Impact of microfinance on women's empowerment in the Dominican Republic

In order to meet the United Nation's Millennium Development Goal to eradicate global poverty, many international development organizations have implemented microfinance programs to help the worlds' poor. Microfinance is the provision of financial services to individuals and families who otherwise lack access to banking for the purpose of credit, savings, insurance and fund transfers. It is a general agreement among many micro-lenders in the developing world that giving money to women is preferred, as empirical evidence has demonstrated they are less likely to fault on their loan repayments. Additionally, as gender inequality is often considered an underlying cause of poverty, providing women with access to financial services for the purpose of generating income can lead to improvements in health, social and economic outcomes. Although many programs are driven by the idea that providing women with money will empower them and as a result, lead to decreases in poverty and increases in quality of life and well-being, little research has been done on the impact of microfinance on women's empowerment. Thus, this study seeks to understand the effect Esperanza International has had on women's empowerment in the Dominican Republic. Qualitative research methods are implemented (in the form of focus groups and semi-structured interviews) in order to understand whether women feel valued in their households and communities, if they have decision-making power in the home, whether they have access and control over the income they earn and overall whether or not their lives are improved as a result of the microfinance initiative.