HOW DOES MICROCREDIT IMPROVE WOMEN’S SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM BALOCHISTAN

Abstract

This study aims to examine the impact of microcredit on women’s socioeconomic status. Loan-usage data was collected through primary sources using a structured questionnaire survey. A sample of 250 women entrepreneurs was taken from the Quetta district. Cross-tabulation and Chi-square analysis were used to see if the participation of women in the microcredit program significantly improves their welfare at the household level. Paired samples t-test was used to examine whether there is a significant difference in women’s mean income in pre-and postmicrocredit intervention, while a Log-linear multiple regression analysis was employed to estimate the impact of key determinants that contributes to enhancing women’s income. The study shows that microcredit improves women’s freedom over household matters and assets. We found that most women involved in folk business got empowered because of their access to credit, whereas some have little control over the use of credit, generated income and are not better off. The findings of this study suggest that overall microcredit borrowing has a positive and statistically significant impact on women’s earnings and their households’ welfare