Micro Credit-Women Empowerment Nexus Explored: A Study on the Women of Selected Rural Areas in Natore District, Bangladesh

Tauhid Hossain Khan, Md. Ershadul Islam, Md. Ishtiaq Ahmed Talukder, Md. Bashir Uddin Khan

Abstract


The literatures on the ‘micro credit –women empowerment’ linkage reveal that there is a causal relationship between micro credit and women empowerment. The findings of this study affirmed that relationships exist between micro credit and women empowerment indeed vis-à-vis studying a selected sample of three hundred and eighty one rural women in Natore district, Bangladesh. This study reveals that a significant number of rural women (72%) attributed their empowerment after receiving micro credit while 33% of the respondents answered negatively. In this regard, this study also reveals that a significant number of respondents can participate in decision making regarding the issues such as cultivation (75%), use of contraceptive methods (76%), political interest (32%) and voting behavior (79%). This study found that receiving micro credit by rural women are significantly associated with their  empowerment through participation in decision making regarding conjugal life, child care, loan taking(p<0.01), use of money received from micro credit (p<0.05), interest in politics(p<0.05),voting behavior, determination  of voting and purchasing or selling of materials. The findings of the study have been explained vis-à-vis sociological theories in the South Asian context.

Keywords: Micro credit, Women empowerment, Bangladesh, BRAC.


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ISSN (Paper)2224-5766 ISSN (Online)2225-0484

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