Microcredit, Women's Status and Women's Health.

In many places in the Third World, microlending gives small loans to women for micro-enterprises. Measuring the efficacy of such microfinance, thus, ought to measure the change in the economic status of women in these states. This research uses simple regression to test for a correlation between increases in microlending to women, over time, and increases in household welfare in Bangladesh. Grameen Bank, which originated in Bangladesh in the mid-1970s, provides the most accessible data for measuring change from 1976-2002. In addition, microfinance that targets women is active in a variety of poor states in the world. Albania, Bolivia, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Cambodia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Nicaragua, Peru, Philippines, and Uganda are a representative sample across regions of the world, and across the size of loans received by states as microfinance. The data for these states are for one period of time, so that the test is for a correlation between the level of microcredit and women's income relative to men's across states, rather than in one state, across time. In addition, this research looks at the impact of participation in microlending on women's reproductive health and women's sense of empowerment. Finally, this paper discusses why quantitative tests for betterment of women's lives may not be the most useful way to study changes in women's status in the Third World. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]