Gender and Microfinance Performance: Why Does the Institutional Context Matter?

This paper investigates why and under which institutional circumstances female membership in microfinance institutions (MFI) improves MFI performance in terms of debt repayment. Specifically, this paper theorizes that female membership in MFIs improves the MFI’s performance through enhanced debt repayment, especially under adverse cognitive and regulatory institutional conditions. We draw upon unique qualitative and quantitative data covering 26 microfinance projects in 22 African, Eastern European, Latin American, and Asian countries. This study has implications for the microfinance literature in that it challenges the widely held assumption that female participation has a positive effect on MFI performance under all institutional circumstances.