Microfinance and Women’s Socio Cultural and Political Empowerment

Abstract

While the previous chapter highlighted women’s economic empowerment, this chapter sheds light on women’s socio-cultural and political empowerment at both household and community levels, with a view to exploring whether women’s empowerment at the household level is a prerequisite to empowerment at the community level. It is also important to identify whether women’s economic empowerment has led to improvement at the social and political level. Women can only be empowered at the community level if their strategic gender needs are met. The first section of the chapter explores how and to what extent microfinance promotes women’s socio-cultural empowerment in the family and community arenas. The second section of the chapter will examine whether/how microfinance has advanced women’s empowerment at the local government level. This is the highest level of empowerment that these women could be expected to attain.