DOES SOCIAL IDENTITY SHAPE THE BENEFITS OF SELF-HELP GROUPS? A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MUSLIM MINORITY AND NON-MINORITY WOMEN IN ANDHRA PRADESH

Self-Help Groups (SHGs) have emerged as an important mechanism for advancing women’s empowerment in rural India; however, the benefits of participation may vary according to women’s social identity and initial socio-economic position. This study examines whether SHG-associated empowerment outcomes differ between Muslim minority and non-minority women in Ananthapuramu district, Andhra Pradesh. Primary data were collected from 320 SHG members, comprising 160 Muslim minority and 160 non-minority women, selected through a multi-stage random sampling procedure across five revenue divisions. Changes in savings behaviour, awareness of government schemes and policies, financial literacy, public-speaking confidence and legal-rights awareness were examined using frequencies, percentages and chi-square tests. Substantial improvements in savings behaviour, government-scheme awareness and financial literacy were observed among both groups following SHG membership. Awareness of government schemes showed considerable convergence, with 59.38% of minority and 61.25% of non-minority women becoming well aware after membership. Nevertheless, disparities persisted in certain dimensions: comfortable financial literacy reached 45.00% among minority women compared with 56.25% among non-minority women. Public-speaking confidence also differed significantly between the groups (χ² = 10.4652, p = 0.015), whereas legal-rights awareness showed no statistically significant group difference (χ² = 4.5427, p = 0.2085). The findings indicate that the association between social identity and SHG-related empowerment varies across specific dimensions. SHGs therefore appear to promote both convergence and differentiated outcomes, highlighting the importance of socially responsive capacity-building strategies for achieving more inclusive women’s empowerment.