Abstract

Self-help groups (SHGs) have a special role for empowering rural women that provide a critical outlet for building the way for faster, fairer, and more sustainable socioeconomic status for them. On this basis, study investigates the effect of SHGs on rural women empowerment that 260 rural women from Hamedan county (Iran) were selected as sample. Two groups of women were included in the study; Group 1 (in three subgroups of A, B and C; on based of membership years) included women who have participated in a local SHG, group 2 included women who had never participated in a similar group. The study attempts to understand empowerment process as articulated by the rural women themselves, based upon which their characters in respect of comparison two groups and also women in SHGs. Results indicated that women who in SHGs have high mobility, legal knowledge and decision making autonomy, access and control of household budget, but it’s not significant difference between groups 1 and 2 in domestic violence indicator, because of widespread domestic violence and suppression by male family members. Also, Comparison of key socio-economic variables indicated there are significant differences among subgroups (A, B and C), on based of membership years in SHGs.

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