The Impacts of Microfinance Institutions on Women Empowerment in Tanzania. A Case Study of Temeke District

Mchilo, Oscar L. (2017) The Impacts of Microfinance Institutions on Women Empowerment in Tanzania. A Case Study of Temeke District. Masters thesis, The Open University of Tanzania.

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Abstract

The position of women in Tanzania traditionally has been low compared to men. Women are poorer, and suffer from traditions and customary laws. Thus, empowerment of women is one of the main issues in Tanzania and outside Tanzania. Microfinance services are considered as an entry point or a vehicle toward empowering women. The objective of this study is to establish the impact of microfinance services on women empowerment in Temeke District in Tanzania. The specific objectives answered with the following research questions: through microfinance services empowerments what are the improvement in social economical status of women; what are the improvements in personality perspectives; what the improvements are in financial liberation; and what the improvements in intra-household relations. The researcher attempted to identify a few key indicators of women empowerment such as control of household decisions, household’s relations, participation and loans and their uses. Quantifiable profits in terms of livelihoods improvement, income gains and acquisition of assets which are addressed satisfactorily through this instrument and the enhancement in personality and knowledge, Improvement in intra-household relations, Improvement in social economic status and Improvement in financial liberation. Theories concerned with women empowerment and microfinance which include Women‘s empowerment theory, financial sustainability paradigm and poverty alleviation theory were looked and several empirical studies. Targeting women from women groups in Temeke District was purposeful for it is good representative of the women who are members of MFIs whereby a sample of 384 respondents, gave 240 usable questionnaires which were analyzed by the researcher. Descriptive statistics was used, measures of central tendency such as mean, media, mode and variance which was preferred for a normal, random distribution of data for most physical measures for a single population. The findings revealed that there was a high relationship between incomes earned, improved family relationship and leadership potential. These findings were consistent with the literature review where it was observed that empowerment had contributed to improve social and economic well being of the respondents. The study is expected to generate knowledge on how microfinance services can empower women. And the policy implication of the study findings can be beneficial to various groups including the government, microfinance institutions and women groups.

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