Women Empowerment through Self Help Groups: Evidence from Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), Assam, India

Abstract

Women self-help groups have played a substantial role in promoting socioeconomic empowerment in almost all the developing and underdeveloped countries in the recent past. The available literature suggests a positive impact of joining self-help groups (SHG) on various dimensions of empowerment with respect to economically disadvantaged women in different South Asian countries, including India. This paper is an attempt to study the socio-economic profile and the impact of SHGs on the socio-economic empowerment of the women members of the selected blocks of Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR. The study has employed both primary and secondary data. The primary data was gathered in 2023 by using pre-structured questionnaires from 281 sample self-help groups across four select blocks of BTR, Assam. The study also finds that the respondents have greater control over income and domestic financial decision-making processes, including family budgeting.