The Impact of Microfinance Institutions on Women Empowerment in Rajshahi, Bangladesh

The Impact of Microfinance Institutions on Women Empowerment in Rajshahi, Bangladesh

The empowerment of women is one of the central issues in the process of development of all developing countries in the world. This study investigated the empowerment of poor women who participated in group-based credit program in Bangladesh. Studies have shown how women participation in group-based...

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Main Author: Nessa, Tasqurun
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
eng
Published: 2011
Subjects:
HQ The Family
Marriage
Woman
HG Finance
Online Access:https://etd.uum.edu.my/2794/1/Tasqurun_Nessa.pdf
https://etd.uum.edu.my/2794/2/1.Tasqurun_Nessa.pdf
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id my-uum-etd.2794
record_format uketd_dc
institution Universiti Utara Malaysia
collection UUM ETD
language eng
eng
advisor Ali, Jamal
Abdul Hakim, Roslan
topic HQ The Family
Marriage
Woman
HG Finance
spellingShingle HQ The Family
Marriage
Woman
HG Finance
Nessa, Tasqurun
The Impact of Microfinance Institutions on Women Empowerment in Rajshahi, Bangladesh
description The empowerment of women is one of the central issues in the process of development of all developing countries in the world. This study investigated the empowerment of poor women who participated in group-based credit program in Bangladesh. Studies have shown how women participation in group-based credit program can improve individual and household income. However, limited evidence exists on which type of empowerment is more significant for poor women. It is not known whether economic decision making, household decision making, freedom of movement, ownership of property or political and social awareness is more significant for women. This study is based on household level data collected from 600 poor women in eight districts of Rajshahi division in Bangladesh. This study collected micro-credit borrower data from Grameen Bank, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and Association for Social Advancement (ASA). Five dimensions of women empowerment are used to arrive at the overall empowerment. To measure empowerment, this study used mean value of the five dimensions of empowerment. The findings show that age, family size, area, involvement with Micro Finance Institution (MFI) and loan size are positively correlated and significant with women empowerment. Another important factor such as education is negatively correlated with women empowerment for all women (MFI member and non MFI member). Based on the results of the study it can be concluded that the level of women empowerment of poor women in Bangladesh can be significantly improved by involvement with MFI. It is noted that MFI members have more empowerment than non MFI members, but the level of women empowerment of MFI member is not satisfactory. Higher income increases women’s ability to contribute more to the daily household expenditure, and eventually improve their empowerment. It is recommended that the government and other development organizations should work together in addressing this empowerment issue with better implementation of strategies such as more loans, and proper guide to borrowers. All these strategies can influence the level of empowerment of women in a developing country such as in Rajshahi division, Bangladesh.
format Thesis
qualification_name Ph.D.
qualification_level Doctorate
author Nessa, Tasqurun
author_facet Nessa, Tasqurun
author_sort Nessa, Tasqurun
title The Impact of Microfinance Institutions on Women Empowerment in Rajshahi, Bangladesh
title_short The Impact of Microfinance Institutions on Women Empowerment in Rajshahi, Bangladesh
title_full The Impact of Microfinance Institutions on Women Empowerment in Rajshahi, Bangladesh
title_fullStr The Impact of Microfinance Institutions on Women Empowerment in Rajshahi, Bangladesh
title_full_unstemmed The Impact of Microfinance Institutions on Women Empowerment in Rajshahi, Bangladesh
title_sort impact of microfinance institutions on women empowerment in rajshahi, bangladesh
granting_institution Universiti Utara Malaysia
granting_department College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)
publishDate 2011
url https://etd.uum.edu.my/2794/1/Tasqurun_Nessa.pdf
https://etd.uum.edu.my/2794/2/1.Tasqurun_Nessa.pdf
_version_ 1747827430813335552
spelling my-uum-etd.27942016-04-27T07:13:51Z The Impact of Microfinance Institutions on Women Empowerment in Rajshahi, Bangladesh 2011 Nessa, Tasqurun Ali, Jamal Abdul Hakim, Roslan College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) College of Arts and Sciences HQ The Family. Marriage. Woman HG Finance The empowerment of women is one of the central issues in the process of development of all developing countries in the world. This study investigated the empowerment of poor women who participated in group-based credit program in Bangladesh. Studies have shown how women participation in group-based credit program can improve individual and household income. However, limited evidence exists on which type of empowerment is more significant for poor women. It is not known whether economic decision making, household decision making, freedom of movement, ownership of property or political and social awareness is more significant for women. This study is based on household level data collected from 600 poor women in eight districts of Rajshahi division in Bangladesh. This study collected micro-credit borrower data from Grameen Bank, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and Association for Social Advancement (ASA). Five dimensions of women empowerment are used to arrive at the overall empowerment. To measure empowerment, this study used mean value of the five dimensions of empowerment. The findings show that age, family size, area, involvement with Micro Finance Institution (MFI) and loan size are positively correlated and significant with women empowerment. Another important factor such as education is negatively correlated with women empowerment for all women (MFI member and non MFI member). Based on the results of the study it can be concluded that the level of women empowerment of poor women in Bangladesh can be significantly improved by involvement with MFI. It is noted that MFI members have more empowerment than non MFI members, but the level of women empowerment of MFI member is not satisfactory. Higher income increases women’s ability to contribute more to the daily household expenditure, and eventually improve their empowerment. It is recommended that the government and other development organizations should work together in addressing this empowerment issue with better implementation of strategies such as more loans, and proper guide to borrowers. All these strategies can influence the level of empowerment of women in a developing country such as in Rajshahi division, Bangladesh. 2011 Thesis https://etd.uum.edu.my/2794/ https://etd.uum.edu.my/2794/1/Tasqurun_Nessa.pdf application/pdf eng validuser https://etd.uum.edu.my/2794/2/1.Tasqurun_Nessa.pdf application/pdf eng public Ph.D. doctoral Universiti Utara Malaysia Absar, S. S. (2004). 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