Women’s Development through participation in Self Help Groups

Abstract

Self Help Groups (SHGs) have emerged as major agents of development and empowerment of weaker sections in the thirds world. In India, since the beginning of the Ninth Plan, most of the development programmes are channeled through SHGs. Microfinance in the form of SHG-Bank linkage model has been able to inspire hope in the lives of thousands of rural poor especially the rural poor women. There is a common perception that women who join SHGs are not only become economically empowered but becomes powerful in many ways. They gain a say in family matters and their social status is enhanced. Under this circumstance in the present paper an attempt has been made to judge at what extent SHGs contribute to the improvement of women awareness and overall development of women. In our study, we have collected primary data from 110 women SHG members of Sonamukhi block in Bankura district of West Bengal during 2019. To judge the Women’s Development, a questionnaire has been made on six variables namely education, employment, income, housing condition, status in the society and voice against social exploitation. Chi-square test has been used to test the result. The study concluded that women participation in SHG have been able to improve their lives as well as their decision making power and status both in the households’ and society.