The power of the collective empowers women: Evidence from self-help groups in India (original) (raw)
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Collective action and community development: Evidence from women’s self-help groups in rural India
In response to the problems of high coordination costs among the poor, efforts are underway in many countries to organize the poor through "self-help groups" (SHGs)-membership-based organizations that aim to promote social cohesion through a mixture of education, access to finance, and linkages to wider development programs. We randomly selected villages in one of the poorest districts in rural India in which to establish SHGs for women. Two years of exposure to these programs increased women's participation in group savings programs as well as the non-agricultural labor force. Compared to women in control villages, treated women were also more likely to participate in household decisions and engage in civic activities. We find no evidence however, that participation increased income or had a disproportionate impact on women's socio-economic status. These results are important in light of the recent effort to expand official support to SHGs under India's National Rural Livelihood Mission. JEL codes: D70, I3, I38, J16, Q1
Self-Help Groups and Women Empowerment in Rural India
Kala Sarovar, 2021
Self-Help Groups(SHGs) are informal groups of 10-25 women voluntarily willing to form for financial help among themselves. The idea originated out of Self Employed Women Association (SEWA) in 1970s that matured with backing of NABARD and other banks in micro credit lendingto these SHGs since 1990s that reached in lakhs today. NGOs and newly feminised panchayti raj Institutions(PRIs) after 73 rd Constitutional Amendmenthave proved catalyst in Popularising SHGs among poor women in rural areas. Reports on SHGs reveal that this has worked well during decades in social ,economic ,psychological and political development of women in India.Precisely this SHGs has expanded credit corpus and scope of financial inclusion .
Indian Journal of Economics and Development, 2019
Objectives: Present study focuses on the creation of women empowerment index in Jhajjar district of Haryana through the intervention of self-help groups. Study is intended to analyses women's role in socioeconomic , and political sections of the society enhanced because of their energetic contribution in SHGs, therefore, the study has made it a goal to examine the social, political, economic and personal empowerment of women. Methods & Analysis: A stratified multi-stage sampling was used to collect the data. Jhajhar district was chosen from Rohtak division and further three Blocks namely Badli, Bahadurgarh,Jhajjar were chosen and from each block one VO Kheri Khumar, Lowa Khard, and Kheri Jat were selected respectively. Total 90 women beneficiaries from SC and OBC with equal distribution were chosen to collect primary data through Likert scale. Composite index and factor analysis were used with 22 indicators to examine the empowerment of women in Jhajhar District. Findings: Study found that PLEI (political empowerment) is most affected through SHGs intervention in Jhajjar district of Haryana. The foremost cause is that after joining the SHG, women are politically awake. Women are sure to make any decision because they are conscious of her civil liberties and laws. Women are well-knownof their property rights. All SHG women have their own Aadhar card or Voter ID card. At the time of elections, women vote independently to their elected candidates. Women are actively participating in government programs. SHGs are government programs and every woman is actively participating to increase the performance of its groups. Rural women SHG members are known about the work of the local Panchayat and they are getting all the benefits from Panchayat. Improvement: While examining the impact of each indicator on composite women empowerment it was found that economic empowerment is the most significant and registered highest value thus it can be stated that women's socioeconomic status rise after joining SHGs in Jhajhar District of Haryana.
Collective action and community development: evidence from self-help groups in rural India
In response to the problems of high coordination costs among the poor, efforts are underway in many countries to organize the poor through "self-help groups" (SHGs)-membership-based organizations that aim to promote social cohesion through a mixture of education, access to finance, and linkages to wider development programs. We randomly selected villages in one of the poorest districts in rural India in which to establish SHGs for women. Two years of exposure to these programs increased women's participation in group savings programs as well as the non-agricultural labor force. Compared to women in control villages, treated women were also more likely to participate in household decisions and engage in civic activities. We find no evidence however, that participation increased income or had a disproportionate impact on women's socio-economic status. These results are important in light of the recent effort to expand official support to SHGs under India's National Rural Livelihood Mission. JEL codes: D70, I3, I38, J16, Q1
Impact of Self-Help Groups on Economic Empowerment of Women in Assam
The empowerment of women is crucial for the development of a nation. Evidence across nations suggests that the empowerment of rural women can be achieved through the provision of micro-credit to Self-Help Group (SHG) members. This study was undertaken to examine the effectiveness of SHGs in economic empowerment of women in Assam. The study was based on primary data collected from Baksa district of Assam through interview of SHG member beneficiaries. A total of 100 members from 50 groups of two blocks (25 SHGs from each block) formed the sample size of the study. The study revealed that majority of the respondents belongs to the age group of 25 to 45 and have educational qualification of primary education and most of them are married and major portion of the respondents have 4 to 6 dependents. A number of income generating activities were undertaken by the members after joining SHGs. The result showed positive change in indicators of economic empowerment, viz., income, employment and savings after joining the SHG. The calculated value of Wilcoxon signed Ranks Test for the economic indicators were significant. It revealed that majority of the respondent's income, employment days and amount of savings increased in the post-SHG situation as compared to pre-SHG situation. Thus the study concluded that SHGs have been playing a vital role in the empowerment of rural women in the study area. I. Introduction: The empowerment of women is crucial for the economic development of a nation and building a base for social change. In order to improve the socioeconomic conditions of the population of any country, it has become prerequisite to empower women by enhancing and ensuring their role to the optimal level. The development strategies could no longer achieve their targeted goal which neglects the need for participation and contribution of women to the society. Only when women are considered as equal partners in progress with men, all round development and harmonious growth of any country would be possible. Thus, emancipation of women is a prerequisite for nation " s economic development and social upliftment and without the provision of equal economic and social opportunities to women, emancipation cannot truly happen. Bringing women into the mainstream of development is one of the major challenges for developing countries like India. The idea of women empowerment was introduced at the World women " s conference in 1985. In India, the empowering women was focused in the eight five year plan (1992-1997) at the grassroots level and empowering women through translating the recently adopted National Policy for Empowerment of Women (2001) into action and ensuring survival, protection and development of women and children through right based approach was taken care in tenth five year plan (2002-2007). The Government of India has launched and implemented a number of schemes towards poverty alleviation and women empowerment but it was observed that women in rural areas especially from the poor families could not be benefitted. This led to the country to launch a mother programme called Swarna-Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) which was based on a group approach. Here, the rural poor especially women were organized into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to enable them to take up viable economic activities on their own on a sustained basis with the support from bank loans and government subsidy.
International journal of applied research, 2015
Self Help Groups (SHGs) have emerged as a powerful tool to bring about the much needed growth and development in the country. SHG is the buzzword in the government policies, banking procedures and among the NGOs. The positive impact of SHG movement is visible in the generation of employment opportunities, eradication of poverty and most significantly in improving the status of women in the society. In this study an effort is being made to analyze the link between the socio-economic empowerment of women through the SHG membership. The study was conducted in the Jajpur district of the state of Odisha. The information required for this study was collected from both the primary and secondary sources. Cluster sampling and area sampling were used to collect the information. Average and other statistical methods are used to conduct a meaningful interpretation. The result of the above study indicates a clearconnection between the economic independence of women with SHG membership. Social ac...
Can self-help group programs improve women’s empowerment? A systematic review
Journal of Development Effectiveness, 2016
This mixed-methods systematic review focuses on the impact of women's self-help groups (SHGs) on women's economic, social, psychological, and political empowerment. Both governmental and non-governmental institutions spend formidable resources facilitating SHGs in low-and middleincome countries in South Asia and other developing countries, under the premise that access to microfinance, training, and group support can enhance women's empowerment. We found that women's economic SHGs have positive effects on economic and political empowerment, women's mobility, and women's control over family planning. The estimated effect sizes range from 0.06-0.41 standardised mean differences. We did not find evidence for positive effects of SHGs on psychological empowerment. The qualitative research further suggests that the positive effects of SHGs on empowerment run through mechanisms that are associated with familiarity in handling money, independence in financial decision-making, solidarity, social networks, and respect from the household and other community members. However, the included evaluations often did not include sufficient information about the specifics of the activities that were implemented by the SHGs. As a result, it remains unclear which of the various SHG models are most effective. Finally, our triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative findings indicates that SHGs do not have adverse consequences for domestic violence.