How Empowered is Microfinance in Empowering Women ? Evidence from India

Drawing upon the data from the recent period, this paper explores the relationship between women’s involvement in microfinance programs and improvement in their empowerment status. The significant differences between member and non-member women in terms of economic, social and political empowerment demonstrate a definite relationship between women’s exposure to credit programs and their empowerment. According to the composite empowerment indicator, about 38.2 per cent of women associated with microfinance were empowered, whereas this figure was just 8.8 per cent for non-SHG women. The paper found that involvement in microfinance programs through SHG not only empowers women but it increases with the duration of membership. It is also observed that ‘economic empowerment’ appears to be playing an important role in achieving women’s empowerment, be it member or non-member. However, the duration of membership does not show a significant relationship with women’s social empowerment.