The genesis of Self-Help Groups (SHG) in India can be traced back to the formation of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in 1970. SHGs played an important role in changing the lives of women in rural India and are therefore considered to be one of the most significant approaches toward economic empowerment and the improvement of various aspects of the social structure in the country. These groups are small voluntary associations of poor and marginalized women, usually from the same socioeconomic background, whose structures, processes and activities provide their members with the opportunity to self- identify the problems that confront them and seek the solutions that they can and are willing to implement.
The research on the impact of SHGs on the lives of women has been wide, and usually revolves around the decision-making power, access to finance, mobility, market linkages, knowledge dissemination, etc. At a recent conference on exploration of the role of women’s collectives, there were discussions on various aspects of the Indian National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) and the North-East Rural Livelihoods Project including the effectiveness of group-based livelihoods interventions. The role of women’s groups in tackling health and nutrition challenges, whether these interventions could reshape the gender hierarchies were also discussed. However, researchers need to delve deeply and understand what impact this collective action has on the ‘second generation’? By ‘second generation’ we mean the children of the SHG members. Does the proclaimed ‘empowerment’ have any effect on the lives of the children in social, economic and political spheres? Has there been a trickle-down effect of ‘power’ to the next generation? In other words do the children inherit ‘power’ from their mothers? For instance:
– Do they have the ‘power over’ deciding their participation in economic decision making?
– Do they have the ‘power to’ influence gender norms?
– Can they influence the patriarchal structure in favour of women ‘with’ the support of their own family? (power with)
– Do they feel they can maintain their self-esteem and have self-efficacy in the family and in the workplace? (power within)
To break this down further, we need to understand whether the SHG members are able to educate their children especially their daughters? Are they able to delay the marriages of their daughters? Are they able to prevent their daughters or daughters-in-law from the early bearing of children, or frequent childbearing? Are they able to change the attitude of their sons towards gender-based violence and women’s empowerment? What aspirations do the daughters or daughters-in-law have which their mothers could not or were not allowed to have?
Not only is it critical to evaluate the ‘second-generation impact’ but also to understand the nuances. The stereotyped thinking of ‘impact’ generally refers to ‘numbers’. There is no denying the fact that numbers are important but we need to unveil the stories behind each number. Moreover, we need to explore the ‘cost’ the women paid to pass the legacy of ‘power’ to the second generation.
SHG is a revolution. Researchers should not stop or bind themselves in just evaluating the impact on the lives of SHG members instead we need to broaden our horizon and understand whether this revolution liberated the ‘daughters’ from the clutches of gender norms that constrain their aims and aspirations. We need to peep ‘inside’ the ‘box’ to know whether the SHG members can attain their dreams through their children.
Author : Dr. Sujata Ganguly – South Asia Gender Empowerment and Social Inclusion (GESI) Lead
