Empowering Women Weavers by Up-Gradation of Handloom Industry of Assam through Microfinance

Abstract

Handloom industry is the back bone of various indigenous communities of North East India, particularly Assam. Weaving techniques have been passed on to the next generation by a mother to her daughter in majority households in Assam. However this tradition is almost on the verge of extinction except in a few specific areas where still women consider weaving as a part of their daily work. Due to the better connectivity between urban and rural areas and rising demand for traditional attires, weaving has become a source of income for those people who are still engaged in the age old skill. However scarcity of finance makes them helpless to increase the quality and supply of hand woven fabric in Assam. Microfinance can be highly effective in reviving and upgrading the handloom industry of Assam. The paper tries to analyse the impact of microfinance in enhancing the handloom industry of Assam, particularly in the lower Brahmaputra valley and eventually empowering the women folk socio-economically. Exploratory Factor analysis has been used to find out important factors which contribute to the socio-economic condition of women weavers. To measure whether microfinance has improved the handloom industry of Assam and hereby enhancing the socio-economic condition of the weavers, descriptive statistics has been used. It has been found that women weavers that are benefited under microfinance programme have eventually got empowered socio-economically.