What Factors Play a Role in Empowering Women? A Study of SHG Members from India

Abstract

Self-employment holds the key to continuity of employment. Selfemployed members of self-help groups (SHGs) fare better than their wage-earning counterparts when it comes to continuity of employment. These were some of the findings of a study based on two rounds of primary surveys-one in 2005 and the other in 2009-of the same set of SHG members from the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal in India. The study dwelt on the factors influencing the different indicators of women empowerment among the members of 26 matured all-woman SHGs. It also isolated the socioeconomic demographic factors influencing the joint probability of a group member being both empowered and employed. The study concluded that training significantly influences various dimensions of empowerment, and the trained group members are more likely to be both empowered as well as employed. Gender, Technology and Development 16(3) 329-355

Disempowerment of Women: The Experience of Indian States

“…Our analysis shows that the probability of disempowerment of women decreases by 8 percentage points when the women are employed as compared to being unemployed at the state level. The finding conforms to the observation of Bowlus and Seitz (2006), Ghosh (2012), andKabeer (2012). Kabeer (1997) pointed out that if the woman is found to be able to take care of children and herself if her husband left, then this paid employment increases her autonomy in the family.…”

“…1.A mammoth of literature exists on the issue of empowerment of women, which means a state where women are aware of their own selves and gaining strength to participate in decisions that influence their welfare and control their own lives. (Banerjee & Ghosh, 2012; Bhattacharya & Banerjee, 2012; Biswas, 2016; Boateng et al, 2014; Chakrabarti & Biswas, 2012; Crissman et al, 2012; Jejeebhoy & Sathar, 2001; Kabeer, 1989; Karl, 1995; Kishor & Gupta, 2004; Malhotra et al, 2002; Page & Czuba, 1999; Rahman, 2013; Upadhyay & Karasek, 2012; and many others).…”

Factors influencing micro-entrepreneurship among women SHG members of Sikkim: a propensity score matching approach

“…Empirical evidences reveal that funds accrued through SHGs are mainly used for financing consumption requirements instead of any productive activity that would potentially generate future stream of income (Paramanandam and Packirisamy, 2015). In this context several studies (Banerjee and Borhade, 2016;Banerjee and Ghosh, 2012;Field et al, 2010) recommend that apart from micro-credit, the group members should also be provided with adequate training on suitable livelihood skills to enable them channelize their borrowed funds into productive activities by venturing into diverse forms of micro-enterprises. A survey of literature in the broad domain of women entrepreneurship have shown that involvement in entrepreneurial activities enhances women's employability, financial independence, intra-household bargaining power and confidence.…”

“…In India several livelihood generating training programs have been launched for SHG members; the outcome of such programmes have, however, been mixed. While one set of studies (Banerjee and Borhade, 2016;Banerjee and Ghosh, 2012;Prasad and Choubey, 2022;Sinha, 2004;Swain and Varghese, 2014) have unveiled positive impact of training on women entrepreneurship; another set of studies (Field et al, 2010;Karlan and Valdivia, 2011) have revealed that the impact of training on the same has remained modest as only a small fraction of the women SHG trainees ventured into micro-entrepreneurial activity or up-scaled their ongoing activity. Such findings adequately illustrate that apart from provision of finance and training there are, indeed, several socio-economic and household level factors that possibly have an influence over micro-entrepreneurial activities by SHG women.…”

Collective Action, Envisioning the Future and Women’s Self-help Groups: A Case Study from South India

“…Economic empowerment and poverty reduction are key rationales for microcredit, savings and self-employment activities for individuals or SHGs 1 in India and elsewhere (Ackerly, 1995; Chari-Wagh, 2009; Deininger & Liu, 2009; Drolet, 2009, 2010; Nader, 2008; Nair, 2005; Reddy & Manak, 2005), and the Indian government’s (Ministry of Rural Development) National Rural Livelihood Mission, announced in 2011, involves working with SHGs and NGOs to address rural poverty (Desai & Joshi, 2013). It is assumed that the economic activities of SHGs will contribute to women’s economic, and consequently, social and political empowerment, although many have critiqued these assumptions, as well as the way empowerment is defined and measured (Banerjee & Ghosh, 2012; Chari-Wagh, 2009; Desai & Joshi, 2013; Garikipati, 2013; Kabeer, 2001a; Karim & Law, 2013; Nader, 2008; Worthen, 2012).…”