposes or the debtor has to set aside a portion of the credit money for these purposes. If the debtor sets aside a portion then the person has to extend extra time to the portion of labour that produces surplus. Moreover, the debtor turned owner has to construct/raise a shed for carrying on the production activity and spend money and labour power belonging to the debtor and the debtor’s household. Actually, the debtor, most of the time, uses own premise, rent for which is paid by the owner of the production unit, the debtor. Maintenance and repair is paid by the debtor, now turned into an independent producer. An industrialist has to pay rent for the premise, utilities and other facilities while they are within the premises producing commodity. But in case of the micro-credit all these are the debtor’s responsibility. The metamorphosis of the debtor to owner of tools, etc., to independent producer thus does nothing but increase the surplus labour time and squeeze necessary labour time so that the repayment of the loan can be made as per schedule.
The debtor turned producer has to plan, search and work out comparative advantage, and procure and transport required raw materials for the commodity to be produced. The debtor, now acting as procurement manager of the household-based production unit, procures and carries or transports the raw materials for the commodity to be produced. Sometimes it is the spouse or sibling who performs the task, unpaid and unaccounted labour power put into the process. Is the equation in favour of the fellow who went to the banker for the poor to realise the fundamental right the banker propagates? Reality is that the shortened necessary labour time and the lengthened surplus labour time, obviously provide the answer. What about the level of appropriation? It is, certainly, not at the level Marx ‘calculated’. It is super-appropriation, never imagined by the mine owners of Rome, the colonial plunderers, the plantation owners, the slave owners in pre-slavery America, the multi-nationals operating in the countries on the periphery, not even the plundering-lumpen capitalists in a number of underdeveloped countries, but only by the multi-national micro credit capital. So, Michael Lipton and John Toye said in ‘Does Aid Work in India?’ : Rates of return on credit projects are particularly high in India; and Joe Remenyi said in ‘Where Credit is Due: Income Generating Programmes for the Poor in Developing Countries’: Credit – based income generating projects may be the most profitable way in which society can invest…Diminishing return has not set in this field…;…banking on and with the poor is a very good thing to do…. The typical successful CIGP …required an investment well below $1,000 per sustained wage – paying position created (one – tenth of the ratio in the formal sector)…[W]hen one is living at the margin of survival earning around $1 a day, an increase in earning capacity of 50 cents a day represents a substantial improvement in cash flow. These statements tell the truth.
The metamorphosis of the debtor moves further as the fellow turns wage labourer. The micro credit finds a new commodity as, borrowing from Engels, the ‘source of new value,’ source of surplus ‘income’ with which the debtor will repay and ‘this commodity is labour-power’. The labour power is stored up in the bodies of the micro credit debtors and other members of the debtor-household who extend respective labour power to extend the surplus labour time so that the repayment could be made on schedule. As an independent producer the debtor has to fix the pace of production and that determines the debtor turned wage labourer’s pace and length of working hour. Even, the debtor wage labourer has to borrow labour power of others in the household, who are actually paid only by bare subsistence. To make the statement complete it is not the debtor only, but other members in the debt ridden household, along with the debtor, also, turn wage labourer, at least, part time. Does it not appear more intense than the conveyor belt or the Taylor system innovated by the industrialists to increase surplus value? Thus, the entire household turns into a household of wage labourers, full time or part time. Actually, the pace of work is determined by the time schedule of the repayment. Within the scheduled time for repayment the independent producer turned wage labourer, along with the co-workers in the household have to produce and sell that quantity or that number of commodity that can bring in at least the amount of money needed to repay the instalment of the debt. If seasonal variations, changes in market, health problems, other unseen troubles, non-availability of raw materials or transport, in short, major and minor forces, i.e. ‘acts of god and acts of reality’, coordination with the marketing day and the instalment day are taken into account then the pace of production of a debtor turned independent producer turned wage labourer can be imagined. The person has to forget 8-hour working day, rest, amusement and attending to family chores. It is only to produce surplus enough for repayment. Does it sound like the sweating system? Does an industrialist having a supervisor or a foreman appear fool? While an industrialist has to devise a mechanism, a supervisory system and keep a physical appearance in the work place the micro credit capital does not require all these. Its mere regimentation, mere providing credit at the doorsteps of the poor and its higher level of ‘consideration’ or attention regarding collection of part of the credit from the debtor’s home so that the poor fellow does not turn a defaulter that determine the pace of production. This is the condition of the micro credit wage labourer, obviously a bit different from an industrial wage labourer. An industrialist ‘purchases the use of one week’s labour of [a] worker’ if the worker is paid on weekly basis, but the micro creditor purchases the labour of the debtor for an entire year, if, assumed that the loan will be repaid within a year, or for the entire period until the loan is repaid. With the payment for necessary labour time, a specific amount of money paid for subsistence of a worker and members of the worker’s family, an industrialist ‘ensures the continuance of labour-power even after his [the worker’s] death’, but the micro-creditor ensures the simultaneous use of labour – power of the household members of the debtor along with that of the debtor. The labour, through persistent struggles, has won, in relative terms, a number of measures to safeguard own body and soul and the capital has to compromise for its own sake. But the micro credit debtor turned wage worker toils without coverage of any such measure. The micro credit capital that finances micro-production units at household level is smart enough to escape, till today, the struggle of the debtor turned wage worker, by pass all rules, even norms attained so far, and stay safe. There is no working hour; no weekly holiday; no law, rule, regulation governing working time, working condition, safety measures, child labour, female working hour, etc.; no inspectorate looking at the working condition. This makes life miserable for the micro credit debtor turned wage worker and for the members of the household including the minors who help create surplus value without any legal coverage.
Now, only a few numbers quoted from Microfinance Statistics (vol.17, Dec., 2004), a publication of the Credit and Development Forum. These will help comprehend, at least partially, the width and length of the micro credit net and the surplus value it appropriates in a single country. In Bangladesh, in 2004, the number of active members in the 721 micro financing organisations (MFO), reporting to the CDF, was 16,622,047 and in 2000, it was 11,021,663 in 585 MFOs. In 2004 the number cumulative borrowers from 721 MFOs was 16,244,242 in a country of 140 million. It was 7,409,773 from 585 MFOs in 2000. There are many other MFOs that have not reported to the CDF, many others are operating in different guises and many other programmes and projects operating not as MFOs but carrying on micro credit business. From how many souls do a group of industrialists in a poor country appropriate surplus value? Are those always more than the number just cited? There are answers, obviously, to this question. It is expected that a reader will search the answers.
The metamorphosis of the micro-credit debtor continues further as the person moves to market with the commodity produced. The debtor then turns to an independent trader competing with peer debtors turned independent traders in the market place and at the same time they together fall prey to the vagaries of market governed by the mighty market forces. While carrying the commodity to the market, sometimes, some other members of the household, shares the load. This labour is unpaid in terms of wage. If counted or paid, the amount comes from the surplus value already generated. If it is unpaid then the amount thus saved stays within the surplus value to be paid to the creditor waiting for the next instalment of repayment. As an independent trader the debtor turned independent producer turned wage worker has to bear all the responsibilities of a trader. But an industrial labourer does not have to take all these responsibilities. The wage slave in a factory just completes respective job and gets compelled to be appropriated of the surplus labour time. Market, supply, demand, transportation of commodity to market, storage, taxes and tolls, speculation, price, etc. are not part of a factory worker’s business. But as an independent trader the micro credit debtor has to bear these extra burdens which are not the creditor’s concern at all. The creditor has tactfully, through the modus operandi, has put it upon the poor debtor’s weak shoulder. There are commodities in the market that are produced in larger, mechanised production units, with higher productivity, which means a cheaper commodity, and, commodities that enjoy facilities created by the WTO. This situation puts the debtor into an unfavourable, uneven playing field, cuts down the debtor’s competitive edge and presses down price of the commodity produced in the household by semi-skilled and unskilled workers and produced with artisan method and tools. There is the packaging, marketing and advertising factor. The person has to reconcile with the situation and that means further tightening of belt. The micro-credit thus pushes the debtor to such a situation with extra burdens while it demands regular repayment of the credit.
The data on the sectors or sub-sectors that use micro credit in Bangladesh show the sources of surplus value appropriated and who ‘offered’ the surplus labour to generate the surplus value. In 2004, according to the data published in the above mentioned CDF publication, of the 379 MFOs reporting to the CDF, 27.94 percent of cumulative disbursement was in the agricultural sector that included crops, livestock and fisheries sub-sectors while only petty trading sub-sector covered 40.61 percent. The percentage of food processing and cottage industries was 6.28 and of transport it was 2.20. In the years 2003, 2002, 2001 and 2000 the petty trading dominated. From where does trading, whatever its size is, produce the profit? A portion of it is surplus value generated by others in other places. What about the transport, the rickshaw van or the boat, and the cow fattening? The same answer. It is also the surplus value generated by and in different segments of the broader society that is appropriated by micro credit capital that gets in through the debtor’s hand. Other sectors and sub-sectors also provide similar explanation found in political economy. The above mentioned CDF publication provides a few more startling facts: ‘utilisation of loan by sector or sub-sector (as percentage of cumulative disbursement)’ in ‘social sectors’ in 2004 was 1.70 (health:0.44, education: 0.06 and housing:1.20); in 2003 it was 1.58 (0.45 for health, 0.04 for education and 1.09 for housing); in 2002 it was 1.41 (0.39, 0.05 and 0.97); in 2001 it was 1.76 (0.42, 0.11 and 1.23); and in 2000 it was 1.69 (0.37, 0.02 and 1.3). The ‘social sector’ meant by the cited publication was health, education and housing which are actually required for ensuring the debtor’s and the debtor household’s survival, keeping the body and soul of the household based producers or of the trader or of the transport operator together, ensuring that production or trading could be carried on or transport could be operated so that surplus value generation or taking share of surplus value generated by some other is ensured, so that the repayment that includes surplus value is ensured. If a debtor does not have a house or a shed the production unit will be inoperative or will face problems in the production activities; the raw materials, the tools, the fuel, the cow or goat or poultry, the commodity produced could not be stored in; the producer and others in the household joining in the production activities could not survive. So, the housing sub-sector was emphasized most while lending out money in the CDF defined ‘social sectors’. Of course, the façade was benevolence by the micro creditor. Then came health with the same arguments. A judicious choice of the appropriator! Material interest tops the list over human consideration. The extent of concern for health of debtor and debtor household is directly related and tied to the extent of concern of continuation of production, etc. activities. It was followed by education. The level of production and the level of transaction determine the extent of education required and the level of emphasis put into education. None can override this rule. The micro-creditor, also, faithfully follows this one and the life of debtor goes through this metamorphosis.
Thus, the circuit of metamorphosis of micro-credit debtor moves on and ultimately it completes a full path: a poor, an appropriated person turns debtor, the debtor turns owner of tools of production., the owner turns household based independent producer, the independent producer turns wage worker, the worker turns independent trader, the trader stays entrapped into debt with worsened condition and bigger debt turning one to debt slave. In its circuit the micro credit debtor only produces surplus value or takes a portion of surplus value produced by some other debtor or some other person or persons in the society producing surplus value and transfers a portion of it to micro credit capital. The circuit is both, a closed and an open, signifying the contradiction. The closed circuit keeps the debtor in perpetual and worsening poverty; sometimes, borrowing from the micro-credit literature, graduating a percentage of the borrowers, but pushing down or entrapping others in increased number; and often, throwing back the graduated debtor to the den of poverty again; and in these cases, the mainstream economics finds the rationale in ‘shocks’, ‘setbacks’, etc., natural and social, as their terminology defines. But whatever happens in the lives of a certain percentage of the debtor that does not change the basic structure of the circuit in the broader social matrix, in the process of appropriation of surplus value. Ignoring the macro scenario and putting forth the micro, a few individual cases, putting forth the exceptions instead of the general rule does nothing but vulgarises the arguments itself pushed forward by the mainstream. The open circuit intensifies and accelerates the pauperisation process and thus creating pressure on the system that creates poverty, makes a person poor, and appropriates surplus value. The vulgar economics with ‘hollow eye and wrinkled brow’ (Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice) extending support to micro credit capital may construct a façade by resorting, again, to vulgar arguments. It may argue that a certain percent of micro credit debtors have improved their living condition with the aid of the panacea as a few days ago they used to mean the micro credit. But this does not nullify the fact of appropriation of surplus value from others in the broader society. Rather, it puts the evidence that surplus value has been appropriated from some other persons. There are many economists in the bandwagon of micro credit who cite cases of increased consumption by the micro credit debtors. But it should not be missed that consumptions are of two types: productive and individual; while the first one is to create products the other is turned into means of subsistence. So, data of debtors’ increased consumption, claims regularly made by the mainstream economics, carry no meaning other than better and ensured supply of surplus labour power which is expropriated. The fact should not be missed that the entire system rests on the appropriation of surplus value and micro credit is a part and, now is an institution of the system. It is sustained by the system and it helps sustain the system.
The socialisation of micro-credit, with its profit profile, allures other capitals in banks and financing companies to join in. The capital engaged in micro-credit ties, quoting from Shakespeare, the ‘poor man’s cottages [to] princes palaces,’ organises and regulates debtors including members of the debtor-households, keeps them entrapped in the micro credit web, appropriates surplus labour power of them and others in the broader society. Moreover, it now regulates, based on its global power, the analytical process of a section of economists who overlook the process of appropriation of surplus value upon which the micro credit thrives, and try to ignore definitions of political economy and propagate vulgar ideas.