Development Programmes and Womens Empowerment - Kerala Experience

Abstract

Empowerment of women constitutes one of the central issues in the development mechanism of almost all countries. This paper makes an attempt to analyse whether the development intervention made by the government achieves its objective of empowerment of women. The survey result reveals that participation in income earning activities by women alone cannot wipe out the social and cultural norms and male domination in the society. Family structure and culture followed in the State has played a significant role in determining the bargaining power of women. Though the participation in SHGs and NHGs have succeeded in empowering women to some extent, women's active involvement in local planning and use of their collective bargaining strength for improving their status in society and at home are yet to take place.