Impact of Self-help Groups on Empowerment of Women

Women are almost half of the national population of the country, who are far behind in the development process as compared to the other half of the population. Women are an integral part of every economy. All round development and harmonious growth of a nation would be possible only when women are considered as equal partners in progress with men. We need to realize that women's issues cannot be compartmentalized and isolated as secondary issues in development as the future of development and society lies in the future of women. For empowerment of women, several programmes and schemes had been launched in the past few years by Government of India. These programmes and schemes brought economic and social reforms, but not in significant manner. This leads to search for alternative ways to serve the rural poor in general and rural women in particular. In such a search, the women self-help groups (SHGs) are praiseworthy. Thus a new concept on empowerment of women by organizing them into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) was initiated in the ninth five year plan (1997–2002). The present study investigated the impact of SHGs on empowerment of women. A sample of 150 members i.e. 75 from Ludhiana and 75 from Hoshiarpur were selected through random sampling technique. The data were collected with the help of interview schedule. Majority of the respondents reported that there was improvement in economic resources of the family, women's own development, decision making regarding education, marriage of children and participation in social activities. Majority of the respondents achieved ‘high’ level of empowerment through Self-help groups.