How SHGs influence women voters in India
The increasing participation of women voters has now come to characterise elections, with many reports suggesting that they no longer vote according to the dictates of the patriarchy and are now a force unto themselves. Self-help groups (SHGs) across India have played a crucial role here. If they are being seen as harbingers of economic and social empowerment today, it must be noted that it has taken over six decades to achieve this.
The SHGs have travelled a long way from their inception in the late sixties. Back then, they struggled to secure bank loans and ensure the success of their small businesses. Today, the National Rural and Urban Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and microfinance institutions are vying with each other to extend support to the SHGs.
Neha Juneja, a Mumbai-based entrepreneur who runs a peer-to-peer lending platform said that the “thriving SHGs are a great asset class, pay back loans on time, and do not deserve to be starved of credit”.
The SHG movement has come a long way from what was traditionally a platform for rural women to create new pathways for empowerment. For example, the linkages between SHGs and banks have helped rural women access credit from financial institutions with which they can establish small enterprises or improve their agri-based activities. Today, through SHGs, they aim to integrate themselves into national retail chains and acquire skills to maximise productivity.
The collectivisation of rural women on such a large scale has generated massive social capital, with the potential to transform rural India. Had it not been for the community-based training offered by SHGs, we would not have had such success in mobilising grassroots workers during the pandemic and other largescale programmes. Today, SHGs provide support for women in accessing credit, managing records, preparing microcredit plans, and creating awareness around nutrition, health, livelihood programmes, and gender equality.
Akhila Sivadas, executive director, Centre for Advocacy and Research says, “The emergence of women as voters who can make a difference has occurred slowly but steadily over the years with them bargaining strongly for women-led development and women-centric schemes and by providing strong leadership on the ground for both the government and community. The benefits of social capital that women demonstrate is not only helping to formalise women’s involvement and participation but also the lives of millions of families struggling to overcome crippling poverty.”
It is not surprising that from 2015, the NRLM factored in gender equality as a pivot to the programme. Gradually, gender integration was streamlined as a separate strategy with dedicated staff and was included as part of the institution-strengthening vertical. The gender integration programme of NRLM primarily focussed on three areas — gender consciousness of women, institutional mechanisms to address the issues, and convergence for services through partnership with other departments. “Women are now more politically aware, and they know the priorities for the development of their villages and what needs to be done to close the gender gap,” says Sarbani Bose, integrator, NGO Pradan.
Today, it is not uncommon to see SHG women members standing outside polling booths to cast their votes. Every major party is promising economic development and social security to women. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s 2024 manifesto promises to increase the number of lakhpati didis from 10 million to 30 million, the Congress proposes the Mahalakshmi scheme, offering ₹1 lakh annually as an unconditional cash transfer. It appears that decisions on voting preferences are discussed at SHGs rather than within the family and this is one reason why there is such an upsurge in women making informed voting choices in rural areas. As women realise that power at the grassroots can affect power structures all the way up to Parliament, greater empowerment is sure to follow.