Women Empowerment in Rural Gujarat - A Case Study of Kaira Social Service Society

In a patriarchal society, where men enjoyed obvious superiority over women on the basis of their gender alone, one could only imagine the plight of women who were further poor, illiterate and belonged to minority classes. Ameliorating the position of these women was a herculean task and it required the efforts of an equally capable visionary. With this mission of restoring human dignity of the poor and marginalized through a process of empowerment, the Kaira Social Service Society (KSSS) was founded. The case indicates some initiatives taken by KSSS in the state of Gujarat (India) and focuses on its campaign of empowering women. The various activities undertaken as a part of this campaign and how they benefited the recipients was studied through personal interviews on the field (villages of Kheda and Anand districts of Gujarat). Overall, it seemed that women have started participating in income generating activities. Those women, who did not have any say in household or personal decisions, were allowed to share their views in these matters. Yet, due to the ingrained patriarchal system, women still did not take decisions independently. Women required permissions from their husbands or household members for several reasons. Hence, there is no denying the fact that empowerment has started but it definitely has a long way to go.