The Effect of Microcredit on Women Empowerment in Welfare and Decisions Making in Malaysia

Al-Shami, Sayed Samer Ali; Razali, Ramadhan; Rashid, Nurulizwa

doi:10.1007/s11205-017-1632-2

Cited by 62 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…After four years, the respondents placed more emphasis on their responsibility to the entire household's work, suggesting that women's perception of gender roles remained the same, albeit somewhat more intensified than before. The result is similar to the findings in [32,33], which observed that a microfinance program alone cannot change the status quo of gender stereotypes within households.…”

Section: Linkages Between Microcredit Accessibility and Sustainable Wsupporting

confidence: 88%

Sustainable Empowerment Initiatives among Rural Women through Microcredit Borrowings in Bangladesh

Akhter

Kun

2020

Sustainability

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Microcredit is an effective instrument that has been recognized to alleviate poverty, especially in developing countries such as Bangladesh. This study seeks to use microcredit as an instrument to bridge the gap between the accessibility of microcredit among poor rural women and sustainable socio-economic development, providing novelty to the concept of “sustainability of empowerment”. In addition, this study employed poor rural women to estimate the empowerment performance of microcredit borrowers compared to non-borrowers in the same socio-economic environment as it relates to microcredit in rural Bangladesh. A regression analysis was used to accomplish these objectives. This study also used propensity score matching techniques to find an easy way to access microcredit. The empirical results not only involve participation in microcredit accessibility but also the particular qualitative attributes of women empowerment. The results also suggest that sustainability is accompanied by affluence among microcredit borrowers, as indicated by women empowerment. The outcome of the empirical analysis shows that there is a significant impact of microcredit on increasing participation in the overall decision-making process, in legal awareness, independent movements, and mobility, as well as enhancing living standards to encourage sustainable women empowerment. This study recommends future investigations for microcredit providers to explore how to build an integrated, holistic approach to women empowerment in Bangladesh.

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Section: Linkages Between Microcredit Accessibility and Sustainable Wsupporting

confidence: 88%

Sustainable Empowerment Initiatives among Rural Women through Microcredit Borrowings in Bangladesh

Akhter

Kun

2020

Sustainability

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“…Microcredit assistances under a program named Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) are made available for women to help them kickstart their home industry that could be expanded to small medium enterprises and penetrate into the domestic and international markets. AIM has helped women increase their household income (Al-Shami et al, 2018) and therefore escape poverty. Bahari et al (2016) found that Bumiputera is the group most susceptible to poverty.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pockets of poverty in the northern states of Malaysia

et al. 2018

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Despite Malaysia's tremendous economic growth and remarkable achievement in poverty reduction for the nation, pockets of poverty remain in certain regions. Pockets of poverty could be analysed using micro data when macro data is unable to provide a clear understanding on the existence of poverty. This study assesses the pockets of poverty in the Northern States of Malaysia. Northern States of Malaysia consist of Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Perak. The objectives of this paper are twofold: to identify pockets of poverty in the Northern States of Malaysia using household income data and to determine the factors that affect these pockets of poverty. Pockets of poverty in this region are investigated among strata, ethnic groups, income level and education. For this purpose, the National Poverty Line Income (PLI) is determined to specify the poor. Logistic probability function is estimated to assess factors that influenced poverty in the Northern States of Malaysia. This study uses the Household Income Survey (HIS) data for 2009 and 2012. From data analysis, it could be concluded that pockets of poverty exist among elderly, women, Bumiputera and those living in the rural areas. Logistic probability analysis indicates that variables that are statistically significant in influencing poverty are age, gender, location, education level, Chinese (ethnic group) and married (marital status). These findings are vital to develop appropriate policy orientation in targeting the correct group in solving poverty.

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“…Secondly, women benefit from microcredit by getting more involved in economic activities. Al‐Shami, Razali, and Rashid (2018) showed that access to microcredit increased labour supply and monthly income for women in urban Malaysia. Alnaa (2017) also found a strong effect of microcredit on self‐employment creation for rural women in northern Ghana.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alnaa (2017) also found a strong effect of microcredit on self‐employment creation for rural women in northern Ghana. Several studies have showed that microcredit can empower women by increasing their employment and their participation in the decision‐making process within households (e.g., Al‐Mamun, Wahab, Mazumder, & Su, 2014; Al‐Shami et al, 2018; Attanasio et al, 2015; Rai & Ravi, 2011). Thirdly, women can develop confidence and self‐esteem and avoid domestic violence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thirdly, women can develop confidence and self‐esteem and avoid domestic violence. Several studies have found that microcredit has a significant effect on women's empowerment in various dimensions, such as economic security, family decision making, legal awareness, and public participation (Al‐Shami et al, 2017, 2018; El Hadidi, 2018; Hashemi, Schuler, & Riley, 1996; Kato & Kratzer, 2013; Pitt, Khandker, & Cartwright, 2006; Pitt, Khandker, Chowdhury, & Millimet, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Does microcredit reduce the gender gap in employment? Evidence from Egypt

Arouri

Cuong

2020

African Development Review

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In Egypt, there is a remarkable gap between men's and women's participation in the labour market. In this study, we examine the impact of microcredit on the labour supply of men and women and subsequently investigate whether microcredit can reduce the employment gap between men and women in Egypt. We find a negative effect of microcredit on men's employment, but a positive effect on the employment of women. Borrowing from a microcredit source increases the probability of women working by 8.5 percentage points and mainly affects self-employed work. We also find a positive effect of microcredit on work in small businesses. This finding suggests that women can use microcredit to open small shops or household businesses. Finally, using decomposition analysis, we find that microcredit reduces the overall employment gap between men and women by 0.743%. 1 | INTRODUCTION Gender equality is an important sustainable development goal (SDG) that countries throughout the world aim to achieve. There is a positive relationship between gender equality and economic development (e.g., Addison, Grown, & Tarp, 2016; Baliamoune-Lutz & McGillivray, 2009; Duflo, 2012). Yet, there is still a large inequality between men and women in the labour market, especially in Arab societies (Anyanwu & Augustine, 2013; Anyanwu, 2016). In Arab countries, the labour force participation rate for females (age from 15) was only 21% in 2019 (compared with the rate at 74% for males) (World Bank, 2020). A large gender gap in the labour market can result in high gender inequality in economic power and decision making within communities and families. An important question is how to increase women's involvement in economic activities. Women, especially those in poor families, tend to have low education, and as a result find it difficult to get a wage-paying job. Starting a household business is challenging because of credit constraints. Commercial banks are not interested in poor clients because of lack of collateral (Hoff & Stiglitz, 1990; Kochar, 1997). Several empirical studies, such as Muravyev, Talavera, and Schäfer (2009) and Alesina, Lotti, and Mistrulli (2013), found evidence that lenders had a gender bias against female clients. Governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have stepped into the gap and have provided credit to the poor, often at highly subsidized interest rates. There is an increasing number of microcredit programmes targeted at women (e.g., Jayachandran, 2020; Kato & Kratzer, 2013).

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The Effect of Microcredit on Women Empowerment in Welfare and Decisions Making in Malaysia

Cited by 62 publications

References 45 publications

Sustainable Empowerment Initiatives among Rural Women through Microcredit Borrowings in Bangladesh

Sustainable Empowerment Initiatives among Rural Women through Microcredit Borrowings in Bangladesh

Pockets of poverty in the northern states of Malaysia

Does microcredit reduce the gender gap in employment? Evidence from Egypt

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