Ann P. Riley’s research while affiliated with JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. and other places

Multivariate analyses of data from a recent study in rural Bangladesh suggest that women's access to credit provided by two organizations, Grameen Bank and BRAC, augments use of contraception. This effect increases with the duration of the women's involvement in the credit programs. Although three of eight measures of women's empowerment have statistically significant effects on contraceptive use (women's economic security and contribution to family support, freedom of mobility, and relative freedom from domination by the family), these variables account for surprisingly little of the effect of credit on contraceptive use. The authors present qualitative data describing how the credit programs empower women, and speculate about other paths through which participation in them may influence contraceptive use.

Although violence by men against women in Bangladesh occurs in most cases within the home, in a larger sense it does not originate in the home nor persist only within the home. It is simply one element in a system that subordinates women through social norms that define women's place and guide their conduct. This paper uses ethnographic and structured survey data from a study in rural Bangladesh to explore the relationship between domestic violence against women and their economic and social dependence. It describes some of the common situations in which violence against women occurs in Bangladeshi society, analyzes its larger context, and identifies factors that appear to lessen its incidence in this particular socio-economic setting. The study findings suggest that group-based credit programs can reduce men's violence against women by making women's lives more public. The problem of men's violence against women is deeply rooted, however, and the authors argue that much more extensive interventions will be needed to significantly undermine it.

This paper presents findings from a study of Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), two programs that provide credit to poor rural women in Bangladesh. The programs were found to have significant effects on eight different dimensions of women's empowerment. The authors use a combination of sample survey and case study data to argue that the success of Grameen Bank, is particular, in empowering women is due both to its strong, central focus on credit, and its skillful use of rules and rituals to make the loan program function.