1. Banking On Women

By Laura Lemon
July 25, 2024

In an obscure corner of her 10th-grade economics textbook, Siya '27 first encountered Grameen Bank. Nothing in particularly led her eye to the small mention, but it still jumped out at her as a microfinance bank for impoverished people in Bangladesh. More specifically, the statement "Women are more reliable borrowers than men" lingered in her mind long afterward.

"Grameen Bank actually did not start as a women empowerment microfinance program," said Siya (she does not use a last name). "It was not gender-specific. So, one of the reasons why Grameen Bank is revolutionary in literature about microfinance is that it recognized early on that poor women are more reliable borrowers than men. Grameen Bank now acts as a women-empowerment organization as well - encouraging them to educate their children, cast votes [and more]."

Siya never particularly envisioned herself working there, but she always admired their work. But now, four years later, she found herself traveling this summer to the local villages of Bangladesh to meet the female borrowers the Grameen Bank serves as part of a Shepherd Program internship.

"I have seen that microfinance empowers women economically and socially, especially when targeted at them, as is often the case with Grameen Bank," she said. "It gives them the means to contribute to their household income, enabling them to make decisions about their lives and businesses. When I went to their houses, I noticed small things - women deciding what snacks to offer, starting conversations and asserting their autonomy. These habits are not common in rural areas, especially not in a Muslim country with strict norms. But these women told me they saw a significant change in their decision-making power after they started gaining financial independence."

The Journey To Lexington

In her own life, Siya has felt the power that opportunities through hard work bring. She said her path to Washington and Lee University feels nothing short of a miracle.

Born in Panchkula, India, Siya and her family spent the first decade of her life in Ludhiana, a city in Punjab. But when her younger brother was diagnosed with a rare disease, the family moved to Gurgaon, a more metropolitan city with better medical resources.

"I never tried to get to 'better' places by studying, but I found joy and comfort in learning about how the world worked," said Siya. "I would've never imagined the places this curiosity could take me."

In 10th grade, her curiosity earned her a scholarship to pursue the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) in Singapore.

"I always wanted to do the IB, but I had never pressed for it because family finances were tight - money always seeped into medical bills," she said. "Never had I ever imagined being able to pursue the IBDP, let alone in Singapore."

While there, she saw friends studying for the SAT. She never believed attending college in the U.S. could be a tangible dream, but the standardized questions intrigued her, so she took the test for fun.

"I got a decent score and thought I had nothing to lose by at least trying to apply to the U.S.," she said. "I was looking for liberal arts schools that were generous with financial aid, and W&L was one of them. I was so fortunate to have gotten the Johnson Scholarship - I wouldn't have been able to study in the U.S. without it."

W&L's close-knit and collaborative community also drew her in.

"I have found all that and more at W&L," she said. "The support that W&L has provided me - financially, emotionally and materially - has been indispensable in securing the internship I am doing and any future endeavors I might undertake."

Putting It All Together

A Bonner scholar as well as a mathematics and economics double major with a potential poverty and human capability studies minor, Siya combined her passion for service and working with numbers to intern at Grameen Bank this summer.

"As much as I can remember, I have always thought about the things that were happening around me, even as a child," she said. "I remember I used to question my mother as a maybe 6- or 7-year-old about why all the people in the police force were men and not women. Of course, my desire to help and make a change in the communities I am a part of intensified after my brother got sick. I couldn't help him, but I could surely help other people."

Microfinance refers to services provided to low-income individuals who traditionally lack such banking access, including microloans, savings accounts and insurance. Grameen provides loans to impoverished people without collateral.

"When someone is in extreme poverty, they have virtually no assets to put down as collateral to get loans," explained Siya. "Without credit, it is very hard to break the cycle of poverty."

Through her internship, she's learned the intricacies of budgeting, accounting and loan products at Grameen Bank. She's gone on field visits to the Jaintapur, Sylhet and Tangail branch offices, Grameen Bank centers and borrowers' houses. The most impactful part of her internship involved performing ethnographic interviews in the field to try to understand the behavioral patterns of Grameen's borrowers.

"Visiting the Tangail center was an eye-opening experience," she said. "It allowed me to see firsthand the intricate relationships between Grameen Bank staff and the borrowers. The center manager's familiarity with every borrower, including their children and family dynamics, was remarkable and demonstrated the deeply personal approach of Grameen Bank's model.

"My favorite moment was being invited to a borrower's house for tea," she continued. "This common procedure at Grameen Bank reflects the strong bond between the bank staff and the borrowers. What stood out to me was observing a man serving tea and arranging chairs while the women sat down - a surprising role reversal for a conservative rural Bangladeshi community. Even in upper-middle class households in India, I hadn't seen such dynamics. The oldest woman in the house owned it, illustrating the agency and autonomy that financial independence can bring. I was still deeply moved and positively surprised when I observed this firsthand."

The summer internship enforced to her how genuinely trying to help others - whether it be professionally or personally - can make such a difference.

"Observing and interacting with borrowers and seeing the scale of Grameen Bank's impact has fortified my resolve to improve the lives of the people around me however I can," said Siya. "Money is important but secondary."

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