An Empirical Study on the Impact of Microfinance on Women Empowerment: Evidence from West Bengal

Authors

  • Srimoyee Datta Assistant Professor Department of Management Science Bengal Institute of Science & Technology, India
  • Dr. Tarak Nath Sahu Assistant Professor Department of Commerce with Farm Management, Vidyasagar University, India (*Corresponding Author)

Keywords:

Women Empowerment, Microfinance Institution

Abstract

Empowerment especially for women is a very important term of economy. It always helps to make a step forward. For that, Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) are designed to reach the poor, especially women who needs to be empowered by providing various assistance programmes. Now the question arises which factors are really helping and how they are helping to enhance the empowerment level of the borrowers. This paper is an attempt to comprehend the role of MFIs and its associated factors towards empowerment in Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal. It deals with primary data of 220 borrowers collected through structured questionnaire and personal observation from the specified area. To serve the objective, a cross sectional research with a structural questionnaire was conducted. Applying ordered logistic regression it has been observed that MFIs do act as a supportive tool for psychological, economic and social empowerment of women borrowers of the selected district.

References

Acharya, M., & Bennett, L. (1983). Women and the subsistence sector. World Bank Staff Working Papers, (526).

Asim, S. (2009). Evaluating the impact of microcredit on women's empowerment in Pakistan. Lahore school of economics. Centre for research in economics and business (CREB).

Bali Swain, R. (2006). Microfinance and Women's empowerment: evidence from the self-help group bank linkage programme in India.

Bali Swain, R., & Yang Wallentin, F. (2014). The impact of microfinance on factors empowering women: Regional and Delivery Mechanisms in India’s SHG Programme.

Buvinic, M., & Furst-Nichols, R. (2016). Promoting women’s economic empowerment: What works?. The World Bank Research Observer, 31(1), 59-101.

Duflo, E. (2012). Women empowerment and economic development. Journal of Economic Literature, 50(4), 1051-1079.

Garikipati, S. (2008). The impact of lending to women on household vulnerability and women’s empowerment: evidence from India. World Development, 36(12), 2620-2642.

Hung, A., Yoong, J., & Brown, E. (2012). Empowering women through financial awareness and education. OECD Working Papers on Finance, Insurance and Private Pensions, (14), 1.

Kabeer, N. (1999). Resources, agency, achievements: Reflections on the measurement of women's empowerment. Development and change, 30(3), 435-464.

Kabeer, N. (2005). Gender equality and women's empowerment: A critical analysis of the third millennium development goal 1. Gender & Development, 13(1), 13-24.

Kabeer, N. (2012). Women’s economic empowerment and inclusive growth: labour markets and enterprise development. International Development Research Centre, 44(10), 1-70.

Kandpal, E., Baylis, K., & Arends-Kuenning, M. (2013). Measuring the effect of a community-level program on women's empowerment outcomes: evidence from India.

Karl, M. (1995). Women and empowerment: Participation and decision making (Vol. 10). London: Zed Books.

Karlan, D. S., Ashraf, N., & Yin, W. (2006). Female Empowerment: Impact of a commitment savings product in the Philippines.

Lakshmi, A. P., Jampala, R., Kishore, O., Rao Dokku , S. (2013). The role of Micro Finance in the Empowerment of Women - An Empirical study with Special reference to Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh. Journal of Contemporary Research in Management , 8( 3).

Lopez-Claros, A., & Zahidi, S. (2005, May). Womens empowerment: measuring the global gender gap. Geneva Switzerland World Economic Forum 2005.

Nagaraja, B. (2013). Empowerment of women in India: A critical analysis. Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS), 9(2), 45-52.

Rashid, F., John, M., Consolatta, N., & Stephen, S. (2015). Impact of microfinance institutions on economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs in developing countries. International Journal of Management Science and Business Administration, 1(10), 45-55.

Rathiranee, Y., & Semasinghe, D. M. (2015). Factors Determining the Women Empowerment through Microfinance: An Empirical Study in Sri Lanka. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering, 9(5), 1595-1599.

Rowlands, J. (1997). Questioning empowerment: Working with women in Honduras. Oxfam.

Shankar, S. (2013). Financial Inclusion in India: Do Microfinance Institutions Address Access Barriers. ACRN Journal of Entrepreneurship Perspectives, 2(1), 60-74.

The World Bank Annual Report, 2006 available at http://siteresources.worldbank.org/ INTANNREP2K6/Resources/2838485-158333614345/AR06_final_LO_RES.pdf accessed 20-12-2017

Downloads

Published

30-09-2017

How to Cite

Srimoyee Datta, & Dr. Tarak Nath Sahu. (2017). An Empirical Study on the Impact of Microfinance on Women Empowerment: Evidence from West Bengal. Indian Journal of Commerce and Management Studies, 8(3), 53–62. Retrieved from https://ijcms.in/index.php/ijcms/article/view/170

Issue

Section

Articles