Uncovering the Link between Micro Credit and Socio-Economic Empowerment of Women: A Case Study of Pakistan

It was a cross-sectional study to measure the impact of micro credit on women's empowerment and was conducted in district Sargodha, Pakistan and a comprehensive questionnaire was used for the purpose of interview. Total sample size comprised of 250 observations, 125 observations were those women who were registered with kashf and had completed at least three loan cycles. And the remaining observations comprised of prospective clients of kashf i.e. those who had just applied for loan and their applications were yet under process. Binary logistic and ordered logistic regressions were used for the purpose of this analysis. This empirical study found a significant difference between the control and treatment groups. The results suggest that women have gained more say in decision making process due to participation in micro credit program, thus leading to higher levels of empowerment than before. Overall, the present study found a strong and significant impact of participation in micro credit program on women's empowerment level. Keywords: Micro Credit, Socio Economic Growth