Abstract
Abstract
This study examines women’s empowerment among mother borrowers in Southville 7, an off-city resettlement community in Calauan, Laguna, Philippines, applying Kabeer’s framework. It investigates how resources from the cooperative-managed micro-finance program translate into agency and household achievements, and how sociodemographic factors condition this process. Data from 150 stratified randomly sampled borrowers were analyzed via bootstrapped regression, mediation, and moderated mediation. Results show resource access positively predicts agency, with microfinance and business resources as key drivers. Agency partially mediated the resources-to-achievement pathway. Educational attainment significantly strengthened the resources-to-agency relationship and overall indirect pathway. Length of residence strengthened the initial link, while employment showed no moderating effect. Findings demonstrate that microfinance empowers women depending on their capacity to convert resources into action within structural resettlement conditions.