Part I Exploring the Western History of Women and Credit 1 Introduction. Women, Credit and the Creation of Opportunity: A Historical Overview 2 Women's Economic Spheres and Credit in Pre-industrial Europe 3 Petty Debts and Family Networks: The Credit Markets of Widows and Wives in Eighteenth-Century Amsterdam 4 Lending Women, Borrowing Women: Middle-Class Women, Investments and Credit in Northern France in the Nineteenth Century Part II Bridging Past and Present 5 Women and Micro-credit in History: Gender in the Irish Loan Funds 6 Stokvels and Economic Empowerment: The Case of African Women in South Africa, c .1930-1998 Part III Pioneering Projects 7 Women, Institutional Roles and Economic Opportunity 8 A Personal Perspective on the Evolution of Micro-credit in the Late Twentieth Century 9 Banking with Poor Self-employed Women 10 Micro-credit as a Path from Welfare to Work: The Experience of the Full Circle Project, UK Part IV Impacts and Issues 11 Credit Options, Human Resource Development and the Sustainability of Women's Projects: Case Study of the 'Association of Creative Teaching - Women in Development Projects' in the South-West Province, Cameroon 12 Negotiating Financial Autonomy: Women, Income and Credit in Urban Java 13 Poor Female Youth and Human Capital Development in Bangladesh: What Role for Micro-Credit Programmes? Part V Policy Perspectives 14 Women's Empowerment Versus Sustainability? Towards a New Paradigm in Micro-finance Programmes 15 Linking Formal and Informal Financial Intermediaries in Ghana: A Way To Increase Women's Access to Financial Services? 16 Financial Arrangements Across Borders: Women's Predominant Participation in Popular Finance, from Thilogne and Dakar to Paris. A Senegalese Case Study, Continuity and Change: Towards a Conclusion