Self help Groups and Empowerment of Women

Volume : IV, Issue : IV, April - 2015

Dr. R. Shivappa, Mrs. Susmitha. B

We premise that a large section of women in the third world face economic and social hardships due to a number of

reasons. In the context of South Asian countries this is additionally due to prevailing patriarchal systems that seem

to shackle women and account for their lack of development in areas education, health, employment, politics and

administration. The status and conditions of women in India is similar to that of its counterparts in other third world countries. In fact, the

socialization process in India has rendered women faceless and invisible. To address the problems of women and to empower them, several

efforts are made by the women�s movements, NGOs and the government of India and the state government of Karnataka. In this paper the

authors discusses the various efforts made by the women�s movement, NGOs and governments for empowerment of women and discusses

about self help groups which are considered as an important tool for empowerment of women