The mother, the wife, the entrepreneur? Women’s agency and microfinance in a disappearing post-conflict welfare state context

This article highlights the political consequences of financial measures in post-conflict economy formation processes. It focuses on how microfinance for women in Bosnia and Herzegovina, even when considered successful, affects women’s agency, what forms of female subjectivities emerge and what forms become excluded or reinforced as a result. Juxtaposing the two goals of microfinance for women – improved family welfare and gender equality – and the consequences, it shows how neoliberal discourses on female economic empowerment through microfinance in the context of a disappearing welfare state may enable limited individual agency within the household, while circumscribing women’s agency in the public domain.