Does micro-credit empower women : evidence from Bangladesh

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Does micro-credit empower women : evidence from Bangladesh, Volume 1

Author:	Pitt, Mark M.; Khandker, Shahidur R.; Cartwright, Jennifer;	Collection Title:	Policy, Research working paper series ; no. WPS 2998
Country:	Bangladesh;	Date Stored:	2003/04/11
Document Date:	2003/03/31	Document Type:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English	Region:	South Asia
Report Number:	WPS2998	Sub Sectors:	General finance sector
SubTopics:	Environmental Economics & Policies; Economic Theory & Research; Housing & Human Habitats; Health Monitoring & Evaluation; Public Health Promotion; Anthropology	Volume No:	1

Summary: This paper examines the effects of men's and women's participation in group-based micro-credit programs on a large set of qualitative responses to questions that characterize women's autonomy and gender relations within the household. The data come from a special survey carried out in rural Bangladesh in 1998-99. The results are consistent with the view that women's participation in micro-credit programs helps to increase women's empowerment. Credit program participation leads to women taking a greater role in household decisionmaking, having greater access to financial and economic resources, having greater social networks, having greater bargaining power compared with their husbands, and having greater freedom of mobility. Female credit also tended to increase spousal communication in general about family planning and parenting concerns. The effects of male credit on women's empowerment were, at best, neutral, and at worse, decidedly negative. Male credit had a negative effect on several arenas of women's empowerment, including physical mobility, access to savings and economic resources, and power to manage some household transactions.


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	PDF 57 pages	WPS2998	0.16

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