A Study on Micro Finance and its Impact on Women Empowerment

Abstract

One of the powerful approaches to women empowerment and rural entrepreneurship is the formation of Self Help Group (SHGs) especially among women. This strategy had fetched noticeable results not only in India and Bangladesh but world over. “Women self-help groups are increasingly being used as tool for various developmental interventions. Credit and its delivery through self-help groups have also been taken as a means for empowerment of rural women. This integrated approach, whereby, credit is only an entry point, and an instrument to operationalise other aspects of group dynamics and management, also caters to the need for social intermediation of these groups. A self-help group is conceived as a sustainable people’s institution that provides the poor rural women with space and support necessary for them to take effective steps towards achieving greater control of their lives. The SHG approach has proved successful not only in improving the economic conditions through income generation but in creating awareness about health and hygiene, sanitation and cleanliness, environmental protection, importance of education and better response for development schemes.