Impact of Microcredit on Women Empowerment: A Case Study in the Context of Chattogram District, Bangladesh

Abstract

The microcredit sector in Bangladesh has flourished over the past few years by providing financial services to poor women who were previously unreachable, and it has been successful in meeting their fundamental needs, empowering them. This paper is an attempt to find out the role of microcredit on the empowerment of women borrowers in the context of some regions of the Chattogram district. These three Upazillas were surveyed cross-sectionally. A well-structured questionnaire was used to collect data during face-to-face interviews with 50 microcredit women borrowers and 50 non-borrowers from two major microcredit providers in Bangladesh. Participants were randomly selected. Data were summarized in tabular form. As a result of the chi-square test and ANOVA, significant results were observed. The paper analyzes the role of microcredit in women's empowerment from three perspectives: psychological, social, and economic. As a result of the study, BRAC and ASA microcredit have a significant role in reducing the vulnerability of poor women in the study region by generating income, improving the living standards of borrowers, and enabling these women to become more empowered by: (a) psychological empowerment by acquiring decision-making power in household activities, (b) economic empowerment by making a contribution to living standard & control over assets, (c) social empowerment by getting freedom of voice and mobility.