A study on women empowerment by enhancing saving capabilities – through self-help groups

Abstract

Women comprise almost half of India's population. Most rural women confront “information poverty,” a problematic disadvantage. Despite this, women, in rural India contribute substantially to the overall economy. Women work longer hours and earn more money for their families than men, yet they are not accorded the same level of respect in the workplace. Providing ‘financial independence’ is one amongst many ways to improve their standard of living. This article attempts to explore the correlation between improved savings and its impact on improving the standard of living of rural women. Self-help-groups (SHG’s) play a dynamic role in enhancing the saving capabilities of its members, as the primary objective of these groups is to enhance the savings and thrift of the members and lend financial assistance at the time of need, on ‘Joint Liabilities’ principle. Data was collected from 100 respondents, belonging to different SHG’s functioning in Ramanagara Taluk, selected on the basis of Simple random sampling. The findings of the work, re-iterates the fact that, improved savings has constructive impact on improving the standard of living of the members, which was evident from a comparative study of their consumption expenditure, before and after, joining the SHG’s. Paired T-Test confirms the significant changes in their monthly expenditure. This method, is a workable model, which can be easily replicated, contributing significantly in women empowerment. This article identifies that providing financial independence for rural women results in their empowerment and considers enhanced savings as an independent factor and standard of living as dependent factor for the purpose of analysis.