Lanterna Rally

Author: Florence Wakoko

Publisher:

Published: 2003

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

Abstract: In the 1990s Ugandan farmers became increasingly interested in microfinancial resources (MFRs) as important means for poverty alleviation and women's empowerment. In Arua and Mukono, households diversified their income generating strategies through formal, semi-formal and informal financial institutions. Little has been done to either assess the position of women in credit/savings initiatives or to assess the capacity of MFRs in empowering women, and no Ugandan studies have used a methodology that adequately defines and measures women's empowerment. Available studies tend to focus only on defining factors that affect women's access to microfinance. The present study examines the nature of women's empowerment as measured by decision-making power, in relation to various types of MFRs. It recognizes the multidimensional nature of empowerment as a process involving personal, social, economic and political dimensions. The study focuses on decision-making power as the basis for transforming lives at the household level and in the wider society. Data were derived from a questionnaire survey of 527 women and men farmers in the two regions. Causal analysis used Multiple Logistic Regression to determine the effects of microfinancial use on women's decision-making power in agricultural activities and household income use. The study establishes that participation in informal financial groups is the most important microfinancial resource promoting women's empowerment in Ugandan rural households. Both women and men use informal financial groups more than any other source of microfinance, but the benefits are significantly influenced by other sociocultural factors; for example, participation in informal financial groups increases women's decision-making power over non-traditional matters (household income control) but not over women's traditional issues (agricultural production). Conversely, rural men's empowerment is associated with the use of informal loans from individuals (friends, relatives or merchants). For women, individual-level factors such as occupation (farming, trading), and household level factors, notably household headship, have a profound influence on empowerment in both traditional and non-traditional spheres of decision-making. In contrast, rural men's empowerment is mainly associated with their gender rather than with household level conditions. The study recognizes the limits of the transformative capacities of MFRs and it shows that financial empowerment does not necessarily lead to a transformation in gender relationships. It conclu18.