A Comparative Study on the Performance of Self-help Groups in Rural and Urban Areas with Special Reference to Role of Women in Household Decision Making in Coimbatore District of Tamil Nadu

The study has examined the impact of self-help groups (SHGs) on empowerment and socio-economic status of women in pre- and post-SHG situations in the rural and urban areas of Coimbatore district. Using multistage stratified random sampling technique, 50 self-help groups (25 from rural and 25 from urban) and 5 members from each group, thus a total of 250 members were selected as respondents. The data were collected by personal interview on aspects such as general characteristics of members, family income, social participation, and other criteria related to socio-economic development. The methodology used by the study was chow test, composite index and Garrett ranking. Total loan disbursed by the SHGs was 53,025 and 63,275 in rural and urban areas, respectively, of which 74.0 per cent and 69.5 per cent were advanced for income generating activities. The results of Garrett ranking have shown that among the five problems experienced by them, namely delayed payment of loan, lack of government training, lack of record maintenance, lack of support from family members and high price variability, the lack of support from family members is the major problem in the rural areas and delayed payment of loan is the major problem in urban areas.