Do Self-Help Groups Empower Women? Evidences from Nuh District of Haryana

Abstract

Men and women complement each other in many aspects of life. Nevertheless, when we talk about empowerment, there is big diversity. There are often pressures and opposition from within the family due to societal stereotypes that force women to take care of the house as her key responsibility. Unequal or unfair treatments marginalized the women and hindered their participation in socio-economic growth of the country. However, the findings of the studies showed that women participation in economic activities produced large gains in economic welfare. This study was an attempt to contribute in the debate about how the self-help groups were helpful to empower the women; as women empowerment overcame the gender disparity (the gap between men and women) and increased the participation of women in economic as politic activities of the country. For this purpose, the primary data was collected from the Nuh district of Haryana, considered the most backward district of India. This study showed that self-help group intervention had a positive role in empowering women.