Impact Of The Services Of Microfinance Institutions On The Economic Empowerment Of Women Essay

Typically, they have fixed workshop and capital investments but the character is still small and most of the production is meant for local markets. It is important to note that the number of employees is not the only measure of the size of micro credit enterprises. Other factors such as output, sales and asset levels may be equally appropriate indicators of the size of the firm’s operation. Currently, most of the loans to micro-entrepreneurs are provided primarily through the government, foreign aid assisted non-governmental agencies or informal money lenders. Financial institutions must recover their cost of servicing loans by interest charges and they must be confident borrower’s intent ability to repay. Financial institutions are also hampered by lack of formal collateral. This means the standard criteria used by the financial institutions are inappropriate for micro enterprise lending. To over-come this problem the government established a channel to direct their own programs with the objective of achieving social welfare and micro enterprise development. The Samurdhi Development Credit Scheme developed by the Ministry of Nation Building in Sri Lanka. This scheme was intended to serve the rural community through village level task forces called “Samurdhi Task Forces” which operated as a social intermediary. The task force used its members called “Samurdhi Development Officer” to select recipients of the

However, women still faced difficulties when joining the workplace, and few women had professional careers despite

In both developing and emerging economies, microfinance has vastly and increasingly been seen as one of the most important means for enhancing the lives of the poor and therefore a major tool for economic and social development mostly in rural areas. Lately, contrary to this widespread belief, critics have raised eyebrows against this growing popularity of microfinance as a major tool for enhancing economic development. Contrary to belief, they are of the opinion that microfinance is a ‘make-belief’ that is hindering economic and social development rather than enhancing it.

Poverty has stricken many developing nations. However, there are many ways to limit things like this from occurring, micro-loans being one of those things. It is apparent that women in developing countries are empowered by micro-loans. Micro-loans are a small amount of money given to small businesses. Micro-loans help make women more independent and help them not rely on their husbands for money. It helps these women in poverty get their kids and themselves an education with the money they receive. Additionally, micro-loans make it possible for women starting a business, in order to make more money. There are many benefits for women receiving micro-loans.

For Victoria’s case, she needs the money to buy more potatoes and quinoa to make sure her shop has all the proper vegetables (Kiva.org). If Victoria can keep her shop well stocked, she may attract more customers and make more money. By earning more money, Victoria can improve her quality of life. According to Plan Canada “microfinancing can lead to improved access to clean water and better sanitation while also providing better access to health care” (plancanada.ca). Research shows that microfinance loans are better suited for women because they are less likely to miss payments on their loan and it helps them feel empowered (plancanada.ca). By lending to Victoria, she will feel empowered and will be able to support herself and her family. Also, because she is a woman, she is less likely to miss

Background: For years since the rise of microfinance in the contemporary discourse of development, Chotacredit, a nationwide Microfinance institution, has been playing a leading role in the XXX region in providing accessible finance to low-income households as a catalyst for employment creation, poverty reduction, and gender equality. However, in recent practice, Chotacredit has found that the current loan-signing rule which requires co-signature by spouse may potentially limit female participation in the microloan program and program impact. A few valid assumptions have been made: 1. As currently, a loan contract must be co-signed by both husband and wife, and a significant share of the husbands of our female clients are truck drivers, the

In many developing countries globalization has brought masses of wealth to the elite at the expense of the poor. Consequently, many women of the poorer classes leave their homeland in search of opportunities for employment. These women are disproportionately affected by

In the same way Khandker state that, microfinance reduces poverty by increasing consumption among participants and their families. Degree of poverty reduction evaluate on the based on consumption impacts of credit show that about 5% of program participants can improved their families out of poverty each year by participating and borrowing from microfinance programs. (Khandker S. R., 1998, p.

The United Nations Millennium Declaration states that the main focus should be on gender equality and empowerment of women in order to fight poverty, hunger and with that, help development that is sustainable. (O’Brien & Williams 2013,212) Taking gender into the account while observing global economy shows that men and women are impacted in various ways considering trade, production and financial flows. (O’Brien & Williams 2013,212)

This article addresses four main points. First, at the UN’s Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, the significance of women’s contribution was emphasized by the World Bank. However, according to the authors, the perception of women as goods was strengthened by the World Bank because of its emphasis on economic outcomes and its consequent failure to pay attention to the meaning of women’s empowerment and gender equality. Second, the World Bank, UN agencies and other institutions were observed to value only young women and girls, thus completely ignoring men’s role . Third, despite the existence of programs encouraging women empowerment such as microfinance and conditional cash transfers, women are forced to work for their livelihood coupled with the burden of housework. The authors also cast doubt on the notion that investing in young women and girls leads to the promotion of women’s empowerment and gender equality, or actually improves the economy as they are often unconsciously regarded as cheaper labor . Therefore, they underscored that while smart economics might

Employment, participation and poverty. Despite females attend high level education than males; there is no relationship between education and employment. Females have less chance to be labour force, especially in rural areas. Furthermore, females are more likely to live with poverty because of less working time in formal sectors and more responsibility for

Microfinance has achieved growing significance as a tool for poverty alleviation with the year 2005 marked as the United Nations International Year of Microcredit. Over the years, the world has witnessed a remarkable growth in the number of institutions offering microfinance and the number of clients reached. Figures reported to the Microcredit Summit Campaign show that as at 2007, 3,352 institutions offered microfinance to about 155 million clients, 68 percent of which were defined as poor clients.

Girls and women understand the immediate problems facing the society. They are in direct contact with the societal issues and problems. The history of microfinance and how it was founded is a clear indication that women have a lot of influence on development. Microfinance was founded in Bangladesh and the main player was the women (Sparke, 2013). Women were expected to get loans at small interest and use it to initiate fight poverty. The women, during that time they did a wonderful job. It is not until 2005 when the greedy multinational such as World Bank and IMF intruded into microfinance and turned it into profit-generating enterprise (Sparke, 2013). Since then, microfinance started losing its value.

Baserup (1970) suggested that women needed to reduce the work loads they had so that they take part in education, projects which will also extend their power in the economy. In addition, Baserup pointed out that women have to receive credit facilities for greater economic projects. For example, Baserup echoed the mechanization of “female farming’ in African women farmers and revolutionarize traditional forms of agriculture for productive efficiency extracted from Schech and Haggis (2000). Rogers (1980) also suggested for a complete overhand of male attitudes against women. Rogers explicitly challenged this in her survey of the FAO institutional arrangement. She concluded that no women were found in field officers in technical division. Rogers (1980) therefore, concluded that women were not only excluded from planning and decision making but were being ignored and overlooked. Furthermore, households were assumed to be male headed which also generalized women as housewives (Rogers 1980:66 in Schech and Haggis, 2000). This shows that women’s work was regarded as non- work due to male bias. However, the WID approach agitated for equity, empowerment, efficiency and equal participation of women in existing structures.

A significant development in recent years has been the mushrooming of community-based organizations and initiatives at the local level for women. Reports indicate that self-help programmes, often in the form of savings and credit or micro credit schemes, have succeeded in changing the lives of poor women, enhancing incomes and generating positive externalities such as increased self-esteem. This paper addresses the challenging issue of whether self-help micro credit programmes are tools for empowering poor women.