Impact of Self-Help Groups on Empowerment Status of Rural Women in Udaipur District

The study was conducted in the Udaipur district of Rajasthan to know the level of empowerment of rural women through self-help groups. A total of ten groups were selected from Badgaon panchayat samiti. A sample of 130 respondents (100 SHG members and 30 non members) was selected for the study. Questionnaire method was used for collecting the data. The four parameters which are considered to be the scale of determining the level of knowledge are socio-psychological, economic, legal and political issues. The results revealed that medium empowerment status was found in all four components i.e. socio-psychological, economic, legal and political with mean scores 2.71, 2.60, 2.49 and 2.60. Whereas not a single member had medium empowerment in socio-psychological and legal component with mean per cent score 2.56 and 2.34. Similarly, the non-members had poor empowerment in economic and political component with mean scores 2.26 and 2.16, respectively.