Vol. 1(2) SEP 2011 - SAVAP International

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Academic Research International ISSN: 2223-9553 Volume 1, Issue 2, September 2011 WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT THROUGH MICROCREDIT: A CASE STUDY OF DISTRICT GUJRAT, PAKISTAN Sarfraz Khan Lecturer, Department of Sociology, University of Gujrat, PAKISTAN sarfraz.khan@uog.edu.pk Mirza Rizwan Sajid Lecturer, Department of Statistics, University of Gujrat, PAKISTAN mirza.rizwan@uog.edu.pk Prof. Dr. Hafeez-ur-Rehman Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, PAKISTAN ABSTRACT Present study was conducted in District Gujrat to investigate the impact of the microcredit scheme of Punjab Rural Support Program (PRSP) on women’s empowerment. Researches throughout the developing world have highlighted the impact of microcredit programs on women’s empowerment. Present research was divided into three main sections. First section deals with the status of women at housed level before taking microcredit while second and third sections deal with the impact of microcredit in raising women’s awareness and women’s empowerment after taking microcredit. In the second section information was analyzed that whether microcredit increased the awareness among women regarding their status, legal rights and importance of say at household level. In the last section a situational analysis of the women after taking microcredit is presented. The data analysis has shown that there is a positive impact of microcredit program introduced by PRSP in the rural Gujrat on women’s empowerment. Keywords: Microcredit, Punjab Rural Support Program, Women’s Awareness, Women Empowerment, Gujrat, Pakistan INTRODUCTION In recent years, governmental and nongovernmental organizations in many low income countries have introduced credit programs targeted to the poor. Many of these programs specifically target women, based on the view that they are more likely than men to be credit constrained, have restricted access to the wage labor market, and have an inequitable share of power in household decision making. The Grameen Bank of Bangladesh is perhaps the best‐known example of these small‐scale production credit programs for the poor, and over 90% of its clients are women. Earlier work (Pitt and Khandker 1998; Pitt et al. 1999; Pitt 2000; Pitt et al. 2003) has found that the effects of program participation differ importantly by the gender of program participant. For example, Pitt and Khandker (1998) find that the flow of consumption expenditure increases 18 taka for every 100 taka borrowed by women, but only 11 taka for every 100 taka borrowed by men. Pitt et al. (2003), using a totally different approach to parameter identification, find that credit provided women importantly improves measures of health and nutrition for both boys and girls, while credit provided men has no significant effect (Pitt et al. 2006). The role of women in overall development has not been fully understood, nor has it been given its full weight in the struggle to eliminate poverty, hunger, inequality and injustice at the national as well as the international level. The continued assumption that the responsibility for child rearing and for family needs lies with women alone, as well as the persistence of intra household inequalities, place severe strains on women’s health, limit their chances for a fair share in the benefits of society. It is perceived that majority of the poor belongs to the rural settings and most of these poor are women. In this context, Siyar and Afra (2011) mentioned that “Poverty spreading in village is a global issue. Copyright © 2011 SAVAP International www.savap.org.pk www.journals.savap.org.pk 332
Academic Research International ISSN: 2223-9553 Volume 1, Issue 2, September 2011 According to the FAO finding about % 75 of world’s poor people that are more than 1 milliard people are living in rural zone and more than % 70 of this poverty people are women. As the most of the people who are poor are living in village and are women is the reason for insufficiency of rural development programs.” From the last two decades different programs have been launched throughout the world to eradicate the poverty from the world. Microcredit is one of them. In the developing countries with the monetary aids from the developed world this program is under progress to stabilize the situation and making some efforts to get the people out of this poverty. In the context of Pakistan, microcredit programs have been launched to eradicate poverty. According PMN (2009) microfinance in Pakistan is at its initial stage. The organized microfinance activities started in 2001 as a result of Micro Finance Ordinance 2001. The establishment of first microfinance bank of Pakistan is the result of this ordinance. Jan and Hayat (2011) discussed that “It is now globally accepted that sustainable development is possible only if the beneficiaries of the development program participate in the process of development. This is why microcredit schemes, especially for women, are kept as an important component of the development Programs in Pakistan. The government financial institutions like Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), First Women Bank (FWB) and KhushaliBank (KB) give specific interest to microcredit Programs for women.” Besides these programs of microcredit, there are also Rural Support Programs. In each province there is at least one program which mainly focusing on the poverty eradication. In Punjab province there is Punjab Rural Support Program, alongside few other programs like wise National Rural Support Program, which is working in almost every district of this province. Conceptualizing Women Empowerment and Microcredit Before defining the women empowerment we must understand the word empowerment. Empowerment in its broader sense refers to an individual's or group’s increased “power” where as power means access to and control over material, intellectual and ideological resources (Batliwala, 1994). According to Adams (1994), “Empowerment is the means by which individuals, groups and communities to take control of their circumstances and achieve their own goals, thereby being able to work toward helping themselves and others to maximize the quality of their lives”. In the following section we will conceptualize two terms, i) Women’s Empowerment and ii) Microcredit. This will followed by the relationship between microcredit and women’s empowerment. Women’s Empowerment Different scholars have identified the indicators of women’s empowerment, likewise, Schuler and Hashemi (1994) outlined six elements of women's empowerment in Bangladesh which includes a sense of self and vision of a future, mobility and visibility, economic security, status and decisionmaking power within the household, ability to interact effectively in the public sphere and participation in non-family groups. While on other hand, Friedmann's (1992) analysis of women's empowerment identified different kinds of power: economic, social, political and psychological. Economic power means access to income, assets, food, markets and decision-making power in the economic activities. Social power means access to certain bases of individual production such as financial resources, information, knowledge, skills and participation in social organizations. Political power means the access of individual household members to the process by which decisions, particularly those that affect their own future, are made. Psychological power means the individual's sense of potency, which is demonstrated in self-confident behaviour and self esteem. While on other hand Rowlands (1995) describe it as “a process whereby women become able to organize themselves to increase their own self-reliance, to assert their independent right to make choices and to control resources which will assist in challenging and eliminating their own subordination”. For the analysis of the present research we will use both Schuler and Hashemi (1994) and Friedmann's (1992) definitions of the term women empowerment. Microcredit Copyright © 2011 SAVAP International www.savap.org.pk www.journals.savap.org.pk 333
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