MICRO CREDIT SYSTEM FOR INCREASING FEMALEEMPLOYMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN TURKEY

Abstract

Women labor participation rate is very low in Turkey. Although the governmentincentive policies have relatively improved, positive developments expected in thisarea have not taken place at the desired level. The micro-credit scheme aiming atproviding relatively smaller amount of loans to entrepreneur women to start theirbusiness began in 1980s in the world, and became operational in our country atthe beginning of 2000s. Currently, certain level of successful is observed throughin many Turkish provinces through this system. To this day, nearly 200thousandfemale entrepreneur established their business through small capital provided bythe micro credit system in Turkey. Moreover, they have already paid back all theloans that they used. In this study, the application of micro-credit system forincreasing female participation in labor force and business life is investigated.The labor participation level of women in Turkey has remained quite low.Although the government incentive policies have relatively provided improvement,the positive developmentsexpected in this area have not taken place at the desiredlevel. The micro-credit scheme aiming at providing relatively lower amount ofloans to women to start their business began in 1980s in the world, and becameoperational in our country at the beginning of 2000s. Currently, we see successfulwork is done through this scheme in many Turkish provinces. In this study, theapplication of micro-credit system for increasing the participation of women inworking life is elaborated