Empowerment of Rural Women through Self Help Groups: A Socio-Economic Analysis

The empowerment of women is crucial for the development of the country. Women empowerment is a process in which women challenge the existing norms and culture, to effectively promote their well being. The Indian Constitution grants equality to women in all aspects. In this regard, the year 2001 was celebrated as the year of women empowerment. The concept of self help groups (SHGs) introduced by the Ministry of Rural Development has taken its roots in nook and corner of the rural, semi-urban and urban areas, which help improve the living standards. The present paper examines the socio-economic empowerment of the rural women through the SHGs. The study was conducted in two districts i.e. Ganjam and Malkangiri of Odisha. Primary data were collected through structured interview schedule from 192 members of 48 SHGs. The study proved that there were not much of developments of the group members. Very poor responses were observed towards developments on various aspects of technological, economical, income generating activities and marketing. Significant developments were also not observed on socio-cultural aspects. It was suggested that the organisations promoting SHGs have to organize the rural women, make them technically sound and increase their risk bearing ability enabling them to undertake income generating activities on commercial basis and empowered them with regular income.