Microcredit (small loans to start small enterprises in the informal sector) has been praised in many quarters as a panacea for the poverty and atriarchy that poor women in Third World countries confront. Securing poor women access to credit, for enterprises in the small-scale agricultural sector and the urban informal sector is at the center of a significant chunk of “women and development” agendas today. The circle of current friends of microcredit for informal enterprises includes international and national financial institutions, Western and Third World nation states, international and national NGOs, the UN, and a variety of academics and intellectuals. They all contribute to the widespread “positive perception” of microcredit and informal sector work as arenas for Third World women’s empowerment. Narayan will present a picture of microcredit and informal sector work that is more sobering, and admittedly bleaker than what seems to be the dominant picture at present.