Impact of Microfinance to Empower Women in Pakistan

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of microfinance to
empower women and review some of the studies relevant to the role of
microfinance in empowering the women. Microfinance is the
organization that provides financial services to the poor to generate their
own business. According to HDI Report (1995) 1.3 billion women who
earn less than $1 dollar a day are poor. Microfinance organizations
enable women to have control over the resources to generate their own
income generating activities. It has been observed that recently
increasing number of NGO is involved in the field of microcredit in
Pakistan, SAWFCO is one of them, which is working for the poverty
alleviation and socio-economic empowerment of vulnerable
communities. It is concluded that the microcredit scheme of these
organizations is a better tool for empowering women and improving
the living conditions of women. This research paper concludes that there
has been a positive change in terms of increase in income of women,
their contributing role in decision making, and significant change in
expenditure pattern which includes spending on their children’s
education.