Microfinance and Women Empowerment: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

The present chapter empirically examines the role of microfinance access on women empowerment by using primary data on women borrowers from different microfinance institutions in Nadia and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal in India. Microfinance institutions play an important role in strategies related to gender and development due to their active relationships with women empowerment and poverty alleviation. The various programmes under microfinance like self-help groups (SHGs) are promoted and inspired for their significant economic impacts on empowerment of women. We investigate the impact of microfinance access on three dimensions of women empowerment, which make influence upon decision making on the issues of credit, expenditure and children. We conduct a primary survey on about eight hundred respondents of women borrowers from different microfinance institutions and apply multivariate probit estimation. Our findings imply that the greater access to microfinance credit negatively impacts on economic empowerment i.e. decisions on credit and expenditure related issues.