Understanding Gendered Empowerment through a Government-run Microfinance Programme: The case of Stree Shakti in Karnataka.

Abstract

The Stree Shakti programme (SSP) was conceptualised in 2000-2001 as a women’s empowerment programme to strengthen their access to financial resources. TSSP was based on the principles of self-help groups (SHGs), wherein skill development and other incentives are provided to rural women through micro-credit and savings to enhance their opportunities for economic and social mobility. The primary reason for creating a large-scale SHG programme was the documentation of widespread discrimination against women and girls reported by the Karnataka Human Development Report (HDR) in 1999. The report indicated a widespread stagnation of women’s work participation in poorer districts, a narrowing of their work, income, prospects and opportunities, growing wage differentials between men and women and rising regional inequality in the state (Karnataka HDR, 2005)