ON
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
AND
SELF HELP GROUPS
BY
Mrs. REBECCA THOMAS
Lecturer in Commerce
NES Ratnam College,
Bhandup(W).
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND SELF HELP GROUPS
Introduction
Women and children, who represent more than two-thirds (67.7%) of the country's total population, constitute the most important target group in the context of the present day developmental planning. Therefore their concerns are placed on the priority list of the country's developmental agenda.
For more than a decade' the term 'empowerment' has been widely used in relation to women as well as marginalized community in India, Today one hears this term much more often than terms like women's welfare, upliftment,development are awareness rising .how ever ,in spite of the growing popularity and widespread usage of the term, there have been few conceptual explorations of what exactly empowerment means, and even more, what the empowerment of women implies in social, economic and political terms. Women’s empowerment is a global issue today and discussion on women's political rights are at the fore front many formal and informal campaigns world wide.
Empowerment in its simplest form means "the manifestation of redistribution of power that challenges patriarchal ideology and the male dominance" .becoming powerful is the literal meaning of the term 'empowerment’. These are being used today in spears of life as a process to strengthen the elements of society. It is both processes as the results of the processes. It is transformation of the structures or Institutions that reinforces and perpetuates gender discrimination. Empowerment is the process that enables women to gain access to and control of materials as well as information resources, the empowerment approach was first clearly articulated in 1985 by Development Alternatives with Women capital for a new era ( DAWN).This term received prominence in early 90's in western countries. Empowerment is the