Title_ Women Empowerment and Microfinance: A Case from North-Western Bangladesh

Author_ Nahid Akhter

Pages 35-50

Abstract_ In a country like Bangladesh, poverty alleviation is one of the prime concerns of any development plan, where equality and considerable equity needs to be ensured. Women make up nearly half of the population of the country, but they, especially from the poverty-stricken groups, are more vulnerable in terms of denial of fundamental human rights. Microfinance, as a development program, primarily targets the poorer female clients. From a development perspective, it could be anticipated that provision of financial resources and effective utilization of those resources along with group-based activities can strengthen women’s economic roles. In due course, it is also anticipated that it may empower women and reduce inequality. This paper attempts to assess the effectiveness of one special microcredit program (PRIME) in promoting women’s life living in a poverty-stricken area of rural Bangladesh. Taking into consideration the existing complex and conflicting results from the other studies, a total of 54 items have been gathered to address ten empowerment indicators. In order to generate an aggregate index for women empowerment, a popular Item Response Theory (IRT) model namely, the Rasch test for dichotomous responses has been used, which was previously undertaken by a revealing study conducted by Pitt, Khandker and Cartwright (2006). Results remain steady with the view that there is a significant positive association between microcredit and women empowerment.

Keywords_ Women Empowerment, Gender Equality, Microfinance, Poverty, Rasch Test, Bangladesh