Self-Help Group Participation and Psychological Empowerment of Rural Women in an Aspirational District (Nuh)
Jaspreet Singh
Research Scholar, Amity Institute of Social Sciences, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Amna Mirza
Associate Professor, Shyama Prasad Mukherji College for Women, University of Delhi, India
Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are widely promoted to empower rural women, yet evidence on their specifically psychological, as distinct from economic and social, dimension is scarce, particularly in the country's most deprived districts. The present study, conducted from October to December 2024, assessed the intensity of SHG participation and its relationship with the psychological empowerment of rural women in the aspirational district of Nuh, Haryana, India. Primary data were collected from 120 women members selected by multistage random sampling from four villages of the Nuh and Punhana blocks. A pre-tested structured interview schedule measured participation and four psychological empowerment dimensions, namely meaning, competence, self-determination and impact, adapted from an established scale. Frequency, percentage, weighted mean score, rank and Karl Pearson's coefficient of correlation were used for analysis. A little under three-fifths of the respondents recorded medium participation. The overall Psychological Empowerment Index stood at 68.4 per cent, competence ranking highest (74.8%) and impact lowest (61.4%). Participation intensity was positively and significantly correlated with overall empowerment (r = 0.59) and every dimension. Deepening the quality of participation and linking groups to external institutions are recommended to sustain women's empowerment in aspirational districts.
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