Mishra, Nita
(2019)
Understanding Empowerment through perceptions of Self-Help Group Women in Odisha.
Research and Perspectives on Development Practice (23).
ISSN 2009-6976
Abstract
Odisha, the state government and non-government organisations, support and create self-help
groups (SHGs) through incentives to engage in income-generating projects as a method to enable
and empower vulnerable women. While the creation of SHGs is evidence of political will and
commitment of the state towards facilitating women’s empowerment processes, this paper shows
that the continuation and success of SHGs largely depends on women’s understanding of
empowerment. This paper examines processes of empowerment through an investigation of its
practice, and emerging meanings, by women in self-help groups in Odisha State, India. The
significant contribution of this paper is the analysis of notions of empowerment using voices of
women actively engaged in processes of reclaiming agency and building capabilities on a daily
basis.
The narratives were collected from members of 46 self-help womens’ groups of on their lived
experiences of forming and joining SHGs through open-ended interviews and group discussions.
Three important aspects of empowerment are highlighted by the women. One is reclaiming agency
and building capabilities. A second highlights empowerment as a process of awareness which
women deliberated upon in group discussions. Describing empowerment as a process of sachetna
(awareness), women insisted that one must know the rules, learn them, stand on one’s own feet,
and network with others locally, and only then freedom from soshan (injustice) was possible. A
third key aspect to understanding empowerment is the women’s aspiration for self-respect which
is linked to becoming income-earners. Earning an income through participation in self-help
groups, for instance, leads to gaining respect from family and the community at large.
This paper shows that in addition to agency and capability-building, awareness and respect are
integral to women’s understanding and experience of empowerment.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Additional Information: |
Research and Perspectives on Development Practice Series Paper 23 |
| Keywords: |
Self-Help Groups; Women; Empowerment; Respect; Department of International Development, Maynooth University; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > International Development |
| Item ID: |
10991 |
| Depositing User: |
IR Editor
|
| Date Deposited: |
23 Aug 2019 14:05 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Research and Perspectives on Development Practice |
| Publisher: |
Department of International Development, Maynooth University |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
Repository Staff Only(login required)
 |
Item control page |
Downloads per month over past year
Origin of downloads
Altmetric
Altmetric