Role of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in Women Empowerment: A PRISMA-based Systematic Review

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-533-1_51How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Self-Help Groups; Women Empowerment; Economic Empowerment; Social Empowerment; Political Empowerment; Psychological Empowerment

Abstract

This study presents a PRISMA-based systematic review to explore the role of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in promoting women’s empowerment on the count of four dimensions, viz., Economic, Social, Political, and Psychological. SHGs are small groups consisting of members from similar socioeconomic backgrounds and have evolved into vital instruments for poverty reduction and capacity building among rural women.

The review synthesizes findings from 60 empirical studies indexed in the Scopus database to identify the multidimensional impact of SHGs on empowerment outcomes. The results reveal that SHG participation enhances financial independence, savings habits, and entrepreneurial skills, contributing to women’s economic empowerment. Socially, SHGs foster solidarity, self-confidence, and collective action that challenge patriarchal norms and strengthen community engagement. Political Empowerment arises through increased awareness, leadership, and participation in decision-making and governance processes. Furthermore, Psychological Empowerment manifests through heightened self-esteem, autonomy, and internal agency. The study also takes into account the interdependence among empowerment dimensions, emphasizing that sustainable empowerment is achieved when Economic, Social, Political, and psychological factors reinforce one another.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Priyanka Mittal
AU  - Jewel Mayur Phukon
AU  - Biju Mani Das
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/31
TI  - Role of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in Women Empowerment: A PRISMA-based Systematic Review
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Smart Systems and Social Management (ICSSSM-2 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 862
EP  - 885
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-533-1_51
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-533-1_51
ID  - Mittal2025
ER  -