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Paper short abstract:

We explore how rural women and men benefit from microfinance and training by an entrepreneurship program, and how those resources affect their agency in Colombia. Women and men benefited differently from resources. Women gained power and some faced time poverty linked with entrepreneurship.

Paper long abstract:

International agencies propose women's empowerment to reduce gender inequalities in rural settings. Nonetheless, little research focuses on how the resources provided by organizations translate into empowerment, and on the complexity of the empowerment process - the negative and positive aspects. Based on Gender and Development and Feminist Political Ecology scholarships, we understand how rural women and men benefit differently from the resources provided by an entrepreneurship program and how those resources affect women's agency, both positively and negatively.

We studied the case of a nationwide program that delivers one-to-one training, mentoring, micro-credits, and saving accounts to rural people that aim to start or have a small business in departments highly affected by the armed conflict in Colombia. This program started in December 2019 (just before COVID-19), and by December 2021 it had 2,127 active rural participants across 13 of the 32 departments in the country. We analyzed a survey with all the participants and delved into 68 semi-structured interviews with participants in two departments.

Preliminary results suggest that women and men perceived different benefits and barriers from the program. Also, women perceive that they are gaining power. They affirm that their self-esteem and sense of agency increased due to the program and starting a small business, as well as their voice within the household. The perceived changes are associated with the training and the close relationship with the staff. However, some of the women face gender-based violence, time poverty, and loss of status associated with having a small business.