Formal Education and Women’s Empowerment: A Study of Self-Reliance and Rights Awareness Among SHG Participants in Barrackpore Sub-division

Self-Help Groups (SHGs) have been established as an important tool for the empowerment of women, especially in rural and semi-urban areas such as Barrackpore, West Bengal. The present article explores the formal education level of SG participants and the interaction between self-reliance and rights awareness among 202 SHG members in quantitative terms and the effect of age, position in SHG and educational status. It found that age does not influence self-reliance and rights awareness (p >0.05), whereas leadership position (presidents, secretaries, cashiers) and higher educational level are significantly associated with both self-reliance (p <0.001) and rights awareness (p <0.001). A significant positive linear correlation (r = 0.851, p < 0.001) between self-reliance and rights consciousness confirms their interrelatedness, suggesting that integration of these dimensions in interventions might improve empowerment outcomes.