Self help groups and women’s empowerment

Abstract

Women’s empowerment is a process in which women challenge the existing norms and culture in efforts to promote their well being. This paper analyses the significance and effect of programmes by Self Help Groups (SHGs) by comparing empowerment levels before and after three years of programme intervention based on a survey conducted the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The SHGs in Chennai operate under Mahallir Thittam, a state government programme funded by the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women (TNCDW). The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) empowerment indices are used to study levels of empowerment. Quantitative methodology is adopted using the self-reporting method. A three-stage stratified random sampling method was employed for data collection. The first stage involved the NGOs, the second stage focused on the SHGs and the third stage dealt with SHG members on the basis of demographics. Average and percentage were calculated to draw meaningful interpretation on the Empowerment Indicators using IFAD Model. Friedman test, Chi Square test and Anova followed by a DMRT test were used to measure the relationship between observed variables. The study revealed that levels of self-confidence and self-esteem of women increased indicating positive changes. The women in SHGs emerged as more assertive of their rights, in particular when dealing with the local community and on social matters. © 2015, Faculty of Economics and Administration. All rights reserved.

Full text

Self Help Groups and Women’s
Empowerment
Abstract: Women’s empowerment is a process in which women challenge the
existing norms and culture in efforts to promote their well being. This paper
analyses the signicance and effect of programmes by Self Help Groups (SHGs)
by comparing empowerment levels before and after three years of programme
intervention based on a survey conducted the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
The SHGs in Chennai operate under Mahallir Thittam, a state government
programme funded by the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women
(TNCDW). The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
empowerment indices are used to study levels of empowerment. Quantitative
methodology is adopted using the self-reporting method. A three-stage
stratied random sampling method was employed for data collection. The
rst stage involved the NGOs, the second stage focused on the SHGs and the
third stage dealt with SHG members on the basis of demographics. Average
and percentage were calculated to draw meaningful interpretation on the
Empowerment Indicators using IFAD Model. Friedman test, Chi Square test
and Anova followed by a DMRT test were used to measure the relationship
between observed variables. The study revealed that levels of self-condence
and self-esteem of women increased indicating positive changes. The women
in SHGs emerged as more assertive of their rights, in particular when dealing
with the local community and on social matters.
Self Help Groups (SHGs) are informal associations consisting of 10-20
members whose purpose is to enable members to reap economic benets
through mutual help, solidarity and joint responsibility. The SHGs ease
availability of microcredit to women as they lack capital and have very
little or no access to credits. Governments and policymakers view SHGs
a Corresponding Author. Faculty of Economics and Administration, University Malaya. Email: hema.
nithyanandhan@gmail.com
JEL Classication: G21, J16
Article Received: 2 September 2014; Article Accepted: 17 November 2014
1. Introduction
b Social Security Research Centre (SSRC), Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of
Malaya. Email: norma@um.edu.my
S. Hemavathy Nithyanandhana, Norma Mansorb
Keywords: Empowerment, IFAD, Mahallir Thittam, Self Help Groups, TNCDW
and Women.

favourably but studies show mixed results. This article is a case study of
Chennai (formally known as Madras), the capital city of Tamil Nadu .
In 1950, the Constitution of India was formulated and Article 14 guarantees
gender equality prohibiting any form of discrimination against women.
The reality however, is rampant gender inequality and discrimination in all
spheres of social and economic lives of women in India. In the early decades
of development planning, they were viewed as social welfare problems. The
welfare assistance did nothing to eliminate social discrimination against and
subordination of women. In almost all the plans for poverty alleviation and
social change, disadvantaged women became a ‘target’ for developmental
activities rather than active participants (Beijing Conference, 1996). Since
1970, policymakers and academicians have been pondering how to link
development programmes with elevating the socio-economic conditions of
poor women in India. Women’s issues are development issues and ignoring
them in development programmes means leaving almost half of the population
outside development intervention (Anand, 2002).
At the grassroots level, women’s participation and development often
take place through interventions in the form of development programmes
or projects. The participation of women in such community development
programmes enhances their personal development making it more sustainable.
The Government of India has introduced many community development
programmes to uplift the socio economic status of women and reduce their
vulnerability to poverty. One such programme was the Microcredit Self Help
Groups (SHGs) established in the 1990s by the National Bank for Agriculture
and Rural Development (NABARD) and supported by non-governmental
agencies. Since its inception, SHGs have been under the patronage of the
Central Government of India under a programme called Swarna Jayanthi
Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY). It is an important poverty alleviation
scheme for urban slum dwellers in India. The SGSY utilises SHGs acting
as an organisational conduit that delivers subsidised assistance to households
earning income that are below the stipulated poverty line. The SHGs encourage
these households to take part in self-employment activities to supplement
their meagre income.
The main objective of this article is to examine the role of SHGs in
empowering women looking at the case study of Chennai. The research
question is: Have the SHGs succeeded in empowering women? The paper
addresses the issue of empowerment by looking at the beneciaries of the
programme called Mahallir Thittam, a SHG. It is one of the programmes
implemented by the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women
(TNCDW). It adopts the SHG approach and functions with the assistance of
the International Fund of Agricultural Development (IFAD). The Mahallir
Thittam programme was implemented in partnership with NGOs to help
disseminate information on SHGs and to provide training and monitor their
progress. The SHGs have to register with the NGOs and in turn, the latter are

to register under the Mahallir Thittam of TNCDW.1 The SHGs play a role in
uplifting the status of women by showing them ways to acquire microcredit
facilities, mobilise their savings into capital and improve their skills and
knowledge through various training programmes. However, literature
ndings show a big gap in the study of microcredit with respect to the urban
poor, especially in the study area of Chennai. It is important to analyse the
performance of the SHGs and their contributions to the development of urban
women from the lower strata and whether women are actually empowered
after joining SHGs.
2. Literature Review
Self-help groups (SHGs) form the basic constituent unit of micronance
movement in India (Chakrabarti, 2004). Experiments in various developing
countries have shown that the poor can be helped by organising them into
small SHGs. To address the roots of poverty, women are considered the best
agents. Hence, women SGHs have become the ray of hope to developmental
practitioners.
The SHGs employ a group-based approach that enables poor women to
accumulate capital by way of small savings and facilitating their access to
formal credit facilities (Shylendra, 1998). The concept of joint lending liability
embedded in the SHGs enables the members to overcome the problem of
collateral security, a major barrier to obtaining credit from formal institutions.
It also leads to peer monitoring which improves the rate of loan recoveries
(Stiglitz, 1993). Some of the basic characteristics of SHGs such as small
membership size and homogeneity of composition result in cohesiveness and
effective participation of members in the functioning of the group (Fernandez,
1994).
According to A. Rahman, (1999), there are three objectives of microcredit:
rst, increasing women’s access to credit is expected to increase their earning
capabilities resulting in improvement in their socio-economic conditions and
greater respect for them in the household; second, women form the majority
of the world’s poorest. In its Human Development Report, the UNDP (1997)
stated that almost 70% of the 1.3 billion people living on less than USD1
a day are women and Women face a higher rate of unemployment and are
relatively more disadvantaged than men. Generally, women are paid smaller
wages and are involved in informal work compared with men. In order to
improve their economic and social conditions, women need effective access to
nancial services. Third, organising women into groups tends to improve their
group solidarity thus, strengthening their socio-economic empowerment. By
focusing on women and supporting them, microcredit becomes an effective
empowering tool. In general, SHGs have been able to reach out to the poor,
especially women, effectively and help them obtain easy access to facilities

such as savings and credit.
Although policymakers and non-government organisations view SHGs
as an instrument of change which inreases socio-economic empowerment of
women, evidence on the ground and empirical data on the success of SHGs are
mixed. The ndings by Pitt and Khandher (1998), Khandher (2005), Schuler,
Hashemi, Riley and Akhter (1996), Hashemi (1997); Mosley (2001); B. E.
Coleman (2006); Datta (2004) and T. Islam (2007) show that microcredits
are successful in elevating the socio-economic status of women. Works by
Puhazhendi and Satyasai, (2001), Swain and Varghese (2009); Nagayya
(2000); Rajeshwari (2002); and Vijayanthi, (2002) illustrated that despite
the lack of resources, programmes implemented by SHGs have been quite
efcient in improving socio-economic standing and empowerment of their
beneciaries. On the other hand, Abhjit Banerjee (2009), Hashemi (1996),
Deininger (2009), R. Rahman (1999) say that the success of the programme
has been highly inated.
Other studies (Bhat, 2002; Linda Mayoux, 2000; L Mayoux, 2002; Rao,
2002) highlight savings and credit for economic activities that improve the
income and asset accumulations of women. Studies by Garikipati, (2008);
Kabeer, (2001); Mayoux, (2000, 2001) show that an empowered woman
who invests money in self owned enterprise, uses the income to improve the
nutritional status of her family, educates her children and begins to actively
participate in her family decision-makings (Ackerly, 1995; Hashemi, 1996;
Hulme, 1996; Rahman 1999 ). This has led to greater respect for women
within the households (Kabeer, 2001; Kumar, 2009) ; increase in their
mobility, ability to articulate, self-condence and esteem (Hashemi, 1996;
Husain, Mukerjee and Dutta, 2012; Krishnaraj and Kay, 2002; Putnam, 2000)
and; growth of collective identity and political awareness (Hashemi S.M.,
1996). The incidence of violence against women has decreased to a great
extent (Hashemi S.M., 1996; Husain et al., 2012).
The SHGs, via microcredit, has played an important role in lessening
the susceptibility of the poor towards poverty via the creation of assets,
increasing income, and consumption by providing emergency assistance and
empowerment and restoring condence in women to take control of their
assets (Umashankar, 2006). The IFAD report on mainstreaming gender found
increased levels of self-condence and self-esteem among women along with
a capacity to articulate their needs and a rise in respect in their households. The
studies by Paromita (2007), Razvi (2006), Jakimow and Kilby (2006), Reddy
and Manak (2005), Vijayanthi (2002) showed postive impact on empowerment
of women. It can be concluded that the common indicator used in microcredit
for women’s empowerment are control over loans, decision-making abilities
and mobility outside the household. It is widely perceived that if women can
achieve autonomy in these facets of their lives through access to microcredit,
then the structures of inequality contributing to women’s subordination can

be broken down. Undoubtedly, such indicators are useful in understanding
the impact of microcredit in the process of empowerment. Empowerment
can be seen in the context of individual development, group development, or
the local community or issues related to the gender and politics. It is worth
mentioning that the outcome differs from society to society.
3. Methodology
This section outlines the sources of data, sampling, collection techniques and
other methods employed in data analysis. Data was derived from both primary
and secondary sources. A structured interview schedule helped in collecting
primary data from sample SGH members. Quantitative methodology is adopted
using self-reporting method. It involves data collection in the numerical form
in order to explain or to predict the phenomenon of interest. As the survey is
undertaken after the programme introduction, the pre-programme information
is based on recall. A comparison was made between the level of empowerment
before joining the SHG and their conditions after three years of joining the
group in order to see the extent of improvement after programme intervention.
The main criterion for selecting the SHGs was the SHGs must consist of
members who had completed three years2 of programme intervention.
Accordingly, those who became SHG members since January 2007 were
not included in the assessment. Any member who had been a member for
not more than three years was excluded from the study. Researchers (Amin,
Hill and Li, 1995; Joseph, 2005; Puhazhendhi, 2000; Schuler and Hashemi,
1994) investigated if there has been a signicant difference in urban women’s
mobility and social interactions, labour patterns, access to and control over
resources, control over decision making and attitudinal and behavioural
change before and after the interventions of SHGs in Chennai.
The subjects of the present study were women SHG members in Chennai.
The required samples were chosen by adopting a three-stage stratied random
sampling method. The rst stage involved the NGOs, the second stage
focused on the SHG and the third stage dealt with SHG members on the
basis of demographic regions. According to the Corporation of Chennai, the
demographic region in Chennai is divided into three broad categories North
Chennai, Central Chennai and South Chennai consisting of 10 zones. In August
2010, the city of Chennai had 29 registered NGOs under Mahallir Thittam
with 25,359 SHGs whereby 14 NGOs are located in North Chennai, eight in
Central Chennai and seven in South Chennai. The concentration of NGOs
(14) in North Chennai indicates most of the residents live below poverty line
compared with other areas. The sample size included two NGOs from North
Chennai one each from Central Chennai and South Chennai respectively Four
NGOs were selected in the ratio of 2:1:13. The NGOs were selected randomly.
They are Marialyam and Sorannampal Education Trust from North Chennai,
Reedha from Central Chennai and Niveditha from South Chennai.

According to Krejcie and Mogran (1970), the representative sample size
for 25,359 SHG members is 383 respondents. In order to make it more
representative 770 members were chosen as seen in the table. Out of the total
sample size of 770 SHG members, only 758 responded for the quantitative
survey. The remaining 12 respondents were not from a particular group of
community, age, religion, area or education. Thus the study concluded they
did not represent a selective sample loss.
4. Indicators of Women’s Empoerment
Women’s empowerment is not a one-way trafc. It is also a never-ending
process. The entire process of women’s empowerment has to be evaluated
continuously through the feedback mechanism to maintain a dynamic home
statistics. According to Narayana (1998), “Empowerment of women is
a process whereby the powerless or disempowered gain a greater share of
control of resources and decision-making”. The process of gaining control
over self, ideology and resources, which determines power, may also be
termed as empowerment.
The indicators of empowerment are the ability to make decisions,
participation in household and nancial activities, the right of access to
property, the dexterity to take shelter in laws and have one’s own power to
Table 1: Sampling Framework of SHGs.
Names of the
NGO
Total
no. of
groups
Total no.
of groups
completed
3 years
Sample Size of
the SHGs (10%
of total groups
which have
completed 3
years)
Total members
(10 members
from each SHG)
Marialyam 921 212 21 groups 210
Sorannampal
Education
Trust (SET)
1898 272 27 groups 270
Reedha 454 185 18 groups 180
Niveditha 321 110 11 groups 110
Total 77 groups 770
Out of the total number of SHGs which had completed three years, 10%
were selected for the sample and 10 individual members were selected from
each group for semi-structured interviews (the average size of the SHGs are
10-15 members and to make it more consistent, 10 members were selected
from each group under the sampling framework). Individuals selected come
from different age groups, occupation, economic and marital status. The
following table shows the sampling strategy of the SHGs.

decide regarding one’s birth rights and the ability to expand one’s own area.
Two of the indexes are usually applied for assessment.
Women’s empowerment constitute increase in self-esteem and individual
and collective condence; increase in articulation, knowledge and awareness
levels on issues affecting the community at large, and women in particular,
such as women’s health, nutrition, reproductive rights, legal rights, literacy;
participation in other events related to their lives; increase in the bargaining
power of women, as individuals in the home and the community as well as
in the collectives of women; decision making power over the kind of work
she is doing; control over her own income and expenditure and whether she is
still subservient to male members in the family (Raheim and Bolden, 1995).
The IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) which
supported the Tamil Nadu Women’s Development Project in late 1999 had
suggested certain measures for the empowerment of women. The project
aimed to bring about the social and economic betterment of women. The
empowerment indices used with reference to developed countries may not t
into the context of developing countries like India. The IFAD empowerment
indices have been already tested in many studies in India particularly to study
the Mahallir Thittam. These are quantied into indicators that can be used for
statistical testing.
As mentioned earlier, the empowerment indicators used in developed
countries may not be suitable in the context of developing countries like India
where people are trapped in social and cultural bondages. The IFAD model
has already been tested in the context of India, especially in the SHGs under
the Mahallir Thittam programme. The present study thus adopted the IFAD
model of empowerment and its indices to study the empowerment of SHG
members after joining the programme.
The IFAD Model
The IFAD dened empowerment as having the following four main
characteristics:
The quantitative indicators are: demographic trends such as mortality rates,
fertility rates, sex ratio, life expectancy at birth and average age of marriage;
number of women participating in different development programmes and
the participation of women in political processes at the local levels (Mehra,
1997). Domestic abuse may be a common “tool” employed by husbands to
reinforce their authority within the domain of the household (Heise, Ellsberg
and Gottemoeller, 1999). The reluctance of women to oppose such violence
and tolerate it in silence have been well documented (Manderson and Bennett,
2003). Participation in SHGs reduces her tolerance of domestic violence not
only by empowering her economically but also by increasing her awareness
(Husain et al., 2012).

i) Changes in Women’s Mobility and Social Interaction – The study observed
that this kind of change was most likely to occur among group members
whereby the women attained greater self-condence, had greater respect in
the family, played a more assertive role in the domestic sphere, when there
was a reduction in domestic violence, when women had greater participation
in community affairs and local elections and had more freedom to visit their
parents, relatives and friends. These nine indices were used to study changes
in women’s mobility and social interactions.
ii) Changes in Women’s Labour Patterns - This study observed four
empowerment indicators amd found members had better selling and buying
skills, independent marketing and better business practices.
iii) Changes in Access to and Control over Resources – The study observed ve
empowerment indicators namely, when the women played a more assertive
role in nancial matters, when they gained new skills through training and
practices, had a viable and disciplined family budget, had the right to purchase
their own real estate and gain skills for better pricing of their products.
iv) Changes in Intra-Household Decision Making – The study observed the
empowerment indicators as the following: when the women played a more
assertive role in their children’s education and health, decisions on recreation,
had increased awareness to improve the living standards of the family and
community. These indicators were used to measure women’s role in intra
household decision making.
5. Findings
The study identied various indicators that had contributed towards
empowerment of the respondents and examined SHGs operations in this
regard. It used Descriptive Statistics to summarise the views and self-reporting
responses from members of SHGs in terms of frequency of distribution, mean
standard deviation and percentage. T-test, Chi-square, Anova followed by the
Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT), were used to compare conditions of
women before and after joining the SHGs.
The quantitative results are presented in three parts i) prole of the sample
SHGs - this provides information related to size of the groups, the training
undergone and meetings held ii) social background of women in SHGs -
this includes demographic details of the women in SHGs and iii) Impact on
Empowerment of Women in SHG: The variables used in the IFAD model
such as changes in women’s mobility and social interaction, labour patterns,
control over resources and decision making skills are also discussed.

5.1 Prole of the Sample SHGs.
Table 2 shows the frequency of distribution of SHG member. In terms of
group size, 42.74% of the women were in groups of 16-20 members, 31.8%
in groups of above 20 while 25.5% were in groups of 10-15 members. The
average group number was 15. In order to study the performance of the SHGs,
it is important to look at the homogeneity of the group. Homogeneity here
means each group member living in the same area or location. For duration
of membership, 51.2% had been members for three years, 31.3% for four
years and 17.5% had been members for ve years. The study found the size
of groups to be relatively larger in the older groups which have member
members for more than four years compared with n younger groups which
had less than three years of membership.
Kabeer (1999) posits that training has improved their entrepreneurial
potential leading to more sustainable women’s empowerment. Thus, proper
training by NGOs or government ofcials is needed to assess how far these
loans have been utilised. When such interventions are periodically monitored,
women will become better entrepreneurs and will invest their loans in income
generating activities to boost their empowerment levels.
Group Size
10 - 15 members 193 25.5
16 - 20 members 324 42.7
Above 20 members 241 31.8
Membership Duration
3 years 388 51.2
4 years 237 31.3
5 years 133 17.5
Training received
Yes 628 82.8
No 130 17.2
Type of Training
EDP 189 30.1
Handicraft 297 47.3
Animators and Representatives 142 22.6
Table 2: Frequency Distribution of SHG information and Training attended by the
SHG members
SHG Information Frequency Percentage

There are three different types of training provided to SHG members:
Entrepreneur Development Programme (EDP), Handicraft Training and
Animators and Representatives (A&R) training. Members who want to start
a micro business need EDP training to develop basic skills of business and
to increase knowledge in generating income. Those interested in handicraft
are provided training to gain expertise in jute bag making, embroidery and
doll making among others. Training is provided to group leaders and their
representatives to help them learn new skills such as group formation,
book keeping, savings, loans and insurance. Almost 82.8% participated in
the training while the rest had not attended any training programmes due
to personal problems and lack of interest. On the usefulness and utility of
training, 60.9% reported the training was useful while 20.6% reported that
the training was very useful. Some respondents replied that they were no
longer interested in training onsoap making, phenol making and homemade
products. Instead, they wanted to learn methods to make new products so that
they could sustain themselves in the market.
In this section, the social back grounds of the women in SHGs are presented.
Table 3 provides information on the frequency of distribution based on
demographics.
Table 3 shows that 38% of the participants were between 31 to 40 years
while 25.7% were below 30 years, 22.3% between 41 to 50 years and 14%
above 50 years. The average age of the respondents in the SHGs was 38.
The studies conducted by Joseph (2005), Lalitha (1996), Srinivasan (1993),
Table 2: (Continued)
SHG Information Frequency Percentage
Duration of the Training
Below 2 days 256 40.8
2 - 5 days 229 36.5
6 - 10 days 120 19.1
Above 10 days 23 3.6
Benets of the Training
Very useful 156 20.6
Useful 462 60.9
Somewhat useful 72 9.5
Not useful 68 9.0
Total 758 100.0
5.2 Social Background of Women in SHGs

Ramamurthy (1990) showed that the best age to join SHGs, becoming an
innovative group and performing effectively in microcredit is between
the ages of 20 and 40. Age is a determining factor to measure human
development, mental maturity and capacity to make decisions in life. Table
3 shows that Backward communities1 accounted for 44.8% of the samples
while the Most Backward communities accounted for 21.6%. The Scheduled
Caste5 made up 22.6% of the sample while the Scheduled Tribe6 formed 6.9%
which was a breakthrough in Indian society. Only 4.1% of the participants
were from the Forward community7 as they were the dominant group in the
Indian social structure. These ndings attested to the positive approach and
outcome of the programme. The members from the Forward Community who
were economically well off also showed interest in joining the SHGs which
indicated that they were inuenced by the programme.
Table 3: Frequency Distribution of Demographic Values of SHG members
Demographic Variables Frequency Percentage
Age in years
Below 30 195 25.7
31 - 40 288 38.0
41 - 50 169 22.3
Above 50 106 14
Community
Forward Communities 31 4.1
Backward Communities 340 44.8
Most Backward Communities 164 21.6
Scheduled Caste 171 22.6
Scheduled Tribes 52 6.9
Religion
Hindu 604 79.7
Christian 81 10.7
Muslim 73 9.6
Marital Status
Single 69 9.1
Married 614 81.0
Separated 40 5.3
Widowed 35 4.6
Educational Qualications
Illiterate 65 8.6

The majority or 79.7% of the participants were Hindus. Hinduism is the main
religion in India especially in the study area. Christians who made up for
10.7% of the sample and Muslims 9.6% were also represented in the analysis.
This showed that the functions of SHG were widespread and benetted women
from all religions. With regard to marital status, a signicant percentage of
81% of the participants were married, 9.1% were single, 5.3% were separated
while the rest were widowed. Generally, the married women from the lower
strata face many problems. Supplementary income is needed to support their
family and children. The rising cost of living at that time meant the women
had to earn more. They needed to engage in economic activities to increase
their income level. Married women had to shoulder multiple responsibilities
such as housekeeping and looking after children and managing the family
including the extended ones. These microcredit income-generating activities
via the SGHs were deemed as best suited to satisfy their economic needs.
Table 3 shows that more than one third of the respondents, 34.6%, received
high school education while 24.1% received elementary education and 16.2%
had completed primary education. About 9.1% of the participants received
higher than secondary schooling and a small percentage,7.4%. were graduates.
The illiterate women accounted for 8.6%of total respondents. The majority
of the participants were literate having received high school education. This
could be due to the education facilities available nearby. Educated members
were considered assets to the groups as they managed all the records and
Table 3: (Continued)
Demographic Variables Frequency Percentage
Primary 123 16.2
Elementary School 183 24.1
High School 262 34.6
Higher Secondary School 69 9.1
Graduates 56 7.4
Occupation
Home Maker 242 31.9
Self Employed 322 42.5
Tailor 49 6.5
Vendor/Petty Traders 49 6.5
Government Employee 20 2.6
Private Employee 21 2.8
Others 55 7.2
Total 758 100.0

documents in addition to supporting the groups in bank-related activities. The
positive attitude of the educated women encourages the other members to be
self-motivated to acquire knowledge and use the microcredit loan facilities
to start businesses. The ndings showed that education, whether formal or
informal, helped the members to get involved in economic activities. Groups
which comprised educated members performed better comparatively in their
income-generating activities.
Empowerment of women is important for national development. The issue of
women’s empowerment is multifaceted and relates to economic opportunities,
property rights, political representations, social equality and personal rights.
The widespread use of the term “women’s empowerment” by various
departments has resulted in multiple meanings and interpretations and its
association with a diversity of strategies. Kabeer.N (2001) noted that when
women lack money, their level of self-condence and esteem had negative
consequence on their personal growth. The current study found that injection
of credit will improve their social status leading to improvement in their
economic status and making the women more empowered.
Women’s empowerment is a process by which women gain inner power
to express and defend their rights, develop greater condence, self-esteem
and control over their own lives and personal and social relationships.
Studies conducted by Sheetal Sharma (2006), Yadav (2008), Rottler (1996)
and Valsamma Antony (2006) showed that empowerment of women would
mean equipping women to be economically independent and self-reliant
with a positive self-esteem to enable them to face any difcult situation. The
impact of the SHGs was more evident in the creation of new assets in the non-
farming sector such as productive assets and consumer durables. This section
investigates the level of empowerment of women in the SHGs.
The IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) outlined
certain measures that are crucial in the process of empowering women which
this study had adopted. The four main processes that could lead to women’s
empowerment are: Changes in women’s mobility and social interaction,
changes in women’s labour patterns, changes in intra-household decision
making, and changes in access to and control over resources. The table below
shows the frequency of distribution of the four empowerment indicators using
IFAD denition.
The study found that the women had become more mobile and began
interactions with different ofcials. They learned new skills through training
and most of the members learned how to access the banks. They were
also encouraged to participate in special events such as Women’s Day,
Independence and Republic Day Celebrations and other festivals.
5.3 Impact on Empowerment of Women in SHG

Table 4: Frequency Distribution Values of Empowerment Indicators using IFAD
Model
Empowerment Indices Increased No change Decreased
Changes in Women’s Mobility and Social Interaction Values of SHG
members
85.0 10.6 4.4
ters
76.3 22.0 1.7
More assertive in deciding on Recre-
ation
Increased Awareness to improve Fam-
ily Lives
Increased Awareness to improve Com-
munity Affairs
Greater Self Condence 83.0 13.7 3.3
More Assertive Role in Domestic
Sphere
Greater Respect in the Family 70.6 28.0 1.4
Reduction in Domestic Violence 5.7 65.7 28.6
More Participation in Local Elections 76.1 22.4 1.5
Greater Participation in Community
Affairs
67.5 28.2 4.3
Visiting Parents 69.3 27.7 3.0
Visiting Relatives 65.7 16.9 17.4
Visiting Friends 65.7 24.0 10.3
Changes in Labour Patterns of SHG members
Better Buying Skills 57.0 39.7 3.3
Better Selling Skills 66.1 32.2 1.7
Independent Marketing 69.3 29.6 0.1
Better Business Practices 73.7 24.8 1.5
Changes in Access and Control of Resources of SHG members
More Assertive Role in Financial Mat-
Gained New Skills 77.6 20.2 2.2
Better Family Budgeting 70.1 26.3 3.6
Purchase of Real Estate’s 26.0 70.2 3.8
Better Pricing of Products 72.3 25.7 2.0
Changes in Intra Household Decision Making of SHG members
More Assertive to Children’s Educa-
tion and Health
82.3 16.0 1.7
52.7 45.1 2.2
72.3 26.2 1.5
83.4 14.8 1.8

The participants were asked whether members gained greater condence after
participating in the SHGs. Nearly 83.0% of the participants reported increased
self-condence, 13.7% reported no change while the rest reported their self
condence decreased. Most of the comments on empowerment via SHGs
were positive.
When the participants were asked if they played a more assertive role in the
domestic sphere after joining the SHGs, nearly 85.0% responded positively,
10.6% reported no change while the rest noted a decrease in assertiveness.
The general positive note could be due to the fact when SHG members gained
more social acceptance, they are more assertive e in solving many issues in
their areas before the involvement of local political personalities and social
activists.
Nearly 70.6% of the respondents reported an increase in respect in the
family, 28.0% reported no change while 1.4% reported a decrease. It is
well known that Indian society is patriarchal i.e. male-dominated and the
respondents reported becoming independent after joining the SHGs. A few
families hesitated in accepting such social changes in their women. On
domestic violence, only 5.7% of the participants replied that it (domestic
violence) had increased, 65.7% reported no change while the rest reported it
had decreased. Domestic violence refers to physical or oral abuse by family
members and relatives. Most of the respondents reported that quarrels in the
family had reduced. Programme intervention had also resulted in members
being aware of their day-to-day scal discipline and how to meet their expenses
wisely. Some respondents commented that they had begun questioning their
husbands’ earnings and expenditure. In cases where the husband was addicted
to alcohol or cigarettes, the questions were not welcomed and leading to
violence. In general however, the women had adopted a bold attitude in
meeting their challenges in life indicating positive impact of this programme.
On the question as to whether they participated in local elections, nearly
76.1% reported an increase, 22.4% reported no change while the rest reported
a decrease. Nearly 67.5% of the respondents replied they had participated
more actively in community affairs. The members were more mobile to visit
their parents, friends and relatives. Nearly 69.3% of the members reported
they had more freedom to visit their parents, 27.7% reported no change while
the rest reported a decrease. On the question as to whether the members were
more mobile to visit their relatives, nearly 65.7% of the subjects responded
positively, 16.9% reported no change while the rest reported a decrease. As to
visiting friends, nearly 65.7% reported an increase, 24.0% reported no change,
while the rest reported a decrease. After joining the SHGs, the respondents
noted an increase in a positive attitude towards life. When they joined and
worked with other members, the respondents felt that they were very united.
Problems were among the group members and sensible solutions were found.
The unity among the group members discouraged any ill feelings among

them. If any of their group member or women within the area experienced
any kind of abuse or injustice, the other members supported and fought for
their rights and justice.
The table 4, shows the indices on the Changes in Women’s Labour
Patterns. The respondents were asked whether they had acquired Better
Buying Skills after joining the SHGs. Nearly 57% of them reported that they
had seen an improvement in this skill after joining the SHG and nearly 66.1%
responded they had seen an increase in better selling skills. On the question as
to whether they were good in Independent Marketing, nearly 69.3% reported
it had increased while 29.6% reported no change and the rest replied it had
decreased. The marketing of their products was difcult not because the
women were not capable butdue to the fact that they were involved in similar
types of business where the market competition was very stiff.
The members were asked whether they had learned Better Business
Practices after joining the SHG. About 73.7% reported they had learned
better business practices after programme intervention, 24.8% reported no
change while the rest reported a decrease indicating they did not gain any new
business skills. Most of the women were very happy that group cooperation
and peer group motivation had pushed them to be more active in business.
For the third empowerment indicator on Changes in Access to and Control
over Resources, the members were asked if they played a More Assertive Role
in Financial Matters. Nearly 76.3% of the respondents reported an increase
and around 77.6% reported an increase gaining new skills. To the question as
to whether they have shown improvement in the area Family Budgeting after
joining the SHGs, nearly 70.1% responded positively. After the programme
intervention, members became more aware of their daily budget and in
meeting their expenses. On the Purchase of Real Estates, nearly 26% reported
an increase, 70.2% reported no change while the rest reported a decrease.
The study found that even if there was an increase in the purchase of real
estate, it was done only by the men (heads) in their family under their names.
Though the women members gave active support and advice regarding this
the nal decision was made by the men. More than half of the respondents
reported they did not purchase any property as their income level was not
sufcient to invest in real estate. Table 4 shows the four empowerment indices
based on the IFAD denition. On the question as to whether the members are
More Assertive about Children’s Health and Education, nearly 82.3% of the
respondents reported that they were more assertive. Providing good education
appeared to be an important motive for assertiveness among the women in the
SHGs. Nearly 52.7% of the members responded that they played an Assertive
role in Deciding on Recreation. On the Increased Awareness to improve
their Family Lives, 72.3% of the members reported there was an increase in
awareness. On the question regarding Increased Awareness to improve their
Community life, nearly 83.4% of the participants reported an increase.

Table 4 displays the four broad empowerment indicators. Most of the areas had
positive answers from the respondents which indicated that the members were
progressing towards better empowerment after joining the SHG microcredit
initiative. In order to rank the four empowerment indicators, the Friedman test
was conducted and the table below provides the details.
From Table 5, it can be deduced that changes in women’s mobility and social
interaction scored the highest mean value, followed by changes in women’s
control over intra household decision making and changes in women’s labour
patterns and changes in women’s access and control over resources. Since the
P value was less than 0.01, the study concluded that there was a signicant
improvement in the empowerment of women after joining the SHGs at the
1% level. The mean rank for women’s mobility was the highest followed
in decreasing order by women’s control over household decision making,
women’s labour patterns and women’s access and control over resources.
Decision making is considered as one of the important indicators for
empowerment. The empowered women should be able to participate in the
process of decision making. Thus, the process of empowering a woman is not
merely about improving their physical and social conditions but also to ensure
equal participation in the decision-making process. Using data collected in
the study, a chi-square test was performed to study the signicance. The table
below displays the chi-square test results.
About two thirds of the participants noted positive changes in their
decision making abilities at home and in the SHGs. The Chi-square value was
529.208 and since the P value was less than 0.01, the study concluded that
there was a signicant change at the 1 % level in the empowerment of women
upon joining the SHGs.
The results showed that women had become more empowered and
enjoyed greater decision making powers after joining SHGs. This showed
that there was an improvement in the status of the members.
Table 5: Friedman Test to study the Empowerment of Women after joining
the SHG
Empowerment Indices Mean Rank Chi square
value
P value
Changes in Women Mobility
and Social Interaction
2.74
111.2
0.000**
Changes in Women’s Labour
Patterns
2.48
Changes in Women’s Access to
and Control over Resources
2.18
Changes in Women’s Control
over Intra Household Decision
making
2.60

6. Conclusions and Implications
Women’s empowerment is synonymous with the achievement of equality
and equal mindedness in society and will result in traditional female values
being more respected in society. The empowerment of women, through the
collective action for development of the SHGs, would lead to benets not
only for the individuals and women’s groups but also for the family and
community as a whole. They assume the role of decision-makers in the major
aspects of the family and community life. The possible outcomes of women’s
empowerment through a group approach at the household level are self-
Importance of
Decision Making at
Home
Importance of Decision
Making at SHG
Chi-
Square
P Value
Neglected Consulted Total
Neglected
216 45
261
(82.8) (17.2)
[95.2] [8.5]
Consulted
11 486
497
(2.2) (97.8)
[4.8] 91.5
Total 227 531 758
Table 6: Chi Square test to study the Importance of Decision- making of
Members before and after joining the SHGs
Note: i. The value within ( ) refers to Row Percentage,
ii. The value within [ ] refers to Column Percentage
** denotes signicance at 1 % level
529.2 0.000**
The ndings from this study showed that SHGs played a major role in the
development of women. The women belonging to the lowest strata were given
a chance to interact with many institutions such as banks, NGOs and ofcials
from the government in addition to being exposed to public institutions.
Group participation was one of the major elements of SHGs. Meetings helped
to develop friendship, express solidarity with the problems of others, develop
natural leadership and enhance the members’ capacity for development. Peer
groups provided an efcient social support system. The women discovered a
a new identity through SHGs as reported by some of the members.
In well-established SHGs, members contributed substantially to their
family development in the form of getting credit for the education of children,
health needs and even for weddings and the construction of houses. It paved
the way for poor women to be involved in income-generating activities and
helped them to increase their savings and mobilisation of capital in the future.

employment with assured wages throughout the year, sustainable livelihoods,
improved health and education, enhanced social dignity and better status for
women and the female children. The contributions of the study is summarised
as follows:
i. Majority of studies focused on rural areas. The SHG programme
among the urban poor is minimally researched. This study is
focused on the urban women SHGs engaged in the microcredit
programme in the city of Chennai.
ii. The research ndings are greatly inspired by the Theory of Relative
Deprivation. Some of the poor women in the study area were
relatively more deprived in a number of ways; they suffered from
human deprivation in terms of basic needs of life such as access
to education, adequate shelter and productive assets. In terms of
living conditions, ndings of the study showed that the women in
SHGs in North Chennai were highly deprived compared with the
other areas. In some areas like Elephant Gate, the women were
living without basic needs such as sanitation, electricity, water
and road facilities. Even among the slum dwellers, the living
conditions were considered very backward.
iii. The status of women in the SHGs could be explained by
employing the Microcredit Feminisation Paradigm. This study
illustrates that there were attitude and behavioural changes among
the women as a result of the introduction of the SHG programme.
Such types of interventions led to a noticeable change in the
attitudinal and psychological aspects of the women. The social
transformation helped to increase their income earning capacity.
More than two thirds of the women had enhanced social and
economic independence resulting in an improvement in their
social and economic status in life.
iv. The Empowerment Theory can be used to explain the status of
women in the study area. The ndings from this study showed that
more than two thirds of the respondents had attained decision-
making skills and better status in the family and society. More
than half of the respondents showed better mobility and greater
awareness of their health as well as the importance of education for
women. They also learnt many skills. In short, the empowerment
of women enhanced their social and economic independency.
Even though the women generated their own income, improved their economic
standards and were involved in social activities in many places, in practice,
they still lagged behind and subservient to the men. When it came to asset

creation or inheriting family property, they were treated unfairly compared
with the male family members. This social development approach will
improve the socio-economic status of the participants and dismantle gender
division of labour; provide women access to markets, skills training and
technological support. The credit and social development approach will help
to promote signicant changes in the lives of women and improve their status.
Notes
1http://www.tamilnaduwomen.org
2. This study focused on the groups that completed three years of membership.
The SHGs need to accumulate their savings and complete their credit rating
by NGOs, only then are they eligible for external linkage funds. After that,
the SHGs can be involved in economic activities. It takes a minimum of one
year to stabilise the SHGs. Upon completing ve years, the SHGs can work
independently without the support of the NGOs. The SHGs have been given a
option to dissolve the group and disperse the funds collected or if they wish,
they can function with the NGOs. The SHGs of this study have been operating
between three and ve years.
3.A sampling is proportionate and 10% is selected from the NGOs located in
North Chennai, South Chennai and Central Chennai (i.e., 10% of 14 NGOs
located in North Chennai is two NGOs, 10% of seven NGOs located in South
Chennai is 1 NGO and 10% of eight NGOs located in Central Chennai is 1
NGO), in the is 2:1:1 ratio.
4. Backward Communities and Most Backward Communities are untouchables
having better social conditions compared with the SC/ST. In some cases, they
convert from Hinduism to Islam or Christianity.
5. Scheduled Caste includes the untouchables. Also called Dalits, they are
socially and economically most deprived in society.
6. Scheduled Tribes are nomads who live in forest areas and mountains. In the
course of development, they started migrating and living in rural and urban
areas.
7. Forward Communities denote the group of people who do not qualify for
any social discrimination schemes under the reserve benet of the government
as they are socially and economically afuent, enjoying a better social
stratication
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