Journal de l'économie mondiale

Impact of Micro-Credit on Economic Empowerment of Women in Madurai, Tamilnadu: A Study

Abstract

Selvaraj N

Economic empowerment of women is mainly based on their participation in decision making process with regard to raising and distribution of income, investments and expenditure at all levels. The entire efforts of empowering women are to help them to exercise their rights in decision making at all levels both within and outside the households and enable them to be treated as equal partners in the society. Efforts are on to enhance the capacity of women to earn and ensure that they get access to and control the whole family or community assets. Various institutions are involved in the delivery of microfinance services, especially since the dawn of the 1980s. They include formal commercial banks, rural banks, and NGOs. Women are the major beneficiaries of MFI/Ps, and the destination of the funds mainly includes agriculture, trading, small craft, processing units and consumption. The administrative structure is, in general, simple and the entire process is participatory in nature. Women play a predominant role in our economy and there is always a dire need to bring them into the mainstream of economic activities by breaking out the shackles of old, traditional customs where women are by and large confined to household activities.