The Women’s Development Bank in Venezuela: “Creating a Caring Economy”

[Judi Lynn]

The Women’s Development Bank in Venezuela: “Creating a Caring Economy”

The Women’s Development Bank in Venezuela, abbreviated Banmujer, joins a long trend of micro-credit institutions intended to alleviate poverty by supporting small-scale entrepreneurs. What makes Banmujer unique is that it loans only to women; in fact, it is the only state-sponsored women’s micro-credit bank in the world. Since its inception on March 8, 2001, Banmujer has been commended for its successes in helping women escape poverty and in instilling a new economic model of cooperation instead of competition.

Women’s Rights in Venezuela
Over the past decade, the Venezuelan government has been remarkably supportive of women’s rights. For example, the Bolivarian Constitution, adopted in 1999, uses non-sexist and gender-neutral language throughout. Instead of “all men are created equal,” as is stated in the U.S. Constitution, Venezuela’s constitution holds that “all persons are equal before the law.”1 When discussing the role of the President, it says “Presidente o Presidenta,” instead of using only the male form.

The Venezuelan Constitution also explicitly prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender: “no discrimination based on race, sex, creed, or social standing shall be permitted.” Moreover, it prohibits not only intentional discrimination, but also any actions with discriminatory effects. Gregory Wilpert, a researcher at VenezuelaAnalysis.com, commented that “what this means in practice is that public policies must be reexamined for their possible discriminatory effects. For example, if women were under-represented at public universities, the state would have to examine the causes for this and eliminate any barriers that exist that cause fewer women then men to attend the university.”2 In contrast, the U.S. Constitution has no language explicitly forbidding even intentional gender discrimination. Although a coalition of feminist groups fought to add such a provision to the Constitution, the Equal Rights Amendment narrowly failed being ratified by the necessary three quarters of the states after passing Congress in 1972.

Finally, Article 88 of Venezuela’s 1999 constitution recognizes housework as a valuable job that, like any other job, entitles the worker to social security benefits. This provision has substantially furthered the cause of women’s rights because it allows many women to receive social security when in the past they were overlooked by the state. This and other provisions on women’s rights have led some to conclude that Venezuela’s new constitution “is now among the most progressive in the Western Hemisphere on gender issues.”3

More:
http://www.coha.org/2008/07/the-women%E2%80%99s-development-bank-in-venezuela-creating-a-caring-economy/

[MasonJar]

1. Venezuela Rocks! They are a model to be emulated.