Abstract
The present study was carried out to identify the determinants of microcredit accessibility by rural women households and its impact on rural women empowerment in Bangladesh. A face-to-face survey was conducted during 2018, interviewing 300 women households in two locations in Bangladesh. Descriptive statistics and econometric modeling were used to achieve the objectives. The results of the study showed that the higher annual income inversely related with the accessibility to the microcredit program, whereas family size (P < 0.05) was positive and significantly influenced the accessibility to the microcredit program. The empirical results indicate that borrowers of microcredit have greater control over their own savings. The regression outcome also exposes that microcredit has a positive and significant impact on enhancing participation in household decision making process and women’s legal awareness. The study suggested that microcredit providers in Bangladesh should be encouraged to review their program planning and redesign loan products by putting more emphasis on higher income group women.
Highlights
Women empowerment has been one of the top priorities of development agencies and governments around the world and it has been recognized that, even in the developed countries, women continue to experience various forms of discrimination in one way or another
The present study examined the determinants of microcredit accessibility and the impacts of access to microcredit on women empowerment in Bangladesh
The findings indicate that income is inversely related with microcredit accessibility
Summary
Women empowerment has been one of the top priorities of development agencies and governments around the world and it has been recognized that, even in the developed countries, women continue to experience various forms of discrimination in one way or another. Gender disparity or low status of women has been recognized as a sheer obstacle to equality and development. Microcredit provides an influential tool for income generation, safe keeping of food, human resource development, poverty lessening, and women empowerment (Kessey 2005). Economic and social structures can be renovated at the root level by supporting financial services to low-income households (Morduch 1999). Morduch (1998) recognized that potential impact of microcredit is allied with lessening of household weakness by offering ways of easy consumption and income to rural households. Mizanur Rahman and Ahmad (2010) observed that microcredit provided to the agricultural and rural sectors significantly improved household income, crop production, livestock raising, expenditure, and employment
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