Inclusive Growth and SHG: A Case Study of Women Entrepreneurship in Odisha

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.