Commercial banks and women empowerment in Uganda: a case of Rukungiri Municipality

Abstract

Empowerment of women is important as it enables establish more stable societies, as women participate in economic activity and the development process. Commercial banks play an important role in empowerment by encouraging savings and enabling access to credit. The present paper assesses the role of commercial banks in women empowerment. Primary data was collected from Rukungiri District in Western Uganda. The indicators used for empowerment are earnings per month, having bought something worth UGX 100,000 and leadership status. The findings show that having an active commercial bank account and having a commercial bank loan is positively associated with higher average earnings per month, Having an active commercial bank account is positively associated with the respondent’s status of having bought something worth UGX 100,000 and Having an active commercial bank account is positively related to being a leader.