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Credit Programs, Women's Empowerment, and Contraceptive use in Rural Bangladesh
Abstract
This article presents findings of research addressing the question of how women's status affects fertility. The effects on contraceptive use of women's participation in rural credit programs and on their status or level of empowerment were examined. A woman's level of empowerment is defined here as a function of her relative physical mobility, economic security, ability to make various purchases on her own, freedom from domination and violence within her family, political and legal awareness, and participation in public protests and political campaigning. The main finding is that participation in both of the credit programs studied, those of Grameen Bank and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), is positively associated with women's level of empowerment. A positive effect on contraceptive use is discernible among both participants and nonparticipants in Grameen Bank villages. Participation in BRAC does not appear to affect contraceptive use.
... It is also viewed as a significant measure of social development. Both policymakers and academics are searching for ways to enhance women's empowerment, particularly in developing countries where gender imbalances persist. 1 Many studies across various disciplines discuss the measurement of women's empowerment and analyze the impacts of policies and programs 2 to expand empowerment as an outcome of sustainable development (Adato et al. 2000;Narayan et al. 2009;Schuler and Hashemi 1994). Most of these studies measure empowerment using proxy indicators 3 while not encompassing multiple dimensions and ignoring cultural norms and traditions, in defining empowerment and measuring impacts of policy interventions. ...
... Similarly, Eswaran (2002) argues that expanding a woman's autonomy within the household is positively linked with her bargaining power and is shown to reduce fertility rates and child mortality. Schuler and Hashemi (1994) find that participation in credit programs empowers women, mostly through enhancing their economic roles, and is positively correlated with the use of contraceptives. Allendorf (2007) argues that women's land rights also positively impact young children's health since children of mothers with land ownership are significantly less likely to be severely underweight. ...
... The key features of our conceptual framework explained above suggest that empowerment is a "process." Malhotra et al. (2002) list four major hurdles when measuring 17 See for example, Alkire (2008), Anderson andEswaran (2009), De Brauw et al. (2014), Ghuman et al. (2006), Malhotra and Schuler (2005), Mason and Smith (2003), Schuler and Hashemi (1993), and Schuler and Hashemi (1994). 18 See Kabeer (1999), Cornwall (2016), and Miedema et al. (2018). ...
This study explores the impact of unconditional cash transfers on the multiple dimensions of women’s empowerment in Pakistan. Emphasizing the importance of cultural and religious norms, empowerment is considered as a latent construct manifested through three distinct choice dimensions, viz., “self,” “familial,” and “economic.” For the empirical estimation, a structural equation model is used on the country-representative Impact Evaluation Survey data of 2015–16 for the Benazir Income Support Program. The measurement model identifies various indicators for the dimensions considered. The results confirm the importance of providing cash transfers to the country's poorest women in all three dimensions, while the impact on self-choices is almost 40% that of the impact on the other two aspects of empowerment. Our findings provide recommendations for the successful implementation of social assistance programs.
... Of 17,080 hits screened, 41 papers from journals, one thesis, and one dissertation were selected (Fig. 1). Sixteen studies (37⋅2%) were conducted in Latin America [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39], fifteen (34⋅9%) in North America [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54], nine (20⋅9%) in Africa [55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63] and three (7⋅0%) in Asia [64][65][66]. All the North American studies evaluated unconditional food stamp programmes except for one on tax credits [50]. ...
... The other articles linked the receipt of benefits to risk or protective factors for breast and cervical cancer. Of these, seventeen evaluated effects on body mass index (BMI), overweight (BMI > 25) and obesity (BMI > 30) [27,28,30,31,35,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46]48,[52][53][54], while fifteen evaluated fertility [24][25][26]29,32,36,37,39,55,[57][58][59]61,62,65], six evaluated age at sexual debut [26,55,56,58,60,63] five evaluated breastfeeding [47,[49][50][51]66], five evaluated contraceptive use [25,29,59,64,65], two evaluated sexual risk behaviour [56,63], and one evaluated tobacco and alcohol use [63] (Table 1). Note that some of the studies evaluated more than one factor. ...
... The five studies that evaluated the effect of SPPs on contraceptive use failed to specify whether the contraceptive method used was hormonal [25,29,59,64,65]. Two studies analysed the current use of modern contraceptives, defined as condoms, oral or injectable contraceptives, intrauterine devices, and male and female sterilization [25,29]. ...
Background
Socioeconomic conditions are strongly associated with breast and cervical cancer incidence and mortality patterns; therefore, social protection programmes (SPPs) might impact these cancers. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of SPPs on breast and cervical cancer outcomes and their risk/protective factors.
Methods
Five databases were searched for articles that assessed participation in PPS and the incidence, survival, mortality (primary outcomes), screening, staging at diagnosis and risk/protective factors (secondary outcomes) for these cancers. Only peer-reviewed quantitative studies of women receiving SPPs compared to eligible women not receiving benefits were included. Independent reviewers selected articles, assessed eligibility, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias. A harvest plot represents the included studies and shows the direction of effect, sample size and risk of bias.
Findings
Of 17,080 documents retrieved, 43 studies were included in the review. No studies evaluated the primary outcomes. They all examined the relationship between SPPs and screening, as well as risk and protective factors. The harvest plot showed that in lower risk of bias studies, participants of SPPs had lower weight and fertility, were older at sexual debut, and breastfed their infants for longer.
Interpretation
No studies have yet assessed the effect of SPPs on breast and cervical cancer incidence, survival, or mortality; nevertheless, the existing evidence suggests positive impacts on risk and protective factors.
... From different perspectives, W'E is a multidimensional process that includes dimensions from different perspectives in fields such as psychology (Zimmerman, 1990), society (Malhotra & Schuler, 2005), health (Pratley, 2016), politics (Robinson & Gottlieb, 2021), economics (Ahmed et al., 2010;Duflo, 2012), laws (Schuler & Hashemi, 1994), sociocultural, family, interpersonal relations (Hameed et al., 2014), ecological (Barab et al., 2019), and others. ...
... Second, the W'E dimension was the access to resources and assets, which included three indicators; (i) financial access, defined as the extent to which women have access to and use financial resources, cash, and other economic resources, to carry out their production, marketing, and household activities; (ii) access to information, seen as the extent to which women have access to knowledge and data to put it to different uses for their personal and work benefit; and (iii) access to services and assets, the extent to which women have access to and use goods and services with functional capabilities that meet their needs for their benefit and their work (Schuler & Hashemi, 1994;Ganle et al., 2015;Sethy & Jana, 2020). ...
... Third, the socioeconomic participation dimension was constructed by two indicators: (i) community participation, which is the involvement of women in community activities that contribute to their leadership and the creation of community ties, and (ii) participation in business management, the involvement of women in building businesses and achieving economic growth, assessing their business opportunities through networking and business skills training (Schuler & Hashemi, 1994;Ganle et al., 2015;Sethy & Jana, 2020). ...
This article explores the level of Women’s Empowerment (W’E) from six empowerment domains: decision-making, autonomy, access and control of resources, community participation, and participation in business management, within the context of the corn-tortilla value chain.A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data through the survey method and participant observation. The sample consisted of 136 women producers from two municipalities, 67 from Santa María Xadani in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and 69 from San Antonio de la Cal in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico. The results highlight that women exercise five of the six explored domains of empowerment, two with high levels and three with medium levels of empowerment.The women’s income from selling their corn tortillas is used to buy food, raw materials, and health services. Much of their time is spent on corn tortilla production and marketing, and household activities. Finally, this study makes implications for public policy to contribute with the generation of strategies that raise the levels of W’E in agrifood systems in rural contexts.
... On the other hand, Gebru and Demeke (2014), Sharma and Varma (2008), Soetan (1999) have identified that economic stability and economic independence of women help them to make a decision freely. In this context, micro-credit programmes play an essential role for women who can exercise, though in a limited way, their own choices in family and also in society (Laha and Kuri, 2014;Rathiranee and Semasinghee, 2015;Schuler and Hashemi, 1994;Swain and Wallentin, 2011). Some studies (Acharya et al., 2010;Boateng et al., 2012;Mussonera and Heshmati, 2017;Sinha et al., 2012) have identified the women's age as a factor for women's autonomy in developing countries. ...
... Other studies also found that women's decisionmaking power not only heightens their status and increases their chances of social inclusion (Cherayi and Jose, 2016) but also help in the sustainable development of society (Bayeh, 2016). In addition, the studies of Crissman et al. (2012), Do and Kurimoto (2012), Lailulo et al. (2015), Phan (2013) and Schuler and Hashemi (1994) have established a positive relationship between women's reproductive health and their level of empowerment. ...
... There is a direct positive link between women's economic participation and the decision making process. Women's active economic participation can upgrade their self-confidence and improve their decision-making power (Kaur et al., 2018;Schuler and Hashemi, 1994). In the study area, most women are engaged in beedi making at home and contribute to household income. ...
Decision-making power is a vital key for assessing the empowerment of a person. Empowerment increases self-efficacy by which one can control one’s mode of life for survival in a better way. It is an established fact that women are the most disempowered section in our society and the rural Muslim women are relatively more oppressed than others as there is the predominance of social�cultural and economic inequality among this minority community. As a result, these women have very limited opportunities to participate in the decision-making process related to their family matters and societal affairs linked with their own lives. Considering this scenario, the present study
attempts to examine and analyse the decision-making power of homemakers in rural Muslim
communities at micro level, taking Santoshpur village of Murshidabad district, West Bengal, as a case study. The methodology designed for the present study integrates both quantitative and qualitative methods based on field surveys. For this, fifty respondents have been selected using stratified purposive random sampling technique, and data have been acquired through face-to-face interviews through a semi-structured questionnaire. Then, the Cumulative Empowerment Index
(CEI) is constructed based on selected eight key indicators to measure respondents' decision-making ability and liberty. Multiple Correlations are also computed, indicating that education and economic
dependencies are the most critical determinants influencing women's empowerment and decision making processes. The study also reveals that the existing rigid cultural system is mainly responsible
for the suppression of women’s identity as well as their thoughts. But there remains hope for the next-generation girl children as different schemes are being taken up by the Government of West Bengal to promote and popularise women’s education at different levels.
... In 1990, Hume examined the replicability of the Grameen Bank outside of Bangladesh [7]. And its impact on the poor and women has also been studied [18]. However, there ave been several microfinance bank failures around the time of the Grameen Bank's inception. ...
... Many researchers continue to contest the legitimacy of microfinance institutions' existence. Khandker and Pitt's study [18] data analysis revealed that despite higher cumulative lending returns, program participants' property losses were less in 1998-1999 (2 percentage points) than they were in 1991-1992. (5 percentage points). ...
In the rapid development of modern society, microfinance companies are an inevitable product of the economic market demand, and microfinance companies are bound by the relevant laws of China and enjoy the policy support of the state. As an effective supplement to traditional banking financial institutions, microfinance companies, with their flexible mechanisms and efficient services, are increasingly becoming an important force in achieving the goal of financial inclusion. However, due to the lack of supervision, shortage of capital, and excessive risks, microfinance companies have also been deviating from the original purpose of inclusive financial services, such as "non-farming" and "centralization" of loans. The emergence of the Grameen Bank in the 19th century - a "bank for the poor" - broke the original concept. It will be the case study for analysis in this paper. Using the case of Grameen Bank, this paper aims to explore the characteristics and advantages of small lending institutions, analyze whether they are replicable, sustainable and the social significance their existence brings, and make recommendations and prospects for promoting a greater role of microfinance companies in financial inclusion.
... Por otra parte, el ahorro es comúnmente considerado como un elemento para impulsar el desarrollo y reducir los niveles de riesgo de la actividad económica (Fry, 1988;King y Levine, 1993;Levine, 1994), así como impulsor del desarrollo social y político (Mayoux, 1997;Goetz y Sen Gupta, 1996;Schuler y Hashemi, 1994;Hashemi et al., 1996). En este sentido, el ahorro es visto como un instrumento que permite incrementar los niveles de bienestar de la población (Gokhale, 2000). ...
Hasta hace poco tiempo el estudio sobre las microfinanzas se limitó al análisis de la provisión de microcréditos.
Para investigadores como Vogel (1984) y Robinson (2001), el ahorro fue la parte olvidada de las finanzas rurales. Lo anterior, entre otras cosas, se debió a que por muchos años fue comúnmente aceptada la idea de que los pobres no podían ahorrar
(Robinson, 1994). Sin embargo, en la actualidad, el sector académico ha comenzado a reconocer que los pobres pueden ahorrar e incluso, algunos autores sostienen que el ahorro es la principal demanda de servicios financieros que tienen los pobres (Coetzee, 1997; Rutherford, 2000). Por ejemplo, Galway et al. (1991) señala que los pobres prefieren, en una relación de cuatro a uno, el servicio financiero de un depósito a un crédito. Asimismo, Johnston y Morduch (2007) encuentran que el número de ahorradores de una de las instituciones microfinancieras más representativas del mundo (el Banco Rakyat de Indonesia – bri) siempre es mayor al número de prestatarios, independientemente del nivel de ingreso de sus clientes.
... El Empoderamiento de la Mujer abarca múltiples dimensiones, como la psicológica (Zimmerman, 1990;Zimmerman & Perkins, 1995), la social (Hashemi et al., 1996;Malhotra & Schuler, 2005), la relacionada con la salud (Pratley, 2016), la política (Abdulkadir & Müller, 2020;Robinson & Gottlieb, 2021), la económica (Ahmed et al., 2010;Duflo, 2012), legal (Cotula et al., 2019;Schuler & Hashemi, 1994) socio-cultural, familiar e interpersonal (Hameed et al., 2014), entre otras. ...
El Empoderamiento de la Mujer (WfEM) es esencial para lograr la igualdad de género y el desarrollo sostenible. El objetivo de este estudio es presentar un panorama general sobre el WfEM mediante el análisis bibliométrico. Se utiliza el método del análisis de desempeño e indicadores como el h-index, la productividad y la citas. Posteriormente, se aplica el método del mapeo científico utilizando el software Vosviewer® para mostrar la imagen del campo del WfEM con las técnicas de citas conjuntas y la co-ocurrencia de palabras claves. Este estudio utiliza la base de datos SCOPUS. Las unidades de análisis fueron artículos y autores. Los resultados muestran que los autores más influyentes en el campo son Naila Kabeer, Agnes R. Quisumbing, Kathryn Yount, Sidney Ruth Schuler y Syed Mesbahuddin Hashemi. El WfEM es un campo de proyección mundial, con gran número de áreas emergentes debido a la visibilidad de participación de las mujeres, dominios, enfoques teóricos y capacidad estratégica de desarrollo. El género, la igualdad de género, país-India, microfinanzas y desarrollo son temas que mantienen una estrecha relación con el WfEM. Sin embargo, el concepto presenta desafíos en su análisis y medición, además del riesgo de perder sus bases políticas, emancipadoras y de justicia social.
... The results of the study showed that women participation in RDRS had improved the women empowerment and reduced poverty in Bangladesh. By using the same idea Schuler and Hashemi (1994) observed the role of credit programs to empower women in rural Bangladesh through interviews of 1305 women. The results showed that these credit programs have improved women empowerment in Bangladesh. ...
This study examines the contribution of women-owned home-based businesses in women empowerment. The study collects data through primary survey from 100 women-owned home-based businesses from Abbottabad district by using the multiple sampling techniques. Women empowerment index is constructed to examine the role of women-owned businesses inside their homes. The study finds that 76 percent of the women doing home-based businesses have high level of empowerment. This study shows that these businesses have significant role in the empowerment of women home-based entrepreneurs.
... Microcredit, economic livelihoods, conditional cash transfers (CCTs), and voucher programs are examples of economic interventions 46 45 has been shown to be beneficial in improving CoC uptake among the impoverished SES group. Voucher schemes have been found to be effective in increasing reproductive health care and pregnancy follow-up for women from poor families in Cambodia 48 , India 49 , and Uganda 50 . ...
We examined the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and continuum of care (CoC) completion rate in maternal, neonatal, and child health among mothers in Bangladesh. We used data from the Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS) from 2017 to 2018. Our findings were based on the responses of 1527 married women who had at least one child aged 12 to 23 months at the time of the survey. As a measure of SES, we focused on the standard of living (hereinafter referred to as wealth). The CoC for maternal and child health (MNCH) services is the study's outcome variable. The CoC was calculated using seven MNCH interventions: four or more antenatal care (ANC) visits with a skilled practitioner, delivery by a skilled birth attendant, post-natal care for mothers (PNCM) within two days of giving birth, post-natal care for newborns (PNCM) within two days of birth, immunization, age-appropriate breastfeeding, and maternal current use of modern family planning (FP) methods. Only 18.1% of Bangladeshi women completed all seven MNCH care interventions during the reproductive life span. Participants in the high SES group were 2.30 times (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.61-3.28) more likely than those in the low SES group to have higher composite care index (CCI) scores. Women with secondary or higher secondary education, as well as women who were exposed to mass media at least once a week, women who lived in an urban setting, women who had an intended pregnancy, and women with one parity, are associated with high CCI scores when other sociodemographic variables are considered. The complete CoC for MNCH reveals an extremely low completion rate, which may suggest that Bangladeshi mothers, newborns, and children are not receiving the most out of their present health care. Participants in the high SES group displayed higher CCI values than those in the low SES group, indicating that SES is one of the primary drivers of completion of CoC for MNCH services.
... Agency inclusion (Bennett 2002;Hu et al., 2003;Schuler & Hashemi 1994) Self-efficacy Professional self-efficacy (Hu et al., 2003;Shank & Cotton 2014) Professional support (Hu et al., 2003;Laschinger et al., 2014;Yang et al., 2013). ...
In this information age, organizations rely heavily on information system (IS) as IS
significantly influences a company‗s competitive advantages, business operations and
managerial decision. Companies across many industries are also capitalizing on the
benefits of implementing mobile phone based information system (MBIS) to support
collaborative work, decision making and the business processes to achieve efficient
and effective business operations. While the potential that MBIS brings values to the
customers, employees and business process is widely acknowledged, there is a dearth
of empirical research, providing insights into how MBIS can actually contribute in the
Bangladeshi RMG sector. In acknowledgement of this knowledge gap, the purpose of
this thesis is to develop an MBIS framework for Ready-made garments (RMGs) in
Bangladesh. This research is significant as there is relatively little known about the
use of MBIS by RMGs in Bangladesh, despite the fact RMGs are a major source of
foreign income in the country.
However, informed by the background literature fields of IT, IS and MBIS, this study,
theoretically builds upon affordance, empowerment and adoption theories. The study
takes a critical realist approach, and in developing the framework, the research
employed a mixed method approach, consisting of interviews and two focus group
studies with RMGs, MTOs (Mobile telecommunication organizations) and
government officials followed by a survey with RMG owners, managers and
employees. In this study, I identified that MBIS offers twelve (12) affordancesCommunication, Connectedness, Reduced lead time, Mobility, Agility, Coordination,
Improved BP &decision making, Collaborative working, Goodwill development, Reduction of process loss, Inventory management and Good governance to
Bangladeshi RMGs. Furthermore, this study identified empowerment as a crucial
affordance rarely identified in prior literature. Following the empowerment affordance
using MBIS, this study found access to information, competency, impact, selfdetermination and meaning were empowerment components for RMG workers.
Improved communication, the opportunity to access employee regulations, access to
health and safety information, increased confidence about ability, professional
development opportunities were potential empowerment outcomes of using MBIS.
As the research, seeks to identify a comprehensive range of both micro- and macrolevel determinants of MBIS, the resulting framework included customer perspectives,
organizational perspectives and country-level factors that impact on the adoption of
MBIS by RMGs. From the adoption perspective factors, technological readiness, easy
to learn MBIS technology, RMG capability, Government intervention and a
supportive regulatory environment were found as macro level determinants of MBIS
success. The micro-level customer centric factors that promote adoption were the
advantages of MBIS, compatibility and perceived ease of use. Furthermore, a survey
conducted in this study that explored the relative advantages of MBIS, cost and age
of the users were also some micro-level customer perspective variables impacting
upon intention to adopt MBIS.
... In particular, this contribution is greatest when the appropriations are intended for women. In contrast to the work of Banerjee, Duflo, Glennerster, and Kinnan (2015), some studies show that participation in microfinance programs has a statistically significant impact on one or more aspects of women's empowerment, such as contraceptive use or household decision-making (Hashemi & Schuler, 1996;Goetz & Gupta, 1996;Schuler & Hashemi, 1994). Even more, Otero (1999) shows that microfinance creates access to productive capital for the poor. ...
Financing microstructures are increasingly recognized as critical for promoting financial inclusion and improving overall well-being in developing countries. In practice, the digital transformation in finance has the potential to accelerate the optimal functioning of financing microstructures, including households' access to microfinance and microinsurance. Increased access to finance can lead to a reduction in income inequality and overall well-being for households. This paper investigates the impact of access to digital finance and financing microstructures on household well-being and the reduction of income inequality. To achieve this, we use a combination of propensity score matching, double difference, and smooth instrumental quantile regression as estimation methods with two periods of survey data. Specifically, the paper uses the FinScope consumer data (2016) and the Harmonized Living Standards Measurement Study (2018) from Togo in a comparative perspective. The results suggest that access to both digital finance and financing microstructure is a cultural game-changer that significantly improves overall household well-being and contributes to reducing income inequality.
... Some of them opt for skill-based work, while others set up their own micro-enterprises. It paves way for women to start earning their livelihood, which directly makes them economically empowered (Schuler and Hashemi 1994;Pitt et al. 2006). ...
The present article studies the importance of social, political and economic empowerment of women belonging to self-help groups (SHGs) in achieving sustainable development. The study was conducted in the five districts of Punjab that includes Patiala, Bhatinda, Amritsar, Faridkot and Fazilka. Around 500 respondents were selected to fill the questionnaire comprising 100 respondents from each of the five districts. Data analysis and hypothesis testing have been done using IBM SPSS and AMOS. The results, obtained through structural equation modelling, reveal that women have become more authoritative socially and financially, yet there is still scope for upgrading with respect to political empowerment. Sustainable development can indeed be achieved through empowerment of rural women.
... Microcredit, economic livelihoods, conditional cash transfers (CCTs), and voucher programs are examples of economic interventions 46 45 has been shown to be beneficial in improving CoC uptake among the impoverished SES group. Voucher schemes have been found to be effective in increasing reproductive health care and pregnancy follow-up for women from poor families in Cambodia 48 , India 49 , and Uganda 50 . ...
We examined the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and continuum of care (CoC) completion rate in maternal, neonatal, and child health among mothers in Bangladesh. We used data from the Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS) from 2017 to 2018. Our findings were based on the responses of 1527 married women who had at least one child aged 12 to 23 months at the time of the survey. As a measure of SES, we focused on the standard of living (hereinafter referred to as wealth). The CoC for maternal and child health (MNCH) services is the study's outcome variable. The CoC was calculated using seven MNCH interventions: four or more antenatal care (ANC) visits with a skilled practitioner, delivery by a skilled birth attendant, post-natal care for mothers (PNCM) within two days of giving birth, post-natal care for newborns (PNCM) within two days of birth, immunization, age-appropriate breastfeeding, and maternal current use of modern family planning (FP) methods. Only 18.1% of Bangladeshi women completed all seven MNCH care interventions during the reproductive life span. Participants in the high SES group were 2.30 times (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.61–3.28) more likely than those in the low SES group to have higher composite care index (CCI) scores. Women with secondary or higher secondary education, as well as women who were exposed to mass media at least once a week, women who lived in an urban setting, women who had an intended pregnancy, and women with one parity, are associated with high CCI scores when other sociodemographic variables are considered. The complete CoC for MNCH reveals an extremely low completion rate, which may suggest that Bangladeshi mothers, newborns, and children are not receiving the most out of their present health care. Participants in the high SES group displayed higher CCI values than those in the low SES group, indicating that SES is one of the primary drivers of completion of CoC for MNCH services.
... It is commonly accepted in the development literature that one of the ways of guaranteeing women's empowerment is to provide them with convenient access to credit [1,11,12,20]. This enables them to participate in income-generating activities, such as the development of micro-enterprises, bringing additional income to the household. ...
... Evidence abound that some women are at greater risk for violence because of these loans and access to extra cash did little to modify women's status (Herath et al., 2015). In Bangladesh, several studies including Schuler and Hashemi, (1994), Amin et al. (1996) Khandker (1995, 1998) have also demonstrated that access to credit empower women, lower their risk for domestic violence, and willingness to control fertility or contraceptive use. These studies provide evidence that households with credit had higher incomes and consumption ability compared to non-credit households. ...
India has achieved a considerable success in expanding the outreach of Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) to promote socio-economic development of the poor sections of the society. However, a transition from social enterprise to commercial enterprise model in the early twenty-first century has led to a tidal wave of criticism centering round the microfinance sector across the globe. Aggressive competitions of MFIs provided the necessary impetus for the inevitable ‘microfinance bubble’ (Andhra Crisis and its spillover effect in the context of India), which ultimately raised a question on the sustainability of MFIs. Microfinance Information Exchange Database is extensively used in developing a pooled dataset of Indian MFIs to examine the impact of crisis on the sustainability of MFIs. In addition to crisis, this study examines the implications of other financial and operating performance in explaining sustainability of MFIs in the changing scenario. Results reveal a positive and significant influence of crisis, return on assets, return on equity, yield on gross portfolio and a negative and significant effect of financial expenses to assets and operating expenses to assets in explaining variation of sustainability score of selected MFIs.
... Evidence abound that some women are at greater risk for violence because of these loans and access to extra cash did little to modify women's status (Herath et al., 2015). In Bangladesh, several studies including Schuler and Hashemi, (1994), Amin et al. (1996) Khandker (1995, 1998) have also demonstrated that access to credit empower women, lower their risk for domestic violence, and willingness to control fertility or contraceptive use. These studies provide evidence that households with credit had higher incomes and consumption ability compared to non-credit households. ...
The present study aims to contemplate the role of microfinance toward financial inclusion. The present economic scenario because of global financial issues has raised doubt regarding the past perspective on the positive role of finance in the growth and development of an economy. Moreover, financial performance has become a focused area for microfinance institutions instead of empowerment and reduction of inequality which was the base for their formation. Therefore, the chapter examines the behavior of microfinance toward curbing financial inequality across different regions in the world. The study further highlights the problems and prospects associated with the role of microfinance in financial inclusion. Adopting descriptive methodology using various secondary data sources, the present study arrives at the conclusion that a major part of the regions has reached the financial inclusion mission with some lacunae. The study thus suggests the use of digitalization and innovation aspects in the present digitalized world to the fullest in order to achieve the sustainability of the qualitative results.
... Evidence abound that some women are at greater risk for violence because of these loans and access to extra cash did little to modify women's status (Herath et al., 2015). In Bangladesh, several studies including Schuler and Hashemi, (1994), Amin et al. (1996) Khandker (1995, 1998) have also demonstrated that access to credit empower women, lower their risk for domestic violence, and willingness to control fertility or contraceptive use. These studies provide evidence that households with credit had higher incomes and consumption ability compared to non-credit households. ...
For achieving long-term sustainability of economic growth, bringing in the benefits of growth to all sections of the society is critical. Microfinancing by microfinance institutions (MFIs) hitherto remains a powerful tool for development and it has bought many changes in the lives of many poor people. In this study, an attempt has been made to measure efficiency of MFIs operating in West Bengal for 2016–17 to 2018–19 through Data Envelopment Analysis. As evident from Shapiro Wilk test the study shows, efficiency scores follow a normal distribution. Further, Friedman test reveals a significant difference in efficiency scores during the study period. To get more specific result Wilcoxon signed-rank test is used. The study reveals that all the nine inefficient MFIs have the scope of producing 1.17 times to 4.32 times with the same level of input. To overcome the present recession situation there may be a requirement in an increase of investment and aggregate demand of consumer spending by escalating efficiency of MFIs.
... Generally, these models assume that declining fertility begins with the adoption of fertility-reducing behaviors and norms (i.e., contraceptive use and/or reproductive deferral) by culturally influential, high-social-status people. These norms-which may or may not be fitness-enhancing to the most affluent members of a population -are then transmitted to and then among other, less-affluent groups via social networks, mass media, and other institutions (Basu, 1993;Kaplan et al., 2003;Schuler & Hashemi, 1994). These so-called prestige biases presumably evolved because they offer useful heuristics that, on average, are fitness-enhancing but can be fitness-costly in the cases of some particular behaviors (Boyd & Richerson, 1988;Colleran, 2016;Richerson & Boyd, 2005). ...
Globally, mortality and fertility rates generally fall as resource abundance increases.This pattern represents an evolutionary paradox insofar as resource-rich ecological contexts can support higher numbers of offspring, a component of biological fitness. This paradox has not been resolved, in part because the relationships between fertility, life history strategies, reproductive behavior, and socioeconomic conditions are complex and cultural-historically contingent. We aim to understand how we might make sense of this paradox in the specific context of late-twentieth-century, mid–demographic transition Chile. We use distribution-specific generalized linear models to analyze associations between fertility-related life-history traits—number of offspring, ages at first and last reproduction, average interbirth interval, and aver-age number of live births per reproductive span year—and socioeconomic position(SEP) using data from a cohort of 6,802 Chilean women born between 1961 and1970. We show that Chilean women of higher SEP have shorter average interbirth intervals, more births per reproductive span year, later age at first reproduction, earlier ages at last reproduction, and, ultimately, fewer children than women of lower SEP. Chilean women of higher SEP consolidate childbearing over a relatively short time span in the middle of their reproductive careers, whereas women of lower SEP tend to reproduce over the entirety of their reproductive lifespans. These patterns may indicate that different SEP groups follow different pathways toward declining fertility during the demographic transition, reflecting different life-history trade-offs in the process.
... Due to the positive effect of microfinance on this dimension of development, microfinance experienced a phenomenal growth and popularity at the end of the twentieth century, particularly after the early works of development economists who advocated it as an effective instrument to alleviate poverty and stimulate socioeconomic development (Hashemi et al., 1996;Morduch, 1998Morduch, , 1999aMorduch, , 1999bMorduch, , 2000Pitt & Khandker, 1998;Pitt et al., 1996;Schuler & Hashemi, 1994). Among other things, microfinance enables the poor to generate income, build assets and minimize vulnerability to economic shocks. ...
To provide uninterrupted financial and non-financial services to the poorer people of the society, Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) need to achieve better financial performance in their operation. In this respect, this chapter explores the relationship between several innovations undertaken by the microfinance industry in recent years and its financial performance objectives. In so doing, we obtained an unbalanced panel data of 2,937 global MFIs, covering the period 2000–2018. Subsequently, the data were analyzed using conventional regression-based techniques (i.e., Pooled OLS and REM), while Generalized Method of Moments and Hausman-Taylor approach was employed to address the potential endogeneity. Our findings are somewhat heterogenous, with limited types of innovations exhibiting a proxy and technique-specific positive influence on the financial performance of MFIs. Notably, we observed that MFIs of certain legal status (eg., bank, rural bank, non-bank financial institutions and credit union/cooperative) showed higher operating and per borrower cost, albeit their increased susceptibility to mission drift compared to the NGO-MFIs.
... Due to the positive effect of microfinance on this dimension of development, microfinance experienced a phenomenal growth and popularity at the end of the twentieth century, particularly after the early works of development economists who advocated it as an effective instrument to alleviate poverty and stimulate socioeconomic development (Hashemi et al., 1996;Morduch, 1998Morduch, , 1999aMorduch, , 1999bMorduch, , 2000Pitt & Khandker, 1998;Pitt et al., 1996;Schuler & Hashemi, 1994). Among other things, microfinance enables the poor to generate income, build assets and minimize vulnerability to economic shocks. ...
Despite the origination of modern microfinance in Bangladesh, its mechanism has root in other countries, albeit in a different names or forms. In this chapter, we reviewed the historical setting of microfinance in the context of Bangladesh, followed by the direct and indirect effects of its financing schemes on the borrowers. Our assessment revealed that microfinance has a greater role than mere poverty eradication. This includes promotion of entrepreneurship, women empowerment and other socioeconomic development initiatives. While there are several types of MFIs currently operating across the countries, our assessment based on secondary data revealed that region-wise types of MFIs also differ. As an instance, NGOs dominate the microfinance market in South Asian; Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFIs) in the Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC), Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Eastern Europe & Central Asia (EECA); and credit union/cooperatives (CU/C) in Africa.
... Due to the positive effect of microfinance on this dimension of development, microfinance experienced a phenomenal growth and popularity at the end of the twentieth century, particularly after the early works of development economists who advocated it as an effective instrument to alleviate poverty and stimulate socioeconomic development (Hashemi et al., 1996;Morduch, 1998Morduch, , 1999aMorduch, , 1999bMorduch, , 2000Pitt & Khandker, 1998;Pitt et al., 1996;Schuler & Hashemi, 1994). Among other things, microfinance enables the poor to generate income, build assets and minimize vulnerability to economic shocks. ...
Although started with a sole purpose of providing credit to the financially excluded in the early 1970s, modern microfinance institutions (MFIs) now offer various financial products and services along with a diverse set of non-financial products. To better understand product baskets of MFIs, this chapter exploits secondary sources of data to highlight some of the environmental and socio-economic development-related products, including non-financial and financial products. In so doing, some excellent examples were drawn from Bangladesh’s leading and top-performing MFIs. The finding shows that, apart from its flagship credit/deposit facilities, MFIs in Bangladesh offer diverse set of products and services, such as solar energy, education, religious and old home facilities, agricultural and food security, legal aid, healthcare, etc., all of which are aimed at addressing various environmental and societal challenges. Details of each product (selected) are scrutinized and discussed in this chapter.
... As mentioned, the relationship between gender and behavioral intentions has been studied in a survey context before, but five out of seven studies fail to find a significant link. Nevertheless, studies show that women tend to make better ecological and health decisions in their local environment (e.g., Agarwal, 1994;Schuler & Hashemi, 1994;Hunter et al., 2004;Pisano & Lubell, 2017;Li et al., 2019). Moreover, masculinity appears to exacerbate gender disparities in health behaviors, e.g., related to meat consumption (Nakagawa & Hart, 2019). ...
It is well-known that men and women differ in their views regarding the severity of climate change, but do they also differ in their support for climate policy and in undertaking climate action in their everyday lives? Previous survey evidence on these questions is inconclusive, but we can answer them using unique survey data from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA). Regression analysis confirms that Swedish women believe more strongly than men that climate change will affect Sweden. Furthermore, women engage in more climate-mitigating behavior than men, even conditional on climate beliefs. The association between gender and climate policy support is less robust, and disappears altogether when climate beliefs are controlled for, demonstrating that climate beliefs are the main mechanism explaining the relationship between gender and policy support.
... As one might expect, in the donor-driven research environment of Bangladesh, there are a number of surveys on whether Grameen Bank membership promotes family planning, the most recent and scholarly of which is Schuler and Hashemi (1994 Hossain's work is fundamental to ours. His findings were: ...
... Further, according to the historical findings, it has been evident that there is also a research gap exist in this topic. As per Schuler et al., (1996) and Schuler & Hashemi, (1994) the main aim of microfinance is to empower Women and providing access to credit and finance to make them independent and empowered and increase their autonomy and decision-making power at household level. Based on this, there were abundant of studies that have carried out. ...
... Women's empowerment affects both maternal and child health and is comprised of multiple dimensions including resources, agency, and achievements (Glennerster et al., 2018;Pratley, 2016). Freedom of movement is one indicator of women's empowerment that may have been impacted as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns and their sequelae (Mahmud et al., 2012;Schuler & Hashemi, 1994). Freedom of movement means women are willing and able to travel to health centers, friends and relatives' houses, outside of the village, and to the market on their own. ...
Early child development has been influenced directly and indirectly by the COVID‐19 pandemic, and these effects are exacerbated in contexts of poverty. This study estimates effects of the pandemic and subsequent population lockdowns on mental health, caregiving practices, and freedom of movement among female caregivers of children 6–27 months (50% female), in rural Bangladesh. A cohort (N = 517) was assessed before and during the pandemic (May–June, 2019 and July–September, 2020). Caregivers who experienced more food insecurity and financial loss during the pandemic reported larger increases in depressive symptoms (0.26 SD, 95% CI 0.08–0.44; 0.21 SD, 0.04–0.40) compared to less affected caregivers. Stimulating caregiving and freedom of movement results were inconsistent. Increases in depressive symptoms during the pandemic may have consequences for child development.
... Research in Bangladesh revealed that household decisions, including daily expenses [18] and asset acquisition [19], transformed from the husbands' primary duty to mutual household accountability or personal decision-making among female borrowers from Grameen Bank. Hence, women empowerment was linked to improved life quality, including healthcare decisions [20]. ...
Microcredit financing is extensively considered as an effective development method for poverty mitigation and women empowerment. Nevertheless, relevant studies reflected opposing outcomes on microfinance effects consisting of positive, zero, and negative impacts. Thus, this research investigated Al-Amal Bank's microcredit impacts on women empowerment in Yemen, one of the poorest Middle Eastern nations. A panel dataset and primary and secondary data were gathered through household surveys and propensity score matching to restrict intangible variables' possible effects. The empirical results revealed that microcredit had a significant positive effect on monthly household incomes and accumulated asset values. Although microcredit facilitated female entrepreneurship and income generation for improved household incomes and expenditure, no influence was found on female household decisions and mobility following the patriarchal system practised in many Arabian nations, including Yemen. Hence, the study finding has theoretically and practically contributed to the body of knowledge in three ways. First, a novel proof of how microcredit interactions affected several Yemeni women empowerment elements was identified. This study also provides new insight into the empowerment theory by explaining how access to microcredit influences numerous features of women's economic and social empowerment. Lastly, social and family traditions significantly influenced female attributes and lifestyles by reflecting how communal and family rituals affected microcredit impacts on women empowerment and vice versa. Conversely, this study guides Yemeni policymakers and those from other nations on extending financial services for self-development to reduce poverty and drive women empowerment rather than relying on government and international agencies.
... Here it is also clear that male partners need to be involved to successfully shift power imbalances within homes rather than placing the burden on women alone, as well as to avoid any unintended consequences and creating an enabling environment. Similarly, women's economic empowerment can improve their status and bargaining power within the household, as well as facilitate the exercise of reproductive freedoms (Schuler, Hashemi, and Riley 1997;Schuler and Hashemi 1994). Also, understanding modern contraceptive methods and how to access them not only broadens reproductive choice but also provides women with the time and opportunity to invest in themselves and their relationships (Sonfield et al. 2013;Canning and Schultz 2012). ...
Women’s empowerment is recognised as an important strategy to foster gender equality. Its achievement requires an approach that targets normative and structural drivers of gender inequality. Nigerian women continue to face socio-economic challenges and are unable to exercise their agency within their homes. We evaluated a cluster-randomised control trial that aimed to increase women’s household decision-making by working with couples in three critical areas: spousal relations; and financial and reproductive decision-making. The trend overall suggested gains in some domains of decision-making but the results were mixed. More research is needed for improved context-specific measurement of decision-making as well as programme adaptation.
... Bangladeş'teki diğer yedi çalışma Hashemi vd. (1996); Goetz ve Gupta (1996); Schuler ve Hashemi (1994) ;Hashemi vd. (1996);Schuler vd. ...
In this paper, using data for the Bist 100 index, we investigate the presence of
nonlinearities by employing several nonlinearity tests. The BDS and Runs
tests were first applied to the series to show an initial indication of
nonlinearity. The findings for the BDS and Runs test of randomness were
followed by other sets of direct nonlinearity tests developed by White (1989)
and Terasvirta (1993); Keenan (1985) and Tsay (1986). Also, the TAR test is
employed as a final test to confirm the existence of nonlinearity in the Turkish
stock exchange market. From the results of the nonlinearity test, it is
concluded that the Bist 100 index is characterised by the presence of
nonlinearities and cycles. This finding is in contrast with the efficient Market
Hypothesis implying that the Turkish stock exchange market is inefficient.
... Bangladeş'teki diğer yedi çalışma Hashemi vd. (1996); Goetz ve Gupta (1996); Schuler ve Hashemi (1994) ;Hashemi vd. (1996);Schuler vd. ...
Using the Smooth Transition Autoregressive (STAR) model for quarterly data
from 1981Q1 to 2016Q4, this paper analysed the relationship between real
exchange rate and domestic consumption in Nigeria. Findings show that
domestic consumption determines the regime shift in the real exchange rate
suggesting that the relationship between real exchange rate and domestic
consumption follows a nonlinear process with clearly distinct regimes. The
lagged exchange rate deviation is shown to have significant linear effect on
the current exchange rate deviation. On the other hand, results indicate that
current foreign consumption has a positive but insignificant impact on the
exchange rate deviation in the linear part of the model. In the nonlinear part
of the model, evidence of a significant negative relationship between real
exchange rate and domestic consumption is found, thus contradicting the
proposition by standard International Business Cycle Model. The results also
showed evidence of no linear granger causality between the variables. On the
other hand, the Nonlinear Granger causality test result shows evidence of a
bi-directional nonlinear causality between real exchange rate and domestic
consumption in Nigeria. Therefore, the study concludes that the relationship
between real exchange rate and domestic consumption is indeed nonlinear,
and that relative consumption in home and foreign countries determines real
exchange rate dynamics. Therefore, this study recommends that fiscal and
monetary authorities should develop policies that will help strengthen domestic production which would further reduce import component in
domestic consumption.
... Women's empowerment in the literature appears to have positive affects on fertility choices of households. As the opportunity cost of time for women increases (with increased education or labour force participation), it is expected that fertility rate drops, and that income per capita, savings and asset accumulation increase (Dupas and Robinson, 2013;Schuler and Hashemi, 1994). Esteve-Volart (2004) also shows that exclusion of women from the labour market corresponds with lower female-to-male schooling ratios. ...
In this study, we exploit a natural experiment to investigate the size and nature of the gender asset gap in Pakistan. In 2010, there was a massive flood, which affected nearly a fifth of the country, and caused a distinct deterioration in socioeconomic conditions. Families in flood-affected regions faced a considerable decrease in inheritable property, potentially leading to a scarcity in family assets that could be passed on to the next generation. We use the 2010 floods as a wealth shock to study the impact of decreased household wealth, due to exposure to flooding, on marital asset ownership of women, and subsequently, on female empowerment outcomes. The 2SRI estimation results show that retaining marital assets are associated with a higher status of women in rural Pakistan. Specifically, retaining a higher brideprice leads to an increase in the empowerment of women in the household. We also estimate the association between explicit and implict gender bias. We collect a series of tablet-based Implicit Association Tests (IATs) to show that women with a higher gender bias are also less empowered in household decision-making. The effects of marital assets on implicit gender bias are consistent with those of explicit gender bias. In a country with poor implementation of women's property rights, marital assets are the only property that women possess.
... In any case, it is clear that gender equality is positively correlated with the level of personal reproductive rights (Pillai & Gupta, 2006). Several researchers shared the same views, and they state that empowerment is associated with the use of birth controls (Samman & Santos, 2009;Schuler & Hashemi, 1994;Muzaffar, et al, 2018). ...
This paper describes discrepancies in spouses' reports of the use of female-controlled, nonvisible contraceptive methods using data from rural Nepal that were collected monthly from both spouses of 822 couples between 2008 and 2016. We find that spouses in about half of couples provided discrepant reports during the period of observation, and these discrepancies occurred in 14 percent of the months of observation. We then investigate these discrepant reports as possible indicators of incomplete transparency regarding reproductive choices and examine whether they are associated with wives' education and spouses' relative education levels. We find, first, that wife's educational attainment was negatively associated with discrepant reports of contraceptive use, independent of spouses' relative educational attainment. At the same time, these models suggest that educational differences between husbands and wives were associated with discrepant reports. Couples in which wives had more education than their husbands faced greater odds of discrepant reports of contraceptive use, relative to couples in which spouses had similar education. Among couples in which husbands had more education than wives odds of wife-only reporting were lower, relative to couples with similar levels of education. These findings offer important new insights into spousal dynamics that may influence transparency regarding contraceptive use.
Background: It is well-known fact that less empowered married women have less uptake of contraception. Indicators of women’s empowerment and demographic characteristics have strong influence on current use of contraceptive methods. The core objective of this paper is to assess the relationship between the indicators of women’s empowerment (women’s participation in household decision making, ownership of assets and control over her income) and current contraceptive use. Methods and Materials: In the PDHS2017-18, 10825 married women of reproductive age (15-49 years) were covered in the province of Punjab, Province. Association between indicators of women’s empowerment and current contraceptive use are showed by using descriptive analysis, Cross-tabulation and Chi-Square test. Multi-variate binary logistic regression is performed to assess the net effect of indicators of women’s empowerment and background characteristics on the current use of contraceptive methods. Results: Results show that women’s empowerment is a recognized tool to improve the current use of contraceptive. It is also observed that women who have not participation in household decision making, women who have not ownership of any assets and women who have not control over own income have less use of any contraceptive methods.
Abstract
Introduction: The present study seeks to design a health insurance empowerment model so that the insured can achieve an acceptable level of capabilities. The reason for choosing this group of insured persons is their large and considerable population in the country, which now include about 50% of Iran’s population.
Methods: The methodological approach of this research is qualitative and based of the grounded theory, deep and semi-structured interview data retrieval techniques. For data mining, the theoretical coding method was used, which aims to achieve the main and secondary categories in line with the theoretical model setting. The sample number is 15 health insurance experts who were selected purposefully.
Results: The results show that the central phenomenon is community-oriented empowerment, which is based on causal conditions, contextual conditions, intervening conditions and strategies. The most important strategies are the right of the insured to access insurance services and opportunities. In the discussion of background conditions, important elements such as agency, sense of equality and inclusion (integration) and capacity building are emphasized. Also, the findings show that components such as maintaining the rights of the insured, enabling resources and the efficiency and quality of insurance services are considered as causal conditions.
Conclusion: According to the findings of the present study, three main categories of education and information, social participation and social support have been proposed as intervening conditions. Completing the chain of the paradigm model of the present study is based on the data theory method of the Consequences Foundation, which analysed the empowerment in four main sections of social empowerment, cultural empowerment, economic empowerment and psychological empowerment of the insured.
Keywords: Community-Oriented Empowerment, Social Empowerment, Psychological Empowerment, Cultural Empowerment, Economic Empowerment, Health Insurance
Energy sector reform, particularly the pricing of fuel and its gender-differentiated impacts, is rarely studied in the literature on energy and gender. This empirical study examines whether energy pricing has differential consequences for men and women with regard to kerosene oil use in rural Bangladesh. Specifically, the variables under focus are the duration of the study, duration of night-time leisure and time spent on income-generating activities. A household survey with 630 kerosene using rural households has been conducted in eight districts of Bangladesh. Apart from OLS estimation, we also use IV to address the endogeneity embedded in the model. The study finds that higher kerosene prices have a gender-differentiated effect on study duration, night-time leisure duration and time spent on income-generating activities in the context of household use of lighting fuel. Females are more adversely affected by higher kerosene prices in terms of study duration and night-time leisure hours. The effort to offset these losses by increasing effort on income-generating activities is less successful for women than men.
In this study, it is aimed to examine how the empowerment of women has an effect on their economic, social, political and external communication-social network, as well as to reveal the effect of empowerment on the family lives of married women entrepreneurs. The data were collected between January 15 and September 15, 2019 using the survey technique. 421 participants answered the questionnaire. According to the analysis findings; women's empowerment has a significant and positive impact on their economic, social, political and external communication-social network. However, it is another important finding that the empowerment of married women in business life has a negative effect on their marriage. This finding shows that marital status is an effective factor on domestic problems. Although there are many studies on the empowerment of women in social life, the limited number of studies on women's empowerment in business life, the problems experienced by married women entrepreneurs and the inadequacy of studies examining the effect of empowerment on family life in the national literature have been the driving force behind this study.
This article has reviewed and presented women empowerment policies of Ethiopia and Kenya. It assessed the measures taken by governments to alleviate gender inequality and increase the role of women in economic and social spheres in both countries. Therefore, different secondary data was collected from secondary sources such as books, articles, conventions, reports, policy papers, constitutions and other related legal provisions of the countries through document review. The collected data were presented by using descriptive research design. The article found that despite the measures taken in both countries, women are marginalized from economic, social and political life. This is particularly high in rural areas. Moreover, the substantive representation of women is critically questionable in both countries. Therefore, to ensure gender parity, in a substantive aspect, the governments should develop mechanisms in providing training to community in both countries. Farther, create an enabling environment to raise awareness of women in influencing the institutions in which they are represented and critically influencing public policy.
It has been suggested in the existing literatures that full participation of women is essential in achieving financial inclusiveness, there is insufficient research on factors inhibiting rural women access to micro-credit. Although there is evidence suggesting that the number of microfinance institutions has been on the increase, access to micro credit by rural women has received less empirical attention. This chapter has assessed disparity in rural women access to micro credit in Nigeria. Cross-sectional data extracted from the 2016 Nigeria General Household Survey was utilized for the study. Findings suggest that there is huge disparity among rural women access to micro credit. The policy suggestion of the finding is that there is desirous need for effective implementation of financial inclusiveness so as to bridge the gap in access to micro credit among women in rural Nigeria.
Over the past two decades, we have seen an explosion in research on the topic of women's empowerment and its related dimensions, yet there remains much to be done in terms of clarifying conceptual pathways and best practices in measurement. This review traces the intellectual and historic context in which women's status and empowerment in lower- and middle-income countries have been measured, the conceptual and operationalization challenges in shaping research questions, the use of empirical measures and their connection to levels of social analysis, and the identification of emerging directions for future research. With the recognition that empowerment is as much a collective process as it is individual, we argue that a more integrative and multidisciplinary approach to empowerment is needed. This would require incorporating an intersectional lens, employing the life course approach, and tapping into diverse sources of data that can together strengthen future research.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Sociology, Volume 48 is July 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
The main purpose of this study was investigate the role of women's home-businesses and their economic empowerment in decision-making. The required data for this study has been developed by using questionnaire technique as survey method. The reliability of the questionnaire was obtained 87 precent based on Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Population samples of this research were 161 rural womens which were selected according to Cochran's formula (N=265). The results showed that 73.9 percent of women had high economic empowerment and only 12.4 percent of women were poor. Totally of 71 precent of cases, the decision-making power was good or excellent, and only about 7.5 percent have poor decision-making power. The results also showed the significant relationship between economic empowerment and some independent factors like education and type of home-business. Finally due to the impact of home-based businesses on economic empowerment in decision-making, it is recommended to develop rural women home business. Also it is recommended to identify successful and effective home-based businesses and use their experience in developing rural home business.
This paper aims to examine the pervasive role of coaching in enhancing the income
generation capacity of women. It describes how carefully contextualized training programs are critical in that respect. It ensures that intangible investments and the use of knowledge are becoming essential for women's financial wellbeing and economic prosperity. It investigates in which areas more effective training might be necessary. Best practice experience and lessonsthat work in the local context should be learned
One of the most important approaches to improving the health of mothers and newborns has been the continuum of care (CoC) for maternal health. Women's lack of empowerment may be an obstacle to accessing CoC in male-dominated societies. However, research often defines empowerment narrowly, despite the fact that multiple components of empowerment can play a role. The aim of this study was to look at the relationship between CoC for maternal health and measures of empowerment among Bangladeshi women. The data for this analysis came from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2017-2018. The research centered on a subset of 4942 married women of reproductive age who had at least one live birth in the 3 years preceding the survey. Women's empowerment was measured using SWPER Global, a validated measure of women's empowerment for low-and middle-income countries. CoC for maternal health was measured at three stages of pregnancy, pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum period. To estimate adjusted odds ratios, we specified three-level logistic regression models for our three binary response variables after descriptive analysis. Just 30.5% of mothers completed all phases of the CoC (ANC 4+, SBA, and PNC). After adjusting for individual, household, and community level variables, women with high social independence (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.97; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.58-2.47) had 97% more ANC 4+ visits, 176% higher retention in SBA (AOR 2.76; 95% CI 1.94-3.94), and 137% higher completion of full CoC (AOR 2.37; 95% CI 1.16-4.88) than women with low social independence. Frequency of reading newspapers or magazines, woman's education, age at first cohabitation, and age of the woman at first birth were significant predictors of CoC at all three stages, namely pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum, among the various indicators of social independence domain. Moreover, the intraclass correlation showed that about 16.20%, 8.49%, and 25.04%, of the total variation remained unexplained even after adjustments of individual, household and community level variables for models that predicted ANC 4+ visits, CoC from pregnancy to SBA, and CoC from delivery to the early postnatal period. The low completion rate of complete CoC for maternal health imply that women in Bangladesh are not getting the full health benefit from existing health services. Health promotion programs should target mothers with low levels of education, mothers who are not exposed to print media, and mothers who are younger at the time of birth and their first cohabitation to raise the rate of completing all levels of CoC for maternal health.
In the light of contraceptive information and services as an important part of adolescent reproductive health, this study envisions the indices of awareness, health and capacity building among currently married females of age 15-24 in order to understand their sexual and reproductive empowerment. The data used in this paper has been extracted from the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), conducted in 2015-16. In the analysis, currently married females of age 15-24 have been taken with a sample size of 94,034. Three indices of Awareness, health and capacity building have been constructed through Principle Component Analysis. Bivariate statistics along with Binary Logistic Regression have been used to depict the association between socio-demographic factors and Indices of awareness, health and capacity building among female adolescents in India. Almost 44 per cent of the females came up as having low awareness, 48.28 per cent as having low health and 90.55 per cent as having low capacity building. Age, illiteracy, rural residence and no exposure to media were positively associated with low indices of awareness, health and capacity building among female adolescents. Moreover, women from the western and northeastern regions were having low indices of awareness, health and capacity building. The low indices of awareness, health and capacity building suggest that there's a lot that the public health providers have to do. In terms of enhancing the awareness of young women, it is important that women should know about the contraceptives as well as family planning thoroughly.
More than a quarter century after the Beijing Platform for Action solidified the importance of gender equality in international development, it is timely to review the conceptual approaches used to assess the gendered impacts of interventions. This paper presents a systematic review of recent investigations of gender equality from development-related academic literature (2009–2019) using two analytical approaches. First, we visualise trends based on bibliographic, methodological, contextual and conceptual aspects (n = 150). Second, we explore the theoretical approaches used to conceptualise gendered change through co-citation analysis (n = 61). Our trend analysis shows a breadth of relevant disciplinary perspectives but limited geographic and content foci. Additionally, very few studies explore gender equality dynamics that involve men and boys. Our exploration of theoretical foundations identifies four conceptualisations of gendered change, each reflecting the divergent disciplines, actors and interests that operate in the gender and development space. These conceptualisations each rely on and expand the concept of empowerment. By critically reflecting on feminist principles, future studies can transcend narrower empowerment framings and contribute more meaningfully to the aim of gender transformative development.
Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2021.1911636 .
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