Abstract
Women empowerment is a focus of regional and global programs created towards women development in recent years. Economic empowerment seems to bear fruits for the interpersonal, social, legal and political areas as well. Microfinance programs and wage employment programs have served as two significant instruments to stimulate this process of positive change starting from individual/ interpersonal level and expanding to families and communities. This exploratory study attempts to compare microfinance with wage programs to see their effectiveness in Karachi. A total of 120 interview questionnaire was distributed among women respondents, two focus studies and five interviews with the policy makers provided insights to understand these programs. The study discovers that women who availed microfinance programs have shown low rate of economic and social development, whereas women who availed wage programs have shown higher level of economic and social development. Furthermore, findings have also supported the fact that absence of legal framework, infrastructure, training programs by microfinance institutions inhibit the growth of the women enterprise and support wage employment which ensure the fulfillment of basic needs at early level. The new dimensions of the study can be further investigated by increasing the sample size.
Highlights
As a developing country, Pakistan may benefit from the lessons of economic development economic of countries which initiated these programs before Pakistan
The world has transformed into a global village in recent years and many practices of bringing improvements in economic and social areas have been shared between countries
Microfinance institutions are few in Karachi, one of the most reputed microfinance institutions was approached and it showed its consent for the research study
Summary
Women comprise almost 51% of Pakistan’s population and play an active role for the well being of their family and society at all levels (National Commission on Women, 2011). The sociopolitical system prevalent in Pakistan could not bring major improvements in the status of the under privileged women in successive years of its establishment. The women at grass root level are still deprived of their rights. They still face the challenges of poverty, disparity, and earn hardly an acknowledgement of her role in serving her family. There are examples of Asian, African and Latin American economies where they tried to bring sustainability into their systems by acknowledging the role played by women at grass root level and facilitating them in solving their major problems
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