author: Al-Mamun, A., Wahab, S. A., Mazumder, M. N. H., & Su, Z.
year: 2014
title: Empirical Investigation on the Impact of Microcredit on Women Empowerment in Urban Peninsular Malaysia
publisher: Journal of Developing Areas
uri: https://doi.org/10.1353/jda.2014.0030
pubtype: article
discipline: development

country: Malaysia
period: 2011
maxlength: 2
targeting: implicit
group: women
data: structured face-to-face interviews

design: quasi-experimental
method: cross-sectional stratified random sampling
sample: 242
unit: individual
representativeness: subnational, urban
causal: 1 # 0 correlation / 1 causal

theory: household economic portfolio model (Chen & Dunn, 1996)
limitations: can not establish full experimental design
observation:
  - intervention: microcredit; training
    institutional: 0
    structural: 0
    agency: 1
    inequality: gender; income
    type: 1 # 0 vertical / 1 horizontal
    indicator: 0 # 0 absolute / 1 relative
    measures: empowerment index (personal savings; personal income; asset ownership)
    findings: increase in household decision-making for women; increase in economic security for women; constrained by inability for individuals to obtain loans
    channels: individual access to finance; collective agency increase through meetings and training
    direction: 1 # -1 neg / 0 none / 1 pos
    significance: 2 # 0 nsg / 1 msg / 2 sg

notes:
annotation: |
  A study on the impacts of an urban micro-finance programme in Malaysia on the economic empowerment of women.
  The programme introduced the ability for low-income urban individuals to receive collateral-free credit.
  The study finds that the programme, though not specifically aimed at women, indeed increased women's economic empowerment with an increase in household decision-making, as well as increased personal economic security.
  Primarily this is due to the increased access to finance, though it also functions thorugh an increase of collective agency established for the women in organised meetings and trainings.
  It also finds, however, that the empowerment outcomes are constrained by the inability for individuals to obtain loans, with the programme only disbursing group loans which are harder to achieve through obstacles to collective organisation by different racial and socio-demographic backgrounds in each dwelling.
  The study is somewhat limited in its explanatory power since even through its random sampling design it can not establish control for all factors required in experimental design.
