Self-help groups have been considered a powerful tool in empowering women because of the various opportunities they provide women. Self-help groups have started becoming very popular in rural Nepal. My research focuses on the interpretations of men and women in rural Nepal regarding how self-help groups have influenced womenu27s lives. Interviews with women and their husbands reveal that self-help groups have provided women with physical social mobility, increased knowledge and skills, increased their ability to speak and voice opinions, and increased their capacity to invest in their childrenu27s education. However, women have not been able to earn money through independent business enterprises, they have limited decision-making ability, and they have not experienced radical change in gender division of labor. We use Kabeeru27s (1999) framework to analyze whether these changes have empowered women and we conclude that according to this framework, self-help groups have been somewhat successful in empowering women as women have been able to transform gender inequalities in some areas, but not all. My research seeks to emphasize that such significant transformations may just be pale indicators of largechanges in agency. My research uses Emirbayeru27s and Mischeu27s (1998) concept of agency to analyze the transformation that has taken place in womenu27s agency as a result of their participation in self-help groups. It emphasizes that these transformations should not be ignored as indications of empowerment.
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