Micro Finance and Women Empowerment: Women’s Perception to and Impediments for Participation in the Programs

Assessing micro finance programs to the poor groups of women have been thought as a way of addressing the situations of women in many developing countries not only to combat poverty but also to empower the beneficiaries in countless regards. Conversely, the full functioning of the programs in some areas towards these end remain questionable. Therefore, eight chapters of this book provide rich account of the economic and social impacts of micro finance programs on the lives of women and deal with three different yet interrelated impediments for the participation of women in the programs in attempt to overcome life challenges for now and foreseeable future. It has a detailed discussions on the multiple ways through which the programs empower the participant women and enable them to achieve the non-zero sum models of power while maintaining their livelihoods. In a nutshell the book presents the opportunities and challenges equated with participating in the micro finance programs in Ethiopian context. This book will be of the interest to students of gender and development studies in academia as well as diverse development practitioners in different arenas.