Title: THE IMPACT OF MICROFINANCE ON WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT IN SELF-HELP GROUPS
Abstract: The first and perhaps the most critical Millennium Development Goals of all is to make a pivotal difference in reducing the extreme poverty and hunger by half within 2015. Around the globe, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) seeks to promote various approaches to reduce human poverty by emphasizing the importance of social inclusion and equity, human rights and women’s empowerment. A well understood but poorly articulated reality of development is the role of women. The UN commission on status of women observed ‘ women who contribute half of the world’s population by virtue of an accident of birth, perform two-thirds of the world’s work, receive one-tenth of its income and owns less than one-hundredth of its property’. In India, women produce 30 percent of all food commodities consumed but get only 10 percent of the property or wealth of the country. There is a growing realization that rural women have been underestimated and discriminated against all walks of life, despite their substantial contribution to the household economy and in turn, the national economy as such. As it is clear that the rights and protection of women from social inequalities in statute books are not good enough, some practical solutions are to be acknowledged and most importantly, implemented. Women have been deprived of economic independence. The empowerment of women and improvement of their status and economic role needs to be integrated into economic development programs, as the development of any country is inseparably linked with the status and development of women.
Publication Year: 2021
Publication Date: 2021-11-01
Language: en
Type: article
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