Empirical Investigation on the Impact of Microcredit on Women Empowerment in Urban Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

The main goal of this study was to assess the impact of participation in Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia’s (AIM) microcredit program on the empowerment among urban low-income women in Peninsular Malaysia. To attain the above mentioned objective, this study utilized a cross-sectional design using stratified random sampling method to examine whether or not participation in AIM’s microcredit program improved urban low-income clients’ role in household decision making, helped the clients achieve economic security, gain more control over resources and family decisions, improve their ability to go outside to work and improve their level of legal awareness. Findings of this study revealed that participation in AIM’s microcredit program generated a positive and significant impact on women’s empowerment in Urban Peninsular Malaysia. The results suggest that AIM should, therefore, focus on increasing the outreach by targeting urban low-income women. The policy makers should focus on establishing a supportive regulatory environment to promote sustainable development of all microcredit organizations in urban Malaysia.

Does Micro-Credit Empower Women through Self-Help Groups? Evidence from Punjab, Northern India

“…These results were in line with previous findings on the positive association of women empowerment with heightened levels of self-confidence and esteem [27,29,39]. Further, in accordance with prior literature [18,[30][31][32], this research also revealed that micro credit programs have worked very successfully to raise the standard of living of not just rural women but also their families. The households have been able to become self-sufficient and move above the BPL (Below Poverty Line) tag.…”

“…The households have been able to become self-sufficient and move above the BPL (Below Poverty Line) tag. With the access to microfinance, women become empowered to take decisions that are related to their health, education of their children, and other household issues [18,27,29]. Women enjoy a position of significance in the family where earlier they were treated as mere bearers of children, responsible to do all household chores.…”

“…This leads to an increase in individual loans and security for the loans is given in the form of a collective guarantee to the bank [16]. Participation in micro credit programs improved poor women's ability to generate returns, which consequently led to an improvement in households' income, fixed assets, net working capital and increased spending on food, medical facilities, and children's schooling [18]. Women's participation in micro credit helps to generate social capital, which reduces intimate partner violence in the household [19] and make women economically independent and self-confident.…”

“…The authors suggested that, to make SHGs a success among rural people, subvention loan facilities should be provided, self-employment loans should be made available to individual SHG members, better marketing opportunities should be generated, and self-employment training should be provided to rural people. Al-Mamum et al [18] steered a cross sectional study in Malaysia to assess the contribution of women in Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) microcredit program. The results revealed that the micro credit program empowered urban low-income women in the nation.…”

Impact of Microfinance on Women Empowerment: An Empirical Evidence from Andhra Pradesh

“…This scale is adapted from two scales developed by Al-Mamun et al [29] and Swain and Wallentin [30]. Swain and Wallentin [30] used five latent factors which encompasses economic position, autonomy, social attitudes, education and finally network, communication and political participation level.…”