The Role of Self Help Groups (SHGs) in Empowering Rural Women in India

In the present piece of research an attempt has been made to explore the role of Self Help Groups (SHGs) in empowering rural women. In India, rural society are highly traditional, culture and custom oriented and based on superstition and blind believes. Rural women enjoy a subaltern status because of their inaccessibility to education, decision making and participation in public life. They confined their life within the four walls of the house without any scope to prove their ability. These women are highly disadvantaged and vulnerable due to illiteracy,poverty and lack awareness. Being victims of gender bias,they are restricted to showcase their inner strength and capability. They work ceaselessly in both domestic as well as in productive sector which often go unaccounted. Thus, they are deprived of the financial power and have no control over and access to family income. In such a critical situation of their deplorable condition of life, Micro-finance has come as a blessing in disguise. It has not only given them an opportunity to organize themselves in groups, but to come out of that bondage of subjugation, which in turn has helped them to create an identity for themselves.