NGO-promoted microcredit programs and women's empowerment in rural Bangladesh: quantitative and qualitative evidence.

Ruhul Amin · Stan Becker · Abdul Bayes

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Microfinance and Financial Inclusion Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics Bangladesh Politics, Society, and Development

Abstract

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in rural Bangladesh are reaching out to poor women with collateral-free credit programs aimed at both alleviating poverty and increasing women's status. The present study investigated the hypothesis that participation in credit-related activities by NGO credit members leads to greater empowerment of credit members compared to nonmembers. The sample was comprised of 1164 loanees and 1200 nonloanees from the five NGO areas in Bangladesh and of 1200 nonloanees from non-program areas of rural Bangladesh with no significant NGO presence. NGO credit members had significantly higher scores on all three indices of female empowerment: inter-spouse consultation, autonomy, and authority. Moreover, nonmembers within NGO program areas had higher autonomy and authority scores than nonmembers within the comparison areas. Even after background variables were controlled in the multivariate analysis, NGO credit membership and residence in an NGO program area remained significantly and positively associated with both the autonomy and authority indices. Other variables that exerted a significant positive effect on women's empowerment were concrete or corrugated buildings, area of residence outside the southern or eastern regions, nonagricultural occupation, respondent's education, and age. In focus group discussions, NGO credit loanees reported that the program made them more confident, assertive, intelligent, self-reliant, and aware of their rights. NGO credit programs that target poor women are likely to produce substantial improvements in women's social and economic status, without the long delays associated with education or employment opportunities in the formal sector.

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References

1996Rural credit programs and women's empowerment in Bangladesh 1997Finance against poverty 1994Credit Programs, Women's Empowerment, and Contraceptive use in Rural Bangladesh 1979Class, Patriarchy, and Women's Work in Bangladesh 1986The status of women: Conceptual and methodological issues in demographic studies 1987Third generation NGO strategies: A key to people-centered development 1994Individual and Community Aspects of Women's Status and Fertility in Rural Bangladesh 1993Arguing with the crocodile: gender and class in Bangladesh

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