Microfinance for Women Empowerment: A Review of Best Practices

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-25
Author(s):  
Basu Dev Lamichhane
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Rural Women ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Poverty Alleviation ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Women Empowerment ◽  
Household Decision ◽  
Community Activities ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Microfinance Institution

The purpose of the paper is to highlight the role of microfinance for women empowerment. The study is a descriptive study design. Many developmental activities and programs are implemented in the society but microfinance programs are strong rural based and deprived women oriented and targeted to the marginalized people. Microfinance is an effective and powerful instrument for women empowerment. The number of challenges ahead of women empowerment are poor economic status, illiterate, unskilled, unemployment, low access in land, housing, transportation, electricity and family decision. It is considered as one of the most effective poverty alleviation tools. Microfinance services are considered as an entry point or vehicle towards empowering women. Members of microfinance institution (MFIs) have more contribution to saving and income generating activities, household decision making and activities beyond household sector. Although many programs have been implemented for poverty alleviation, only microfinance programs are seen as poor and rural women based. Microfinance is one of the best alternatives to generate self-employment specially the poor women in the rural areas. It provides services to them who have no collateral to offer against the loans. Women who could gain access to microfinance services have been able to create self-employment opportunities and have been economically and socially empowered through increased income through small projects. Microfinance has a profound impact on the economic status, decision making power, knowledge and self-worthiness of women, community activities and self-help group programs. The study reveals that there is a positive relationship between microfinance and women empowerment. Microfinance becomes catalyst for social change and women's empowerment.

Women Empowerment and Their Decision-Making Supremacy : a Literature Review Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-65
Author(s):  
Nivedita Agnihotri
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Working Women ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Women Empowerment ◽  
Household Decision ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Status Of Women

Women are an integral part of our society; they have to play diverse role to contribute in economy. Harmonious growth and development of any nation is possible only when women are equally participating in the development process with men. However, in most of the developing countries, the socio-economic status of women is very low. In this paper, we provide a literature review to compared the working and non-working women in household decision-making, using secondary data. We find out that woman’s decisions making power is clearly related to the context in which she lives. It is observed that decisions made by working and educated women get greater substance than the decisions taken by non-working and less educated women. However, Urban and employed women have greater awareness about their rights than rural and illiterate women. In the previous studies, most women are deprived of economic and educational roles opportunities and decision-making. Decision-making of women is controversially as low as the roles and responsibilities of each sector while their male counterparts have relatively high decision-making. Furthermore, we find out that electronic media is also playing an important role behind the women empowerment, since it provides information to women about the world issues, which encourages their self-confidence and motivates them to participate in household matters.

scholarly journals Ready Made Garments’ (RMG) Contribution in Women Empowerment: A Study on Bangladesh Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (29) ◽  
pp. 184
Author(s):  
Mohammed Masum Billah ◽  
Md. Rafiqul Islam Manik
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Women Empowerment ◽  
Access To Resources ◽  
Coping Capacity ◽  
Household Decision ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Development Goals

There is no denying the fact that without women empowerment development goals of Bangladesh is always unreachable. This country belongs to a social system where women consider as a burden for the family. However, the scenario is changing with time. Nowadays, women are working in garments sector, education sector, banking sector, different NGO’s and government organizations but the single garment sector where seventy percent of workers of 4.0 million are women and most of them are less educated, unskilled and from rural areas. These women have neither decision making power and nor access to resources before getting the job in the garments sector. The job creates ample opportunity for female workers by giving economic freedom, keeping them near the resources and facilities in the city area, and making them knowledgeable, and skills through training, counseling, and sharing problem with coworkers. The study reveals that empowerment of women vastly depends on four variables which are women’s financial contribution to family, women’s access to resources, women’s participation in household decision making and their perception of coping capacity to shocks. It has been found that garments sector significantly contribute to enhance the female worker’s ability to contribute financially, to participate in decision making, to access resources, and to cope with risks which ultimately increase their empowerment in the society as a whole.

scholarly journals Rural women and poverty: A study on the role of RDRS for poverty alleviation in Bangladesh

1970 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 415-421
Author(s):  
MM Islam ◽  
RN Ali ◽  
MM Salehin ◽  
AHMS Islam
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Rural Women ◽  
Poverty Alleviation ◽  
Family Income ◽  
National Level ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Women Empowerment ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Status Index

No development objectives can be achieved without making women self reliant. The present study deals with the role of Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS) on poverty alleviation and women empowerment in Kaligonj upazila under Lalminirhat district considering their participation in different programmes of RDRS. The impact of the study was assessed in terms of economic and social gains accrued by the women's and their families' activities. The random sampling technique was used for selection of sample size. The test of mean difference, head count ratio, poverty gap, economic status index, social status index and decision-making index were used towards poverty alleviation and for women empowerment. The poverty situations improved as compared with that of the national level. It was clearly evident that participation in RDRS micro credit programmes, has substantially improved the respondent's economic condition, social condition and living standards. It referred the positive change in women empowerment in the study areas. By and large the women are better at present in respect of social awareness, freedom of attitude, financial freedom and exercising the right in decision making activities compared to their previous situation. It may , therefore, be inferred that the holistic approach followed by the RDRS for socioeconomic development led to increased family income, socioeconomic and decision making status in general and those of the women in particular in the study area. Keywords: Rural Women; Women empowerment; Poverty alleviation; RDRS DOI: 10.3329/jbau.v6i2.4842 J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 6(2): 415-421, 2008

scholarly journals Assessment of Women participation in Agriculture in Vavuniya district, Sri Lanka

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 159-162
Author(s):  
Gopalakrishnan Tharani ◽  
Mohamed Sameem Roshan Akther ◽  
Nanthakumaran Ananthini
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Multiple Regression ◽  
Urban Area ◽  
Rural Area ◽  
Rural Women ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Agricultural Activities ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
Women Participation

An attempt was made to assess the women contribution towards agriculture in Vavuniya district, Sri Lanka. 60 farm family households' women were randomly selected from rural and urban area of Kovilkulam AI region of Vavuniya district in Sri Lanka and the data were collected by constructed questionnaire. The objectives of this study are to identify the factors contributing women participation in agriculture, to identify the constraints faced by the women in participating agriculture and to evaluate the women participation in decision making activity in agriculture. Minitab 15 and MS excel were used for data analysis. The level of women participation in agricultural activities was found out using chi-square test and the factors contributing for women participation in agricultural activities were identified using multiple regression analysis in urban and rural areas separately (α=0.05). The results revealed that 90% of the rural women respondents and 50% of the urban respondents participated in the agricultural activities which is a significant difference. The mean values of women participation in agricultural activities in urban and rural areas were 77 hours and 836 hours per annum respectively. The multiple regression model for women participation in urban area found that the participation of women negatively correlated with status of employment, age and education level (p=0.000). In rural area, age and educational level were negatively influencing on women participation in agricultural activities (p=0.000). R-square values of fitted regression models were 72 % and 91% in urban and rural area respectively 72% and 91% variation in respective women participation were explained by these models. The obstacles for the women in participation in agricultural activities were reported as lack of knowledge and training in agriculture field, family burden, cultural and social barriers and physical constraints. 60% of women from rural areas and 90% of women from urban areas were involved in decision making especially in the selection of crops and varieties for planting and livestock rearing. Enhancing the awareness and the technical knowledge to the women in the field of agriculture would contribute to increase income from agriculture at household level, district level and finally at national level. Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 3, Issue-3: 159-162

scholarly journals ASSESSING ECONOMIC IMPACT OF MICROCREDIT SCHEME: A REVIEW OF PAST STUDIES ON AMANAH IKHTIAR MALAYSIA (AIM)

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-142
Author(s):  
Noor Syafinas Muda ◽  
Ku 'Azam Tuan Lonik
Keyword(s):  
Economic Impact ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Economic Impact Assessment ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Microfinance Institution

Background and Purpose: Microcredit scheme was introduced to provide credit facilities for poor people to start a business activity. Microcredit creates income-generating self-employment activities that allow poor people to venture into small businesses and achieve economic independence. The scheme has been recognised as a successful tool to uplift the socio-economic status among the poor. Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) is the largest microfinance institution in Malaysia and therefore, its impact on the beneficiaries is crucial to be studied. This paper aims at reviewing the economic impact of AIM based on the existing literature.   Methodology: Four electronic databases, which are Scopus, Science Direct, Springer and Ebscohost were used to search the literature. Subsequently 118 articles were generated from this search. However, only 13 articles which met the selection criteria were analysed. We selected only empirical studies that focused on the economic impact of AIM.   Findings: Results of the review showed that income has dominated the economic impact assessment followed by asset, economic vulnerability and spending. Low concentration on the indicators other than income should be noted especially on spending as it provides a clear evidence that the recipients enjoy the economic well-being in terms of consumption expenditure.   Contribution: This review reveals that microcredit has a great potential to uplift the economic status of the poor.   Keywords: Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia, asset, economic impact, income, microcredit.   Cite as: Muda, N. S., & Tuan Lonik, K. A. (2020). Assessing economic impact of microcredit scheme: A review of past studies on Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM).  Journal of Nusantara Studies, 5(1), 124-142. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol5iss1pp124-142

scholarly journals Rural Economic Development Through Women Entrepreneurship

2021 ◽  
pp. 98-103
Author(s):  
Dr. M. Vairavan ◽  
Ms. K. Kavitha
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Rural Women ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Women Entrepreneurs ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Interesting Phenomenon ◽  
Self Help Groups ◽  
The Impact

Majority of the rural women of SHGs are Micro - Entrepreneurs very few are associated with Small Scale Enterprises. Those women are not only developing with sustainable economy but also able to develop other women economically sustainable by providing job opportunities. The rural women entrepreneurs with the sustainable economic development are able to contribute to the family’s, community’s and the nation’s development. Rural women frequently have primary responsibility for agricultural production, in addition to domestic responsibilities and childcare. In developing country like India where economic status of women is very pathetic especially in rural areas and opportunities of earning are very less in this scenario the Self Help Groups (SHGs) have paved the way for economic independence of rural women. This paper reviews concisely the literature in this field and addresses in particular opportunities and challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in rural areas. It examined the impact on women empowerment through micro entrepreneurship development and SHGs. The increasing presence of women in the business field as entrepreneurs has changed the demographic characteristics of business and economic growth of the country. Women-owned businesses enterprises are playing a more active role in society and the economy, inspiring academics to focus on this interesting phenomenon. This paper focuses on the problems, issues, challenges faced by women entrepreneurs, how to overcome them and to analyze policies of India government for and problems faced by them while pursuing their business.

scholarly journals STUDY OF WORKING – WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN SOUTH ASIA: CASE OF PAKISTAN

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Farah Naseer, Yasmin Syed, Safia Habib,
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Personal Income ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Household Decision ◽  
Supportive Role ◽  
Basic Scale ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Chi Square Analysis

Women are the integral part of all societies no society can progress without the active participation of women. The involvement of women in decision making process is very important in every field of life. Like many other developing countries Pakistan has also patriarchal social set up where women take decisions under the dominance of their father, husband. Objective of the study was find out the factors influencing the decision-making power of women in family matters’ sample of 120 married universities teachers was selected from the three selected universities of Quetta city. Chi square analysis is used to see the influence of age and personal income on women decision making power. The result reveals that there is significant association between different basic scale and right to take decision as a wife(p<0.020) or as a mother (p<0.026), Married university teachers believe in husband seniority in age (r =0.111; p<0.002) with their decision-making power. Furthermore, they achieve socio economic status (p=<0.049) due to their personal income and their income play supportive role (p =<0.014) in decision making process. 75% respondents free to spend their income on household expenditure(p=<0.026) but have less authority over property related decisions. Overall women education, age, occupation and income has a significant effect on household decision making.

scholarly journals Enhancement of economic status through Entrepreneurship - A case analysis in honey processing

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 438-441
Author(s):  
P. Ravindra Kumar ◽  
S. Senthil Vinayagam ◽  
K. Akhila
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Economic Condition ◽  
Full Employment ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Occupational Status ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Technology Park ◽  
The People ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activities

Over 70 per cent of India’s population lives in rural areas and depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Due to reduction in generation of income from agriculture sector, the rural population has led to migration. It can be controlled by generating meaning full employment opportunities in rural areas through encouraging entrepreneurial activities. The present study was conducted to know whether the economic condition of trainees have enhanced after attending training on honey processing at Rural Technology Park, National Institute of Rural Development-Panchayat Raj (NIRD and PR), Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The trainees’ occupational status and monthly income has been enhanced after training from 10 to 40 per cent of self-employment and 15-50 per cent of income has increased, respectively. From the study it can be deduced that purchasing power of the people risesby proposing income generating opportunities to the people in villages.

scholarly journals Empowerment of Zimbabwean Women through Entrepreneurship an Economic and Social Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Nhuta ◽  
Ellen Mukumba
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Women Empowerment ◽  
Female Entrepreneurs ◽  
Household Decision

<div><p><em>The objectives of the study were to<ins cite="mailto:usr" datetime="2017-03-14T09:40"> </ins>identify socio-economic characteristics of female entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe and to ascertain the relationship between women empowerment in entrepreneurship and economic/social development. The research looked at economic and social independent variables that affect women empowerment in entrepreneurship. Literature covered but not limited to, power in households, decision making, ownership of property, access to capital, networking and freedom of movement. This study adopted a mixed research methodology that combined the positivism and the interpretivism paradigms. With regard to this study, the target population was the female entrepreneurs in Harare, Zimbabwe. </em><em>Non-probability was chosen as the sampling technique for this study because it is quicker, easier and cheaper. Convenience and judgmental sampling techniques shall were employed. The questionnaire was used to collect primary data for this study.</em><em>The study revealed that married female entrepreneurs continue to be absent from the household decision-making that shapes the allocation of the economic and financial resources, which further perpetuates gender inequality.  The study also confirmed that education and training as well as previous work experience are important success characteristics for empowerment, required by emerging female entrepreneurs as they start and grow their business. The study also confirmed that the lack of access to capital exacerbated by lack of collateral and high interest rates is one of the major deterrents for empowering women through entrepreneurship. Recommendations include coalition among female entrepreneurs, mentoring schemes and changing entrenched patriarchal cultural norms.</em></p></div>

scholarly journals Women’s empowerment and fertility decision-making in 53 low and middle resource countries: a pooled analysis of demographic and health surveys

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. e045952
Author(s):  
Rezwanul Haque ◽  
Khorshed Alam ◽  
Syed Mahbubur Rahman ◽  
Syed Afroz Keramat ◽  
Mohammed Khaled Al-Hanawi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Wife Beating ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Women Empowerment ◽  
Fertility Desire ◽  
Household Decision ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Household Decision Making ◽  
Ideal Number

ObjectiveWomen’s empowerment and its association with fertility preference are vital for central-level promotional health policy strategies. This study examines the association between women’s empowerment and fertility decision-making in low and middle resource countries (LMRCs).DesignThis cross-sectional study uses the Demographic and Health Survey database.Settings53 LMRCs from six different regions for the period ranging from 2006 to 2018.ParticipantsThe data of women-only aged 35 years and above is used as a unit of analysis. The final sample consists of 91 070 married women.MethodsWe considered two outcome variables: women’s perceived ideal number of children and their ability to achieve preferred fertility desire and the association with women empowerment. Women empowerment was measured by their participation in household decision-making and attitude towards wife-beating. The negative binomial regression model was used to assess women’s perceived ideal number of children, and multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate women’s ability to achieve their preferred fertility desire.ResultsOur study found that empowered women have a relatively low ideal number of children irrespective of the measures used to assess women empowerment. In this study, the measures were participation in household decision-making (incidence rate ratio (IRR): 0.92, 95% CI: 0.91 to 0.93) and attitude towards wife-beating (IRR: 0.96, 95% CI: 0.95 to 0.97). In the LMRCs, household decision-making and negative attitude towards wife-beating have been found associated with 1.12 and 1.08 times greater odds of having more than their ideal number of children.ConclusionOur findings suggest that women’s perceived fertility desire can be achieved by enhancing their empowerment. Therefore, a modified community-based family planning programme at the national level is required, highlighting the importance of women’s empowerment on reproductive healthcare as a part of the mission to assist women and couples to have only the number of children they desire.

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