Actually how Empowering is Microcredit?

This article re‐assesses the effect of microcredit programme participation on women's empowerment by applying an analytical framework that recognizes the conceptual shift in emphasis in the definition of empowerment, from notions of greater well‐being of women to notions of women's choice...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Development and change 2003-09, Vol.34 (4), p.577-605
Main Author: Mahmud, Simeen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bangladesh
Credit
Development studies
Empowerment
Gender differentiation
Households
Inequality
Low Income Groups
Sexism
Welfare
Welfare Services
Well Being
Women
Womens Rights
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Summary:This article re‐assesses the effect of microcredit programme participation on women's empowerment by applying an analytical framework that recognizes the conceptual shift in emphasis in the definition of empowerment, from notions of greater well‐being of women to notions of women's choice and active agency in the attainment of greater well‐being. The author finds that microcredit programme participation has only a limited direct effect in increasing women's access to choice‐enhancing resources, but has a much stronger effect in increasing women's ability to exercise agency in intra‐household processes. Consequently, programme participation is able to increase women's welfare and possibly to reduce male bias in welfare outcomes, particularly in poor households.
ISSN:0012-155X
1467-7660
DOI:10.1111/1467-7660.00320