Discovering the Impact of Self Help Groups on Urban Women Economic Empowerment in Chennai-using SEM Approach

Abstract

Before two decades, even the banks were not ready for the rescue of people working in unorganized sector. Later, to address the issue the concept of microfinance (SHG) came into existence. A Self-Help Group (SHG) is a formal or informal group of people with social or economic background. A group consists of 10 to 20 members especially women. The purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of self-help groups on urban women empowerment in Chennai and to provide suggestions to self-help group and women entrepreneurs for better overall empowerment and to improve the effectiveness of SHG. The data has been collected from urban self-help group women in Chennai. The 388 samples are collected from Chennai-North, Chennai-Central and Chennai-South proportionately. The total urban women population of SHG in Chennai is 405744. The study concludes that over the years, number of SHGs has been increased and SHGs has contributed towards enhancing urban women economic empowerment. Economic empowerment of women and Effectiveness of SHGs may be further improved through pre-assessment of the applicants, periodical monitoring of the members, by offering training to improve the awareness about financial products and business management.