WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH MICROCREDIT: HERMENEUTIC PHENOMENOLOGICAL EXPERIENCE BASED STUDY OF PAKISTAN
Keywords:
Microcredit, Rural Women, Women Economic Empowerment, Women Social Empowerment, Standard of LivingAbstract
This study explores the women’s experiences with microcredit and its influence on women empowerment. Although extensive literature is available on the positive verdict that emphasizes the entire process of microcredit access to women empowerment, this study reports the women’s lived experiences and evaluates how the women perceive empowerment through microcredit programs. The study is qualitative in nature; employing the hermeneutic phenomenological philosophy; which supports the reality of various subjective perspectives and structuring the meaning of empowerment. The participants were women of upper Sindh region who have availed microcredit from different microfinance institutions. The data was assembled by using the interview protocol through in-depth interviews until the saturation level. The interpretative phenomenological analysis was applied for extracting the right information. The results postulate that micro level loans strengthen women and have a positive impact on their livelihood. This research will help microfinance institutions and the policymakers to design appropriate microcredit policies to empower the rural women.References
Addeo, D. F. (2013). Hermeneutics as a Research Method: How to do
research using Hermeneutics approach. Italy: University of Salerno.
Addai, B. (2017). Women Empowerment Through Microfinance:
Empirical Evidence from Ghana. Journal of Finance and
Accounting, 5(1), 1-11. doi: 10.11648/j.jfa.20170501.11
Agarwal, Y. (2016). Microfinance and Poverty Alleviation. Imperial
Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR), 2(11), 1575-1577.
Aithal, V. (1999, June). Empowerment and global action of women-theory
and practice. In conference “Women’s World” (Vol. 99, pp. 20-26).
Akram, M., & Hussain, I. (2011). The Role of Microfinance in uplifting
Income Level: A study of District Okara - Pakistan. Interdisciplinary
Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 2(11), 83-94.
Ali, A., & Alam, M. A. (2010). Role and Performance of Microcredit in
Pakistan. Department of Economics and Informatics, University
West, Sweden.
Ali, I., & Hatta, Z. A. (2012). Women’s empowerment or disempowerment
through microfinance: Evidence from Bangladesh. Asian Social
Work and Policy Review, 6(2), 111-121.
Ali, K., & Hamid, A. (2010). Problems of Working Women in The Rural
Informal Sector of Punjab (Pakistan). Lahore Journal of
Economics, 2(4), 89-98.
Anu, M. (2015). Bangladesh-A model of Neoliberalism: The case of
Microfinance and NGOs. Monthly Review.
Bali Swain, R., & Wallentin, F. Y. (2017). The impact of microfinance on
factors empowering women: Differences in regional and delivery
mechanisms in India’s SHG programme. The Journal of
Development Studies, 53(5), 684-699.
Banerjee, P., & Sain, K. (2016). A Case Study on Women Empowerment
and Financial Literacy through SHGs. International Journal of
Research in Economics and Social Sciences, 6(11), 295-301.
Basharat, A., Arshad, A., Abbass, S., & Aziz, S. (2015). Pakistan
Microfinance Review 2015: An Annual Assessment of the
Microfinance Industry. Islamabad: Pakistan Microfinance Network.
Basher, M. A. (2010). Promotional role of microcredit: evidence from the
Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. Journal of International
Development: The Journal of the Development Studies
Association, 22(4), 521-529.
Basargekar, P. (2008). Economic Empowerment Through Microfinance: An
Assessment of CSR Activity run by Forbes Marshall Ltd. International
Journal of Business Insights & Transformation, 2(1), 64-74.
Bhat, R., & Lakshmi, J. (2002, July). Feminisation of poverty and
empowerment of women: An Indian perspective & experience.
In International Women’s Conference. Conference Paper (pp. 6-
11), Australia: Townsville.
CGAP. (2006, April 14). Microfinance: History of Microfinance. Retrieved
September 16, 2013, from Global Envision: exploring marketdriven
solutions to poverty: http://www.globalenvision.org/
library/4/1051
Chaudhry, I.S., Nosheen, F., & Lodhi, M. I. (2012). Women Empowerment in
Pakistan with Special Reference to Islamic Viewpoint: An Empirical
Study. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, 32(1), 171-183.
Cheston, S., & Kuhn, L. (2002). Empowering women through
microfinance. UNIFEM Draft, Opportunity International, 64.
Cole, S. (2014). Seven Women Speak: Perceptions of Economic
Empowerment Opportunities Among Diverse Women in Four
Different Cape Town Communities Today. SIT Digital Collections.
Dobra, A. (2011). Microfinance: Champion in poverty alleviation and
failure in female empowerment. Munich Personal RePEc
Archive, 134-144.
Finlay, L. (2009). Debating phenomenological research methods.
Phenomenology & Practice, 3 (1), 6-25.
Golla, A. M., Malhotra, A., Nanda, P., Mehra, R., Kes, A., Jacobs, K., &
Namy, S. (2011). Understanding and measuring women’s
economic empowerment. International center for research, 6-9.
Graflund, F. (2013). The impact of Microcredit on Women’s
Empowerment. A case study of Microcredit in the Tangail
district, Bangladesh. Lund University.
Hammerslough, J. (2009). Dematerializing: Taming the power of
possessions. Da Capo Press.
Hartmann, H. (2008). Capitalism, patriarchy, and job segregation by sex. Signs:
Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 1(3, Part 2), 137-169.
Kapila, M., Singla, A., & Gupta, M. (2016). Impact of Microcredit on
Women Empowerment in India: An Empirical Study of Punjab
State. World Congress on Engineering.
Hulme, D., Gopinath, A. T., & Arun, T. (Eds.). (2009). Microfinance: A
Reader. Routledge Studies in Development Economics. New
York: Routledge.
Kabeer, N. (2005). Gender equality and women’s empowerment: A critical
analysis of the third millennium development goal 1. Gender &
Development, 13(1), 13-24.
Ledgerwood, J. (1999). Sustainable banking with the poor microfinance
handbook.
Li, Y., & Rama, M. (2015). Firm Dynamics, Productivity Growth, and Job
Creation in Developing Countries: The Role of Micro- and Small
Enterprises. The World Bank Research Observer, 30(1), 3-38.
Luttrell, C., Quiroz, S., Scrutton, C., & Bird, K. (2009). Understanding
and operationalising empowerment (pp. 1-16). London: Overseas
Development Institute.
Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. (2006). The how of the study: Building the
research design. Designing qualitative research, 55-101.
Mayoux, L. (2005). Women empowerment through sustainable microfinance.
Rethinking Best.Pakistan: Aga Khan foundation Canada.
McCarter, E. (2006). Women and microfinance: why we should do
more. U. Md. LJ Race, Religion, Gender & Class, 6, 353.
Moghadam, V. M. (Ed.). (1994). Gender and national identity: women and
politics in Muslim societies. Baringstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Munoz, L. G. (2016). Gender, Development and Globalization. Economics
as if all people matters. New York: Routledge.
Nasir, S. (2013). Microfinance in India: Contemporary issues and challenges.
Middle-east journal of scientific research, 15(2), 191-199.
Otero, M. (1999). Bringing development back, into microfinance. Journal
of Microfinance/ESR Review, 1(1), 2.
Pokhriyal, A. K., Rani, R., & Uniyal, J. (2014). Role of Microfinance in
the Empowerment of Women. Journal of Business and Finance,
1(1), 21-31.
Qazi, S. W., & Rashidi, Z. (2018a). Nurturing Women Empowerment? A
Phenomenological Study of the Linkages between Women, Micro
Entrepreneurship and Access to Microcredit. Journal of
Management Sciences, 3-21.
Qazi, S. W., & Rashidi, Z. (2018b). Phenomenological Experiences of
Women through Microcredit Programs of Upper Sindh: Stepping
towards the Empowerment. NICE Research Journal, 200-222.
Rais, M. U., Mangan, T., Kumbhar, M. I., Hussain, A., & Sahito, J. M.
(2016). Impact of Microfinance on Income of Small Farmers in
District Dadu, Sindh. Sci.Int., 28(3), ,2763-2766.
Sameul, A., Sharon, A.A., Charlotte, B., Ekow, C. F., & Mary, K. (2012),
Empowerment of Rural Women: The Role of Microfinance
Institutions?, Ghana: Christian Service University College.
Schreiner, M., & Colombet, H. H. (2001). Microfinance, regulation, and
uncollateralised loans to small producers in Argentina. Dev Policy Rev.
Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (2010). Theoretical framework in theoretical
framework and hypothesis development. Research methods for
business: A skill building approach, 80.
Sharma, P. R. (2015). An Empirical overview of Microenterprises and
Microfinance Development in Nepal. Journal of Nepalese
Business Studies, 9(1), 3-12.
Sinclair, T. J. (2012). Beyond Their Control: The Disempowerment of Women
in Middle Eastern and African Literature. East Carolina University.
Sinha, M., Mahapatra, S. S., Dutta, A., & Sengupta, P. P. (2019).
Microfinance and Women Empowerment: An Empirical Analysis.
In Handbook of Research on Microfinancial Impacts on Women
Empowerment, Poverty, and Inequality (pp. 52-64). Pennsylvania:
IGI Global.
Sohail, M. (2014). Women empowerment and economic development-an
exploratory study in Pakistan. Journal of Business Studies
Quarterly, 5(4), 210.
Ullah, M. Z., & Sohail, N. (2013). Uncovering the Link between Micro
Credit and Socio-Economic Empowerment of Women: A Case
Study of Pakistan. Journal of Economics and Sustainable
Development, 4(12), 9, 16.
Zulfiqar, G. (2017). Does Microfinance Enhance Gender Equity in Access to
Finance? Evidence from Pakistan. Feminist Economics, 1(2), 160-185.
research using Hermeneutics approach. Italy: University of Salerno.
Addai, B. (2017). Women Empowerment Through Microfinance:
Empirical Evidence from Ghana. Journal of Finance and
Accounting, 5(1), 1-11. doi: 10.11648/j.jfa.20170501.11
Agarwal, Y. (2016). Microfinance and Poverty Alleviation. Imperial
Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR), 2(11), 1575-1577.
Aithal, V. (1999, June). Empowerment and global action of women-theory
and practice. In conference “Women’s World” (Vol. 99, pp. 20-26).
Akram, M., & Hussain, I. (2011). The Role of Microfinance in uplifting
Income Level: A study of District Okara - Pakistan. Interdisciplinary
Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 2(11), 83-94.
Ali, A., & Alam, M. A. (2010). Role and Performance of Microcredit in
Pakistan. Department of Economics and Informatics, University
West, Sweden.
Ali, I., & Hatta, Z. A. (2012). Women’s empowerment or disempowerment
through microfinance: Evidence from Bangladesh. Asian Social
Work and Policy Review, 6(2), 111-121.
Ali, K., & Hamid, A. (2010). Problems of Working Women in The Rural
Informal Sector of Punjab (Pakistan). Lahore Journal of
Economics, 2(4), 89-98.
Anu, M. (2015). Bangladesh-A model of Neoliberalism: The case of
Microfinance and NGOs. Monthly Review.
Bali Swain, R., & Wallentin, F. Y. (2017). The impact of microfinance on
factors empowering women: Differences in regional and delivery
mechanisms in India’s SHG programme. The Journal of
Development Studies, 53(5), 684-699.
Banerjee, P., & Sain, K. (2016). A Case Study on Women Empowerment
and Financial Literacy through SHGs. International Journal of
Research in Economics and Social Sciences, 6(11), 295-301.
Basharat, A., Arshad, A., Abbass, S., & Aziz, S. (2015). Pakistan
Microfinance Review 2015: An Annual Assessment of the
Microfinance Industry. Islamabad: Pakistan Microfinance Network.
Basher, M. A. (2010). Promotional role of microcredit: evidence from the
Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. Journal of International
Development: The Journal of the Development Studies
Association, 22(4), 521-529.
Basargekar, P. (2008). Economic Empowerment Through Microfinance: An
Assessment of CSR Activity run by Forbes Marshall Ltd. International
Journal of Business Insights & Transformation, 2(1), 64-74.
Bhat, R., & Lakshmi, J. (2002, July). Feminisation of poverty and
empowerment of women: An Indian perspective & experience.
In International Women’s Conference. Conference Paper (pp. 6-
11), Australia: Townsville.
CGAP. (2006, April 14). Microfinance: History of Microfinance. Retrieved
September 16, 2013, from Global Envision: exploring marketdriven
solutions to poverty: http://www.globalenvision.org/
library/4/1051
Chaudhry, I.S., Nosheen, F., & Lodhi, M. I. (2012). Women Empowerment in
Pakistan with Special Reference to Islamic Viewpoint: An Empirical
Study. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, 32(1), 171-183.
Cheston, S., & Kuhn, L. (2002). Empowering women through
microfinance. UNIFEM Draft, Opportunity International, 64.
Cole, S. (2014). Seven Women Speak: Perceptions of Economic
Empowerment Opportunities Among Diverse Women in Four
Different Cape Town Communities Today. SIT Digital Collections.
Dobra, A. (2011). Microfinance: Champion in poverty alleviation and
failure in female empowerment. Munich Personal RePEc
Archive, 134-144.
Finlay, L. (2009). Debating phenomenological research methods.
Phenomenology & Practice, 3 (1), 6-25.
Golla, A. M., Malhotra, A., Nanda, P., Mehra, R., Kes, A., Jacobs, K., &
Namy, S. (2011). Understanding and measuring women’s
economic empowerment. International center for research, 6-9.
Graflund, F. (2013). The impact of Microcredit on Women’s
Empowerment. A case study of Microcredit in the Tangail
district, Bangladesh. Lund University.
Hammerslough, J. (2009). Dematerializing: Taming the power of
possessions. Da Capo Press.
Hartmann, H. (2008). Capitalism, patriarchy, and job segregation by sex. Signs:
Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 1(3, Part 2), 137-169.
Kapila, M., Singla, A., & Gupta, M. (2016). Impact of Microcredit on
Women Empowerment in India: An Empirical Study of Punjab
State. World Congress on Engineering.
Hulme, D., Gopinath, A. T., & Arun, T. (Eds.). (2009). Microfinance: A
Reader. Routledge Studies in Development Economics. New
York: Routledge.
Kabeer, N. (2005). Gender equality and women’s empowerment: A critical
analysis of the third millennium development goal 1. Gender &
Development, 13(1), 13-24.
Ledgerwood, J. (1999). Sustainable banking with the poor microfinance
handbook.
Li, Y., & Rama, M. (2015). Firm Dynamics, Productivity Growth, and Job
Creation in Developing Countries: The Role of Micro- and Small
Enterprises. The World Bank Research Observer, 30(1), 3-38.
Luttrell, C., Quiroz, S., Scrutton, C., & Bird, K. (2009). Understanding
and operationalising empowerment (pp. 1-16). London: Overseas
Development Institute.
Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. (2006). The how of the study: Building the
research design. Designing qualitative research, 55-101.
Mayoux, L. (2005). Women empowerment through sustainable microfinance.
Rethinking Best.Pakistan: Aga Khan foundation Canada.
McCarter, E. (2006). Women and microfinance: why we should do
more. U. Md. LJ Race, Religion, Gender & Class, 6, 353.
Moghadam, V. M. (Ed.). (1994). Gender and national identity: women and
politics in Muslim societies. Baringstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Munoz, L. G. (2016). Gender, Development and Globalization. Economics
as if all people matters. New York: Routledge.
Nasir, S. (2013). Microfinance in India: Contemporary issues and challenges.
Middle-east journal of scientific research, 15(2), 191-199.
Otero, M. (1999). Bringing development back, into microfinance. Journal
of Microfinance/ESR Review, 1(1), 2.
Pokhriyal, A. K., Rani, R., & Uniyal, J. (2014). Role of Microfinance in
the Empowerment of Women. Journal of Business and Finance,
1(1), 21-31.
Qazi, S. W., & Rashidi, Z. (2018a). Nurturing Women Empowerment? A
Phenomenological Study of the Linkages between Women, Micro
Entrepreneurship and Access to Microcredit. Journal of
Management Sciences, 3-21.
Qazi, S. W., & Rashidi, Z. (2018b). Phenomenological Experiences of
Women through Microcredit Programs of Upper Sindh: Stepping
towards the Empowerment. NICE Research Journal, 200-222.
Rais, M. U., Mangan, T., Kumbhar, M. I., Hussain, A., & Sahito, J. M.
(2016). Impact of Microfinance on Income of Small Farmers in
District Dadu, Sindh. Sci.Int., 28(3), ,2763-2766.
Sameul, A., Sharon, A.A., Charlotte, B., Ekow, C. F., & Mary, K. (2012),
Empowerment of Rural Women: The Role of Microfinance
Institutions?, Ghana: Christian Service University College.
Schreiner, M., & Colombet, H. H. (2001). Microfinance, regulation, and
uncollateralised loans to small producers in Argentina. Dev Policy Rev.
Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (2010). Theoretical framework in theoretical
framework and hypothesis development. Research methods for
business: A skill building approach, 80.
Sharma, P. R. (2015). An Empirical overview of Microenterprises and
Microfinance Development in Nepal. Journal of Nepalese
Business Studies, 9(1), 3-12.
Sinclair, T. J. (2012). Beyond Their Control: The Disempowerment of Women
in Middle Eastern and African Literature. East Carolina University.
Sinha, M., Mahapatra, S. S., Dutta, A., & Sengupta, P. P. (2019).
Microfinance and Women Empowerment: An Empirical Analysis.
In Handbook of Research on Microfinancial Impacts on Women
Empowerment, Poverty, and Inequality (pp. 52-64). Pennsylvania:
IGI Global.
Sohail, M. (2014). Women empowerment and economic development-an
exploratory study in Pakistan. Journal of Business Studies
Quarterly, 5(4), 210.
Ullah, M. Z., & Sohail, N. (2013). Uncovering the Link between Micro
Credit and Socio-Economic Empowerment of Women: A Case
Study of Pakistan. Journal of Economics and Sustainable
Development, 4(12), 9, 16.
Zulfiqar, G. (2017). Does Microfinance Enhance Gender Equity in Access to
Finance? Evidence from Pakistan. Feminist Economics, 1(2), 160-185.
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