Empowering Muslim women in generating household income through micro or small scale enterprises in Malaysia

Duasa, Jarita (2017) Empowering Muslim women in generating household income through micro or small scale enterprises in Malaysia. International Journal for Studies on Children, Women, Elderly And Disabled, 2. pp. 58-71. E-ISSN 0128-309X

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Abstract

Reducing poverty in Malaysia has come a long way since 1990 when the United Nations introduced the Millennium Development Goals in which one of the goals is to halve the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day by 2015. Microfinance program was adopted by the government as one of the poverty eradication strategies in the country, in particular, to assist women to uplift their family socio-economic conditions and to be out from poverty. Since microfinance program is quite new in the country, empirical studies on empowering women through this program are very scanty. The present study attempts to investigate whether the additional income obtained from micro-enterprises carried out by female members of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM, one of the microfinance programs, is able to increase the quality of life and socio-economic status of the member’s family. For this purpose, the study conducted a survey on respondents who are the participants of AIM program using convenience sampling in Perak and Kelantan. The analyses are done using descriptive statistics, tests of mean differences of dependent and independent samples, one way ANOVA and multiple regression of OLS method. The findings of the study show the success of AIM microfinance scheme to uplift standard of living of poor households in Perak and Kelantan through the participation of female members who are majority Muslim women. The obvious differences between income level before and after they joined the scheme are tested and it is found that the differences are highly significant. This is highly supported by the ownership of vehicle(s) which is believed to assist them in conducting economic activities from the project and the experiences that they have through higher age. Majority of the respondents agree that the scheme enables them to provide more education for the children as well as the healthcare of family members. Besides, the scheme has enabled them to fulfill their duty as Muslim through zakah payments and even signifies their important role in increasing the standard of living of the family through small scale businesses/projects.

Item Type:	Article (Journal)
Additional Information:	3479/53151
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Microfinance; Muslim women; Standard of living; Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia.
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman > HQ1101 Women. Feminism H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD72 Economic growth, development, planning
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences > Department of Finance
Depositing User:	Prof. Dr. Jarita Duasa
Date Deposited:	09 Jun 2017 16:18
Last Modified:	17 Jul 2017 15:41
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/53151

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