Self-help groups: a seed for intrinsic empowerment of Indian rural women

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of self-help groups (SHGs) in providing an environment for the empowerment of Indian rural women. The authors argue that the SHG empowerment strategy paves the way for the process of development of bottom-up empowerment of women. The authors argue that SHG is a systematic strategy and is not solely based on credit, but also incorporates many other dimensions necessarily required for developing an empowerment process. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative study was the choice of design due to the inherent inability of the structured surveys to understand women empowerment (Mayoux, 1998), as this study was basically interested in the women’s perception of their own empowerment. To explore their experience, a series of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were conducted. Findings The authors stand by the application of SHG empowerment strategy in India and go against the rhetoric statements that “top to bottom” approach does not lead to a significant bottom-up empowerment. Originality/value The survey was conducted by the authors in the vicinity of rural Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Moreover, during the survey, it was found out that participation in SHG facilitates women to know the current state of disempowerment and provides them strength, capacity to come out from the status of drudgery, poverty and seclusion.

A Comparative Study on Structural Empowerment of Co-Operatives Members in Urban and Rural Setting

“…These results are consistent with previous research which showed that co-operatives in rural areas empower rural communities and women [1,4,5]. Co-operative members living in rural perceive co-operatives as providing more access to cooperative members to develop, obtain valuable information for businesses, get support, resources, formal and informal power.…”

“…Different perceptions of rural and urban women regarding the structural empowerment of co-operatives also show that rural women have higher hopes for co-operatives compared to urban women, but this does not happen to men. Co-operatives become the main support to rural community economic development because co-operative has become a more easily accessible institutions for the rural communities when they want to get loans [1]. The conditions are flexible when compared to other conventional financial institutions.…”

“…Empowerment is an important issue for co-operatives [1]. The purpose of co-operatives is to empower its members [2,3].…”

“…The purpose of co-operatives is to empower its members [2,3]. Co-operatives can empower their members [4], especially in marginalized groups who experience oppression such as women in patriarchal regions [5] and women living in rural areas [1]. The concept of empowerment in co-operatives varies [6].…”

“…Extrinsic empowerment is socio-economic factors that can make individuals empowered while intrinsic empowerment is a change in attitudes and behaviours of co-operative members to be more willing to make decisions, realize their capacity and increase their potential [8]. A co-operative is an environment where members empower themselves, thus it is necessary to evaluate how far the co-operative as an empowering environment gives its members access to become empowered [1]. Kanter' structural empowerment theory can be used as a reference [8].…”