Abstract
Economic growth and prosperity of states depend upon women's contribution to the economy sincewomen form half of the world's population. Ownership and best utilization of (non)financial resourceslead to the emancipation of women through successful economic empowerment. Lack of facilitationin terms of availing the resources leads to redundancy of women empowerment programs. However,microfinance programs by financial institutions act as a key strategy in empowering women hence,addressing the economic growth and development. The relationship of microfinance and womenempowerment is not linear, rather many economic, social, psychological and political factors affectit. This study tries to investigate the relationship of microfinance with women empowerment, withthe moderation role of household support and entrepreneurship in district of Jhelum, Pakistan. Aquantitative approach was used to measure and interpret the results of the study. Primary data wascollected from 315 respondents through self-administrated questionnaire, analyzed using structuralequation modeling (SEM) using SMART PLS. The findings of the study support the hypothesizedpositive relationship of availability of microfinance and women empowerment. The results alsoprovided evidence of the moderation effect of household support and entrepreneurship. The resultsof the study can aid in policy development by the government, policymakers, NGOs, and microfinanceinstitutions in Pakistan.
Keywords: Microfinance, Women Empowerment, Household Support, Entrepreneurship.