The fourth article Micro-finance and the empowerment of Women: A Review of the key issues is written by Linda Mayoux.

The author explains that womens empowerment needs to be an integral part of the policies. Empowermwent cannot be assumed to be an automatic outcome of micro-finance programmes,whether designed for financial sustainability or poverty targeting. She further highlights that cost-effective ways of integrating micro-finance with other empowerment interventions including group development, while complementary services are still lacking. Unless empowerment is the integral part of the planning process, the rapid expansion of micro-finance is unlikely to make more than a limited contribution to empowerment. The author illustrates the three paradigms on microfinance and women empowerment:Financial selfsustainability paradigm, Poverty alleviation paradigm, and Feminist empowerment. It further changes in collateral requirements to include female forms of property; reduction in loan sizes and more flexibility in savings requirements; group formation to decrease administrative costs and increase womens social capital.

The next article is summary of Microfinance and Womens Economic Empowerment: Bridging the gap, Redesiging the Future written by Katy Skarlatos. This article summarized by N S Sudesh explains the microfinancial industry and its relationship to womens empowerment. It proposes ways in which microfinance programs can be reformed in order to have the greatest impact on womens empowerment strategies. It analyzes existing institutions and market failures that sustain the practice of restricted credit access and examines the role of women in the Nicaraguan economy, and recognizes some of the existing arguments against microfinance as a tool for empowerment. Finally, it concludes with specific recommendations as well as national regulatory limitations for creating microfinancial institutions that empower to redefine their status at home, in the community ,and in the national as well as the international economy.

The last article in this section Suitable Microenterprise and Appropriate Training: A Vehicle for Economic Empowerment of Rural Women is coauthored by Trilochan Tripathy and Bedabati Mohanty. This article describes that with the promotion of suitable microenterprise and appropriate training ,women microenterpreneurs can be empowered. It elucidates that microenterprises are highly locationspecific and the role of training is important in economically empowering rural women microenterpreneurs, as a result of which they enjoy greater efficiency in promoting and managing the enterprise,and thereby,enhance their income. It further discusses that the right type of microenterprise and imparting of necessary training to the rural women to start such enterprises will enable them to become economically and socially independent. It highlights the range of strategic interventions such as cheap credit facilities,information about microenterprises suitable for that specific area,appropriate training for production management and marketing links which are to be provided to the women in the rural setup so as to empower them.

The following section includes the case studies and experiences. The first aritcle in this section A Case Study on Microfinance for Womens Self Help Groups in AP is co-authored by V V Ramani and Nandita Sethi. The government of AP has given the basic impetus for womens empowerment as the starting point to tackle rural poverty and social-economic issues. The case study explains the activities of Development of Women and Childern in Rural Areas[DWCRA].DWCRA has many training institutions at Mandal and district levels, managed by various Government Departments and Financial institutions like:ITDA ,Weavers Services Society,Coir Board, Leather Technology,Food Technology,etc. These groups helped the women to earn additional monthly income depending on the income generating activities taken up by them. The NABARD data shows that 50% of credit channelized through these groups helped in increasing womens employment in microenterprises and income generating activities,thereby enhancing their self-confidence and status.

The next article is a case study on Womens Empowerment in Rural India co-authored by Femida Handy and Meenaz Kassam. This is an empirical study to develop a model from best practices in the rural NGOs who actually walk the talk and it shows how the women employees of these NGOs are empowered. These women should be carefully and helped to overcome traditional barriers and given a position like fieldworkers to serve the whole gamut of rural women. It is found that the indigenous capital provided by the local employees will enhance the process of this empowerment among women. Finally, the authors have suggested some policy recommendations based on the findings of the survey. The third article Self Employed Womens Association(SEWA):Empowering Women in India is a case study co-authored by Sanjib Dutta and Vidya Kamble. The case explains the Self Employed Womens Association(SEWA),which works for betterment of the women in the unorganized sector. The case describes the history, aims and objectives, members, structure, etc. of SEWA and further explains the various activities undertaken by SEWA. They are banking, childcare, healthcare, housing aid and legal aid. The case focuses on how SEWA has grown over the years and the strategies adopted to overcome the challenges faced by self-employed women in India.

The last article in this section Empowerment of Women and Disadvantaged Groups: Nepal Experience is a Nepal Human Development Report on a country experience in empowerment of women. This paper deals with a case on womens empowerment in Nepal. It further explains that the work burden of women in Nepal(16 hours) is much higher than the global average for the three reasons:Reproductive work is much more intense because the home continues to be the centre of nurture and socialization. Maintaining a household is highly work-intensive, particularly during the peak agricultural season. The participation of women in Nepal in productive/employment activities is one of the highest in the world. This article narrates the legal reforms and policy initiatives taken by Nepal government in this direction. The womens cell of the Nepal Police has carried out in-depth investigations of problems concerning women and children in 18 districts. To measure the participation of women in national development, statistics of gender-related programmes and womens contributions to household activities are being recorded in the National Accounts. The MoWCSW conducted gender assessment studies of the education,health and agriculture sectors in 2002. More recently the MoWCSW has also conducted gender assessment and gender budget audits of its own ministry as well as the Ministry of Local Development with the objective of making the ministries more gender sensitive in planning,policymaking,programming,budgeting,monit oring and evaluation process at the central as well as the local levels.

All these examples are proving how important is women empowerment. This will develop the kids,family and society and through microfinance they can sustain themselves on their own. Still there is a need to empower women in large numbers and let us hope there will soon be a day when women will be treated as fellow human beings who are bearing the same responsibilities and have to be given the same status.