The Illusion of Women Empowerment in Microfinance: A case studyLakshmi Kumar*

Abstract

At the core of all development, poverty eradication and progress lies women. It is believed that their empowerment can bring about the positive change in society. Traditional literature implies women to be empowered when they can exercise choices and are aware of alternatives- microfinance (MF) being one of the most important catalysts. This research attempts to understand the impact of microfinance on women empowerment through a case study by semi-structured interviews in Tamil Nadu.

It is found that even though women have experienced increase in income and consumption, yet, not surprisingly, the main bread winner of the household continues to be their spouses. They still have very little control over resources, assets and do not equally participate in major household decisions. However they have significant influence on the choices that their children make. Given their semi literate stature, their husbands’ complete support and their mediocre entrepreneurial ability, the confidence of these women to act alone and to make choices by themselves is still lacking as they feel that it is less risky to act in conjunction with the spouse on any decision.

The returns from the business are small and most of the same accrue to her family. We found in this research that the real bottleneck is the hierarchical nature of the society, the lack of entrepreneurial talent and risk taking ability in these women. This is also due to the lack in market linkages and network ability. We also found a self selection bias in the group formation comprising of safe members or risky members but a mix of the two were rare.

Ultimately nothing feeds and frees like money. To these women MF seems maybe a path or transformation to economic independence. For MF to effectively contribute to women’s empowerment, or facilitate it at some level, the women involved must perceive themselves as being deprived of choices, which will be taken care of by access to finance. Unless and until this mindset is present, we are not likely to find empirically that MF leads to women’s empowerment.

*Lakshmi KumarFaculty, Institute for Financial Management and Research, 24 Kothari Road, Chennai 600010E Mail id: lakshmik@ifmr.ac.in

The Illusion of Women Empowerment in Microfinance: A case study

The claims of poverty reduction due to microfinance are still a matter of debate among relevant

interest groups. The fundamental question that we face right now is has microfinance has

actually contributed to the development. The reason the development paradigm becomes

important to pursue- particularly in the area of microfinance- is because this involves lending to

the poor. Essentially, even if we do not elevate them from their present status we at least should

not lead them into a quagmire of loans. The majority of Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) lend

only to women as it is believed that women are disadvantaged both sociologically as well as

economically. It could be possible that women are chosen for these loans because of their non-

migratory behavior or for they being perceived as more family oriented and responsible

compared to their male counterparts. Additionally since MF necessitates attendance in weekly

meetings institutions trust women more than men as they are likely to be more disciplined than

men. If these are the reasons for selecting women for loan disbursements, it is even more

important to raise a question if providing loans to the poor women is resulting in women

empowerment as suggested and followed by several microfinance institutions in their mission

statements.

In the words of Amartya Sen (1999) ‘development is increasing freedom’. Has

microfinance increased freedom and the choices women face? Put differently has microfinance

empowered women? Empowerment is a complex word to define in an economic sense and more

complex to measure. The central theme of this paper is to question what empowerment is in the

context of available literature and in terms of what it means to the women who take loans by an

empirical investigation. Specifically, this paper seeks to answer what empowerment is to women

who take loans from MFIs and whether these women are empowered by microfinance.

Section 1 discusses the literature in relation to women empowerment, poverty reduction and

microfinance. Section 2 brings out the interrelated research questions which form the basis of

the questionnaire (Appendix 1). Section 3 discusses the questionnaire and its implementation

related issues. Section 4 analyzes the data collected and discusses it. Section 5 concludes the

paper arguing what women empowerment means at an individual level in discussion with the

literature.

Section 1: Literature Review

The 1990s saw the expansion of micro finance and its significant access of small loans and

savings to women. It was believed that this will contribute to poverty reduction and economic

empowerment of women. The basic premise behind lending to women is that they are not only

creditworthy but are less likely to misuse the money and are more likely to share the fruits of the

investment with the entire household. In addition to the economic benefits, it is argued that

women’s increasing role in the household economy will lead to their empowerment. During the

past few decades micro credit has enjoyed tremendous growth and there is great hope that such

programs will contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (Kabeer,

2005a and Littlefield, Morduch and Hashemi, 2003).

Despite several methodological variations, evaluation studies fairly widely accept that

microcredit does improve household incomes and also linked with other associated benefits like

increased livelihood diversification, more labor market activity, more education and better health

(Hulme and Mosley, 1996, Vol.1 and 2; Khandker, 1998; Littlefield, Morduch and Hashemi,

2003; Morduch and Haley, 2002; Mosley and Rock, 2004; Todd, 1999 and Zaman, 2002). There

is, however, little consensus regarding the empowerment potential of microcredit and studies

have made diametrically opposite claims. While some claim that microcredit has helped women

increase their income earning capabilities leading to greater confidence and ability to overcome

cultural asymmetries ( Hashemi, Schuler and Riley, 1996; Kabeer, 2001; Pitt and Khandker,

1998 and R. Rahman, 1986); others contend that loans made to women are usually controlled by

their husbands which leads to women’s dependence on their husbands for loan installments and

may also result in domestic dissension and violence (Goetz and Gupta, 1996; Leach and Sitaram,

2002 and A. Rahman, 1999). Disregarding the conceptual and methodological differences

among these studies, the suggestion other studies suggest that while lending to women benefits

their households, its beneficial impact on women themselves is somewhat uncertain. (For a

discussion on conceptual and methodological issues see de Aghion and Morduch, 2005; Kabeer,

2001 and Morduch, 1999).

The segregation between microcredit, poverty reduction and women are inseparable. Often

while looking for literature on studies on the definition of women empowerment, its conceptual

clarity is ambiguous as can be seen from the above quoted literature where there is a clear

evasion on the central theme. As for example, most of the above mentioned studies suggest that

the families are benefitting from microcredit but these studies do not discuss women

empowering or disempowering status. Even though while connecting poverty reduction and

microcredit, inevitably the focus is women as 90% of the lending goes to women, but issues

relating to women empowerment are sidelined.

A conceptual study that defines and tries to measure women empowerment due to microfinance

is by Kabeer (1999) who reflects on the ability of a woman to make strategic life choices when

she did not have the opportunity to do so before. Her paper describes the three interrelated

indivisible dimensions of women empowerment namely resources, agency and achievements

which are vital in the process of empowering women. Further the idea of choice that a woman

can now exercise is further qualified by referring to the condition of choice, its content and

consequences. Hence an attempt at understanding the woman at the individual level is sought

here.

Another equally interesting research tries to explain women empowerment as a process is by

Mayoux (2009). The inter linkages as identified by her is explained as a series of “virtuous

spirals”. In her work she explains that when a woman gets access to the finance, she can either

start her own economic activity or invest in existing activities. This can directly increase her

income and bring about potential increase in her assets. Alternatively, she could use the finance

for her household well-being such as better food for the family or better education for her

children, which results in increasing her status in her family. A combination of women’s

increased economic activity and increased decision making in the household over a period of

time could make her socially and politically active. She could thereby be a positive contributor

to change in society. Hence from individual empowerment through micro finance it is

potentially possible that she make make significant contributions by increasing her visibility as

agents of economic growth and economic actors in policy decisions.

However, Mayoux cautions by adding that women can get caught into a quagmire of these loans.

This could happen for several reasons and could make them positively disempowering. Some of

the reasons are:

Misuse of credit.

Use of credit for non economic activities.

Use of credit by people with low entrepreneurial ability.

When we critique Kabeer (1999) or Mayoux (2009), the focus is on the process of change and

the availability of change agents. Both of them reiterate the need for the presence of low cost

microcredit which can act as the trigger of change for the woman because she would and is the

focus also whom we can call as change agent. We however see two potential problems- firstly,

the time lag of change it takes for her to get empowered before her family gets empowered by

her and secondly, her desire to exercise independent choices when it is seems less risky to make

choices in consultation with her spouse. However, this paper uses the framework provided by

Kabeer (1999) and Mayoux (2009) as a starting point to develop a questionnaire (Appendix 1),

which is used as a basic discussion tool to collect information from respondents. The analysis of

the respondents is then discussed. Subsequently, we try to compare the framework provided by

the above authors in the context of whether we find women empowerment among these semi

literate women at the individual level.

Section 2: Research Questions

The basic research question of this paper is “Are women microfinance clients empowered?”

The interrelated sub themes to be investigated are:

What were the conditions of these women before microfinance? What was their skill level? Did the MF institution provide skill building training or support? How useful was the same?

Why did they resort to microfinance? Who supported them?

Did MF lead to income generating activities to them, their family etc.?

Did MF lead to increased assets to them, their family etc.?

Did MF lead to their social and political empowerment?

Section 3 Questionnaire Discussion

Our methodology used in data collection is Q squared (Hulme, 2007). We felt that a question as

complicated as women empowerment needed both a qualitative as well as a quantitative

understanding so as to capture the essence of the sample. Merely qualitative will be anecdotal,

but wholly quantitative would be just a number crunching exercise. Hence we feel that the

present research question warrant a Q squared research. Many of the questions are demographic;

many involving capturing numbers but as can be seen from Appendix 1 a lot of questions involve

discussions.

In studies that involve soliciting more than just quantitative information, it is believed that the

respondent is likely to be candid and give close to right answers on familiarity (Collins, Morduch

et al, 2009). In our first meeting with the women clients, we just sought demographic data and

got familiar with them. In our second meeting, we asked them about the nature of their MF loans

and how they put the loans to use, how they benefitted from it and the problems they faced with

the same. In addition, we also sought to get some quantitative information regarding their family

income and consumption. In our last meeting, we pointed out to them the anomaly in their under

reporting of income as compared to their consumption. We also collected some information on

their weekly consumption. Many of them sought to correct their incomes upwardly and were

more open to answering questions related to their role in their household, and the restrictions

they face, their business, their family relations etc.

Section 4: Analysis of Data

Samples of 121 clients were interviewed from January 2010-July 2010, a breakup of which is

given in Figure 1. First 70 clients who had taken loans 1-2 times were interviewed both in rural

and urban areas. Another sample of 51 clients who had taken a median of more than 3 loans was

interviewed in rural and urban areas. Reasons for selecting new1 (1 to 2 loans) and mature2

(above 3 loans) clients were to check if these mature groups had similar or different

characteristics from the nascent groups and if they exhibited differences in being urban and/or

rural too in relation to women empowerment.

Figure 1: Sample Data Details.

4.1Characteristics of women clients:

Women we met were relatively young- 65% of them being below the age of 35. They showed

ability and zeal to succeed and uplift their families to a higher income trajectory. Most of the

members were Hindu (96%) and belonged to the backward or the most backward class, which

demonstrated that the mission of reaching out to the marginalized class of society was being

served. 69% of the women we interviewed belonged to smaller families (3-4 members) and the

remaining 31% belonged to large families (5-6 members) both in the rural and urban areas. This

was because of the dwindling belief that children are the assets of the future, resulting in families

having many children. In rural areas, 75% of the school going students studied in government

schools. We found that the dominance of private school education (over 90%) in the urban areas

showed the preference for quality, a shift they chose with rising incomes. Overall higher family

income was associated with private education, an expected shift. About 75% of both rural and

urban clients had some form of assets, land or a house. However the title of the land was in the

name of their spouse or in laws.

Figure 2: Husbands Occupation

Figure 2 shows the occupations of the husbands of the microfinance beneficiaries. The figure

shows that farming and daily wage earning (coolie) are predominant, particularly in rural areas

and private company and shop/business predominant in urban areas. Another interesting finding

is that about 12% of these clients had no husbands.

All the clients we interviewed had compulsory 100 day training on the basics of doing business.

This was followed by an optional course on bookkeeping, marketing etc. Most of them (about

80%) attended the classes diligently and found it very useful as a starting point. However, they

felt that the reality was quite different as the greatest drawback in the training program was the

lack of business ideas. Who is equipped to give the ideas is a contentious issue and needs more

research as bad business idea can lead a poor woman to a quagmire of defaults, loans and much

more.

4.2 Loan usage

A look at Figure 3 to understand what the MF loans went for and the reasons for the same and

the discussion on its profitability and sustenance yielded some insights. As mentioned in the

earlier section, we interviewed both nascent and mature groups to understand the consequences

of the loans being taken for a wrongly conceived business proposition given that these women

were in the margins of poverty. We compared nascent and mature groups to see the evolution of

the groups, their activities and how they faced problems. As can be seen in Figure 3, in rural

areas, 66% women took loans to buy cows as the cows provided a maximum of six liters of milk

per day. The profit derived in the first ten months (the repayment period) was just a little after

they met their costs, but after this period, there was a clear profit of about 20%. This venture

was profitable because of the presence of a dairy cooperative in the village where they could

supply their milk. However in the same district in another village we found the absence of a

cooperative which made their profits volatile and there was an oversupply of milk in that market

driving down prices and making this business less lucrative. The second best alternative, goat

rearing (12%) seemed lesser profitable as benefits accrued only on their reproduction and

consequent selling. It resulted in an oversupply of goats in the village. Both these activities

were very common animal husbandry activities pursued in these rural areas as a means of

diversification from farming but scaling up was an issue as they were not aware of how to

integrate their business to markets and they seem to operate just within their villages.

In urban areas, women used the MF loan in their business or their husbands’ shop/business to

buy inputs (about 20%). Cloth/Saree selling (15%) and tailoring (12%) contributed other major

activities but with low margins. Other activities pursued were embroidery, rice flour making,

pickles and catering. The dominance of loans for working capital requirements in already

existing business was prevalent. This business was started before she took the MF or was run by

the family. In the former case, MF was very useful as interest rates were lower than local money

lenders but in the latter case of family run business, benefits accrued to the family. We also

found that several members in a group who started a new activity had a tendency to follow the

same business activity as their peers- rather emulate one another. One reason for them to take

the same business as their peers could be because they saw their peers successful, though they

reported that they met with a little success. This could be because of the oversupply of these

goods in the market. In addition, due to their lack of time and mobility on the part of these

women, they did not look for other market opportunities and hence ended up saturating their

market.

Figure 3: Loan use of Microfinance percentage wise

Of all the interviewed clients in both rural and urban areas, only 31% felt that there was an

increase in their economic activities. The rest showed that either the choice of their business was

incorrect or they could not sustain selling the same. Stagnation in business activity always leads

to a loss of one’s self esteem and this needs addressing. Access to markets was available to

about 42% of the clients but translation of the same to profitable ventures on a sustainable basis

was done by only a small number. The absence of a business plan was the reason for failure.

Most of these women just emulate an already successful woman without understanding the basic

nuances of business. Even though their SHGs gave them basic ideas, however, other things

needed for sustainable business, such as, access to markets, networking other than figuring out

quality, costs etc were missing. Even when they had a competitive product, most of the time

selling goods on a sustainable basis had been a problem, either due to oversupply or lack of

knowledge about marketing the product. We recommend that further studies be done on this

aspect as creating millions of micro entrepreneurs in India with dreams but no paths could

potentially be dangerous.

The members of the nascent groups reported that their incomes are volatile; hence, many of them

are looking for some kind of stable income before expansion. Since they were over burdened

both financially as well as physically they wanted to be sure that benefits would accrue to

them/their family before taking the risk of expansion. However, a majority of the members of

the mature groups who had taken more than three loans seemed more confident of their

activities. Most mature groups were headed by very dominating educated women (both in rural

and urban areas) who seemed to exert a lot of influence on every member and who knew the

nuances of every member’s life. As Banerjee et al (1994) described the dominance of the

facilitator of the group though good for monitoring could be overbearing. We found that even

after a woman failed in her first business, she went for second and third loans and tried new

activities. It is this risk taking ability in relation to their entrepreneurial ability and strategy that

needs further investigation.

Figure 4: MF loan support

Figure 4 shows that the support for MF activity comes from the spouse. Many of these women

found comfort in the encouragement and support from their family particularly from their

husbands. They seemed to have derived a lot of courage to leave the cozy confines of the home

first and foremost with the 100% support from their husbands. It therefore felt rather ironic to

ask them if they felt empowered or independent. We found that in the first few years, they took

almost all decisions in consultation with their spouses. The reasons for this could be the

following:

Men are the breadwinners and head of the family. They have higher incomes or their

businesses have higher returns and hence women are more dependable.

Women do all the household work which leaves them little time to purse

productive/rewarding activities. They want to get the first hand experience from their

spouse.

Most women are constrained for time, energy and mobility and go after low income

generating activities and often need their spouses’ endorsement for their activity.

Often the loans are taken by women are just a front for their male counterparts.

Somehow we noticed that most women who took MF loan got family support and hence there

was a selection bias in the choice of women. In addition, the hierarchical nature of the society

entrenched in them from generations made them believe that making independent choices was

incorrect and they would be shunned if they did so. Independence was somehow thought to be a

vice.

4.3: MF income generating activities and Status

Increases in income (73%), consumption (65%) and on health expenses (63%) were reported but

seemed more to accumulate to the family as compared to the individual. Most of the women

found these small “business activities” as a means to hold petty cash to tide through the daily

activities without depending on their spouses for money. Ultimately, a woman is part of her

family and what accumulates to her family will proceed to her too seems her belief. In that sense

her new found economic freedom due to MF is liberating. While this increase in income has

helped her gain confidence, it has also helped their husbands to keep their wives off them for

small needs. However, these women reiterated that the major family expenditure was the

responsibility of their husbands. Tending to the small needs of the family made them feel good

but they had to take permission from their husbands for large purchases or decisions. In fact,

majority of the women were not hugely perturbed about this, because they did not think this that

sub-judicator in marriage was incorrect and felt decisions in partnership were less risky. An

earlier result indicated that most women (about 80%) got complete support from their spouses

for their “business activities”. This reiterates the hierarchical nature ingrained in the minds of

these women. Additionally there also seems a self selection bias in the formation of groups in

the sense that safe members (husband support) and risky members had a tendency to come

together separately and rarely came together. A mix of the two seemed rare. One reason is

because the groups formed by themselves. But this also means that women who had their

husbands support may already be ‘empowered’ where as the only the other group may be

‘disempowered’. It remains to see from a larger sample the relationship between group

formation, husbands support and risk in project.

4.4: MF and assets

Only 29% of women felt that there was an increase in their assets both in terms of jewellery

and/or land. The others felt that there were no dent on the increase in assets as the increase in

income led to increase in consumption and hardly provided any opportunity for great savings.

Many women, however, saved small amounts in chit funds to buy sarees, jewellery etc. Access

to resources in terms of joint name of land holding, property etc was very low in spite of

awareness among these women about their rights. Many women expressed that a discussion of

the same led to volatile situations as most men wanted to have control over these assets. Since

most of the women we met had access to micro finance for just over two to four years and were

just getting confidence in their business, they did not want to rock the boat at home by asking for

equal rights. They felt they had already been given a good deal, as they were given an

opportunity in independence and exercising more of the same could cause the complete standstill

of their present newly found freedom. The opportunity they had to bring a change in terms of

more food to the family, educating their children made them believe in their self sacrificing

quality rather than creating a secure future for her. In that sense we wonder if she is empowered

or is she is empowering, probably a more powerful change.

Our result shows that women who had access with microfinance loans had economic

independence. About 70% of them were in the confines of their homes and with the support of

their spouses had got an opportunity to earn and contribute to their family. The small increase in

income, which provided supplementary funds to their household incomes had given them

confidence and made them feel worthwhile even though it had increased their physical burden.

Hence, we found that this new found economic independence gave them a lot of hope. However,

we saw the need of distinguishing economic independence from empowerment. We found that,

in the beginning, women took loans when they were at home and the reasons for taking loans

tended to the family needs, however, later on she did more that fulfilling family needs with the

loans. Yet, we found that women did not have equal rights. Equality, in terms of assets or

property that the family had was held by the head of the family generally the man. Is this again a

deep rooted problem or can we change this by law? So how can MF be women empowering?

Has it given her a greater say in family matters? Has it empowered her to fight for her rights and

get the same? Evidence seems the contrary.

4.5: MF and Social/Political empowerment

Most of the women (57%) felt that their status had increased in society. They felt they were

heading independent activities. Being involved with SHGs activities brought mobility to their

lives because every morning they had reasons to get up other than the household work, resulting

in commitments to the outside world as well. This dynamism in life gave them a sense of pride.

Many of them tried to get involved in community activities. They were often influenced and

helped friends, though at times, this led them to problems as there were very few to guarantee the

poor. They were however not confident to be change agents of society as they faced several

problems in business such as sustained selling due to which they lost their confidence. Hence

they felt a lack of confidence to take up leadership position in public activities.

To a large extent confidence to assert at home for minor decisions and later for major decisions

comes from doing well in business. Ultimately success is the greatest confidence builder. When

these women find that they need to go back to their husbands to either pay back their loans or for

business help they lose confidence. Only when one gets confidence at home can one represent

ones society/village etc. Hence we find that unless there are sustained efforts from the local

NGO it is very difficult to get these women to be change agents in their society.

Section 5 Women empowerment at the individual level

Both the “virtuous spirals” as described by Mayoux (2009) and Kabeer (1999) have sought to

explain the conditions necessary for women empowerment. The former is of the belief that the

provision of MF should in itself trigger a series of positive effects for the women. Kabeer (1999)

is cautious in her expression of the indivisibility of the triangulation of recourses, agency and

achievements and the conditions of choice that the women have. She points out that

measurement is the key at each stage.

Sl.

No.

Dimensions of Women Empowerment Variable identified

1 Resource Preconditions Land

2 Agency Process 1. Educating Child

2. Major Decisions

3. Minor Decisions

3 Achievements Outcomes Literacy rate

Table 5.1 Dimensions of Women Empowerment

From the framework provided by Kabeer (1999) Table 5.1 has been deduced. It is an attempt to

try to put some variables from our study into her framework and try to understand if there is

women empowerment in the broad sense according to her framework. To exercise strategic life

choices poor women need to be aware of alternatives and choices and must be in a position to

exercise the same. To develop and understand if they can do the same or if MF facilitates the

same the above table can be used. One important precondition or resource that a woman can

have is access to land. The title of land in her name can give her comfort both in living with her

husband in terms of respect she yields from her husband or her in laws as well as from her

children in her old age. Though laws in India are for equal rights, we find that in reality most

land holdings are in the names of men and the women do not exercise their rights for want of

domestic peace. Hence the precondition of women empowerment is absent in a majority of cases

causing domestic tension if women try exercising it.

Minor decisions of educating the children are often the women’s prerogative but most major

decisions like buying of land/house are taken by the men. This again does reflect the process,

namely the agency which is strongly aligned towards the patriarchal system ingrained

historically. Again we reiterate that women have economic independence but their

empowerment seems a moot point.

Literacy is an important social indicator that shows progress in society in terms of achievement.

Again we find that the most literate among our sample were the group leaders and undoubtedly

the most successful among their peers. Basic business acumen comes from understanding not

just the immediate surrounding but having the foresight into the future. This kind of strategic

thinking was found in a few who had basic education.

The framework provided by Mayoux (2009). in assessing women empowerment with our data

shows that most women have increased income but this income has lead them to only increase

their expenditure in small consumption needs and not for large consumption needs. Her

influence in the family as well as society has just been marginal and hence this small loan has not

translated into a “virtuous spiral” as projected. The women seem having increased income but

not significant enough to enable them to bring significant changes in her life or for that matter to

her family.. This is not to belittle microfinance, but this is not to idolize the same into delivering

what it cannot.

Does the progress of the family ensure the advancement of the self? Even though, we strongly

agree that the self is the subset of the family, often benefits which accrue to the family do not

accrue to the women, maybe more due to her selflessness than any compulsion/unequal

distribution of the fruits of her efforts. Freeing oneself from the bondage of family, making

decisions by oneself as suggested by several authors namely the freedom of choice is probably

not enjoyed by a majority of women who are semi literate. Most of the women we met were

coming out of the house on independent activities with the support of their husband.

Two opposing conclusions of this research namely that women accepting the hierarchical nature

of society as well as that most of the women get support from their spouses for their “business

activity” imply that there is mutual support in the family. It seems as though in the first place

that the woman itself is not disempowered. It points to the fact that her semiliterate status did

not give her an opportunity to venture out of the confines of her home earlier. Her increasing

income indicates economic independence, a precursor for development and empowerment.

Again the self selection bias, a finding of this study shows that groups are chosen such that

marginalized women have a tendency to be left out or form separate groups. To these women,

empowerment seems a non-issue as they grapple with sustained incomes and market reach.

Empowerment is an issue only to those who have faced discrimination and have not been given

their rights. Additionally if by consulting your spouse you are better off will you want to be

making choices by yourself just because it is empowerment? Strangely, most of these women

were not worried that the assets were not in their joint name as they felt that pressures from

society would take care of them. Unless and until this mindset is present, we are not likely to

find empirically that MF leads to women’s empowerment. Women’s empowerment seems a

non-issue to them, hence an illusion, at least as of now in the short run.

Ultimately though nothing feeds and frees like money. To these women in the short run MF

seems a transformation to economic independence. For MF to effectively contribute to women’s

empowerment, or facilitate it at some level, the women involved must perceive themselves as

being deprived of the same and/or choices, which will be taken care of by access to finance.

Also, we need to understand what a typical woman client prioritizes after borrowing from an

MFI. Self emancipation from various financial dependence or well being of the family as a

whole. This remains a moot point. This can be understood by studying the groups in the long

run. Moreover there could be a threshold of loan size over and above of which women can

empower herself. One cycle of loan may be insufficient.

As future work we do plan on researching the same groups after they have taken more than three

loans to see the economic and social impact it has created in their lives and the transformation

the significant transformation they have brought to society due to the MFl loan and their activity.

1 &2: It has been recognized by most MF lending organizations that in your first and second loan cycles your credit history builds up which is used to further higher loans. Hence when a woman is in her first or second loan it is call a new loan and the same argument follows for the mature loan.

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Appendix 1Women empowerment-Questionnaire January 2010

Lakshmi Kumar, IFMR

1. Name of the respondent: 2. Group:3. Age:

< 35 36-55 > 56

4. Religion: Hindu Christian Muslim

5. Caste: OC BC MBC

6. Rural/Urban: 7. Years with HIH

>3 Years 2-3 Years < 2 Years

8. Number in family 3-4 people 5-6 people > 6 people

9. Number of Students in family: 0 1 2 3 4

10. School/College Private School Public School College

11. Husband Occupation No Husband Private Company Coolie Househusband Government Job Shop/Business Farmer

12. Education Illiterate Basic schooling Class 10 pass Class 12 pass Graduate

13. M F for: Tailoring Cloth/Saree sales Rice grinding/packaging Pickles etc. Shop/Business etc. Catering Embroidery Diverse small business Cows Goats Education Consumption expenses

14. Support from: Self Spouse In laws Children Parents Friends

15. Main income before MF: Self Spouse Any other(specify)

16. Main income after MF: Self Spouse Any Other (specify)

Let’s Talk (First four questions. Allow the respondents to chat in detail and note down the details.)

i. What did you use the loan for?

ii. What are your costs from it?

iii. What are your benefits from it?

iv. What is the profit from it?

v. Did it increase the income you have? Yes/No

vi. Did it increase household consumption? Yes/No

vii. Did it increase consumption on health purposes for the family? Yes/No

viii. Has the loan increased the assets in your name? Why? Why not?

ix. Has the loan increased the control over resources? Yes/No Why? Why not?

x. Has the loan enabled you to increase your economic activities through larger amount of money? Yes/No

xi. Has the loan increased your access to the market? Yes/No

xii. Did the loan change the relationship in your family? Yes/No

xiii. Has the loan increased your efficiency/productivity Yes/No(Are you using better techniques?)

xiv. Has the taking of the loan enhanced your status in the family and in the society? Yes/No

xv. Are you spending more time with family? Why? Why not? Yes/No

xvi. Has there been a change in the attitude of the men you interact with Women Yes/No

You Yes/No

xvii. In general(substantiate any changes you notice, positive or negative) Are you more involved inLocal community activities Yes/No

Helping other women with loans Yes/No

Fighting women’s causes Yes/No

xviii. Do you see yourself as a change agent or a person who has brought about change in attitude inYour husband Yes/No

In laws Yes/No

Your son/s Yes/No

Your daughter/s Yes/No

Your immediate society Yes/No

Your village/city Yes/No