Has microcredit been a useful tool for the social empowerment of women in Bangladesh: case of Grameen Bank

Abstract

Grameen Bank has been considered as a poverty alleviation tool, since it aims to reduce poverty through lending to the poor people, but the Bank focuses on lending to the women and assumes that it has empowered the women economically, socially and politically. In a patriarchal society such as Bangladesh, men are still more skillful and have better facilities and opportunities as compared to women. This research focuses on the social empowerment of women via microcredit; i-e has microcredit been able to improve the social status of women in the household and in the society by lending microcredit.