Just a Progressive Step: Women’s Empowerment in Turkish Microcredit Practices

Abstract

In developing countries, the economic potential of women has long been under-utilized as a means of lifting households and communities out of poverty. In this respect, microcredit schemes offer an innovative form of social welfare, widely accessible to women. This study examines one such program from the Turkish context: the Maya Enterprise for Micro Finance, a conditional credit opportunity for women to start and/or develop their own businesses, granted by the Foundation for the Support of Women’s Work (KEDV). Our study aimed to explore the impact of KEDV's credit transfer scheme on the lives of users, especially in terms of the psychological and economic empowerment of women. Deploying a mixed methods research strategy, we administered and analyzed quantitative surveys (n=336) in order to determine the perceptions, thoughts, insights and reactions of KEDV program users, also conducting qualitative interviews with 21 participants. Our findings indicate that the program was influential in empowering women by increasing their self-confidence and changing their relationship with other people in the household.