MONEY MATTERS
lack of women in elected leadership positions may be related to the historical development of CUs in Latin America.4 However, this traditional orientation seems to be changing, as shown by the increasing tendency within CUs to have women in administrative and management positions, reaching levels of 50 percent or more among total CU employees and about 30 percent in executive positions. A significant number of the women members of CUs are heads of households. A study of women in cooperatives conducted in Colombia (Salamanca, 1992) found that about 20 percent of women members did not have a male partner. In addition, 43 percent of the women had sole economic responsibility for their homes. The increasing economic participation and contribution of women is an issue that leaders of the CUs studied have not yet examined closely as part of their expansion strategies. The "no discrimination" principle of cooperatives is not measured by empirical data on service coverage and leadership participation. CUs tend to maintain a traditional view of women's role in society. The education programs of the CUs studied included so-called "women's" courses in traditional areas (sewing and cooking). Distribution of Small Loans by Gender On average, women obtained about 38 percent of the loans in the five CUs studied. Progreso had the largest proportion of borrowers who were women (48 percent). Table 4.1 shows the extent of women's participation in microenterprise borrowing in all five CUs. Among the CUs studied, total outstanding loans in 1992 ranged from $3 million for Progreso (Ecuador) to $7.8 million for Coocique (Costa Rica), to $72 million for Cupocredito—a rather special case because of its large volume of operations. Most of the CUs studied had loan portfolios made up primarily of microloans, i.e., loans less 4
The lack of participation in the CU elected leadership (each CU member has one vote) reflects the low participation of women at the community and unions level from the 1950s to the 1970s, a period during which existent credit unions were founded, primarily by union and/or parochial leaders. For example, in Colombia, women's right to vote passed in 1948 and it continued to be an issue of debate during the 1950s (Velasquez, 1995). Only in the past two decades have women begun to occupy leadership positions and to compete for them. See Scott (1994) for a discussion on how women's organizational participation has been segregated in Latin America.
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