Impact of Microfinance on Women Empowerment, Poverty Alleviation and Employment Security in Rural Areas of Rajasthan

摘要

The gender inequality existing in the demographic composition of a society is portrayed by the socioeconomic conditions of the female population, their literacy rate, poverty, employment opportunity, life expectancy etc. Rajasthan is the largest state in India in terms of area and ranks eighth in terms of population. In 2001, the population of Rajasthan has been counted at 56,507,188 which have increased to 68,621,012 in 2011. It is a universally acceptable economic prescription that, for a populous country like India, ready to enjoy the Demographic dividend, gender equality is a main objective that must be achieved in order to achieve sustainable overall economic growth. In this paper we make a humble effort to study the problems associated with gender inequality in the demographic composition of Rajasthan and the potentiality of microfinance institutions in reducing the gap of gender inequality and ensuring women empowerment. The endeavor is descriptive and analytical in nature. It is simple but pragmatic. We have made the study based on secondary data collected from the various publications of Directorate of Economics and Statistics and the provisional population totals Census of India, 2011 and the Census reports of 1971,1981,1991,2001 and Rajasthan Microfinance Report, 2011.We endeavor to make certain humble suggestions and policy measures to bring about gender equality through the use of Microfinance Institutions in Rajasthan.