Empowering Women through Microfinance in India

Rakesh Kumar
Research Scholar, Dibrugargh University

Abstract
Purpose- The purpose of this study is to search for the determinants influencing women
empowerment in Uttar Pradesh State of India.The research is done using primary data
of 200 women borrowers from three districts of Uttar Pradesh. Factor analysis is
conducted to find out the determinants which lead to empowerment of women after
joining microfinance program. Moreover, Analysis of variance and t- test was applied
using SPSS. Seven factors were extracted namely domestic violence, mobility, social
decision making, basic amenities, asset creation, economic decision making, income &
savings. Furthermore, family system does not significantly contribute towards women
empowerment. Whereas, age and marital status significantly contributes in some
aspects of social and economic empowerment.The findings of this research
recommend policymakers to provide an appropriate platform to market and sell the
products manufactured by women entrepreneurs. This research will serve as a
foundation for future researches in the area of microfinance and women empowerment
in developing nations.

Keywords- Social Empowerment, Microfinance, Women Empowerment, Economic

Empowerment.

JEL Codes- G2, I1, I3, I15, O1.

 1. Introduction

Poverty and gender discrimination are the major challenges faced by society in today’s
world. Around the world, majority of rural population are under the ambit of poverty.
Rising poverty level is a major hinderance for the growth of developing nations because
it creates a vicious trap which adversely affects the other socio- economic aspects of
the people. Nearly, 22 percent (1.3 billion people) of world’s population live in extreme
poverty (Global multidimensional poverty index, 2020). Of which, almost 84.3 percent
belong to Sub- Saharan Africa and South Asia. According to Global multidimensional
poverty index report, India, Bangladesh and Nepal are the three fastest countries from
South Asia to decrease their multidimensional poverty Index in 2020 (Global
multidimensional poverty index, 2020). Among these, India has the biggest share of
around 273 million people. Although during the decade, India is able to reduce the
number of people living in poverty but still there is a long way to go. The outbreak of
coronavirus in India has pushed 150 -199 million more people into the ambit of poverty
(The Global Statistics, 2022). Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand turn out to be the
states having highest rate of poverty (Niti Aayog, 2021). As per Niti Aayog, 21.92
percent of India’s population is living in poverty. With this, India holds a rank of 66 out of
109 countries (Niti Aayog, 2021). Attaining gender equality is considered as a basic
human right and an important sustainable development goal. As the Global Gender Gap
Report 2022, world’s gender gap is closed at 68.1 percent. India holds a rank of 135 out
146 countries in 2022 (Global Gender Gap Report, 2022). The country has recorded a
positive change in economic participation and opportunity while the other indicators like
education attainment and political empowerment registered negligible or no change at
all (Global Gender Gap Report, 2022). Due to the inequality existing in society, women
suffer from various mental health problems in various countries across the globe.
United Nation is constantly working on this twin objective to alleviate poverty and
achieve women empowerment. This situation calls for an immediate solution and hence,
microfinance seems to be obvious answer. As per Mahmood, (2011), microfinance
plays a pivotal role to eradicate poverty across nations. For over a decade, microfinance
programs have professed many achievements in its cap and has benefitted many
economies. The program gained popularity with the success the Grameen Bank in
Bangladesh. Professor Mohammad Yunus is the founder father of microfinance and
has received Noble Peace Price award in 2006. Microfinance is seen as an efficacious
tool to move up the people out of severe poverty and make them financial inclusive in
society (Maity, 2016). In Bangladesh, Grameen Bank was formally set up as a bank in
1983 to provide small amount of loan to the poor people. This small amount provides
them an enterprise building opportunity to make them financially independent. In
addition to microcredit, microfinance also offers a wide range of financial services such
as insurance, savings and remittances to poverty-stricken people. The program intends
to fulfill the unusual needs of poor people to endow them to make their end needs.
Microfinance has dismantled the postulation that “poor are unbankable” (Woller, 2002).
Henceforth, poor individuals are not any more considered as beneficiary of charity
rather as customers to be serviced. As a policy, microfinance primarily focus on women
because of their limited access to basic rights and facilities. Moreover, they are also
restrained by the socio- economic and cultural factors existing in society. To bridge this
existing gap of gender inequality, United Nations is constantly working on empowering
women (Shuja, Aqeel and Khan, 2020). According to Paxton, 1995, microfinance
emphasize on women empowerment so that they are able to have greater control of
their lives. Moreover, it has been viewed that default rate is low in case of women
borrowers as compared to their counterparts (D’ Espallier, Guerin and Mersland, 2011).
Emphasizing on women has shown to improve the family expenditure on nutrition,
education and health (Vachya, 2015; Nukpezah and Blankson, 2017) and deals with the
adverse effect of social and economic impact on structural policies. In India,
approximately 43 percent of women have gained access to financial services while
corresponding to 63 (approximately) percent of men (Bansal and Singh, 2019). Access
to financial services enables the women to become financially empowered which in turn
facilitate them to be empowered in all spheres of their life.

Mohammud Yunus, father of microfinance once said:

“Women have plans for themselves, for their children, about their home, the meals. They
have a vision. A man wants to enjoy himself”.
 2. Theoretical Framework

Empowerment is a process wherein “the less powerful members of the society gain
access and control over resources, knowledge, challenges and ideologies of
discrimination and subordination and transform the structures and institutions through
which unequal access and control over resources is sustained and perpetuated” (Safiya,
Yusuf and Alkali, 2013). It is a two-sided process of recognition for individuals and
society. Empowerment model has four dimensions and is used to create awareness
among women about their rights. Cognitive, economic and psychological dimensions
include “awareness, action and change at personal level” whereas political dimension
involves political and collective awareness and require action at macro level. Political
empowerment plays a crucial role to facilitate change over and above the individual
capacity Danjuma, Muhammad and Alkali, 2013).

The concept of power is the foundation of the empowerment. It plays an important role
in different stages- individual, household and institutional level. At individual level, it
deals with the capacity of the person to behave independently. As per Shefner- Rogers
et al. (1998), “successful empowerment requires a shift in power relations”. This shift is
different fields like society, household, personal, household, institution, political, social
and economic (Mayoux, 2000 and Batliwala, 2007). According to Rowlands (1997), the
procedure of empowerment can be divided in four levels of power: a) “power to” is
called as productive forces. It is the “economic decision-making power within their
household, community and local economy”. b) “power within” is named as
“psychological power” which “reflects psychological traits like self- esteem and self-
efficacy”. c) “power with” is mentioned as “collective power”. It is “the ability to organize
with others to enhance economic activity and rights”. d) “power over” is the power of
control which is concerned with “access to and control over financial, physical and
knowledge- based assets”. makes possible for women to gain the required skills and
access resources to achieve its objectives.

Policy makers have acknowledged the view that groups play a significant role in
creating such powers. Forming social capital with formation of groups has helped
communities particularly the rural provinces by way of reduction in risk and income
earning activities (Pandolfelli, Meinzen-Dick, and Dohrn 2008). Besides microcredit, all
group activities are predominated by male members. Microfinance program is seen as a
countermeasure to such male administered group programs. The existing literature
provides mixed opinion regarding the group program on female empowerment. On one
side, Burra, Deshmukh and Murthy, (2005) reveal that the collective efforts of a group
can benefit the poorest people. While the other side exhibit the multifarious benefits of
group program on enhancing the status of women in society (Acharya et al. 2007; De
Hoop et al. 2014). This enhanced power will enable women to get access to economic
resources and opportunities at household and community level. Many studies have
indicated the positive impact of such group programs on women empowerment in
terms of household bargaining power, increased participation in political matters,
freedom to move beyond the domestic realm. While, Fox and Romero (2017) have a
critical view that female authority to control family resources is just “a very narrow sliver
of empowerment” and does not predict the other dimensions of women empowerment.

3. Literature Review
3.1 Empowerment of Women

According to Keller and Mbewe, 1991, Women empowerment is defined as “a process

whereby women become able to organize themselves to increase their self- reliance, to
assert their independent right to make choices and to control resources which will
assist in challenging and eliminating their subordination.” The process of
empowerment should be initiated and governed by women herself. Women
empowerment begin when women are aware of the discrimination done to them and it
negatively impacts their life. Microfinance is an initiative will enable the women to break
the vicious circle of poverty, go away with social evils to become a part of country’s
economic development (Aggarwal, Kumar and Garg, 2020). During the decade, many
studies have been conducted on women empowerment which bring forward many
variables of empowerment (Mahmood, 2011; Aggarwal, Kumar and Garg, 2020; Murshid
and Ball, 2018; Khan and Noreen, 2018; Rooyen, Stewart and Wet, 2012; Rooyen, Stewart
and Wet, 2012). Microfinance services results in women empowerment by nurturing
their decision-making skills (Ahmed, 2009); increased assets and control over resources
(Mayoux, 2005). It gives opportunity to establish small enterprise which eventually leads
to empowerment of women and reduce gender disparity existing in society (Sathiabama,
2010). Through microfinance program, women are more open to the outside world
which leads to their holistic development and thus reduces poverty. Lot of studies have
suggested the positive impact of microfinance on combating poverty and women
empowerment on children’s education, asset procurement, nutritional intake,
community coherence, health (Elhadidi, 2018). It helps women to get away with mobility
issues (Weber and Ahmed, 2014; Maity, 2016); changed attitude due to increased
confidence (Orso and Fabrizi, 2016); enhanced networking and communication skills
(Maity, 2016; Brody et al., (2017).

3.2 Dimensions of Empowerment

Swain and Wallentin (2009) in their study highlighted the positive side of microfinance
on women well- being and prosperity. Study exhibit that it helps women to enhance their
decision-making abilities, oppose the traditional norms of restricted mobility and gender
discrimination done to them. Cheston and Kuhn (2002) expressed the non- economic
advantages accruing to women after joining the lending program in terms of increased
self-confidence, improved networking skills and enhanced their respect in the eyes of
their family members and relatives. Moreover, Chhay (2011) opine that woman play a
significant role in building the future of their children. They spend most of their income
to buy nutritional food for their children. With increased mobility, women are able to
provide independence to their children as well (Bansal and Singh, 2019). The study also
found that women are vocal in communication with their spouse on matters relating to
family planning and parenthood. Salia et al., (2017) found women who take loan for their
business are more prone to develop entrepreneurial and negotiating skills which in turn
leads to their empowerment.
The concept of microfinance centers around two aspects- social (increasing human
potential to enhance their quality of living) and economic (accumulate funds by means
of credit and savings to invest for productive use) (Zafarullah and Nawaz, 2019). The
union of two will help the poor to get engage with a profitable enterprise, overcome their
financial constraints and empower them (Kato and Kratzer, 2013). Such empowerment
provides social, economic and emotional security to women to have dignified standing
in community (Horton, 2017). Swain and Wallentin (2016) observed that economic
factors play a significant role in empowerment of women. Although, microfinance
initiative promote empowerment in both social and economic aspects but social
empowerment is a long and gradual process.

This initiative of government has professed many achievements in its cap, which shows
that borrowers have become better off with this program in terms of increased
confidence (Pitt, Khandker and Cartwright, 2006); gained more respect in family (Afrane,
2002). Gaonkar (2001) identified that such groups create a long-term impact by
improving the living standard of the poor people via increased income and savings. It
provides an opportunity to showcase their hidden talent and enhance their
entrepreneurial skills (Bansal and Singh, 2019).

Study by Swain and Varghese, (2009) revealed the positive impact of microcredit on
women’s efficiency at work, nutritional intake of food among children, participation at
social activities and family welfare (Kevane and Wydick, 2001; Kim et al., 2007; Zapalska
et al., 2007). The famous example of “Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad Society”
shows that availability of credit by means of collective group changed the lives of its
clients by enhancing their socio- economic status and empowerment level (Rahman and
Sultana, 2012).

A study of microfinance in Cairo, Nader (2008), determined that the program exhibited
an increase in welfare of its clients which is measured by continuous spending on
education and health. Moreover, Pitt and Khandker, 1998 found that dynamics of a
family has improved at a significant level. It helps its borrowers to establish capacity
building and enhance their self- efficiency (Manimekalai, 2004).
Services offered by microfinance bring forth a great relief to women and their families
(Rao and Santosh, 2011). He stated that services such as credit, transfers, deposits,
insurance benefit women to carry out the business activities effectively and make their
lives better. Study by Gobbi et al., (2005) in Pakistan stated the importance of microloan
in upgrading the social standing of women in society. Such loan contributes towards the
holistic development of women and in growth of their business activities. Furthermore,
microfinance initiative helps to deal with the social problems by fulfilling the credit
requirements, providing employment opportunities which results in social and economic
empowerment (Robinson, 2001; Nabavi, 2009, Sivachithappa, 2013).

There are numerous success stories in the books of microfinance that it is able to
transform the lives of its clients considerably. This way microfinance gained popularity
especially among developing nations and it become an effective channel to reach out to
poor people in India. The substantial contribution of microfinance to improve the lives
of its borrowers has become a matter of concern for the researchers in their study.
Bushra and Wajiha (2014), Hasan and Saleem (2017), Sivachithappa (2013), Maity (2016)
and Weber and Ahmed (2014) are few studies that support the success of microfinance.
In contrary, Goetz and Gupta (1996) state that little progress has been made by
microfinance to transform the standing of women within the family due to the dominant
control of men with regard to use of loan proceeds and income made out of it, thus,
leads to diversion of microfinance loan.

There are numerous researches on the impact of microfinance on women

empowerment. But very few studies have been carried to determine the factors
influencing empowerment of women in Uttar Pradesh region. Uttar Pradesh region has
been chosen for this study due to the prevailing gender disparity and rising poverty. Also,
the study takes it forward to determine the impact of age, family system and marital
status on women empowerment.

H01: To explore the factors which influence empowerment among women in Uttar
Pradesh.

4. Conceptual Framework
On the basis of the above interpretation, conceptual framework has been developed as
shown in Figure 1. The model shows that demographic variables (taken as independent)
impact the various dimensions of women empowerment.

Figure 1: Conceptual Model

Social
1. Domestic violence
(DV)
2. Mobility (MOB)
3. Social Decision
Making (SDM)
Demographic 4. Basic Amenities
Variables: Women
Empowerment (WE)
Age, Economic
Family System, 1. Asset Creation (AC)
2. Economic Decision
Making (EDM)
3. Income & Savings
(I&S)

The study is structured as follows: Section 5 summarizes research methodology,

variables and hypothesis of the study. Section 6 deals with analysis and interpretation
followed by section 7 which is discussion. Finally, section 8 summarizes conclusion and
section 9 covers managerial implications of the study.

5. Research Methodology

G*Power (v3.1.9.2) is used to calculate the minimum sample size for this study. The
required minimum sample is 50 on the basis of power as 0.95 and significance level
as 0.05. However, we have collected a total sample of 227 respondents from districts
of Moradabad, Bareilly and Rampur. 75 respondents each were contacted from
Moradabad and Rampur whereas in case of Bareilly district, 77 respondents were
contacted. The study utilized a total sample 200 respondents. Of which, 65 respondents
belong to Moradabad and Rampur each and 70 belong to Bareilly (Table 1). Purposive
sampling technique has been used to collect data. Data was collected from
respondents with the help of field officers. Primary data has been collected from
women borrowers of microfinance on performance of their business enterprise and
women empowerment. Secondary data was gathered from NABARD Reports, RBI
Bulletin and websites.

Table 1: Distribution of respondents (District Wise)

No. of
District % of Respondents
Respondents
Moradabad 65 32.5
Rampur 65 32.5
Bareilly 70 35
Total 200 100
Source: Author’s Calculation

5.1Research Variables

5.1.1 Domestic Violence: In this, four individual items are taken on five-point scale
ranging from 1 (Strongly agree) to 5 (Strongly disagree). The items include
statements on physical beating, verbal abuse etc. (Jain, 2021).

5.1.2 Mobility: Three items are taken from Jain, (2021) on Likert scale from strongly
agree to strongly disagree. Items such as freedom to visit relatives, another
village etc. are measured (Jain, 2021).

5.1.3 Social Decision Making: It include items such as sending children to school,
spending money on health and education (Jain, 2021). Total five items are
measured from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

5.1.4 Basic Amenities: Four items are measured on five-point rating scale. 1 being
strongly agree to 5 being strongly disagree. Few items measured are: access
to essential food items, clothing, basic sanitation facilities etc. (Jain, 2021).

5.1.5 Asset Creation: It includes items such as change in personal assets like
residential property, land etc. (Jain, 2021), 1 being strongly agree to 5 being
strongly disagree.
 5.1.6 Economic Decision Making: Here, items such as use of loan proceeds,
decision to use the amount of earnings are measured on Likert scale.

5.1.7 Income & Savings: Items such as increase in income, savings and ability to
manage family expenses are measured (Jain, 2021). These items are
measured on five- point scale.

5.2 Statistical Technique: Using SPSS, Factor Analysis has been performed to scale
down the large number of factors into comprehensive factors and then, t- test and
ANOVA has been used to better understand the data.

5.3 Hypothesis Development:

H02: There is no significant effect of age on women empowerment in Uttar Pradesh.
H03: There is no significant effect of family system on women empowerment in Uttar
Pradesh.
H04: There is no significant effect of marital status on women empowerment in Uttar
Pradesh.

6. Analysis and Interpretation

It covers the brief profile of the respondents, results of reliability test, factor analysis,
ANOVA and t- test.

6.1 Respondents profile

Table 2 shows the brief profile of respondents. In our study, 92.5% of the women
borrowers are married, 6% are widow and 1.5% are divorced. In case of family system,
67.5% of the respondents live in nuclear family while 32.5% live joint family system.
Majority (80) of the respondents have education level below 8th Standard whereas 20%
have education above 8th Standard. 56.5% of the respondents belong to reserved
category, rest are a part of general and minority class. Nearly, 71% have 2, 3 or 4
children. In case of age, 41.5% are into bracket of 20- 36 years while rest are above 36
years.

Table 2: Profile of Respondents

 Demographic Variables Description N % of frequency
Marital Status Married 185 92.5
Widow 12 6
Divorced 3 1.5
Family System Nuclear 135 67.5
Joint 65 32.5
Education Level Below 8 160 80
8-10 Std. 22 11
10- 12 Std. 13 6.5
Std. 12 3 1.5
Undergraduate 2 1
Class SC 46 23
ST 23 11.5
OBC 44 22
General 21 10.5
Minority 66 33
No. of Children No Children 2 1
1 16 8
2 41 20.5
3 68 34
4 33 16.5
5 22 11
More than 5 18 9
Age 20- 28 years 40 20
28- 36 years 43 21.5
36- 44 years 38 19
44- 52 years 41 20.5
52- 60 years 38 19
Source: Author’s Calculation

6.2 Results of Factor Analysis

Cronbach’s alpha is calculated to determine the reliability of a scale. The value of

Cronbach’s alpha depicts the internal consistency of items (George et al., 2003). Here,
the value is 0.879 for 23 statements which is above the minimum level of 0.70
indicating that items in the scale are reliable for further analysis (Hair et al., 2011).
Factor analysis is carried out on 23 items which are based on 5-point Likert scale.
These items measure the social and economic development of women in India. The
value of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy (KMO) is 0.825 which is
above the minimum value of 0.5 (refer Table 3). The value of KMO “less than 0.50 is
considered unacceptable and values between 0.5 and 0.7 are considered mediocre,
values between 0.7 and 0.8 are good, value between 0.8 and 0.9 are great and above 0.9
are considered superb” (Kaiser, 1974). Lloret et al., 2017 recommends that KMO value
greater than and equal to 0.7 are desirable for further analysis. Moreover, the Bartlett's
Test of Sphericity x2 (253) = 2704.989, p value < 0.001 which indicate that correlation
between the items is large enough for conducting principal component analysis (PCA).
Highly significant value of Bartlett’s test suggest that data is suitable for conducting
factor analysis (Bartlett, 1954).

Table 3: Summary of Factor Analysis

Barlett's
Factor Eigen % of KMO test
Factors Variables
Loading Value Variance Value of
sphercity
1 0.871 6.692 29.094 0.825 253
2 0.886
F1
3 0.908
4 0.909
1 0.551 2.901 12.613
2 0.761
F2 3 0.807
4 0.770
5 0.685
1 0.776 2.118 9.21
2 0.855
F3
3 0.811
4 0.652
1 0.812 1.900 8.262
F4 2 0.832
3 0.829
1 0.817 1.553 6.754
F5 2 0.878
3 0.768
1 0.858 1.274 5.538
F6
2 0.866
1 0.861 1.014 4.407
F7
2 0.848
Source: Author’s Calculation
Using factor analysis, seven factors has been extracted (Table 3). These factors
account for 75.879 percent of variance. According to Hair et al., 2009, 60 percent of
variance is considered good enough for further going ahead with factor analysis. The
extracted factors have been retained based on their loadings. Factors whose loadings
are greater than 0.5 are considered significant and are retained (Kaiser, 1974). The
extracted factors are named as domestic violence, social decision making, basic
amenities, asset creation, mobility, economic decision making and income and savings.
Factor 1, 2 and 5 are collaborated into one factor termed as social empowerment
(domestic violence, social decision making and mobility) as indicated in Table 3. Factor
3, 4, 6 and 7 are combined into one factor called as economic empowerment. These
factors are further analyzed to determine the impact of demographic factors on women
empowerment level.

H02: There is no significant effect of age on women empowerment in Uttar Pradesh.

The results of F test and Welch test are shown in Table 4. It exhibits that p value is
greater than 5 percent level of significance in domestic violence, social decision making,
basic amenities, asset creation, mobility and income & savings. Therefore, in all these
cases, we accept the null hypothesis. It means that age does not have significant effect.
However, there is a significant effect of age on women economic decision-making
ability (p value < 0.05). So, the results signify that age does not have significant effect
on social empowerment and economic empowerment except for economic decision-
making factor.

Table 4: Results of ANOVA test based on Age of respondents

Levene
Dimensions Sig. F Sig. Welch Sig.
Statistic
Domestic Violence 2.762 0.029 1.786 0.133 1.788 0.137
Social Decision Making 0.773 0.57 1.287 0.276 1.365 0.252
Basic Amenities 0.538 0.708 0.505 0.732 0.497 0.738
Asset Creation 4.381 0.002 1.138 0.34 1.04 0.39
Mobility 2.161 0.075 1.952 0.103 2.25 0.069
 Economic Decision
0.598 0.665 3.826 0.005 3.933 0.005
Making
Income & Savings 0.626 0.644 0.439 0.781 0.43 0.787
Source: Author’s Calculation

H03: There is no significant effect of family system on women empowerment in Uttar

Pradesh.

Table 5 depicts the findings of t- test. The results of p- value is more than 5 percent
significance level for all factors of social and economic empowerment. In all these
cases, we accept null hypothesis that there is no significant effect of family system on
social and economic empowerment of women. Thus, family system does not contribute
towards women empowerment.

Table 5: t- test statistics based on Family System

t-test for equality of

means
Dimensions t-test Sig. (two- tailed)
Domestic Violence 0.386 0.7
Social Decision Making 1.173 0.242
Basic Amenities -0.665 0.507
Asset Creation -0.821 0.412
Mobility -0.504 0.615
Economic Decision
0.307 0.759
Making
Income & Savings 1.44 0.152
Source: Author’s Calculation

H04: There is no significant effect of marital status on women empowerment in Uttar

Pradesh.

Results of ANOVA/ Welch test is depicted in table 6. Findings of the study show that the
difference is statistically significant at 95 percent significance level for domestic
violence, social decision making and economic decision making. However, the results
are not significant for basic amenities, asset creation, mobility and income & savings.
Thus, marital status contributes in some aspects of social and economic empowerment.

Table 6: Results of ANOVA Test based on Marital Status

Dimensions Levene Sig. F Sig. Welch Sig.
 Statistic
Domestic Violence 3.661 0.027 14.78 0.00 159.791 0.00
Social Decision Making 0.055 0.946 9.708 0.00 4.666 0.037
Basic Amenities 1.22 0.297 1.18 0.309 1.395 0.333
Asset Creation 0.67 0.513 3.026 0.051 3.38 0.122
Mobility 3.646 0.028 1.058 0.349 5.929 0.128
Economic Decision
1.515 0.222 5.23 0.006 7.556 0.031
Making
Income & Savings 0.279 0.757 0.276 0.759 0.44 0.667
Source: Author’s Calculation

7. Discussion
The purpose of the study is to look into the factors which leads to women
empowerment. It also tries to identify the impact of age, family system and marital
status on empowerment of women in Uttar Pradesh. The study is carried out in
Moradabad, Bareilly and Rampur. Data of 200 respondents is used to analyze the
results of this study. Using SPSS, factor analysis was conducted to obtain the factors.
In total, seven factors have been extracted which are named as: domestic violence,
mobility, social decision making, basic amenities, asset creation, economic decision
making and income & savings. In addition, ANOVA and t- test have been used. The
results found that age does not have significant impact on all aspects of social
empowerment and economic empowerment except for the economic decision making
it has significant impact.
Family system does not contribute towards social and economic empowerment of
women. In case of social empowerment aspects, marital status has significant impact
in case of domestic violence and social decision making. On the other hand, economic
decision making has a significant impact.

8. Conclusion
Microfinance play a pivotal role in enhancing the living standard of its clients and their
families. It enables women to get engage in capacity building activities which ultimately
leads to their empowerment. Although, the process takes time to bring the desired
results. The program enables them to utilize the several public facilities like banking,
insurance, transfers etc. which indicates development of women. Also, women have
now become appraised with the benefits of higher education, nutritional food intake,
possession of assets, better health and sanitation facilities. Women have also become
aware of their social rights and can take their own decisions to a certain extend.
Moreover, it is suggested that government should come up with more education and
training programs to achieve their holistic empowerment in a sustainable manner.

9. Managerial Implications
Microfinance has proved to be a blessing to achieve women empowerment. The
program helps them to strengthen their decision making in daily activities. Yet, there is a
scope for further improvement to achieve the intended results. Firstly, more and more
health education and literacy programs should be conducted to increase women
participation. Secondly, business training should be given to borrowers to further
enhance their business skills. This will result in increased income and better spending
on family welfare activities. Thirdly, an appropriate platform should be made by
policymakers to market and sell the products made by women entrepreneurs. Fourthly,
public- private partnership should be encouraged in the business model of MFIs to pass
on the maximum benefit to its borrowers. Fifthly, a platform should be made to connect
the credit worthy borrowers of MFIs with the commercial bank. This initiative will help
them to a part of mainstream banking.

10. Scope of Future Research

The present study aimed to determine the factors influencing women empowerment in
Uttar Pradesh. Moreover, it focuses to explore the influence of demographic variables
such as age, family system and marital status on women’s empowerment level. The
future researchers can focus to understand the impact of microfinance on women
entrepreneurial skills in other developing countries like India. Also, similar studies can
be conducted in other regions of India having high poverty and gender inequality.
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Lloret, S., Ferreres, A., Hernandez, A., Tomas, I. (2017). The exploratory factor analysis of items:
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