Abstract:
Empowerment of women is one of the important issues in developing countries,
especially in Asia and Africa. Also, one of the most important concerns of the United
Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals is the empowerment of women. Women have
less access to resources that can generate income, finances and land. National
governments and their development partners have viewed microcredit as a strategic tool
for the empowerment of vulnerable groups, notably women. The main aim of microcredit
is to empower women. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to identify the role of
microcredit on women's empowerment in the Weligama District Secretariat Division
(DSD). To address the research objectives the researcher chooses pragmatism, a mixed
approach (quantitative approach and qualitative approach) where the researcher
studied the sample as 140 women in the Weligama DSD. A sample was selected under a
simple random sampling technique. The data were analyzed using the Pearson
Correlation Coefficient and Multiple Linear Regression model with the support of SPSS.
The results of the study, reflect that self-employment, income generation and living
standards have a clear positive relationship with women empowerment. The finding also
pointed out that self-employment highly influences women's empowerment. Finally, this
study provided recommendations for Samurdhi banks and other relevant parties to
further formalize Samurdhi Bank’s micro-credit facilities for poor women.
