EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN THROUGH SELF HELP GROUPS IN PUNJAB

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1 .; J. Dairying, Foods & H.S. 24 (3/4) : , 2005 EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN THROUGH SELF HELP GROUPS IN PUNJAB V. Randhawa and Sukhdeep Kaur Mann Department of Extension Education, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana , India ABSTRACT The present study was planned to explore income generating activities promoted by different self-help group (SHG), their problems and the overall impact on women empowerment. In all 888 women from 74 randomly selected blocks comprised the sample. Interview schedule was used to collect data. The results revealed Significant improvement in mobility, financial position, decision making, confidence level and asset acquisition of members after joining the group. However, no significant improvement was observed as far as acquisition of technical skills and financial decision making role of SHG members was concerned. In all women adopted 17 enterprises with khes making, embroidery, knitting, tailoring and detergent making being most preferred. The least preferred enterprises included beauty parlour, STD booth and tea stall! dhaba. The major problems faced included; excessive stress and tension, high interest rate on bank loan and heavy responsibilities. The least faced problein was high cost of production. The study concluded that SHG strategy helped in empowering poor women through various income generating ventures in rural areas of Punjab. INTRODUCTION The Self Help Group approach is a viable option in achieving the goal of women empowerment. Individually, a poor woman tends to be erratic and uncertain in her behaviour. Group membership smoothens such rough edges making her more reliable and confident. Empowerment of women through self help groups would lead to benefits not only to the individual women but also for the family and community as a whole through collective action for development. Empowering is notjust for their economic needs but also through more holistic social development (Murgan and Dharmalingam, 2000). The most critical issue todayin Punjab is, how to elevate status of women through various development programmes. Despite its impressive gains oneconomicfronts, exposure to the developed world, spread of education and building of infrastructure, the status of women has remained largely discouraging. A girl child is still unwelcome at birth. A woman faces neglect and discrimination in various forms at different stages of her life. Sex ratio which is an indicator of the survival rate of the female is 874 against 1000 males as per 2001 census, female infant mortality rate is 65 per cent and female literacy rate is per cent in Punjab (Anonymous 2003). Women are by and large deprived of economic freedom especially in rural areas. These women especially those belonging to weakersections, have limited 'access to resources and employment opportunities that could enable them to meet their minimum basic needs. Thus, empowerment of poor women, improvement of their socio-economic status and increased economic role need to be integrated into various development programmes through different strategies. In this context, SHG approach has emerged as a successful strategy for women empowerment in present times. Though the formation of SHGs is relatively a new phenomenon in Punjab still it has gained huge popularity lately. Different institutions are encouraging and inspiring formation of thrift and credit groups of women in Punjab to channelize various poverty alleviation and social development programmes for women. Hence the present study was planned to measure the

2 Vol. 24, No. 3/4, empowerment of women through SHG with focus on following objectives: To measure the empowerment of women through SHG. To explore income generating activities promoted by members of different SHGs and their associated problems. MATERIAL AND METHODS The present study based on survey research design covered all the 17 districts of Punjab. For the selection of an appropriate sample, multistage random sampling technique was adopted. In the first instance out of total 140 blocks from 17 districts, 50 per cent of the blocks from each district were randomly selected. To obtain discrete number odd numbers were rounded off to the next number. Thus number of selected block exceeded 50 per cent and 74 blocks in all got selected. In the second stage, three credit linked SHGs in the selected blocks were chosen at random. From each SHG four members were randomly selected for the purpose of data collection. Thus, total sample size of SHG members was 388 (222 x 4 = 888). For the purpose of studying!mpowerment of women both economic and Ion economic parameters of women 'mpowerment such as improvement in lersonal financial condition, improvement in ssets acquisition, improvement in confidence!vel, improvement in frequency of mobility etc. Jere studied. A three point empowerment cale was developed to measure different,arameters. Apart from this, income :enerating activities undertaken by SHG nembers were also identified and the )roblems associated with these activities were llso studied through checklist prepared on two Joint response system Le. yes, no. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION For measuring empowerment of Jomen through SHGs different components ave been used to assess the empowerment status as discussed below: Improvement in personal financial position Being a part of the SHG seemed to have' changed the lives of the members, in a significant way. Table 1 indicates that as far as the financial status of these women was concerned, per cent agreed that their personal financial position had improved for the better while per cent of the respondents reported that there had been no change in theirpersonal financial position after joining the group. This can be attributed to fact that access to group saving and microcredit has enabled women to undertake economic activities that improved their financial position. Improvement in role in financial decision making, Perusal of data in Table 2 revealed that per cent of the respondents reported nochangeasfar astheir participation in decision making process was concerned. Nearly half of the respondents (45.16 per cent) reported that they neither had nor have any role in financial decisions of the family and per cent of the respondents felt their participation had improved in financial matters than before. So, it could be concluded that even afterearning money for the family, majority of the women were still not involved in financial decision making process of the family. Improvement in assets acquisition of SHG member It is a common knowledge that poor are characterized by low asset base. Therefore, any programme targeting the poor should strengthen their household assets. It was observed from Table 3 that per cent of the respondents reported no change in their household assets. The data further indicated that per cent of respondents reported that there had been increase in their household assets i.e. respondents had bought some necessary household assets/items after joining

3 180 J. DAIRYING, FOODS & H.S. Table 1. Improvement in personal financial position of SHG members Financial position Figures in parentheses indicate.percentages. 722 (81.31) 153 (17.23) 13 (1.46) Table 2. Improvement in financial decision making role of SHG members Role in financial decisions can't say 330 (37.16) 541 (60.92) 17 (1.91) Table 3. Improvement in assets acquisition of SHG members Assets acquisition Increased Decreased 361 (40.65) 42 (4.73) 485 (54.62) the group. It could be concluded that nearly 40 percentofthe respondents had acquired assets after joining the SHG. Others who reported nochangein asset holding attributed the reason to spending money in providing for basic needs rather than buying assets. Improvement in confidence level Data in Table 4 revealed improvement in confidence level ofshg members in dealing with people, strangers, outsiders and institutions (like bank, NGOs, government agencies etc.). Arolind per cent of the respondents reported that they found themselves more confident in dealing with people after joining the SHGs and nearly 20 per cent of the respondents experienced no change in confidence level and only 4.05 per cent were unsure of any such change on account of joining theshg. Further probing of data indicated that per cent of the respondents felt more confident and per cent felt no change in confidence level in dealing with different institutions. However, about 60.7 per cent of the respondents remarked that they don't deal with any institution directly. It was only theirgroup leaderswho weredealing with different institutions for establishing linkages. However, 2.82 percentwere indecisive about it. Findings are in tune with those of Punazhendhi and Satyasai (2001) who revealed that the involvement of women in SHG significantly contributed in improving selfconfidence of the members. The feeling of self respect and communication with others also improved after their association with the SHG members. Improvement in acquisition oftechnical skills As far as improvement in technical skills was concernedthe data (Table 5) revealed

4 Vol. 24, No. 3/4, Table 4. Improvement in confidence level of SHG members Confidence in dealing with People Institution Don't deal with any 669 (75.34) 183 (20.61) 36 (4.05) 103 (11.59) 223 (25.11) 537 (60.47) 25 (2.82) Table 5. Improvement in acquisition of technical skills Acquisition of technical skills Not improved 299 (33.67) 475 (53.49) 114 (12.83) that per cent of respondents claimed no change in their skills whereas per cent respondents reported improvement in skills. It can therefore be inferred that type of training provided totheseshgsfor acquisition of technical skill was not up to the mark. Improvement in decision making over issues of family welfare Data in Table 6 showed that per cent of the respondents reported increased participation in decision making regarding general welfare of the family, whereas, percentof the respondents revealed no change in this direction.. Findings are contrary to those of Pandian and Eswaran (2002) who reported that 95 per cent of the respondents claimed equal participation and decision making power in household matters as that of men after joining theshg. Improvement in frequency of mobility Data contained in Table 7 revealed that per cent of respondents reported improved mobility after joining the group whereas per cent found no change in their mobility pattern. Income generating activities started by SHG members Table 8 presents a view of various income generatingactivities (IGAs) undertaken by the members of SHGs. Out of 888 members only 520 members initiated income generating activities. Out of these maximum Le. nearly 19 percent of the respondents had gone in for 'khes/dari making' followed by 'embroidery related activities'. Other activities promoted by these groups included 'detergent/ soap making' (7.59 percent), 'soft toy making' (5.88 per cent), 'vermicomposting' (5.69 per cent), 'football sewing' (3.61 per cent), 'bee keeping' (1.89 per cent) and 'tea stall' (0.57 per cent). Besides 0.57 per cent of the respondents had set up their 'beauty parlour' and 'STD booth'. It can be concluded on the basis of

5 182 J. DAIRYING, FOODS & H.S. Table 6. Improvement in decision making over issues of family welfare Decision making 494 (55.63) 37~ (42.00) 21 (2.36) Table 7. Improvement in mobility of SHG members Mobility 611 (68.81) 254 (28.60) 23 (2.59) Table 8. Income generating activities (igas) undertaken by SHG members (n = 527) Type of IGA Tailoring Bee keeping Vermi composting Soft toy making Sweet boxes making Khes/Dari making Cloth shop Detergent/Soap making Tea stallldhaba Football sewing Shop expansion Knitting sweater Embroidery unit Readymade garment Animal rearing S.T.D. Booth Beauty parlour 53 (10.06) 10 (1.89) 30 (5.69) 31 (5.88) 10 (1.89) 99 (18.78) 7 (1.33) 40 (7.59) 3 (0.57) 19 (3.61) 37 (7.02) 47 (8.92) 70 (13.28) 11 (2.09) 54 (10.25) 3 (0.57) 3 (0.57) data that innovative activities such as bee keeping and vermicomposting were not taken up by sufficient number of members because these ventures required inputs like knowledge and technical training which were not effectively provided to these SHGs. Problems faced by women in managing IGAs The data in Table 9 shows that majority of the respondents (88 per cent) faced the problem of 'excessive stress and tension of dual responsibility' I.e. looking after household chores and managing IGAs simultaneously. A high percentage (79.69 per cent) experienced the problem of 'burdened with responsibilities'. 'High interest rate on bank loan' was reported as an important problem by per cent of respondents closely followed by 'marketing of their products' reported by percent of the respondents. However, least faced problems included lack

6 Vol. 24, No. 3/ Table 9. Problems faced by women in managing IGAs (n = 527) Type ofiga Over burdened with responsibilities Lack of ability to plan ahead Excessive stress and tension of dual responsibility Lack of encouragement Low productivity High cost of production Marketing problems High interest rate on bank loan Lack of training of training (17.64 per cent), lack of ability to plan ahead (14.61 per cent) and high cost of production (7.59 per cent). Thus, theje can hardly be considered as problem. Further per cent of respondents expressed low productivity in 'bee keeping', 'vermi composting' ventures as the problem. CONCLUSION The results of the study proved that 420 (79.69) 77 (14.61) 464 (88.04) 320 (60.72) 319 (60.53) 40 (7.59) 385 (73.05) 415 (78.75) 93 (17.64) promoting SHGs in rural areas of Punjab has _ lead to empowerment of women. Majority of the members had set up various income generating ventures which reportedly improved the economic as well as social status of these members. But for accelerating the rate of empowerment, future SHG strategy must focus more and more on technical, managerial and marketing rel~ted skills. REFERENCES Anonymous (2003). India A Reference Manual Research and Training. Division MOIB, Government of India. New Delhi. pp 74-78, Murugan, R.K. and Dharmalingam, B. (2000). Soc. Welfare, 47: Pandian, P. and Eswaran, R. (2002). Yojana. 46: Punazhendhi, P. and Satyasai (2001). Indian J. Agric. Ecan., 56: