The Intersection of Islamic Microfinance and Women’s Empowerment: A Case Study of Baitul Maal Wat Tamwil in Indonesia

Ninik Sri Rahayu
Additional contact information
Ninik Sri Rahayu: Department of Finance and Banking, Islamic University of Indonesia, Yogyakarta 55283, Indonesia

IJFS, 2020, vol. 8, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: It is largely assumed that Islamic microfinance institutions (IMFIs) deal with family empowerment instead of women’s empowerment. However, women are the main beneficiaries of Baitul Maal Wat Tamwil (BMT), Indonesia’s first IMFIs. This paper aims to explore the origins, the initiators, and the visions of BMTs and the extent to which they intersect with women’s empowerment. Employing a qualitative approach, this study selected four BMTs in Yogyakarta as a case study. It found that four critical groups that have a significant role in the development of Indonesian BMTs: ICMI (Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectual), Islamic mass organizations, NGOs, and local governments. The issues of loan sharks and poverty alleviation were the primary factors driving the inception of BMTs. Despite women being crucial clients, none of the studied BMTs explicitly invoked women’s empowerment in their organizational vision. To conclude, the BMTs’ preference for women is not based on an understanding of gender inequality, but rather motivated by pragmatic business considerations, particularly the self-sustainability paradigm that underpins their practices.

Keywords: Baitul Maal Wat Tamwil; Islamic microfinance; women’s empowerment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F2 F3 F41 F42 G1 G2 G3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/8/2/37/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/8/2/37/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijfss:v:8:y:2020:i:2:p:37-:d:374780

Access Statistics for this article

IJFS is currently edited by Ms. Hannah Lu

More articles in IJFS from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().