Empowerment and its relationship with the socio-demographic profile of SHG women beneficiaries under NRLM in the Basti district of Uttar Pradesh

SHG women empowerment under NRLM in Basti, U.P.

Abstract

Empowerment challenges existing power dynamics and gains greater control over resources and decision-making, achieved through awareness, skill development, and active participation in developmental initiatives. The present study was conducted to examine the relationship between empowerment and the selected socio-demographic profile of the SHG women beneficiaries. A total of 120 respondents were selected through multistage cum random sampling. The collected data were analyzed using the Chi-square test to determine the association between empowerment and various selected independent variables. The results showed that the majority (69.16%) of the respondents were aged between 29 to 46 years, with a primary-level education. The majority (48.33%) of the respondents belonged to the other backwards classes (OBC), 62.50% lived in nuclear families, and 87.50% of the respondents were marginal farmers. Agriculture was identified as the main occupation by 51.66% of the respondents, with a medium level of annual family income between Rs. 100000 to 200000. Additionally, 75% of respondents had medium levels of both mass media exposure and economic motivation. The results revealed that the education (0.0027), occupation (0.00239), and family Income (0.00976) were positively associated at the 0.01 level, while age (0.0486), mass media exposure (0.02760), and economic motivation (0.02848) were significant at the 0.05 level. It means six variables significantly exert their influence on the empowerment of women.