A COMPERATIVE STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF

SELF HELP GROUP ON THE DEVELOPMENT

OF RURAL WOMEN IN INDIA

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THEREQUIREMENT OF THE

AWARD FOR THE DEGREE

OF

BBA

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

SANTOSH SIR

SUBMITTED BY

RITIKA PANDEY

Batch: 2013-2014,

Enrollment No.:

DHIRENDRA MAHILA P.G. COLLEGE

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DECLARATION

I Ritika Pandey hereby declare that the project report entitled, A COMPERATIVE STUDY ON

THE IMPACT OF SELF HELP GROUP ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL WOMEN IN

INDIA under the guidance of Santosh Sir submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the award of degree of BBA is my original work - research study - carried out during VI th

semester and not submitted for the award of any other degree/diploma/fellowship or other similar

titles or prizes to any other institution/organization or university by any other person.

Place :- Varanasi

Date :-

SIGNATURE:-

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INSTITUTE’S CERTIFICATE

A COMPERATIVE STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF SELF HELP GROUP ON THE

DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL WOMEN IN INDIA

is the bonafide work of Ms. Ritika Pandey. (Enrollment No.- ), who carried out

the research under my supervision. I also certify further, that to the best of my knowledge the

work reported herein does not form part of any other project report or dissertation on the basis of

which a degree or award was conferred on an earlier occasion on this or any

other candidate.

Signature of the Faculty Guide

( )

PREFACE

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As a part of my BBA Programmed I got the opportunity to make Comprehensive Project

Report on “A COMPERATIVE STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF SELF HELP GROUP ON

THE DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL WOMEN IN INDIA ” The BBA course itself is a

practical course but the real challenge comes at field of work.

The practical training at BBA level is to develop the student’s a feel about industrial

environment of business practice in order to develop a practical bias in them as supplement to the

theoretical studies of the in general. The theoretical knowledge & concept ideas are the enough

background for this career development but the practical training is also having equal

contribution for the growth of career.

The BBA course is now a day in high demand. Administration is considered as a critical

element in the growth of any country. Indian industry is walking up to the challenges thrown in

by the market economy so, to survive in this highly competitive scenario practical studies are

gaining much more importance as compared to the critical knowledge and management students

have wide open space to fulfill their dreams. Students have an opportunity to make their career in

this field. The study of management is together with some practical knowledge such as industrial

visit makes the training, confident, capable and more component without any under stresses on

his mind.

So, it helps the student and given the theoretical knowledge to its real situation. As a result of

this research, I am trying my best to present an overlook about the organization as well as my

understanding business administration and indeed a matter of esteem honor itself.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I have taken efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible without the kind

support and help of many individuals and organizations. I would like to extend my sincere thanks

to all of them.

I have taken the opportunity to express the feeling of gratitude towards India Technological

University for keeping training project work as part of the BBA program.

I am highly indebted to Santosh Sir, faculty member and internal guide for motivating us and

keep Trust on us and also for help in our all problems. Their helpful solutions and comments

enriched by their experience for the betterment of the project. We sincerely acknowledge that

without her support this project would not have been feasible.

I would like to express my gratitude towards my parents & Professors and the Principal Dr. M.

R. Brahmachari of the Dhirendra Mahila College for their kind cooperation and

encouragement which help me in completion of this project.

My thanks and appreciations also go to my colleague and friends in developing the project and

people who have willingly helped me out with their abilities.

Finally I would like to thank everyone who directly or indirectly helped me in the project.

With thanks to all.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Concept of Opportunity and Constraints faced by women in Indian economy. Till the date

no study has been made on conducted thorough survey on the women opportunities which is

provided by government.

Till the date no study has been conducted on the women awareness regarding government gave

them opportunities and self development of her.

So, I have decided to make inferences through survey on finding out the ―Opportunity and

Constrains Faced by Women in Indian Economy‖ in different areas.

So, the total population of the women in Varanasi area 5000. From the net based sample size

calculator of sampling size was decided as 135 samples to be surveyed of the women. And the

survey doing on Chitaipur , Lamhii, Shivpur.

The direct contacts were the methods of approaching the samples. Different methods were used

in collecting the information based on the questionnaire, general discussions & observation.

The survey was done through questionnaire and hence many of the findings, that majority of the

women are in aware of the Government Schemes.

I have done research about the women opportunities and constrains in a Varanasi (rural), and

nearby rural area. So many women have responded well, and hence my survey has responded

positively.

As per survey most of the women are agreed that the development of women & its schemes in

their day to day life and in the society that have made their life easier.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Ch. No. Particulars No Of Page

1. Part I - General Information

1.1 Overview of Women Opportunities

1.2 Overview of Indian Women Opportunities

1.3 Overview of Women Opportunities in India

2. Part II – Primary Study

Introduction of The Study

2.1 Literature Review

2.2 Background Of The Study

2.3 Problem Statement

2.4 Objectives Of The Study

2.5 Hypothesis

3. Research Methodology

3.1 Research Design

3.2 Source Of Data

3.3 Data Collection Method

3.4 Population

3.5 Sampling Method

3.6 Sampling Frame

3.7 Sampling Procedure

3.8 Data Collection Instrument

4. Data Analysis And Interpretation

5. Result And Findings

6. Limitations

7. Conclusion

Annexure

Bibliography

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PART - I

GENERAL

Information

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1.1 OVERVIEW OF WOMEN OPPORTUNITIES:

Women the word sounds so powerful. Since eternity, women have played a role more important

than men and that is no exaggeration. The world would not have been the same lovely adorable

and loveable place without wonderful contribution so selflessly made by women. It has been said

that, you teach a female and you build up a nation and truth can‘t be closer than that. Women

have always carried the burden of being a wife, mother, sister all on their own and we need not

to explain how magnificently they have carried this position.

In this dynamic world, women entrepreneurs are a significant part of the global expedition for

sustained economic development and social progress. Due to the growing industrialization,

urbanization, social legislation and along with the spread of higher education and awareness, the

emergence of Women owned businesses are highly increasing in the economies of

almost all countries.

In former days, for Women there were 3 Ks- Kitchen, Kids, Knitting, then came 3 Ps- Powder,

Pap pad, Pickles and now at present there are 4 Es- Electricity, Electronics, Energy, Engineering.

Indian women had undergone a long way and are becoming increasingly visible and successful

in all spheres and have shifted from kitchen to higher level of professional activities.

It's been over sixty years since our country gained independence, but Indian women are still not

allowed to move independently. Though woman is worshipped here as Goddess here, people

can't just restrain from committing atrocities against them. Women here experience many

hardships at various places right from home to working places.

I have heard some time ago that in developed countries like America, the couples do household

works together, but it is not the case in India. Here, women have to do the household works

alone while the husbands sit in front of the TV or read the newspaper slouching in a couch. After

about eight to twelve hours of work, a typical working woman in India has to return home

and make food for the rest of the family. There are, of course, husbands who help wives, but

majority of husbands fall into the other category.

I have heard some time ago that in developed countries like America, the couples do household

works together, but it is not the case in India. Here, women have to do the household works

alone while the husbands sit in front of the TV or read the newspaper slouching in a couch. After

about eight to twelve hours of work, a typical working woman in India has to return home

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and make food for the rest of the family. There are, of course, husbands who help wives, but

majority of husbands fall into the other category.

Any strategy aimed at economic development will be lop-sided without involving women who

constitute half of the world population. Women entrepreneurship has gained momentum in the

last three decades with the increase in the number of women enterprises and their substantive

contribution to economic growth. The industrial performance of Asia-Pacific region propelled by

Foreign Direct Investment, technological innovations and manufactured exports has brought a

wide range of economic and social opportunities to women entrepreneurs.

1.2 INDIA: AN OVERVIEW OF WOMEN OPPORTUNITIES

India, with a population of 989 million, is the world's second most populous country. Of that

number, 120 million are women who live in poverty.

India has 16 percent of the world's population, but only 2.4 percent of its land, resulting in great

pressures on its natural resources.

Over 70 percent of India's populations currently derive their livelihood from land resources,

which includes 84 percent of the economically-active women.

India is one of the few countries where males significantly outnumber females, and this

imbalance has increased over time. India's maternal mortality rates in rural areas are among the

world's highest. From a global perspective, Indian accounts for 19 percent of all lives births and

27 percent of all maternal deaths. There seems to be a consensus that higher female mortality

between ages one and five and high maternal mortality rates result in a deficit of females in the

population. Chatterjee (1990) estimates that deaths of young girls in India exceed those of young

boys by over 300,000 each year, and every sixth infant death is specifically due to gender

discrimination." Of the 15 million baby girls born in India each year, nearly 25 percent will not

live to see their 15th birthday.

"Although India was the first country to announce an official family planning program in 1952,

its population grew from 361 million in 1951 to 844 million in 1991. India's total fertility rate of

3.8 births per woman can be considered moderate by world standards, but the sheer magnitude of

population increase has resulted in such a feeling of urgency that containment of population

growth is listed as one of the six most important objectives in the Eighth Five-Year Plan."

Since 1970, the use of modern contraceptive methods has risen from

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10 percent to 40 percent, with great variance between northern and southern India. The most

striking aspect of contraceptive use in India is the predominance of sterilization, which accounts

for more than 85 percent of total modern contraception use, with female sterilization accounting

for 90 percent of all sterilizations.

The Indian constitution grants women equal rights with men, but strong patriarchal traditions

persist, with women's lives shaped by customs that are centuries old. In most Indian families, a

daughter is viewed as a liability, and she is conditioned to believe that she is inferior and

subordinate to men. Sons are idolized and celebrated. May you be the mother of a hundred sons

is a common Hindu wedding blessing.

The origin of the Indian idea of appropriate female behavior can be traced to the rules laid down

by Manu in 200 B.C.: "by a young girl, by a young woman, or even by an aged one, nothing

must be done independently, even in her own house". "In childhood a female must be subject to

her father, in youth to her husband, when her lord is dead to her sons; a woman must

never be independent."

The Indian economy has been witnessing a drastic change since mid -1991, with new policies of

economic liberalization, globalization and privatization initiated by the Indian government. India

has great entrepreneurial potential. At present, women involvement in economic activities is

marked by a low work participation rate, excessive concentration in the unorganized sector and

employment in less skilled jobs.

There is a need for changing the mindset towards women so as to give equal rights as enshrined

in the constitution. The progress towards gender equality is slow and is partly due to the failure

to attach money to policy commitments. In the words of president APJ Abdul Kalam

"empowering women is a prerequisite for creating a good nation, when women are empowered,

society with stability is assured. Empowerment of women is essential as their thoughts and their

value systems lead to the development of a good family, good society and ultimately a good

nation.

When a woman is empowered it does not mean that another individual becomes powerless or is

having less power. On the contrary, if a women is empowered her competencies towards

decision- making will surely influence her family's behavior.

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Pandit Jawaharlal Lal Nehru has remarked “When women move forward, the family

moves, the village moves and the Nation moves.”

It's been over sixty years since our country gained independence, but Indian women are still not

allowed to move independently. Though woman is worshipped here as Goddess here, people

can't just restrain from committing atrocities against them. Women here experience many

hardships at various places right from home to working places. Women played an important part

in India's independence struggle.

Some of the famous freedom fighters include Bhikaji Cama, Dr. Annie Besant, Pritilata

Waddedar, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Aruna Asaf Ali, Sucheta Kriplani and

Kasturba Gandhi. Other notable names include Muthulakshmi Reddy, Durgabai Deshmukh etc.

The Rani of Jhansi Regiment of Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army consisted

entirely of women including Captain Lakshmi Sahgal. Sarojini Naidu, a poet and a freedom

fighter, was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress and

the first woman to become the governor of a state in India.

The women‘s movement and a wide-spread network of non- Government Organizations which

have strong grass-roots presence and deep insight into women‘s concerns have contributed in

inspiring initiatives for the empowerment of women.

In the words of president APJ Abdul Kalam "empowering women is a prerequisite for creating

a good nation, when women are empowered, society with stability is assured.

MODERN INDIAN WOMEN

In the era of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization along with ongoing IT Revolution,

today‘s world is changing at a surprising pace. Political and Economic Transformations appear to

be taking place everywhere. These changes have created economic opportunities for women who

want to own and operate businesses.

The status of women in modern India is a sort of a paradox. If on one hand she is at the peak of

ladder of success, on the other hand she is mutely suffering the violence afflicted on her by her

own family members. As compared with past women in modern times have achieved a lot but in

reality they have to still travel a long way. Their path is full of roadblocks. The sex ratio of India

shows that the Indian society is still prejudiced against female.

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There are 933 females per thousand males in India according to the census of 2001, which is

much below the world average of 990 females.

Women in India now participate in all activities such as education, sports, politics, media, art and

culture, service sectors, science and technology, etc.

Indira Gandhi, who served as Prime Minister of India for an aggregate period of fifteen years is

the world's longest serving woman Prime Minister.

The feminist activism in India picked up momentum during later 1970s.

One of the first national level issues that brought the women's groups together was the Mathura

rape case. The acquittal of policemen accused of raping a young girl Mathura in a police station,

led to a wide-scale protests in 1979–1980. The protests were widely covered in the national

media, and forced the Government to amend the Evidence Act, the Criminal Procedure Code and

the Indian Penal Code and introduce the category of custodial rape. Female activists united over

issues such as female infanticide, gender bias, women health, and female literacy.

The Government of India declared 2001 as the Year of Women's Empowerment (Swashakti).

The National Policy for the Empowerment of Women came was passed in 2001. In 2010 March

9, one day after International Women's day, Rajyasabha passed Women's Reservation Bill,

ensuring 33% reservation to women in Parliament and state legislative bodies.

The plight of women in medieval India and at the starting of modern India can be summed up in

the words of great poet Rabindranath Tagore: O Lord Why have you not given women the

right to conquer her destiny?

Why does she have to wait head bowed,

By the roadside, Waiting with tired patience,

Hoping for a miracle in the tomorrow"

The 21 Successful Leading Businesswomen in India

1. Akhila Srinivasan, Managing Director, Shriram Investments Ltd

2. Chanda Kocchar, Executive Director, ICICI Bank

3. Ekta Kapoor ,Creative Director, Balaji Telefilms

4. Jyoit Naik, President, Lijjat Papad

5. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon

6. Lalita D Gupte, Joint Managing Director, ICICI Bank

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7. Naina Lal Kidwai ,Deputy CEO, HSBC

8. Preetha Reddy, Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals

9. Priya Paul, Chairman, Apeejay Park Hotels

10. Rajshree Pathy, Chairman, Rajshree Sugars and Chemicals Ltd

11. Ranjana Kumar ,Chairman, NABARD

12. Ravina Raj Kohli, Media personality and ex-President, STAR News

13. Renuka Ramnath, CEO, ICICI Ventures

14. Ritu Kumar ,Fashion Designer

15. Ritu Nanda, CEO, Escolife

16. Shahnaz Hussain, CEO, Shahnaz Herbals

17. Sharan Apparao, Proprietor, Apparao Galleries

18. Simone Tata, Chairman, Trent Ltd

19. Sulajja Firodia Motwani, Joint MD, Kinetic Engineering

20. Tarjani Vakil, former Chairman and Managing Director, EXIM Bank

21. Zia Mody, Senior Partner, AZB & Partners

CURRENT SCENARIO

Some Bright Spots

India has world's largest number of professionally qualified women.

India has largest population of working women in the world.

Women Achiever:

With the help of these social reformers women of India slowly started recognizing her true

potential. She started questioning the rules laid down for her by the society. As a result, started

breaking barriers and earned a respectable position in the world. Today Indian women have

excelled in each and every field from social work to visiting space station. There is no arena,

which remained unconquered by Indian women. Whether it is politics, sports, entertainment,

literature, technology everywhere we can hear applauses for her.

Politics:

Women of India are highly active today in this area. Sarojini Naidu, Vijaylakshami Pandit,

Sucheta Kriplani were the torchbearer for the women of India. Mrs.Vijay Lkshami Pandit was

the first Indian woman to hold a post in the cabinet. Thus paving the way for other women. The

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most important name in the category of women politicians of recent times is Mrs Indira Gandhi.

She was the one who made world stop and notice the talent and potential of India women. She

was the first women Prime Minister of independent India. Today her daughter-in law Mrs Sonia

Gandhi is following her footsteps and leading the Indian National Congress.

Other women who have made their name in politics of India are Shiela Dixit, Uma Bharti,

Jayalalitha, Vasundhra Raje and Mamata Banerjee.

Sports:

Indian women have achieved great laurels for the nation in every sport.

Whether it is cricket or hockey India have national women team for every game. Indian women

cricket team has won Asia Cup of 2004 and 2005 and made country proud. Some women sports

icons of India are:

P.T. Usha (Athletics)

Kunjarani Devi (Weight lifting)

Diana Edulji (Cricket)

Sania Mirza (Tennis)

Karnam Malleshwari (Weight lifting)

Art and Entertainment:

This arena is full of Indian women. We have many names to boast of like M.S.

Subbulakshmi, Indian Nightingale Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle as famous singers. Madhu

Bala, Rekha, Aishwarya Rai as Bollywood queens. Today Indian woman is a painter, an actor, a

singer, and a beauty queen.

Literature:

In past women of India used to write, but their work did not get the recognition. Today they are

getting their dues. Arundhati Roy, Anita Desai, Kiran Desai, Shobhaa De, Jhumpa Lahiri are

famous names in Indian literature. Not just in India now these women are recognized all over the

world. Arundhati Roy has been awarded with the Booker Prize of 1997 for her work "God of

Small Things". Kiran Desai has been given Booker Prize of 2006 and Jhumpa Lahiri got

recognition in the form of Pulitzer Prize.

Corporate Divas:

Kiran Majumdar Shaw is the undisputed corporate queen of India. She is the richest Indian

woman. She is the MD of Biocon India. She is the wealthiest entrepreneur of India. Kiran

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wanted to become a doctor but could not get admission in medical colleges but even then she did

not lose courage and went on to become India's first woman 'Brew Master' and subsequently

corporate queen. Another names in this list include Vidya Mohan Chhabaria, Chairperson of

Jumbo Group, Naina Lal Kidwai, Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of HSBC Securities

and Capital Market, Sullaijja Firodia Motwani and Mallika Srinivasan.

Social saints:

The Indian saint of today's times Mother Teresa is the name which every Indian whether rich or

poor is familiar with. She was the person who used to consider the smile of her countrymen as

her wealth. She worked for those whom even their own families have deserted. She did not care

whether she is in the company of a person suffering from communicable disease or whether it is

day or night. Whenever or wherever one needed her she was present.

She opened various homes for these people most famous of which is 'Nirmal Hriday". It is open

to everyone irrespective of caste, creed or religion.

Another important names working for the cause of people includes Aruna Roy who worked for

the save RTI Campaign and Medha Patekar who is associated with Narmada Bachao Andolan.

Universal Queens:

Indian women have not just made their mark on earth but they have engraved their name in the

whole universe by flying to space. Kalpana Chawla, who was the member of Colombia Space

Shuttle, which exploded on its way back, was the first Indian women astronaut who visited space

station. And now following on her footsteps and other women of Indian origin Sunita Williams

has become the second one to be the member of International Space Station

crew.

Indian women have mastered anything and everything which a woman can dream of. But she

still has to go a long way to achieve equal status in the minds of Indian men. The desire of Indian

women can be best summed up in the following lines of 'Song of an African Women':

I have only one request.

I do not ask for money

Although I have need of it,

I do not ask for meat . . .

I have only one request,

And all I ask is

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That you remove

The road block

From my path.

BEST WORK OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDIAN WOMEN:

Compared to their male counterparts, Indian women have had to face tougher challenges in

landing the perfect job in a male-dominated corporate scenario. However, nothing has stopped

them from pursuing and excelling in lucrative professional careers without compromising on

their multi-faceted roles on the domestic front. Here is a listing of the best career opportunities

for 2010 that women in India can prove their mettle in.

Writer / Editor

At a time when India is looked upon as the wordsmith for the rest of the world, women with an

excellent command over literature / language can write for a living as business/technical/medical

writers, web content developers, manuscript translators, magazine editors, copywriters, speech

writers and corporate communication professionals. The independence this career guarantees

makes it one of the top-notch jobs for women.

Lawyer

Ever since Cornelia Sorabji became the first woman to become a barrister in India, several others

have followed suit. Today, there is an All India Federation of Women Lawyers to boast of and

Indian courts are witnessing a substantial increase in the number of women lawyers.

I T Analyst

With computerization having permeated every sphere of life, the demand for software

professionals has gone up manifold, making this segment a much sought-after job for women.

There is a plethora of opportunities for Indian women to spearhead the segment as IT Analysts,

Database Administrators, Project Leaders and Software Programmers and much more.

Media Journalist

An increasing number of Indian women are making an impact in media journalism these days.

Though considered a challenging field, this is one job that has the most number of women,

making it one of the top 10 job opportunities for women in India. With numerous private news

and media channels in the fray, the scope of job opportunities as a media journalist is endless.

Women can choose to specialize as a reporter, freelance journalist, columnist or an expert on

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diverse niches. A Bachelor‘s degree in Mass Media / Journalism after completing 12 years of

schooling is what it takes to be a trained journalist.

Barkha Dutt – one of the most noted and respected Indian journalists Corporate Trainer

The job of a corporate trainer is a specialized one, requiring the ability to help hard-core

professionals improve their ―soft skills‖. Modern Indian women are choosing to become

corporate trainers because of the creative satisfaction it gives. With more and more companies

requiring employees with above average Emotional/Spiritual Quotient to handle workplace

stress, corporatetraining is high on the agenda of every business.

Clinical Research Professional

Known in job circles as the ―career of tomorrow‖, 50,000 clinical researchers are being sought

by multi-national companies in 2010 alone. The job opportunities that await a trained clinical

research professional are multitudinous at government departments, pharmaceutical industry,

research and investigative institutes and hospitals. This sector is among the top 10 career options

for women because the number of job openings in India is plentiful and predicted to double

every year.

India and its female population can enjoy a lucrative career in clinical research.

Interior Designer

It takes a woman to transform a house into a home. Enchasing on this universal stand, interior

designing is a top work opportunity most women find appealing. Though some of the best

designers in the world are men, it is a little known fact that they derive inspiration from the

women around them. Since most interior designers specialize in a specific area, women are

finding to easier to carve a niche for themselves in home interiors while the men take a dig at

corporate settings.

Interior designers have always been and shall continue to be a women‘s favorite career path.

Event Manager:

Considering the ease with which most women can handle day-to-day events such as their little

ones‘ birthday party, dinner with friends, and weekend get-togethers, event management is one

career path that screams out for a woman‘s touch. The increasing number of corporate meetings,

training seminars, product exhibitions, musical concerts, fashion show, launches parties,

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wedding celebrations and other events makes event management a top work opportunity for

women with substance.

The statistics testifies to the brutalities afflicted on women

folk

Social Indicator India World

Infant Mortality Rate, per 1000 live births 73 60

Maternal Mortality Rate, per 100,000 live

births

570 430

Female Literacy, % 58 77.6

Female School Enrollment 47 62

Earned Income by females, % 26 58

Underweight Children, % 53 30

Total Fertility Rate 3.2 2.9

Women in Government, % 6 7

Contraception usage, % 44 56

Low birth weight babies, % 33 17

Though there are problems in the lives of Indian women but they are always

ready to fight all the odds and enjoy their life to the full they have their own

talent, hobbies, and they socialize according to Indian customs.

TOP 10 WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN INDIA:

Sonia Gandhi, President, Congress Party

Sonia Gandhi was born in Italy, but this woman is part of our country in a way

that surpasses all. Coming from the controversial Gandhi family, and despite

the dangers involved, she joined Indian politics in 1998, taking charge of the

Congress party. In 2004, she gave up the position of Prime Minister to Dr.

Manmohan Singh, giving out a strong message to the opponents who wrote

her off as a foreigner.

Indra Nooyi, Chief Executive, Pepsi Co

PepsiCo's India-born chief Indra Nooyi schooled in Madras but later went on

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to study at Yale University, USA. This corporate honcho started her career at Boston Consulting

Group and then moved on to Motorola and Asea Brown Boveri. When she joined Pepsi Co. in

1994, she fine-tuned the company with her bold risk-taking. Seven years later, her efforts paid of

and she became president of the company. Over the years, she has been featured on lists like

'World's 100 Most Powerful Women' and 'America's Best Leaders' as well.

Indu Jain, Chairperson (former), Times Group

The multi-faceted Indu Jain was the former chairman of the The Times Group, the biggest and

most powerful media house in India. Now, her two sons Samir and Vineet are running the

company. Indu, a humanist, addressed the United Nations in 2000 at the Millennium World

Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders, stressing the need for oneness among faiths.

Neelam Dhawan, Managing Director, Microsoft (India)

Neelam Dhawan is an iconic figure in the IT industry of India. She was rejected from two jobs as

they felt women were not cut out for marketing and sales. Having worked in the field for 20

years in companies like Microsoft, IBM and HCL, she is now the new Managing Director of HP.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Biocon

Encouraged by her father, Kiran became a Master Brewer, after studying brewery at Ballarat

University. From being a trainee brewer at Carlton & United Beverages in 1974 to setting up her

own company, Biocon, working from a garage, Kiran is quite a success story! At a time when

biotechnology was not known in India, she worked hard and turned Biocon into the biggest

biopharmaceutical firm in India. And here's something you probably didn't know about her: She

was India‘s richest woman back in 2004.

Priya Paul, Apeejay Surendra Group

Straight after finishing her Bachelors in Economics from USA, Priya dove into her family

business at the age of 24. This was after her father Surendra Paul was assassinated in 1990. The

Apeejay Surendra Group that he founded has several subsidiaries such as tea, hotel, shipping,

retail, real estate and financial services. At present, Priya is the Chairperson of Apeejay Park

Hotels.

Vidya Manohar Chhabria, Chairman, Jumbo Group

Working for her husband's company Jumbo Group, Vidya has come a long way since his death

in 2002. She became chairperson of the company which is a $2 billion business conglomerate!

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What‘s more, her three daughters help mommy dearest in running the business. Vidya was been

featured a number

of times in Fortune magazine's List of Most Powerful Women

Simone Tata, Managing Director, Lakme

Simone Tata was instrumental in changing a small unknown cosmetics

company, one of the subsidiaries of Tata Oil Mills, into one of the leading

cosmetic companies in India. Her success earned her the title of Cosmetic

Czarina of India. She joined Lakme in 1961 and became Chairperson in 1982.

The company is now sold to Hindustan Lever, while Simone is head of Trent

Limited another subsidiary of the Tata Company.

Anu Aga, Chairperson (former), Thermax Group

Anu Aga was thrust into her role as chairperson of Thermax after her

husband‘s death. This left the company in a really bad state financially. But

taking stock of the situation, Anu brought in a consultant from abroad which

proved to be a blessing, getting the company back on its feet in no time. She

stepped down from the post of chairperson in 2004. Anu now gives her time to

social activities.

Sulajja Firodia Motwani, Kinetic Motor

With good looks and a genius understanding of the market, Sulajja worked in

a California-based Investment Company before coming to India to join her

grandfather's business. She travels a lot across the country and the key to her

success can be attributed to her people skills. She is the Joint Managing

Director of Kinetic Motors.

VARIOUS STRATEGIES

Economic Growth, Poverty and Gender Inequality

There exists a two-way link between economic growth and poverty, and gender

inequality. On one level, poverty and the lack of growth exacerbated gender disparities.

Inequalities between girls and boys in access to schooling or adequate health care were

21

more acute among poor people than among those with higher incomes. And while poor

people had less access to such productive resources as land and credit, poor women

generally had the least access of all. Similarly, girls’ and women’s health and schooling

were more vulnerable to economic downturns than those of boys and men. On another

level, gender inequalities undermined the prospects for poverty reduction in fundamental

ways. While disparities in basic rights, access to schooling, credit and jobs, and the

ability to participate in public life took their most direct toll on women and girls, the

evidence showed that gender inequality ultimately hindered economic growth.

The rationale for economically empowering women is compelling for both for its

own sake (intrinsic) and for other spillover benefits (instrumental). Research indicates

that economic participation of women—their presence in the workforce in quantitative

terms—is important not only for lowering the disproportionate levels of poverty among

women, but also as an important step toward raising household income and encouraging

economic development in countries as a whole. Amartya Sen makes a compelling case

for the notion that societies need to see women less as passive recipients of help, and

more as dynamic promoters of social transformation, a view strongly buttressed by a

body of evidence suggesting that the education, employment and ownership rights of

women have a powerful influence on their ability to control their environment and

contribute to economic development.

However, participation alone is not enough, quality of women’s work is critical. A

key challenge is to overcome a situation where women may gain employment with

relative ease, but where their employment is either concentrated in poorly paid or

unskilled job “ghettos,” characterized by the absence of upward mobility and

opportunity. For example: women are most often concentrated in “feminized”

professions, such as nursing and teaching, office work, care of the elderly and disabled—

termed “horizontal occupational segregation”—where they tend to remain in lower job

categories than men. Typically, because these functions are carried out by women, they

are the lowest paid, in addition to offering limited or no opportunity for advancement.

The term “feminization of poverty” is often used to illustrate the fact that a substantial

percentage of poor are women and that the gap between women and men in poverty has

not lessened, but may well have widened in the past decade.

22

Further, globalization has dramatically changed the conditions under which the work

for gender equality must be carried out, especially in high growth countries like India.

While globalization has generated opportunities for local producers and entrepreneurs to

reach international markets, it has at times intensified existing inequalities and

insecurities for many poor women, who already represent two-thirds of the world’s

poorest people. Since the gains of globalization are often concentrated in the hands of

those with higher education—those who own resources and have access to capital—poor

women are usually the least able to seize the longer term opportunities offered.

Women’s Work in India -- Invisible, Unrecognized and Unremunerated

India has 397 million workers

123.9 million are women

106 million are in rural areas

18 million are in urban areas

Only 7% of India’s labour force is in the organized sector; 93% is in unorganized,

informal sector

96% of women workers are in unorganized sector

Female work participation rate (WPR) has increased from 19.7% in 1981 to 25.7% in

2001

In rural areas female WPR has increased from 23.1 to 31%

In urban areas it has increased from 8.3 to 11.6%

But women reported as non workers in the census found to spending 4 hours a day

picking, sowing, grazing cattle, threshing, or working as domestic servants for 8-10 hours

a day!

ILO methodological studies indicate that measured female labour-force activity rates rose

radically with a wider definition of "economic activity" to cover informal sector and nonmarket

activities from 13% to 88% in India.

In last two decades, this disadvantage has been exacerbated as in most of the countries,

policies reflect a commitment to global norms of markets and social policy is

increasingly determined by market dynamics. Market friendly policies generate high

growth rates that fail to translate into improved standards of health, education and human

security. Feminist scholars have highlighted the gendered impact of such policies, many

of which increase women’s job vulnerability, unpaid work burden, while reducing state –

23

level resources that might be used to provide a social safety net. Owing to dissent voiced

by feminist scholars on the widespread assumption that gender inequality as a challenge

can be overcome with effective and sustained advocacy as it is more about mindsets and

less about policies, especially economic policies, there have been some attempts to

integrate economic and social policies but gender concerns have not been accorded

requisite attention. These disadvantages have led to a situation where gains in women’s

economic opportunities lag behind those in women’s capabilities. This is inefficient,

since increased women’s labor force participation and earnings are associated with

reduced poverty and faster growth, women will benefit from economic empowerment but

so too will men, children and society as a whole. Women’s lack of economic

empowerment, on the other hand, not only impedes growth and poverty reduction, but

also has a host of other negative impacts including less favorable education and health

outcomes for children and a more rapid spread of HIV/AIDS. Thus, it is extremely

important to ensure that women are economically empowered. There are various factors

that contribute to the economic empowerment of women. These factors operate at various

levels.

In the current scenario, one can identify the following characteristics of women’s work in India:

1. Volatility of employment-- particularly export-oriented employment. In less then one

generation, there had been massive shifts of women’s labour into the paid workforce and

then the subsequent ejection of older women and even younger counterparts into more

fragile and insecure forms of employment. Women’s livelihoods in rural areas had been

affected by the agrarian crisis in most developing countries.

2. Changes in the nature of women’s work -- including an increase in informal work,

characterized by greater reliance on casual contracts and an increase in service work.

There had been a substantial increase in self-employed low-end service work, especially

in domestic and retail trade.

3. Increase in unpaid work --The impact of the decline in the public provision of many

basic goods and services had meant a substantial increase in unpaid work.

4. Crisis of livelihoods in agriculture -- The effect of trade liberalization had been

accompanied by a decline in world agriculture prices. Agriculture constituted the main

employer of women in the developing world and the basic source of income for most of

24

the worlds’ poor.

5. Massive increase in women’s migration for work --What was new historically was the

fact that women were moving alone. Cross-border migration had become a huge issue.

While it had become a source of macroeconomic stability, it was also a source of

exploitation. Internal migration had also increased. Migrant workers had few rights, and

governments rarely thought about ensuring their protection.

India Government transforms lives and follows the Gandhian

Principles. Gandhiji said, ―If one boy is educated, a child becomes literate but

if a girl is educated, the whole family gets literacy‖. The Government believes

in reforming lives and brings revolutionary change in the mindsets of people

for education-socio-economical growth.

The Word Bank has suggested that empowerment of women should be

a key aspect of social development programs (World Bank, 2001). India has

also ratified various international Conventions committed to securing equal

rights to women. The ‗National Policy for The Empowerment of Women‘

(2000) states that ―The women‘s movement and a widespread network of

NGOs which have strong grassroots presence and deep insight into women‘s

concerns have contributed in inspiring initiatives for the empowerment of

women.‖ However, the policy also speaks of ―a wide gap between the goals

enunciated in the Constitution, legislative Policies, plans, programs, and the

related mechanisms on the one hand and the situational reality of the status

of women in India, on the other…Gender equality manifests itself in various

forms, the most obvious being the trend of continuously declining female ratio

in the population in the last few decades. Social stereotyping and violence at

the domestic and societal levels are some of the other manifestations‖.

In 1990s, grants from foreign donor agencies enabled the formation of

new women-oriented NGOs. Self-help groups and NGOs such as Self

Employed Women's Association (SEWA) have played a major role in

women's rights in India. Many women have emerged as leaders of local

movements. For example, Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

The WCD operates under important functionaries:

25

Gaurav Nari Niti - Women‘s Pride, Gender Equality

Swayamsidh Yojna – Self Reliance and empowerment

Vidhva Sahay and Talim Yojna

Nari Adalat

Kunverbai nu Mameru scheme

Mahila Vrudh Ashram

Sakhi Mandal Yojna

Gaurav Nari Niti – Women’s Pride ,Gender Equality:

The Government decided to formulate the Nari Gaurav Niti

(GEP) in the year 2002. The State has sanctioned and announced the state

policy for Gender Equity as ‗Nari Gaurav Niti‘. India Government formulated

the Nari Gaurav Niti Policy with a view to create awareness in all its

Administrative Departments on the socio-economic-educational and

developmental sector of women and benefit them through the policy by active

involvement of departments for timely modus operandi. It consists of action

plans and monitoring mechanisms and addresses public as well as private

sectors. The autonomous Gender Resource Centre provides technical inputs

in implementation and monitoring of the policy at State level. Working groups

are formed and a series of deliberations take place on all aspects of gender

equity and equality.

Swayamsidh Yojna – Self Reliance and Empowerment:

Swayamsidha is an integrated project for the development and

empowerment of women. Swayamsiddha (swayam or self and siddha – the

one who has proven capability or is empowered) project was introduced by

GOI during 2001 to 2002 replacing the erstwhile Indira Mahila Yojana. The

long term objective of the scheme is to achieve an all round empowerment of

women – socio-economical-cultural empowerment by ensuring their direct

access to, and control over, resources through a sustained process of

mobilization and convergence of all ongoing sector programs.

The WCD of India implements the policy to help rural women be

self reliant, gain confidence and learn the art of savings. It also focus on

26

Community oriented innovations, working in groups, building team spirit,

mobilization of activities, gaining knowledge and awareness to empower

financially. This project is envisaged in 20 regions at 26 spots covering 1760

villages which include 43,200 women and 2700 initiating helpers. This project

has brought women into the mainstream of development in the rural areas of

India.

Vidhva Sahay and TalimYojna:

The Department is sensitive towards women 18-40 years, who have

lost their husbands and initiates policy for their empowerment and economic

living condition. For their economical living, under Manav Garima Yojna, Rs.

3000/- margin money is given to help them stand on their feet on their own

and empower living. Women in the age group of 18-60 years are provided

monetary help by way of application. The applicant gets Rs.500/- and two

children gets Rs.80/- (per child) every month Through post office.

Nari Adalat:

The concept devised ‗By women for women‘ - the Nari Adalats is

operational for legal justice in over 19 regions in India. Women jurists

dispense justice in women‘s cases of divorce, abandonment, violence, rape

and dowry demands. These courts are set up for women empowerment and

gender justice. These courts are not recognized by the State as a legal forum.

However, the autonomous hybrid institutions are para legal authority that who

solve women cases faster than judicial courts. These courts are helping rural

women overcome problems encountered in the normal judicial system.

Inaccessibility, cost, time, unfamiliarity with legal procedures, inadequate

resources, and a traditional disregard of the needs of women – all solutions

get speedy, efficacy, and cost effective.

Kunverbai nu Mameru scheme:

WCD makes provisions for monetary help to scheduled caste for their

daughter‘s marriage under Kunverbai nu mameru scheme. Those who gets

an annual income of Rs.11,000/- can avail Rs.5000/- for their one daughter‘s

marriage. For this, Rs.2000/- are given to girl‘s parents/guardian and

27

Rs.3000/- is given to the girl in the form of Kisan Vikas Patra.

Mahila Vrudh Ashram:

Old Parents are day by day being neglected by the Youth. As a result,

the WCD has made special arrangements for uncared women and foster their

needs. State Government has set up Old Age Homes for such destitute.

Exclusive Women Old Age homes are structured with an exclusive existing

Home at Jamnagar

Sakhi Mandal Yojna

The Project is to enable the poor women, particularly in rural areas of

India to improve their access to resources and consequently strengthen

livelihoods and quality of life. Sakhi Mandals are formation of women self help

groups based on thrift and credit principles. It provides financial services to

accelerate the process of economic development and ensure welfare of

women. They are encouraged to foster decision skills and develop a

framework of wider range of participation in micro finance development. In

one year, the India Government aims for one lack Sakhi Mandals across

the state.

Project Objectives

Enable the poor women, particularly in rural areas of India to improve

their access to resources and consequently strengthen livelihoods and quality

of life.

Formation of women self help groups based on thrift and credit

principles.

Facilitating sustained access of poor to financial services and

consequently accelerate the process of economic development.

Promote human capital development and ensure welfare of women in

which they participate in making decisions.

Convergence of services and benefit of various government

department-thus develop a framework of a wider range partnership in

micro finance development.

28

Project Area

Entire State of India

Time Frame

Three Year - From 2006-07 to Janauary 2010

Total Budget

Rs.94 crore (inclusive of Rs.50 crore for Revolving Fund Grant

@ Rs.5000 per group) for three years.

Implementing Strategy

The implementing strategy would be broadly divided into two parts.

1. Tracking and Credit linkage of existing SM Groups

2. Formation, nurturing & linkage of new SM Groups

Formation of new Sakhi Mandal and revive the existing Sakhi

Mandal through ICDS (85%) and NGOs. (15%)

Goals Envisaged For Formation And Nurturing Of Sakhi Mandal

To track existing reported SHGs (1.44 lakh)

To credit link additional 25,000 existing SHGs (35,000 already

credit linked)

To form additional 1.40 lakh SHGs

To credit link 1 lakh new SHGs

Incentives

Incentives: ICDS

Anganwadi Workers @ Rs.1500 per group

(SB a/c 300, Credit Linkage–700, Repayment–500)

Supervisors & ACDPOs @ Rs.3000 per 50 groups

(SB a/c 500, Credit Linkage–1500, Repayment–1000)

CDPOs @ Rs.6000 per 300 groups

(SB a/c 1000, Credit Linkage–3000, Repayment–2000)

Incentives: NGO

Incentives @ Rs.3000 per group to be paid in stages

On acceptance of Terms and Conditions Rs.300/- (10%)

Opening of SB a/c Rs.600/- (20%)

29

Credit linkage Rs.900/- (30%)

Repayment Rs.900/- (30%)

Evaluation Rs.300/- (10%)

250 social workers – one per block & 1 per district (7500 per month

including Salary, TA, DA, Stationary & other office expenses)

Progress at a glance ( February 2010 ending)

New Sakhi Mandal

Sr. No Particulars Status

1 No. of Sakhi Mandal Formed 1,56,201

2 Total Members of Sakhi Mandals 19,74,890

3 Sakhi Mandal Saving (Rs. in Lakh) 9927.39

4 No. of Sakhi Mandal started

Inter-Loaning

99206

5 Amount Inter-loaned (Rs. in Lakh) 5008.18

6 Groups Linked with Banks 95460

7 Amount of Credit by Bank

(Rs. in Lakh)

15035.78

8 No.of Sakhi Mandal engaged in

Income-generation activities

29076

Existing Groups

Sr. No Particulars Status

1 No. of SHGs tracked 66431

2 No. of female groups 564834

3 Total Revived 5202

4 Total saving by SHGs(Rs. in Lakh) 832.62

5 No. of SHG given Revolving Fund 2964

6 Amount of Revolving Fund (Rs.in

Lakhs)

30

198.05

Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), India, India

India is an arid and semi-arid state in the northwest of India and has been

frequently hit by climatic crises. The primary challenges in India are to

enhance literacy rates, especially among rural women, and to reduce the risks

to the rural poor resulting from crises (particularly climatic crises). SEWA is a

registered trade union with a remit to ‗organize women workers for full

employment‘. Through its integrated approach to employment and selfreliance,

workers can obtain work, income, food and social security. The

organization now has 966,139 members across nine states in India, with the

majority (519,309) living in India. It currently runs nine campaigns (homebased

workers, vendors, clean Varanasi, water, forest workers, health

workers, childcare, informal economy and agriculture). Like all the

interventions studied, SEWA has taken a self-help group (SHG) approach to

women‘s empowerment.

Interviews and group discussions were held with groups from the villages of nagwa, susuwahi,

samne ghat.

31

.

Women at risk: indicators of social vulnerability

These and other indicators of women's life chances, social status,

and living conditions reduce the ability of girls and women to prepare

for, cope with, and recover from disasters.

A skewed sex ratio (934 women: 1000 men) in India reflects conditions

prevailing across India (927:1000);

An estimated 25 million women are "missing" due to sex-specific abortion,

femicide, high rates of violence against women, nutrition and health care

preferences disadvantaging girls, and other factors;

65% of all Indian women report having experienced some form of domestic

violence, with the highest rates reported among women employed as

agricultural laborers;

54% of Indiai women marry before the age of 18; marriages are often

arranged; widows rarely remarry, especially in rural areas;

The average Indian woman is younger than 22 when she bears her first child

and lacks control over her own fertility;

45 % of Indiai women need permission to go to the market and 49% to visit

friends and relatives; 29% are not involved in decisions even about their own

health and 10 % about what to cook; only one quarter have access to

household money;

Fewer women (48.6%) than men (73.13%) over six enjoy functional literacy;

literacy rates are lower among adavasi or tribal women (24.20%) and women

in the Scheduled Castes (45.5%);

One in four girls did not attend school in India even before the earthquake

destroyed their schools; many of these "nowhere children" are likely to be

working in the informal sector;

The vast majority of the nation's women earn income through informal work,

where working conditions are poor and few workers are organized;

Women hold fewer than 8% of parliamentary seats, 6% of cabinet positions,

and 3% of administrative and managerial positions in the nation;

32

Indian women earn an average of 30% less than men;

100,000-120,000 women across India die every year due to pregnancyrelated

problems; half of all married women suffer from anemia.

Most Indian women do not own any property in their own names and don't

inherit parental property; barely 2% of women claim their family property

rights.

Sources: Sen and Kumar, 2001; Government of India, 2000.

33

PART - II

PRIMARY STUDY

INTRODUCTION OF THE STUDY

34

INTRODUCTION

Today‘s women are taking more and more professional and technical

degrees to cope up with market need and are flourishing as de signers,

interior decorators, exporters, publishers, garment manufacturers and still

exploring new avenues of economic participation. It is perhaps for these

reasons that Government Bodies, NGO‘s, Social Scientists, Researchers ‗and

International Agencies have started showing interest in the issues related to

entrepreneurship among women in India. Women entrepreneur‘s explore the

prospects of starting a new enterprise; undertake risks, introduction of new

innovations, coordinate administration & control of business & providing

Effective leadership in all aspects of business and have proved their footage

in the male dominated business arena.

What is Empowerment?

Empowerment has thus helped women to realize their identity,

capability, strengths and power. They also have greater self-confidence and

awareness of their rights, are more assertive and more vocal in mixed forums.

Empowerment for women also means being able to overcome shyness and to

talk and act confidently.

‗Empowering‘ women has become a frequently cited goal of

development interventions. However, while there is now a significant body of

literature discussing how women‘s empowerment has been or might be

evaluated, there are still major difficulties in so doing. Furthermore many

projects and programmers which espouse the empowerment of women show

little if any evidence of attempts even to define what this means in their own

context let alone to assess whether and to what extent they have succeeded.

Instead traditional development goals, such as better health or increased

income, are cited as evidence of empowerment.

In such cases it is not clear what is added by using the word

empowerment‘. Despite its having ‗identified empowerment as a primary

development assistance goal neither the World Bank nor any other major

35

development agency has developed a rigorous method for measuring and

tracking changes in levels of empowerment‘ Different people use

empowerment to mean different things. However there are four aspects which

seem to be generally accepted in the literature on women‘s empowerment.

Firstly to be empowered one must have been disempowered. It is

relevant to speak of empowering women, for example, because, as a group,

they are disempowered relative to men.

Secondly empowerment cannot be bestowed by a third party. Rather

those who would become empowered must claim it. Development agencies

cannot therefore empower women—the most they can achieve is to facilitate

women empowering themselves. They may be able to create conditions

favorable to empowerment but they cannot make it happen.

Thirdly, definitions of empowerment usually include a sense of people

making decisions on matters which are important in their lives and being able

to carry them out. Reflection, analysis and action are involved in this process

which may happen on an individual or a collective level. There is some

evidence that while women‘s own struggles for empowerment have tended to

be collective efforts, empowerment-orientated development interventions

often focus more on the level of the individual.

Finally empowerment is an ongoing process rather than a product.

There is no final goal. One does not arrive at a stage of being empowered in

some absolute sense. People are empowered, or disempowered, relative to

others or, importantly, relative to themselves at a previous time.

The extent of empowerment of women in the national hierarchy is determined

largely by the three factors – her economic, social and political identity and their

weightage. These factors are deeply intertwined and interlinked with many cross cutting

linkages which imply that if efforts in even one dimension remain absent or weak,

outcomes and momentum generated by the other components cannot be sustained as they

will not be able to weather any changes or upheavals. It is only when all the three factors

are simultaneously addressed and made compatible with each other can the woman be

36

truly empowered. Therefore for holistic empowerment of the woman to happen - social,

economic and political aspects impacting a woman’s life must converge effectively.

Constitutional provisions

Women as an independent group constitute 48% of the country’s total population

as per the 2001 Census. The importance of women as a important human resource was

recognised by the Constitution of India which not only accorded equality to women but

also empowered the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in their favour. A

number of Articles of the Constitution specially reiterated the commitment of the

constitution towards the socio economic development of women and upholding their

political right and participation in decision making.

Drawing the strength from the constitutional commitments, the Government of

India has been engaged in the continuous endeavor of concretely translating all the rights,

commitments and safe guards incorporated in the Indian Constitution for women from de

jure to de facto status.

Box 1

Article 14 - Men and women to have equal rights and opportunities in the political,

economic and social spheres.

Article 15(1) - Prohibits discrimination against any citizen on the grounds of

religion, race, caste, sex etc.

Article 15(3) - Special provision enabling the State to make affirmative

discriminations in favour of women.

Article 16 - Equality of opportunities in matter of public appointments for all

citizens.

Article 39(a) - The State shall direct its policy towards securing all citizens men

and women, equally, the right to means of livelihood.

Article 39(d) – Equal pay for equal work for both men and women.

Article 42 - The State to make provision for ensuring just and humane conditions

of work and maternity relief.

Article 51 (A)(e) –To renounce the practices derogatory to the dignity of women.

37

Legislations and laws for women

The State enacted several women-specific and women-related legislations to

protect women against social discrimination, violence and atrocities and also to prevent social

evils like child marriages, dowry, rape, practice of Sati etc. The recently notified

Prevention of Domestic Violence Act is a landmark law in acting as a deterrent as well as

providing legal recourse to the women who are victims of any form of domestic violence.

Apart from these, there are a number of laws which may not be gender specific but still

have ramifications on women.

Equal Remuneration Act of 1976 provides for equal pay to men and women for

equal work.

Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 amended in 1976 provides the right for girls to

repudiate a child marriage before attaining maturity whether the marriage has been

consummated or not.

The Marriage (Amendment) Act, 2001 amended the Hindu Marriage Act, Special

Marriage Act, Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, the Code of Criminal Procedure

providing for speedy disposal of applications for maintenance; the ceiling limit for

claiming maintenance has been deleted and a wide discretion has been given to the

Magistrate to award appropriate maintenance.

The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act of 1956 as amended and renamed in 1986

makes the sexual exploitation of male or female, a cognizable offence. It is being

amended to decriminalize the prostitutes and make the laws more stringent against

traffickers.

An amendment brought in 1984 to the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 made

women’s subjection to cruelty a cognizable offence. The second amendment brought

in 1986 makes the husband or in-laws punishable, if a woman commits suicide within

7 years of her marriage and it has been proved that she has been subjected to cruelty.

Also a new criminal offence of ‘Dowry Death’ has been incorporated in the Indian

Penal Code.

Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1976 raises the age for marriage of a girl to 18

years from 15 years and that of a boy to 21 years and makes offences under this Act

38

cognizable.

Medical Termination Pregnancy Act of 1971 legalises abortion by qualified

professional on humanitarian or medical grounds. The maximum punishment may go

upto life imprisonment. The Act has further been amended specifying the place and

persons authorized to perform abortion and provide for penal actions against the

unauthorized persons performing abortions.

Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act of 1986 and the

Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 have been enacted to protect the dignity

of women and prevent violence against them as well as their exploitation.

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 provides for more

effective protection of the rights of women guaranteed under the Constitution who are

victims of violence of any kind occurring within the family and for matters connected

therewith or incidental thereto. It provides for immediate and emergent relief to

women in situations of violence of any kind in the home.

National Policies for women

The National Policy for Empowerment of Women 2001 has as its goal bringing

about advancement, development and empowerment of women in all spheres of life

through creation of a more responsive judicial and legal system sensitive to women and

mainstreaming a gender perspective in the development process. The strengthening and

formation of relevant institutional mechanisms and implementation of international

obligations/ commitments and co-operation at the international, regional and sub-regional

level was another commitment.

The present Government in their National Common Minimum Programme have

laid down

The objectives of this Policy include

(i) Creating an environment through positive economic and social policies for full

development of women to enable them to realize their full potential

(ii) The de-jure and de-facto enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedom

39

by women on equal basis with men in all spheres – political, economic, social, cultural

and civil

(iii) Equal access to participation and decision making of women in social, political and

economic life of the nation

(iv) Equal access to women to health care, quality education at all levels, career and

vocational guidance, employment, equal remuneration, occupational health and safety,

social security and public office etc.

(v) Strengthening legal systems aimed at elimination of all forms of discrimination

against women

(vi) Changing societal attitudes and community practices by active participation and

involvement of both men and women.

(vii) Mainstreaming a gender perspective in the development process.

(viii) Elimination of discrimination and all forms of violence against women and the

girl child; and

(ix) Building and strengthening partnerships with civil society, particularly women’s

organizations.

Commitments in the NCMP for Women

Introduce legislation for one-third reservations for women in vidhan sabhas

and in the Lok Sabha.

Legislation on domestic violence and against gender discrimination will be

enacted.

At least one-third of all funds flowing into panchayats will be earmarked for

programmes for the development of women and children.

Village women and their associations will be encouraged to assume

responsibility for all development schemes relating to drinking water, sanitation,

primary education, health and nutrition.

Complete legal equality for women in all spheres will be made a practical

reality, especially by removing discriminatory legislation and by enacting new

legislation that gives women, for instance, equal rights of ownership of assets

like houses and land.

40

12 Critical areas of concern

1. Women and Poverty

2. Education and training of

women

3. Women and health

4. Violence against women

5. Women in armed conflict

6. Women and economy

7. Women in power and

decision-making

8. Institutional mechanisms for

the advancement of women

9. Human rights and women

10. Women and media

11. Women and environment

12. Girl child.

India has ratified various international conventions and human rights instrumentscommitting to

secure equal rights of women. Key among them is the ratification of the

Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

in 1993. India has ratified the convention with two declaratory statements and one

reservation. Both the declarations relate to marriage. We have declared that the

provisions on marriage and family relations in its Article 16(1) would be ensured in

conformity with our policy of non-interference in the personal affairs of any community

without its initiative and consent and that while agreeing to the principle of compulsory

registration of marriages, failure to get the marriage registered at the same time will not

invalidate the marriage. We did not agree to Article 29(1) of the Convention, which

establishes compulsory arbitration or adjudication by the International Court of Justice of

disputes concerning interpretation. The Mexico Plan of Action 1975), the Nairobi Forward

Looking Strategies (1985), the Beijing Declaration as well as the Platform for Action (1995) and

the Outcome Document adopted by the UNGA Session on Gender Equality and Development &

Peace for the 21st century, titled "Further actions and initiatives to implement the Beijing

41

Declaration and the Platform for Action" have been unreservedly endorsed by India for

appropriate follow up. The Beijing Platform for Action lays down critical areas of concern for

the women, which are listed in the box. The commitments made in the international conventions

are as far as possible reflected in the Plan documents and the National Policy for the

Empowerment of Women.

Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been established in the

Millennium Declaration at the General Assembly of the United Nations in the year 2000.

These include promoting gender equality and empowerment of women and improving

maternal health. Though only these two are explicitly gender specific, gender equality is

at the core of achievement of MDGs – from improving health and fighting disease, to

reducing poverty and mitigating hunger, to expanding education and lowering child

mortality, to increasing access to safe water, and to ensuring environmental sustainability.

Planning Process and gender

The planning process has evolved over the years from purely “welfare” oriented

approach where women were regarded as objects of charity to the development

programmes and currently to their “empowerment”. It was only from the Sixth Five Year

Plan onwards that women secured a special niche and space in the national plans and

planning process primarily with thrusts on health, education and employment of women.

A paradigm shift occurred in the Eighth Plan where ‘empowerment” of women was

recognized and accepted as a distinct strategy.

A further impetus for sectoral contribution to women’s programmes was received

with the introduction of the concept of Women’s Component Plan in the Ninth Plan

whereby identified Ministries were required to indicate the flow of funds to the women’s

programs and schemes. However the Ninth Plan refrained from making any commitment

for achieving any specific goal or target. This was overcome to some extent in the Tenth

Plan where for the first time, monitorable targets were set for a few key indicators of

human development. The targets include, among other things, reduction in gender gaps in

literacy and wage rates and reduction in MMR.

The Tenth Five Year Plan(2002-07) called for the three pronged strategy of social

empowerment, economic empowerment and providing gender justice to create an

42

enabling environment of positive economic and social policies for women and

eliminating all forms of discrimination against them and thus advance gender equality

goals.

Social Empowerment - Create an enabling environment through adopting various

policies and programmes for development of women, besides providing them easy and

equal access to all the basic minimum services so as to enable them to realize their full

potential.

Economic Empowerment – Ensure provision of training, employment and income

generation activities with both forward and backward linkages with the ultimate

objective of making all women economically independent and self reliant.

Gender Justice – Eliminate all forms of gender discrimination and thus enable women

to enjoy not only de jure but also de facto rights and fundamental freedom on par with

men in all spheres, viz, political, economic, social, civil, cultural etc.

Status of women –a situational analysis

Though the Constitutional commitments of the nation to women was translated

through the planning process , legislation , policies and programs over the last six

decades yet as the Eleventh plan approaches, a situational analysis of social and

economic status of women reflects less than satisfactory achievements in almost all

important human development indicators. The maternal mortality rate is estimated at 407

per 100,000 live births (2000) in India compared to figures of 92 in Sri Lanka, 56 in

China and 130 in Vietnam; the growing female face of HIV/AIDS is reflected in the fact

that the number of pregnant women (between 18-24 years) with HIV prevalence

comprise 0.86 % in 2003 of the total women pregnant compared to 0.74% in 2002.

The saga of missing daughters is vividly depicted in the growing incidence of

female feticide as a result of which the child sex ratio has declined from 945 in 1991 to

927 in 2001. While the literacy rates have shown an improvement from 39.3% to 54.3%

of the total female population between 1991 and 2001, yet much more needs to be done

especially for socially and economically backward regions and groups.

Economic empowerment as reflected by the work participation rate shows that the

percentage of women in the work force increased by only 3% (from 22.5% to 25.7%)

43

between 1991 and 2001. The average wage differential between men and women

showed a marked deterioration between 2000 and 2004 for both rural and urban areas. The

violence against women continued unabated with the absolute number of crimes against

women increasing from 1,28,320 in 2000 to 1,43,615 in 2004.

There are a number of generic reasons, which give rise to the dismal picture depicted above.

Poverty is increasingly becoming femininsed - mainly on account of the fact that with

globalization and liberalization, a paradigm shift in the country’s economy has taken place

skewed towards technology dominated sectors, rendering traditional sectors like agriculture

unviable and without any security cover. Unfortunately it is in these sectors that women

predominately eke out a sustenance livelihood. The lack of alternate employment, skill training,

or credit facilities for women who seek it, is another factor that keeps them in poverty.

Traditional patriarchal systems too play their part in keeping women at a lower

rung in the social and economic hierarchy by denying them basic rights to land, assets etc

and also placing a low value on their existence. The high prevalence of female feticide

and child marriage is a fall out of these factors.

The weak social infrastructure such as the lack of adequate schools or health

centers, drinking water, sanitation and hygiene facilities inhibits a very large section of

women from accessing these facilities. This is a major reason why women continue to

face problems as poor literacy rates, or health issues. It is also one of the reasons for the

high incidence of MMR and IMR.

The changing socio economic scenario and the phasing out of the joint family

system along with poor community based protection systems are some of the reasons

why women are becoming increasingly prone to violence and abuse. The weak law

enforcement and gender insensitivity of the various functionaries fail to check the

growing violence against women. At the same time, the extremely poor levels of

awareness amongst women themselves on their rights also perpetuate violence against

them. The lack of adequate rehabilitation and reintegration facilities is another crucial

factor that finds victimized women further victimized or ostracized by the community.

The media too does not reflect gender issues with sympathy and sensitivity; instead there

is a tendency to glorify patriarchal traditions or to depict women as objects of sexual

entertainment.

44

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW

Hate (1978) in her book stated that there is positive change in the

political, economic and social status of middle class working and non-working

women living in four cities in Maharashtra with the advent of independence.

Kapur (1979) his shown that the twin roles of women cause tension

and conflict due to her social structure which is still more dominant .In her

study on working women in Delhi, she has shown that traditional

authoritarian set up of Hindu social structure continues to be the same

basically and hence. Women face problem of role conflict change in attitudes

of men and women according to the situation can help to overcome their

problem.

Pattanaik (2003) in her study reveals that SHGs are continuously

striving for a better future for tribal women as participants, decision-makers

and beneficiaries in the domestic, economic, social and cultural spheres of

life. But due to certain constraints like gender inequality, exploitation, women

torture for which various Self Help Groups are not organised properly and

effectively.

M.R Wood (1979) in his study of middle class urban sanitary women

un India showed that some of the women is his sample including one

whose marriage was arranged, had established a give and take relationship

with their husbands, Women also take part in important decisions.

Sandhu and Singh(1979) reported that motivation factors viz. feeling

of achievement, ability utilization, recognition and rewards, creative work

freedom of expression and scope for professional growth contributed

comparatively more to job satisfaction than factors like behaviour of

immediate officers, job security and advancement, adequacy of salary,

administrative setup and social status attached to the job.

Heckman and Mercurdary (2004) women are coming forward to paid

employment outside home to supplement the income of husbands or parents

and to fill the gap between income and expenditure due to soaring prices of

essential goods.

45

Malhotra (2004) in her book has examined how women entrepreneurs

affect the global economy, why women start business, how women‘s business

associations promote entrepreneurs, and to what extent women contribute to

international trade. It explores potential of micro-finance programmes for

empowering and employing women and also discusses the opportunities and

challenges of using micro-finance to tackle the feminisation of poverty.

According to her, the micro-finance programmes are aimed to increase

women‘s income levels and control over income leading to greater levels of

economic independence. They enable women‘s access to networks and

markets, access to information and possibilities for development of other

social and political role. They also enhance perceptions of women‘s

contribution to household income and family welfare, increasing women‘s

participation in household decisions about expenditure and other issues

leading to greater expenditure on women‘s welfare.

Rowbotham (1980) in her book stated that movements of women, now

in the past provide more than criticism; they can be a basis for valuable

knowledge about needs and well being that have been theoretically

disregarded. They also enable us to think about society and the economy in

new ways and discover a great deal about the process of politics and culture.

Amaury de Riencourt (1982) in her book stated that ‗It now becomes

easier to see that, even if women alone rarely prove to be intellectually or

artistically creative, man cannot create without her; hence, her part in the

cultural process, however indirect, is vital. The sexes together are to compare

male and female to the two poles of an elliptic field of magnetic forces. The

correlation between the two poles provides the creative power; no one pole,

male if female, can achieve anything without the contribution of the other.

Srilekha (2005) based states that developing countries are

characterized by low income illiteracy, unemployment and low standard of

living. In these countries extra income earned by women ids vital to cross the

poverty line , of the initiative in making the intended changes must come from

46

the government itself in the form of incentives to women who are bounded by

tradition and constrained by interest bent on preserving the status-quota

women in 15 to 59 age group if not in labour force are to be considered as

unused resources (except when they are sake or students) A change in the

attitude towards life is imperative to ensures that women gain confidence in

their own capable and a new value system is accepted.

Dwaraki and B.kumaresan (2005) asks that do women have a nice

in the of real of rural development working women have been in the nears in

the last 5-10 years like it is the want in the in rather confused world of rural

development those in the same by try to cling into anything new novel as if

they have found the phenomena what with the slogan of empowering women

especially rural women the grace for being associated with scavenger women

is spreading like mass hysteria in about last one year. So much as anyone in

the realm of rural development, today in any discussion on scavenger women

is an ignoramus. This is based on very small scale study conducted

exclusively for the purpose needs no justification. The authors in this study

have covered just 10 women scavenger from about four contiguous villages in

which three office bearers the President, Secretary and Treasurer were

personally interviewed on a very small list of question concentrating on the

aspect of self-sustenance for us contention of contention of authors that

women workers can find nice in the realm of rural development.

Alva Myrdar et al’s (1992) work on ―Women‘s two roles home and work

sought to present that would amid that would enable women for combine their

traditional family obligations with paid work in the employment market.

Interestingly these authors have gone further to capture multi-facted

dimensional role of women in the name of sequencing solutions besides the

dual role mentioned continues to hold as a strong base for further research in

this area.

Jennifer (2005) in his study about sanitary workers that economics

status showed a significant difference according to their age, marital status

duration of working, life and position at work.

47

The Times of India, Ahmadabad Friday, September 23, 2011

Vodafone‘s India circle plans to include better women Friendly

policies and hire more number of women employees this year. At present,

women comprise 16% of the company‘s total employee strength.

Rahesh Dongre , chief executive officer, Vodafone Essar India, said

, ―Our target is to have an employee‘s base consisting of at least 20%

women employees by March. We have an aim to make women –friendly

organization with better policies and rules for instance, our reach home safe

police or flexible leave police for new mothers have been formed keeping in

mind the separate needs of our women employees.‖

Dongre feels that the need for having more women on board is also

due to the rising female subscriber base.

48

2.2 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY:

The project report is on ―The study opportunity and constraints faced by

women in Indian economy”, that women awareness of the India

Government Schemes and Yojna towards available opportunities to develop

their self development.

The need arises as the topic is concerned that is now a days, women have a

many opportunities but they are not taking initiative or not taking any benefit

which is provided through government to rural women.

In rural areas women have many scope and opportunities of their self

development but there are some constraints are faced by them.

The data are showing that 50% of women are aware the India Government

Schemes and Yojna. Therefore, I want to conduct research for this topic.

So, the project helps the research process, that what are the expectations of

the India Government towards their women development schemes.

49

2.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT OF THE STUDY

Research Problems

To identify the problem that women face though they have many opportunities

given by state and Central Government.

50

2.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

To study the various opportunities raised by the Indian govt. for the

betterment of women.

Examine the awareness about the various opportunities given by

government.

To find out the level of opportunities taken by women.

To find out the factors that hinders women to take the opportunities & be

self – dependent.

To examine the taking the decision power and information level in

women.

51

2.5 HYPOTHESIS:

A statistical hypothesis is an assumption about a population parameter.

This assumption may or may not be true.

There are two types of statistical hypotheses.

Null hypothesis. The null hypothesis, denoted by H0, is usually the

hypothesis that sample observations result purely from chance.

Alternative hypothesis. The alternative hypothesis, denoted by H1 or Ha, is

the hypothesis that sample observations are influenced by some non-random

cause.

Hypothesis Tests

Statisticians follow a formal process to determine whether to reject a null

hypothesis, based on sample data. This process, called hypothesis testing,

consists of four steps.

State the hypotheses. This involves stating the null and alternative

hypotheses. The hypotheses are stated in such a way that they are mutually

exclusive. That is, if one is true, the other must be false.

Formulate an analysis plan. The analysis plan describes how to use sample

data to evaluate the null hypothesis. The evaluation often focuses around a

single test statistic.

Analyze sample data. Find the value of the test statistic (mean score,

proportion, t-score, z-score, etc.) described in the analysis plan.

Interpret results. Apply the decision rule described in the analysis plan. If the

value of the test statistic is unlikely, based on the null hypothesis, reject the

null hypothesis.

52

Decision Errors:

Two types of errors can result from a hypothesis test.

Type I error. A Type I error occurs when the researcher rejects a null

hypothesis when it is true. The probability of committing a Type I error is

called the significance level. This probability is also called alpha, and is

often denoted by α.

Type II error. A Type II error occurs when the researcher fails to reject a null

hypothesis that is false. The probability of committing a Type II error is called

Beta, and is often denoted by β. The probability of not committing a Type II

error is called the Power of the test.

One-Tailed and Two-Tailed Tests

A test of a statistical hypothesis, where the region of rejection is on only one

side of the sampling distribution, is called a one-tailed test. For example,

suppose the null hypothesis states that the mean is less than or equal to 10.

The alternative hypothesis would be that the mean is greater than 10. The

region of rejection would consist of a range of numbers located on the right

side of sampling distribution; that is, a set of numbers greater than 10.

A test of a statistical hypothesis, where the region of rejection is on both sides

of the sampling distribution, is called a two-tailed test. For example, suppose

the null hypothesis states that the mean is equal to 10. The alternative

hypothesis would be that the mean is less than 10 or greater than 10. The

region of rejection would consist of a range of numbers located on both sides

of sampling distribution; that is, the region of rejection would consist partly of

numbers that were less than 10 and partly of numbers that were greater than

10.

53

My sample size is 135 so, I used Z test.

1.) H0: 60% women are aware of India Government scheme.

H1: less than 60% women are aware of India Government scheme.

2.) H0: 60% women are aware from the different – different Scheme which

provided by government.

H1: Greater than 60% women are aware from the different – different Scheme

which provided by government.

3.) H0: 50% women are satisfied with the benefit of Sakhi Mandal Yojna.

H1: More than 50% women are satisfied with the benefit of Sakhi Mandal

Yojna.

4.) H0: 50% women are agreed that Government provided women opportunity

to work from home & earn.

H1: Greater than 50% women are agreed that Government provided women

opportunity to work from home & earn.

54

RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

55

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN:

Research design is descriptive in nature. Quantitative research was carried

out through questionnaire in order to get the data into figurative terms for

analysis of women.

3.2 SOURCES OF DATA:

3.3 DATACOLLECTION METHOD:

There are two types of data:

Primary data: The data which collect firstly is called primary data. In

my research Primary data have collect through questionnaire and

interview for further information.

Secondary data: the data which are already collected for some

purpose and exist are called secondary data. In my research I have

collect data from newspapers, journals and Internet.

3.4 POPULATION:

I have selected the respondents - women from areas of Varanasi and near by rural area for

studying the opportunities and constrains.

SAMPLE SIZE:

From the population I have selected 135 Women for my Survey.

3.5 SAMPLING METHOD:

I have used the Convenience Sampling

3.6 SAMPLING FRAME:

My survey area is Varanasi (rural), and nearby rural area.

Page | 54

3.7 SAMPLING PROCEDURE:

http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html

What margin of error can you accept?

5% is a common choice

10 % The margin of error is the amount of error that you can tolerate. If 90% of respondents

answer yes, while 10% answer no, you may be able to tolerate a

larger amount of error than if the respondents are split 50-50 or 45-55.

Lower margin of error requires a larger sample size.

56

What confidence level do you need?

Typical choices are 90%, 95%, or 99%

95 % - The confidence level is the amount of uncertainty you can tolerate. Suppose that

you have 20 yes-no questions in your survey. With a confidence level of 95%, you would expect

that for one of the questions (1 in 20), the percentage of people who

answer yes would be more than the margin of error away from the true answer.

The true answer is the percentage you would get ifyou exhaustively interviewed everyone.

Higher confidence level requires a larger sample size.

What is the population size?

If you don't know, use 20000

5000

How many people are there to choose your random sample from? The sample size doesn't

change much for populations larger than 20,000.

What is the response distribution?

Leave this as 50%

50

%

For each question, what do you expect the results will be? If the sample is skewed highly one

way or the other, the population probably is, too. If you don't know, use 50%,

which gives the largest sample size. See below under More information if

this is confusing.

What is the response distribution?

Leave this as

50%

50

%

For each question, what do you expect the results will be? If the sample is skewed highly one

way or the other, the population probably is, too. If you don't know, use 50%, which gives the

57

largest sample size. See below under More information if this is confusing. Your 135 This is the

minimum recommended size of your recommended

sample size is survey. If you create a sample of this many people and get responses from

everyone, you're more likely to get a correct answer than you would from a large sample where

only a small percentage of the sample responds to your survey.

3.8 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT:

Questionnaire:

There are main two types of Questionnaires:

Open ended: in which the respondent get the full option to answer the

questions.

Close ended: in which the respondent has to answer in pre determined

alternatives.

For making the research I used Close ended questionnaire in which I asked

the questions to women to know their awareness.

Page | 57

58

DATA ANALYSIS

AND

INTERPRETATION

59

Q=1 Fill the following details.

Option Respondents Percentage

Marital Status 79 58.52%

Unmarried 23 17.04%

Divorce 7 5.19%

Widow 18 13.33%

Separate 8 5.93

135 100%

Option

Marital

Statu

s

Unmarried

Divorce

Widow

Separa

te 0

20

40

60

80

Series1Series2Series3Series4Series5

Interpreatation:

In above graph there are 79 Women were Marital Status.

23 women were Unmarried. 18 women were Widow.

60

Q=2 which Number of the members in the family?

Option Frequency Percentage

2 15 11.11%

3 to 5 71 52.59%

Above 5 49 36.29%

135 100%

Option Yes NO0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Series1Series2Series3

Interpretation

Above graph show that, most of the family there are 3 to 5 members in

their family.

49

Page | 60

61

Q=3 Are you working women or not?

Option Respondent Percentage

Yes 53 39.26%

No 82 60.74%

135 100

Respondent Percentage0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

YesNO

Interpretation:

In above graph 82 Women were i.e. 60.74% not working in any sector like

Government, Private, NGO, or self employed.

53 Women were i.e.39.26% working in any sector like Government, Private,

NGO or self employed.

62

Q=4 If you are working, in which sector are you working?

Sector Respondent Percentage

Government 27 20%

Private 11 8.15%

NGO 12 8.89%

Self Employed 15 11.11%

None of these 70 51.86%

135 100%

1 2 30

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Series1Series2Series3Series4

Interpretation:

In above chart 70 women i.e. 51.86% were not working or not earning.

27 women were working i.e. 20% in government sector.

15 women i.e. 11.11% were self employed.

Page | 62

63

Q=5 what is your monthly income?

Income Respondent Percentage

Less than 1000 6 4.44%

1001 to 5000 25 18.52%

Above 5000 22 16.30%

None of these 82 60.74%

135 100%

1 2 30

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Series1Series2Series3Series4

Interpretation:

In above graph 82 women i.e. 60.74% have not any income because they are

not working.

25 women i.e.18.52% have between 1001 to 5000 monthly income.

22 women i.e. 16.30 % that have monthly income ―above 5000‖.

Page | 63

64

Q=6 Being an employed women are you getting the freedom in the

decision making of your family?

Option Respondents Percentage

Yes 55 40.74%

No 32 23.70%

Some What 48 35.56%

135 100%

1 20

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

OptionRespondentPercentage

Interpretation:

In above graph 55 women i.e. 40.74% was getting the freedom in decision

making in their family.

48 women i.e. 35.56% were sometimes getting freedom in decision making in

their family.

Page | 64

65

Q=7 Being an employed women are you getting leisure to look after your

family & your health?

Option Respondent Percentage

Yes 51 37.78%

No 45 33.33%

Some what 39 28.89%

135 100%

1 20

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

OptionRespondentPercentage

Interpretation:

In above graph 51 women were getting the leisure to look after her family and

her health.

45 women were not doing the leisure to look after her family and her health.

39 women were sometimes doing the leisure to look after her family and her

health.

66

Q=8 Are you aware India Government scheme for women?

Option Respondents Percentage

Yes 85 62.96%

No 50 37.04%

135 100%

1 20

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

OptionYesNO

Interpretation:

In above graph 85 women i.e. 62.96% were aware about India Government

Scheme for women.

50 women i.e. 37.04% were not aware about India Government Scheme for

women.

67

Q=9 Are you aware from the following Scheme/Yojna which provided by

government for women? (MCQ)

Scheme/Yojna Respondents

Saat Phera Samuh Yojna 37

Vidya Sahay & Talim Yojna 21

Swayam Sidh Yojna 28

Sakhi Mandal Yojna 61

Nari Adalat 50

Mahila Vrudh Ashram 31

Kunverbai nu Mameru Scheme 22

None of these 37

135

Saat

Phera Sa

muh Yojna

Vidya Sa

hay &

Talim

Yojna

Sway

am Si

dh Yojna

Sakh

i Man

dal Yo

jna

Nari Adala

t

Mahila

Vrudh Ash

ram

Kunverb

ai nu M

ameru

Schem

e

None of th

ese

010203040506070

RespondentsSeries1

Interpretation:

In above graph 61 women were aware about ―SAKHI MANDAL YOJNA‖

provided by Government for women.

51 women were aware about ―NARI ADALAT‖ provided by Government for

women.

37 women were aware about ―SAAT PHERA SAMUH YOJNA‖ provided by

Government for women.

68

Q=10 Taking benefit of Sakhi Mandal Yojna are you satisfied with these?

Option Respondents Percentage

Highly Satisfied 29 21.48%

Satisfied 47 34.81%

Neutral 30 22.22%

Dissatisfied 12 8.89%

Highly Dissatisfied 17 12.59%

135 100%

1 2 3 4 5 60

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Series6Series5Series4Series3Series2Series1

Interpretation:

In above graph 47 women i.e.34.81% were satisfied, taking benefit of Sakhi

Mandal Yojna.

30 women i.e.22.22% were neutral, taking benefit of Sakhi Mandal Yojna.

29 women i.e. 29.48% were highly satisfied, taking benefit of Sakhi Mandal

Yojna.

69

Q=11 Are you getting the proper facility of scheme of Govt.?

Option Respondents Percentage

Strongly Agree 27 20%

Agree 39 28.89%

Neutral 36 26.67%

Disagree 17 12.59%

Strongly Disagree 16 11.86%

135 100%

1 2 3 4 5 6

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Series1

Series3

Series5

Series1Series2Series3Series4Series5

Interpretation:

In above graph 39 women i.e. 28.89% were agreeing that they are getting the

proper facility of above scheme of Government.

36 women i.e. 26.67% were neutral that they are getting the proper facility of

above scheme of Government.

27 women i.e. 20% were strongly agreeing that they are getting the proper

facility of above scheme of Government.

70

Q=12 Do you Agree that development of women & its Schemes in day to

day life in the society has made your life easier?

Option Respondents Percentage

Strongly Agree 36 26.67%

Agree 42 31.11%

Neutral 35 25.93%

Disagree 17 12.59%

Strongly Disagree 5 3.70%

135 100%

Option Strongly Agree

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Series3Series2Series1

Interpretation:

In above graph 42 women i.e. 31.11% were agreeing that development of

women and its scheme in day to day life in the society has made their life

easier.

36 women i.e. 26.67% were strongly agreed that development of women and

its scheme in day to day life in the society has made their life easier.

5

71

Q=13 The government is giving sufficient support to education to the

women in your area?

Option Respondents Percentage

Strongly Agree 29 21.48%

Agree 70 51.85%

Neutral 20 14.81%

Disagree 9 6.67%

Strongly Disagree 7 5.19%

135 100%

1 2 3 4 5 60

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Series1Series2Series3Series4

Interpretation:

In above graph 70 women i.e. 51.85%were agreeing that the Government is

giving sufficient support to education to the women in their area.

29 women i.e. 21.48% were strongly agreed that the Government is giving

sufficient support to education to the women in their area.

72

Hypothesis Testing

1. H0: 60% women are aware of India Government scheme.

H1: less than 60% women are aware of India Government scheme.

Test of p = 0.6 vs p < 0.6

Sample X N Sample P 95% Upper

Bound

Exact P

value

1 85 135 0.629630 0.699017 0.785

Conclusion:

When the p value is more than 0.05 than accept our null hypothesis.

Here, p value is more than 0.05 so we accept our null hypothesis that is more

than 60% women were aware of India Government scheme.

2. H0: 60% women are aware from the different – different Scheme which

provided by government.

H1: Greater than 60% women are aware from the different – different Scheme

which provided by government.

Test of p = 0.6 vs p > 0.6

Sample X N Sample P 95% Lower

Bound

Exact P

value

1 61 135 0.451852 0.379037 1.000

Conclusion:

When the p value is more than 0.05 than accept our null hypothesis

Here, the p value is more than 0.05 so we accept our null hypothesis this

indicate that 60% or less than 60% women are aware from the different –

different Scheme which provided by government.

3. H0: 50% women are satisfied with the benefit of Sakhi Mandal Yojna.

73

H1: More than 50% women are satisfied with the benefit of Sakhi Mandal

Yojna.

Test of p = 0.5 vs p > 0.5

sample X N Sample p 95% lower

Bound

Exact PValue

1 76 135 0.562963 0.488521 0.084

Conclusion:

When the p value is more than 0.05 than accept our null hypothesis

Here, the p value is more than 0.05 so we accept our null hypothesis this

indicate that 50% or less than 50% women are satisfied with the Sakhi

Mandal Yojna.

4. H0: 50% women are agreed that Government provided women opportunity

to work from home & earn.

H1: Greater than 50% women are agreed that Government provided women

opportunity to work from home & earn.

Test of p = 0.5 vs p > 0.5

Sample X N Sample P 95% Lower

Bound

Exact P

value

1 20 135 0.148148 0.1000393 1.000

Conclusion:

When the p value is more than 0.05 than accept our null hypothesis Here, the p value is more

than 0.05 so we accept our null hypothesis so this indicate that 50% or less than 50% women are

agreed that Government provided women opportunity to work from home & earn.

74

RESULTS

&

FINDINGS

75

Findings:

Majority 59% of the women were married and only low per cent of them were unmarried (17%),

widows (13%) and divorces & separated (11%).

Most of the 60% women were not working in any Private, NGO or Government sector. And

other 40% women were working in above sector.

Majority 41% of the women were getting the freedom to take the decision in their family, and

some of them (36%) women were sometimes taken the decision for their family.

38% women were getting the leisure to look after their family and their health and 33% women

were not getting the leisure to look after their family and their health.

Most of the women (63%) were aware regarding India Government schemes because they were

initiative and also knowing the advertisement regarding schemes.

Most of the women were awareness about ―SAKHI MANDAL YOJNA‖ which is provided by

Government for them because through word of mouth Aaganwadi‘s women staff people were

gave them information and knowledge.

Only 50% of the women were wholly satisfied, taking the benefit of Sakhi Mandal Yojna.

Because they were gathered the (money) funds from each other and take care of their own self.

And become and self dependent.

68% women were agreed that they getting the proper facility of all Government schemes.

60% women were agreeing that development of women and its schemes in day to day life and in

the society that have made their life easier. Because they improve their power and information

level and not fear.

Majority 70% of the women were agreed that Government is gave them sufficient support to

education to the women in their area.

Most of the women i.e. 52% were agreed with the Government provided the women opportunity

to work from home and earn.

57% women were satisfied with the Government Scheme / Yojna . While, 24% women were not

were satisfied with the Government Schemes.

76

LIMITATION

OF

THE STUDY

77

Limitation of the study

In survey that women were uneducated so, they are not answering the proper way.

Some of the women have lack of knowledge and awareness about the Government schemes.

The time period of the study was not sufficient to measure the Women response effectively and

reach to a more valid conclusion.

The sample size was limited so the results obtained from the study may not be generalized for

the whole population.

78

CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION

Most of the Women were known about the Government Scheme/Yojan but some of the Women

were not aware because lack of awareness, lack of orientation in rural development schemes and

programs, No proper knowledge and orientation about Government schemes, lack of support from

home and their senior colleagues, women feel Fear and Insecurity. They have family

responsibilities. Lack of power and information. So, government gave the advertisement and

awareness programs on the several schemes to aware them.

As per survey most of the women are agreed that the development of women & its schemes in

their day to day life and in the society that have made their life easier.

The most of the women have the equal opinion that government is provided women opportunity

to work from home and earn. So, they Increase in articulation abilities, self confidence and self

respect.

So I conclude that in Indian economic the women get many opportunities to develop their self

but they are facing some constraints like some women were not aware regarding the scheme and

how to utilize the schemes for their development. So, government should try to make more

awareness programs for rural women.

79

Annexure

80

A COMPERATIVE STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF SELF HELP GROUP ON THE

DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL WOMEN IN INDIA

Dear sir/madam,

I am Ritika Pandey, students of BBA VIth Sem. As per our curriculum, we are conducting

survey. You are requested to read following questions carefully and answer them. And we assure

you that this information will be held confidential and only used for our project purpose. Please,

spend your valuable time in filing questionnaire. Thank you.

(For the questions bellow please tick from the given option)

Q=1 Fill the following details.

1) Marital Status

2) Unmarried

3) Divorce

4) Widow

5) Separate

Q=2 How many Number of the members in the family?

1) 2

2) 3 to 5

3) Above 5

Q=3 Are you working women or not?

1) Yes

2) No

Page | 87

Q=4 If you are working, In which Sector are you working?

1) Government

2) Private

3) NGO

4) Self Employed

5) None of these

Question =5 What is your monthly income?

1) Less than 1000

2) 1001 to 5000

81

3) Above 5000

4) None of these

Q=6 Being an employed women are you getting the freedom in the

decision making of your family? (Give rank out of 10)

1) Yes

2) No

3) Some what

Q=7 Being an employed women are you getting leisure to look after your

family & your health?

1) Yes

2) No

3) Some what

Q=8 Are you aware India Government scheme for women?

1) Yes

2) No

Page | 88

Q=9 Are you aware from the following Scheme/ Yojna which provided by

government for women?

1) Saat Phera Samuh Yojna

2) Vidya Sahay & Talim Yojna

3) Swayam Sidh Yojna

4) Sakhi Mandal Yojna

5) Nari Adalat

6) Mahila Vrudh Ashram

7) Kunverbai nu Mameru Scheme

8) None of these

Q=10 Taking benefit of Sakhi Mandal Yojna are you satisfied with these?

1) Highly Satisfied

2) Satisfied

3) Neutral

4) Dissatisfied

82

5) Highly Dissatisfied

Q=11 Are you getting the proper facility of above scheme of

Government?

1) Strongly Agree

2) Agree

3) Neutral

4) Disagree

5) Strongly Disagree

Page | 89

Q=12 Do you Agree that development of women & its Schemes in day to

day life in the society has made your life easier?

1) Strongly Agree

2) Agree

3) Neutral

4) Disagree

5) Strongly Disagree

Q=13 The Government is giving sufficient support to education to the

women in your area?

1) Strongly Agree

2) Agree

3) Neutral

4) Disagree

5) Strongly Disagree

83

Personal Details of the Respondents:

Name of the women:___________________________________________

Occupation: ___________________________________________

Age:

1) 21 to 30

2) 31 to 40

3) 41 to 50

4) 51 to 60

Location:

1) Urban

2) Rural

84

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86