Abstract
Drawing upon recent data, this paper explores the relationship between women’s involvement in Self-Help Group (SHG) based microfinance programmes and their empowerment. The composite empowerment indicator shows that only 13.2% of women associated with microfinance are empowered. The paper finds that though the length of membership in SHGs increases the intensity of women’s economic and political empowerment, it does not show a significant relationship with their social empowerment. It is also observed that ‘economic empowerment’ does not necessarily lead to the attainment of social and/or political empowerment. The paper argues that although SHG-led microfinance programmes have the potential to empower women in some aspects, their capacity in ushering social transformation is limited.
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