Empowering Muslim women in generating household income through micro or small scale enterprises in Malaysia
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 pover...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Zes Rokman Resources
2017
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| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/53151/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/53151/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/53151/1/53151_Empowering%20Muslim%20women.pdf |
| Summary: | 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. |
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