ROLE OF SELF-HELP GROUP IN WOMEN EMPOWERMENT.

The purpose of this is to classify the social and economic factors, which affect the involvement of women in self-help groups (SHGs) for their economic as well as social empowerment. Primary data have been gathered from women respondent only on factors relating to the ownership of asset, housing characteristics and other demographic details. Both SHG and non-SHG women members have been chosen as key informants during the survey. Multi-stage purposive and stratified random sampling has been used for the selection of respondents and SHGs. Also, an empowerment index has been constructed to measure the effect of SHGs on women empowerment. The results show that factors including age, education, family type and distance from the market have a significant impact on the participation of women in SHGs. Analytically derived factors have been used to develop an empowerment index. Hence, the present research is valuable for marketing practitioners, entrepreneurs and professionals from the development sector who intend to work amongst SHGs, primarily with women. The present research is unique because the authors did not find work, especially in the context of rural India, in the said area. Factors impacting the participation of women in SHGs along with the impact of participation on empowerment have been explored using the logit regression model, leading to the development of an empowerment index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]