WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH FINANCIAL INCLUSION

Abstract

Women Empowerment is high on the agenda of the development framework. Even though, women make significant contributions in the economy, yet they gain disproportionately low on return as they do not have control over resources, savings and borrowings from the banks. Financial Inclusion (FI) is a global phenomenon that is about connecting every individual with access and usage of a wide range of financial products and services at affordable costs. The government’s focus on providing banking to unbanked will positively boost the household at the lower segment of the society. In this direction, the Government of India launched “Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana” (PJD), “Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana” (PJJB), “Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana” (PSB), and “Atal Pension Yojana” (APS) in 2014, contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this background, the thesis investigates the trajectory of women empowerment through financial inclusion in urban slums of Ludhiana and Patna and own bank account under PJD. The data was gathered from 1,140 women in slums through a structured schedule on a five-point Likert scale. The schedule was pretested and validated using reliability and validity tests. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were performed to validate the questions002E The first objective of the thesis was to identify the extent of Financial Inclusion which was measured through Financial Inclusion Index (FII). The FII is a two-dimensional index that categorised the scores of women in slums into high, medium and low financial inclusion categories. The first dimension of FII is the usage of banking services and the second dimension is the subscription of financial products. This thesis showed that 61 per cent of total females in both cities lie in the low financial inclusion category.

xxi By explaining further, after categorising the women into different categories of Financial Inclusion, its impact on their Economic Empowerment was examined using Linear Regression by using dummy variable for it. The results of regression model indicated that the relationship was significant and fit well with FII. Finally, the dimensions of women empowerment i.e. Economic, Social and Political were separately discussed. The impact of women’s Economic Empowerment on their Social and Political Empowerment was analysed using Linear Regression. The results showed that the effects of Economic Empowerment on Social and Political Empowerment is significant. The next objective of the thesis was to study whether education, awareness and location of

respondents affected the choice of PJJB and PSB. This objective was accomplished using Chi- Square test. The results were indicative of the importance of education and awareness regarding

the subscription of insurance schemes, and location was not significant in the subscription of these schemes.

The final objective is to evaluate the challenges/ barriers women face in accessing financial services by using Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) technique. The technique identified the relationships among barriers, and these barriers were prioritised based on the level of contribution as a hurdle in accessing financial services identifying the most crucial barriers to financial inclusion. Further, MICMAC Analysis was performed to identify the crucial barriers which need to be addressed to improve the state of FI. The significant findings from the analysis of results indicated that bank-related variables and internet access were crucial to financial inclusion among women in slums.

xxii Women’s financial inclusion significantly contributes to their economic empowerment, which ultimately leads to their social and political empowerment. The findings of the studies in this thesis ascertain that women in urban slums do not lack access to financial institutions. Instead, they suffer from economic risks such as unsteady earnings, non-contractual informal jobs; financial risks like reliance on the cash economy, informal credit; and social risks like social fragmentations. This thesis suggests that improving financial literacy and awareness regarding financial inclusion schemes can boost inclusion among women in slums. The results in this thesis have critical implications for policymakers and stakeholders involved in the Financial Inclusion process such as bankers, self-help groups and others to re-orient themselves towards Financial Inclusion practices. The thesis highlights theoretical and practical implications along with the significant limitations and potential areas of future research.