Scheduled Caste Women and Decision-Making Through SHGs

The present study is an attempt to understand the functioning of self help groups and its effect on decision making process at the level of family, community and group. A sample of two women Self Help Groups continuously working from ten years is selected for the study. Primary data are collected through observation, focus group discussions and interviews of members of SHG and secondary data collected from the monthly meeting of the SHG, block and the bank. Analysis of data reveals that the SC women are actively involved in decision making on the education of children, and reproductive decisions at family level, on the group level they also taking decision on non-payment or late payment, whom to give loans, and on community level they involve in pulse polio programmes, vaccination of children and decision on whom to give vote.