• Dr. Ishani Patharia
• Pankaj Misra
• Anjana Pandey

Microfinance programs in India have been designed and redesigned over the time to empower the deprived sections of the society. Self Help Groups (SHGs) focused to empower women are playing a crucial role to fight gender inequality and help the women join the economic mainstream in rural areas. But the impact and relevance of these programs may differ across the geographic and demographic groups. An empirical study was conducted on a group of 100 women working in various Self Help Groups (SHGs) in Haryana through a structured schedule and their perception about relevance of SHGs in developing financial and social empowerment was compared. The results reveal that there is significant difference in the financial and social empowerment brought about by SHGs. The social empowerment is significantly better than the financial empowerment. Thus, there is a need to develop strategies related to social empowerment of women in SHGs in Haryana. The marital status of rural women affects the outlook of society towards them. Thus, the level of empowerment was compared on the basis of their marital status. No significant differences were found in the perceived financial and social empowerment across women from different marital status which reveals that these groups are playing an important role in strengthening women.

Self Help Groups, Financial Security, Social Empowerment, Rural Women, Haryana

"Evaluating the Role of Self Help Groups in Empowering Rural Women in Haryana", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 4, page no.788-790, April-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1904R20.pdf

"Evaluating the Role of Self Help Groups in Empowering Rural Women in Haryana", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 4, page no. pp788-790, April-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1904R20.pdf