Gender Justice and Empowerment

Abstract

This study is an impact assessment study of the rehabilitation work done for Chhara women in the rural precincts of Ahmedabad district in the state of Gujarat, India. The women of this community are infamous absconders of law and active bootleggers of locally made liquor. As part of a psychological study with a local NGO, the authors headed an impact assessment study of training program aimed at rehabilitating and providing these women alternate modes of employment, thereby driving them away from a life of crime. The chapter centers on the idea of women entrepreneurship and women empowerment. This study argues that making these poor women self-dependent is a panacea for their sluggish development. This has further led the community astray into making illegal country liquor causing further damage to their reputation. Women are at the centre of this vicious circle facing much repression and ostracisation.