THE ROLE OF COOPERATIVES IN PROMOTING SOCIO-ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN: A REFLECTION

Introduction

Women empowerment is one of the important concepts in the 21century. Promoting women empowerment is essential because in most cases, women are responsible for their children and for their family, thus empowering women is empowering the society at large (World Bank, 2001). But women empowerment is still an illusion. In our day- to- day life, it can be observed how women become victimised by various social evils. Women play a significant role in the economic development of any country. This is a considerable factor in any developing scenario. Women contribute and support the economy extensively in different ways by being employed in many different sectors. Many successful businesses are run by women, some of whom are very skilled in entrepreneurial activities. Some of these women are well -educated and are aware of the correct application of the theory in business. It is a known fact that many of the most successful and world’s largest enterprises are owned and run by women today. Cooperatives can be used to empower women by enhancing their specific knowledge and capacities. The government recognises and supports multi-purpose cooperatives in the development towards employment and women empowerment.

Objectives

Women are taking an important role in the Indian economy. Though several researchers have examined women empowerment from different perspectives, very few have attempted to understand how cooperatives are helpful to the socio -economic empowerment of women. Therefore, there is a dearth of studies related to women socio- economic empowerment in particular. In order to fill this gap, the present study has been undertaken to analyse the Role of Cooperatives in Promoting Socio-Economic Empowerment of Women: A Reflection with the following objectives:

• To know the need for women empowerment;
• To examine women participation in cooperative societies; and
• To investigate the role of cooperatives in the empowerment of women.

The Concept of Empowerment

‘Empowerment’ may be described as a process, which helps people to assert their control over factors, which affect their lives. Empowerment of women means developing them as more aware individuals, who are politically active, economically productive and independent, and are able to make intelligent discussion in matters that affect them. Women empowerment as a concept was introduced at the International Women Conference in 1985 at Nairobi, which defined it as a redistribution of social power and control of resources in favour of women.

Need of Women Empowerment

Reflecting into the “Vedas Purana” of the Indian culture, women have been worshipped such as Laxmi, goddess of wealth, Saraswati, for wisdom, and Durga for power. The status of women in India, particularly in rural areas, needs to be addressed. About 66 per cent of the female population in rural areas is unutilised. This is mainly due to existing social customs. In agriculture and animal care, women contribute 90 per cent of the total workforce. Women constitute almost half of the population, perform nearly 2/3 of its work hours, receive 1/10th of the world’s income, and own less than 1/ 100th of the world property.  Among the world’s 900 million illiterate people, women outnumber men two to one. About 70 per cent of people living in poverty are women. The existing studies show that women are relatively less healthy than men though they belong to the same class. They constitute less than 1/7th of the administrators and mangers in developing countries. Only 10 per cent seats in the World Parliament and 6 per cent in the National Cabinet are held by women.

Cooperatives in Promoting Social Empowerment of Women

Cooperatives have a role to play in alleviating different shocks, and paving the way towards recovery that is socially and economically sound and sustainable. Ultimately, cooperatives can create a safe environment where women increase their self‐confidence, identify their own challenges, make decisions and manage risks. As a result, women are empowered and become active agents of change, entrepreneurs, and promoters of social transformation, who can improve their own lives and those of the community. Majurin (2012) revealed that cooperatives are also effective points of entry for addressing a broad range of gender equality issues such as unpaid work, shared responsibilities, and gender-based violence. A study by Gita (1993) depicted that 57.7 per cent of women in cooperatives take initiatives to organise cultural programmes in their community as against only 10.7per cent of women in the unorganised sector. Cooperatives have been successful in not only increasing the social participation of women, but also in developing drives, initiatives, and leadership qualities. However, to date, women’s active involvement and leadership in agricultural cooperatives continue to be rather low (USAID, 2005).

Women Economic Participation in Cooperative Societies

Economic empowerment increases women’s access to economic resources and opportunities. If women’s access to productive resources were the same as men’s, women’s contribution could reduce the total number of hungry people by 12 to 17 per cent in support of the Millennium Development Goal 1 of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger (FAO, 2011). Global statistics show that women’s participation in most types of institutions is low. Participation in rural cooperatives is no exception. In the developing world, there are many social pressures that make difficult for women to play an active role in leadership and improve their living standards (FAO, 2007).  Even though cooperatives are open for both men and women, participation of women in terms of membership and leadership position is still minimal. Thus, there is still much to be done to strengthen women’s participation in cooperatives. As a matter of fact, numerous women‐based cooperatives demonstrate that women are capable of developing their own businesses and improve their technical knowledge and organisational self‐help capacities (McKay, 2001).

Cooperatives provide plenty of opportunities to their members to involve in different income generating activities such as petty trade, the establishment of irrigation schemes, agricultural production and process, etc. (Young, 1992). Recent scenarios show that women are not born for reproductive work only, but they are also active entrepreneurs recording a rapid growth in their business. In Africa, women are known to produce up to 80 per cent of the food. However, they receive very limited inputs like only 7 per cent of the agricultural extension services, less than 10 per cent of the credit offered to small-scale farmers, and own only 1per cent of the land (FAO, 2011). In this context, women are often found concentrated in subsistence agriculture and unpaid farm work. The cooperative and self-help model can change this by enabling women and men farmers, or women only, to come together for purposes of acquiring inputs, production services, and marketing of their produce, etc. Apart from being able to access economies of scale as providers of services or products or as consumers, participating in a cooperative as a member or elected leader also brings an enhanced status and voice (Kumar, Savarimuthu and Ravichandran, 2003).

Economic empowerment increases women’s access to economic resources and opportunities including jobs, financial services, property and other productive assets, skills development and market information (Eyben, 2008). Increasing the role of women in the economy is important for economic resilience and growth; however, their integration into the formal sector is still constrained by limited access to credit, property, technology, and technical skills (Johnston and Ketilson, 2009).

Suggestions

• First and foremost, priority should be given to the education of women.
• Awareness programmes should be organised among women, especially for those belonging to the weaker sections about their rights.
• Women should be allowed to work and should be provided enough safety and support to work. They should be provided with proper wages at par with men so that their status can be elevated in the society.
• Strict implementation of programmes and Acts to curb the mal-practices prevalent in society.
• Innovative and broad- based stakeholders should be involved, and encourage women in Cooperatives development process for sustaining them.

Conclusion

Cooperatives are helpful for women empowerment and women economic participation.  The use of cooperative loan increases the household income level of the borrowers and helps to improve the living standard of the members. Access to cooperative loan leads to increase in household income, and supports the social capital theory to explain the role of cooperatives in the rural finance of the household level.  The implication for practitioners is to device ways of reaching the rural people with loan products and to disabuse the minds of doubters that rural dwellers have no need for loan in growing their household income.  This may require the establishment of formal finance providers where more funds can be mobilised and increase the amount of loan that can be given. This can be done by Cooperatives. The concept of ‘women empowerment’ has become popular in the development field since the 1980s. It is vividly recognised that women empowerment is essential for sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction in developing countries. The cooperatives can play an important role in the empowerment of women.

 

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KAVYA M.B.
Research Scholar
P.G. Department of Economics
Field Marshal K M Cariappa College
Madikeri-571201

E. THIPPESWAMY.
Research Guide and Associate Professor
P.G. Department of Economics
Field Marshal K M Cariappa College
Madikeri-571201