Microfinance: A Research Study of the Economic and Social Empowerment of Rural Women in Goa

Women in rural areas are often marginalized and are left out of the gamut of the formalized credit system. Microfinance has emerged to bring women in rural areas under the formal credit system. The microfinance sector has witnessed strong links with self-help groups. Women Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in rural areas have emerged as an effective means to promote the socio-economic empowerment of women through the bank-linkage programme. The present study is set against the backdrop of SHGs in the rural areas of Marcela, Bicholim, and Verem situated in the district of North Goa. The paper examines the economic and social profile of these SHGs, and investigates the economic and social empowerment of women in these SHGs. The study highlights the challenges faced by the members in these SHGs and offers suitable suggestions. The sample of the study comprised of 100 members of ten randomly selected SHGs in the villages of Marcela, Bicholim, and Verem situated in the district of North Goa. The researchers collected the data through the interview method using a structured questionnaire designed by Dr. Murlidhar A. Lokhande (2010). Microfinance played a crucial role in facilitating the economic empowerment of The study is descriptive and exploratory in nature. The findings of the study revealed that a majority of the members were literate, middle-aged and married. Majority of the respondents were economically empowered as their incomes, consumption levels, savings increased and savings were invested in the formal sector of the money market.the respondents. The results of the study disclosed that a majority of the respondents were empowered on some social facets such as improved relations with family members, increase in self-confidence, decisions on savings, and expenditure. This indicates that in certain social factors, the respondents of the SHGs were empowered. There are various challenges that the members of these SHGs have to encounter. The crucial ones are political interference, low incomes, inadequate marketing facilities, and group conflicts. The others are lack of planning and management, inadequate training in entrepreneurship skills, conflict between members and group leaders, inadequacy of funds, migration for employment, weak numerical skills and indifferent attitude of SH Pls. Furthermore, the SHGs felt that the bank staff had a positive attitude and were helpful in the credit dealing with the group. This indicates that there are cordial relations between the banks and the SHGs, making the SHG bank-linkage considerably important. The study concludes with a couple of suggestions made by the researchers that could help the SHGs face these challenges.