THIS PPT SPEAKS ABOUT SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC POSITION OF WOMEN IN INDIA AS WELL THE IMPROVEMENT BROUGHT THROUGH SHG

1. SOCIAL AND FINANCIAL INCLUSION OF
WOMEN
Dr. R. Dakshinamurthy
Associate Professor
Centre for study of social Exclusion and
Inclusive Policy,
Bharathidasan University,
Tiruchirappalli.

2. • Women in India are subject to social
exclusion from the time immemorial
and being treated as second sex .
• Social exclusion of women from
development is a very critical issue of
economic development.

3. • Discrimination in public and political
life as well failure to take into account
gender perspectives in development
planning and resource allocation were
the main factors for social exclusion.
• Women are affected not only due to
social exclusion but also by the
financial exclusion.

4. • According to UNICEF (2007), women
perform 66 percentage of the world's
work, produce 50percentage of food
but hold only 1percentage of property.
Women are affected not only due to
social exclusion but also by the
financial exclusion

5. • Women exclusion is most pronounced in
countries that are extremely poor and
those where women have been
historically marginalized. Discrimination
in public and political life as well
failure to take into account gender
perspectives in development planning
and resource allocation were the main
factors for social exclusion.

6. In the wage employment, majority of
women are concentrated in the lowest
paying sectors due to their lower
education levels, 50 percentage of
employed women work in the lowest
paying sectors compared to 33 percent
of men (UNHS, 2002-03 and 2005-
2006).

7. • society look at women as inferior and
weak, unable to do work that is done by
men. As a result, women are
concentrated in insecure jobs in the
informal sector with low basic income
and few rights.

8. • At the household level, women‟
participation in decision-making is also
limited. Only 51 percent of the women
reported participating in making major
decision in household purchases and
husbands made final decision (UNHS
Report, 2002-03 and 2005-06).

9. • The increasing dissolution of marital
unions, control of household resources
in favour of men, barriers to education
of girls, inequality in social protection,
labour market inequalities make the
women socially isolated.

10. • Discrimination in public and political
life as well failure to take into account
gender perspectives in development
planning and resource allocation was
the main factors for social exclusion.
Lower wages for women, failed social
safety nets, fewer educational
opportunities, substandard health care
and lack of employee protections and
benefits such as paid maternity leave
indicated the social exclusion (Colom
etal 2004).

11. • According to World Bank estimate
(1995), in most developing countries
the formal financial system reaches
only the top 25percentage of the
economically active population, the
bottom 75percentage have no access to
financial services apart from
moneylenders.

12. • CRISIL (2009) estimated that around
120 million households in India
continue to face financial exclusion; this
translates into a credit demand of
around Rs.1.2 trillion. The formal
financial institutions have not been able
to reach the poor households, and
particularly women, in the unorganised
sector. The women were financially
excluded due to lack of title for the
properties.

13. • One of the solutions to reduce social
exclusion and financial exclusion
pertaining to women was the
introduction of micro finance
institutions.
• The micro finance institutions were
started to link with financial
institutions and structured with
institutional setup in India in 1992.

14. • The bank loan through self-help group
and the refinance assistance had also
shown an increasing trend.

15. • Membership of the Self Help Groups has
contributed to significant changes in
the lives of women in a selected study
group of six towns. The most important
has been the escape from the reliance
on moneylenders who were charging
exorbitant rates of interest.

16. • Due to exposure to programmes of
entrepreneurial development and availability
of credit facilities, many of the women and
their families have now ventured into
pursuing income generation activities. This
has allowed for an increase in the household
income which has resulted in changing the
consumption pattern, thereby improving the
quality of life. The family is able to address
their basic needs better than before.

17. • In India, in all spheres the social
empowerment of women had increased
after attaining membership in SHGs
over a period of time. Nair (2005),
Moyle, Dollar and Bisnas (2006)
Chakrawarti (2004) found that there
was significant improvement in the
socioeconomic status of SHG women and
significant reduction in poverty. The
average value of employment, income,
savings and asset holding had increased
significantly.

18. • Micro finance proves to be an effective
mechanism in poverty reduction and in the
empowerment of women. The major finding
of the study is that in all spheres the
empowerment of women had increased after
attaining membership in SHGs over a period
of time. Micro finance can prove to be one of
the best mechanisms in the empowering
women in various aspects and that if steps
are properly taken, it could pave the way for
not only income generation but also for
grooming the personality development of
women.