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Introduction
Microcredit has become orthodoxy in the socioeconomic development of women. It is true that, in a patriarchal society like Bangladesh, women's microcredit participation can allow women to have an income of their own, which may in turn improve their socioeconomic status as household co-breadwinner - a reduction of the income-related status gap between husband and wife. However, in rural Bangladesh, a significant proportion of loans borrowed by married women are actually controlled by their husbands ([15] Goetz and Gupta, 1996; [29] Kabeer, 2001). Therefore, women's loan-borrowing status may not necessarily enhance their income and status. This study examines the influences of their husbands' gender ideology on women's microcredit participation and their status within the household in rural Bangladesh.
Microcredit and women's development
Microcredit is defined as the expansion of micro-loans to the socioeconomically disadvantaged population. It is also recognized as a poverty reduction intervention in both low-income and high-income countries ([2] Ahmed et al. , 2001; [43] Salt, 2010; [47] Schurmann and Johnston, 2009; [52] The Microcredit Summit Campaign, 2009). Microcredit programs target poor people who are typically abandoned by the conventional banks. This is because conventional banks hardly offer loans to the individuals who lack collateral, stable employment, and a certifiable credit history. It is presumed that microcredit allows poor to pursue income-generating entrepreneurial projects, which ultimately enables them to better afford to care for themselves and their family members ([47] Schurmann and Johnston, 2009). Nowadays microcredit has become a popular poverty reduction intervention across the world.
Women's status and microcredit programs in rural Bangladesh
Bangladesh is one of the poorest and most densely populated countries in the world. Around, 45 percent of the Bangladesh's 160 million people live below the poverty line - earning less than US$2 in a day. About 78 percent of Bangladeshis live in rural areas where poverty is the most severe, particularly among women - who are trapped in a circle of socioeconomic disparity as constrained from land, property, education, freedom, career, and income ([54] UNDP, 2008).
Microcredit programs in rural Bangladesh predominantly target women because women's microcredit participation is not only considered to be an essential element in poverty reduction but a means of empowering women in ways that improve their skills, capabilities, and status ([17] Hadi,...