Factors Affecting Women Empowerment: A Micro Financing Perspective

Abstract

Women are a massive chunk of Pakistan’s population yet only 25-30 % of women participate in its economic development, and, this low percentage affects overall women empowerment. The current study is an effort to show how governments can enhance women’s empowerment by investing time, money, and resources through micro-financing and skill development for women entrepreneurs and making them a dynamic part of the economy. Current study proposes a Conceptual Three-Dimensional Women Empowerment Model to ensure that all aspects such as personal, relational, and economic facets of women empowerment are covered. Our research fills in the theoretical gap by adding the aspects of skill development that are provided by the micro-financing authorities that help women in acquiring specific skills to make their start-ups a success, another theoretical gap that would be covered by this study is the collection of primary data to investigate the relationship of education in the success of entrepreneurial activities of women that has not been investigated previously. Further, the incorporation of a three-dimensional women empowerment model would provide the exact speck of the empowerment felt by the women. Based on the available literature, the proposed Conceptual Model depicts that there are some key areas that have been worked on by the governments, NGOs, and UN to reduce poverty, upsurge education, and create equal opportunities in terms of technical and higher education for both genders. Women are a larger part of the population, it is not possible for societies to prosper without refining the women’s counterparts of the society. For the greater good of society, the role of micro-finance, skill development, and education can not be overlooked to empower women and that is going to be the emphasis of the study. The study will accommodate the government and other private institutions to make micro-financing successful for women counterparts of the population through proper training and skill development programs. It can also be useful for NGOs and banks to have private skill development programs to ensure the success rate of micro financed based businesses. The study will be helpful for women and society twofold. Firstly, women’s empowerment would be reflected in personal, relational, and economic facets of everyday life for females. Secondly, women will emerge to be productive participants in society and the overall economic progress of the country will improve. Women's empowerment is a dilemma in developing countries. This study will help raise women's status in society and ensure that investments made to women by governments, NGOs, and banks through micro-financing can be made efficacious through proper skill instigation and education.