This study examines and compares women in self-employment and women in wage employment to determine why working class women who do self-employed work have an unusual amount of bargaining power in the household.; India has a unique history of associations of self-employed women and of NGO support. Self-employed Women's association (SEWA) was founded in 1972 in Gujarat, which serves as a model for empowering low-income women. It arranges credit and loans to help women in self-employment and is thus, very different from the US and in what America thinks of self-employment.; What's unique and interesting about these self-employed women is the immense shift in the amount of power they wield in the household context in a context where they have traditionally had limited power. This study finds that the women receiving some support from NGOs undoubtedly have more authority and autonomy at work and are also more involved in networks which significantly influences their bargaining power within the household.
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