Impact of Credit on the Relative Well-Being of Women: Evidence from the Grameen Bank

summary This study examines the impact of credit on women's relative well-being in Grameen Bank's credit programmes. Using a bargaining model of the household, as extended by Amartya Sen, well-being has been defined in terms of three sets of capabilities: (i) autonomy, (ii) control over decision-making within the family, and (iii) relative access to household resources. It is hypothesised that the relative well-being of women and men depends on their respective bargaining power, which in turn depends on three factors: breakdown position, perceived contribution to the family and perceived self-interest. The hypothesis has been tested using a two-stage estimation method to avoid the potential problem of simultaneity bias that may be caused by the self-selection problem. Results indicate that involvement in credit has improved the relative well-being of women in some dimensions, but not in others. Some reasons are advanced for this partial success in improving women's well-being.