The Impact of Microfinance on Women Empowerment

Abstract

Introduction: This research study identifies the impact of microfinance on women’s empowerment in Colombo district, Sri Lanka. Design/Methodology/Approach: A sample of 200 women who are engaged in taking microcredit via official, non-official, rural cooperatives, and self-help groups were selected through convenience sampling for data collection. Descriptive statistics were used to data were analyzed using SPSS software. Findings: The results confirm that microfinance has a significant positive impact on women’s empowerment. Furthermore, the variables of women engaging in an income-earning activity, age of the women, and most valuable asset owned in the household have a positive significant effect on the level of women empowerment in the study area. Conclusion: The final result emphasizes that there is a significant positive impact on women’s empowerment with income-earning activity, age, and most valuable asset. Further, it was found that there is no significant effect on education, the number of children, and the Marital status of women’s empowerment.