Drawing up the balance. The influence of micro finance on women empowerment

Abstract

The Indonesian society can be seen as a patriarchal society wherein women are seen as caretakers, whereas men are meant to act as bread winners of the household. Even though Indonesia has the largest economy of Southeast Asia, and one would expect that women are also contributing in this economy, this is unfortunately still not the case. In order to strengthen the (economic) position of women, many initiatives in the field of micro finance have been created. The aim of this research is to see if women empowerment, and how, is affected using micro finance in the city of Yogyakarta and the following research question is set up: What is the impact of micro finance on the empowerment of women in Yogyakarta, Indonesia and how can it be explained? To answer this main question, a qualitative research was carried out by means of a literature research and a case study. The reason chosen for this is to gather in-depth information about the impact of microfinancing on women's lives. The case of the research has been demarcated to a community in the city of Yogyakarta, namely Brontokusuman.