Women Groups and Changing Socio-economic Status A Study of Kudumbashree in Kasaragod District, Kerala State

Abstract

In recent times, women empowerment has emerged as one of the important social policies towards economic advancement in India.   In the context of empowerment, women’s development is a way of describing, stimulating and overcoming the difficulties in the life of a woman through which she increases her ability to shape her life and environment. Women empowerment process is one in which women find time and space of their own and begin to re-examine their lives analytically and collectively. It permits women to look at  the old problem in  a new way, analyze their environment situation, knowing their strength and potentials, modify their self-image, access new kinds of  knowledge and information, acquire new skills and initiate action aimed at greater control over resources of in its various forms. When women are empowered, a society with stability is assured. The Government of India has initiated various programs for uplifting the rural women. Amongst these, empowerment by way of participation in SHG can bring notable changes and enhancement in the living conditions of the women in rural area. Micro credit programmes through Self Help Groups (SHG) initiated by Non-Governmental Organizations in several parts of India have potential to minimize poverty and empower women. The Government of Kerala and NABARD jointly initiated the SHG Model of Kudumbashree programme in 1998 as a tool for poverty eradication, women empowerment and rural development. Kudumbashree in association with the local self-government of Kerala is projecting out new meaning and possibilities for local economic development and citizen centric governance. Now, after thirty years of its introduction it is high time to look back at the women empowerment dilemma, and evaluate the real progress made by SHGs towards this.  The present study is descriptive in nature based on survey method. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the performance of Kudumbashree units in Kasaragod District of Kerala State and to measure how far the group members had benefited and empowered through their functioning. The study also attempts to know the impact of the program on the development of rural women. While the income and standard of living of the members of the Kudumbashree projects had improved significantly, this study indicates that women empowerment achieved by the beneficiaries in Kasaragod district through Kudumbashree project is at moderate level only. Further, the study indicates that though Kudumbashree units have succeeded in empowering women and improving their status to some extent, its basic objective of eradicating poverty from the villages is yet to be fulfilled.