Abstract:
The status and position of women in a society is the indicator of how developed a nation is. Women in every
nation should be considered as equal partners in the process of development. But, because of centuries of
exploitation and subjugation, Indian women have always remained at the receiving end. The issue of
development and empowerment of women in India has always been ignored and in some areas even despised.
The rate of growth of women employment in India is very low. One primary reason for this can be the low
growth rate of new and productive employment. Hence many women in our nation look for self employment
instead. For them “Self Help Group” is a far more attractive scheme with relatively less effort. A Self Help
Group (SHG) is a homogeneous group of micro entrepreneurs with affinity among themselves, voluntarily
formed to save whatever amount they can conveniently save out of their earnings and mutually agree to
contribute to a common fund of the group from which small loans are given to the members for meeting their
productive and emergent credit needs. It can be a tool to remove poverty and improve the women
entrepreneurship and financial support in India. The focus of this research paper is mainly on the women
entrepreneurship and economic empowerment of women after they joined SHGs in Bolangir District, Odisha
India. The main findings of this study suggest that the SHG movement in study area has helped in improving
the economic status of the participating women entrepreneurs and their respective families.
