The Impact of Micro-Finance and Women Empowerment: A Case Study of Small-Scale Farmers in Bangladesh

DISSERTATION

Title: The impact of micro-finance and women empowerment: A case study of small-scale
farmers in Bangladesh.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Overview of Research
Micro-finance is also known as micro-credit which is explained as type of baking service
provided to those individuals which are unemployed and have low-income or they don't have any
type of access to financial services. There are several institutions which provide microloans and
there are several institutions which participate in area of micro-finance the amount of loan differs
from institution to institution. Several bank focuses on providing various services such as
checking and savings account which is considered as micro-insurance products. Several banks
also focus on providing financial and business education. Micro-finance is basically an attempt
to make people self-sufficient and give them an opportunity to become independent.
Entrepreneurs also depends on this type of finance as it helps them in keeping their business
running and these type of funding help start-ups in keeping their business alive. Start-up these
days need capital and micro-finance helps in getting the appropriate help in terms of investment.
These type of programmes help in focusing on bookkeeping, cash-flow management and
technical and professional skills such as accounting. Like any other loans micro-finance take
charge interest on their loans and they focus on getting repayment at specific level of time. There
are several micro-finance operations all around the world and there are several organisations
which works closely with World Bank and different other smaller institution which operates in
several parts of nation.
Women empowerment is defined as promoting women self-worth and promoting them to
achieve new heights in every field where men are working and to understand their abilities and
capabilities and use those abilities to achieve new heights in life. It is also explained as
influencing the society and other people of society to make change in terms of development of
women and focuses on developing their skills and knowledge for their own growth and
development. It is very similar to female empowerment which is explained as fundamental
human right which is focused towards achieving a peaceful and prosperous world. The women
empowerment is related with development of women in every society and treating them equally
to men in every field and providing equal opportunities in terms of their growth and development

which can help them in influencing the society and implementing social changes in the society.
Women empowerment principles focuses on gender equality in corporate scenario as equal
opportunities for growth and development should be provided to women. All people should be
treated equally and fairly at workplace and environment of workplace shouldn't be bias for one
gender and there should be no discrimination on basis of gender at workplace. Every worker
health and wellbeing should be ensured and education, training and development of women
should be promoted to make them successful and skilful. Gender equality which is a basic human
right should be followed and every it is very important in building a peaceful and prosperous
world. In every nation girls and women faces various challenges and they are considered as
underappreciated and under-rated and woman empowerment is the only way by which women
can promoted at higher level with overcoming all the problems.
Background of the research
Micro-finance which is also known as micro-credit started in Bangladesh in middle of 1970.
Micro-finance which helps in making people self-sufficient which are unemployed has helped
people of Bangladesh by providing credit to poor women. It is focused on providing loan to
women which are not self-sufficient and focused on promoting women empowerment. Grameen
Bank is the institution which provided micro-credit to poor women and it is shown that in 1980
the 65 percent of borrowers was poor women. This initiative focused on making women of
Bangladesh independent as they don't have to depend on men economically. Patriarchal family
structure in poor population have affected woman empowerment and the initiative of Micro-
finance have shown the initiative of woman empowerment in Bangladesh. BRAC and Grameen
Ban showed the great participation in initiative of providing micro-finance to poor women and
make them independent. It has been found that women which have joined the programme of
Grameen Bank and BRAC are more empowered and capable as they don't have to be dependent
on their men economically and the women which doesn't join the programmes are showing
initiative towards the programme. The loans which are provided by Grameen Bank are helping
and contributing in wellbeing of women and their families.
Rationale of Research
The rationale behind conducting this research is to determine the positive and negative impact of
micro-finance in women empowerment. Micro-finance which is an initiative of providing loan to
people who are unemployed or no source of income help in making them self-sufficient and