Orchids in the wild: An investigation into entrepreneurial education effectiveness and empowerment among women's shgs

Abstract

The issues of women, empowerment, entrepreneurship and education have been a topic of discussion in various international forums, thus making it significant in the present-day scenario. The study was conducted in the SHGs located near tourist areas of Kerala by exploring the role of women entrepreneurship in tourism industry and taking the women SHGs functioning under Kudumbashree project in selected districts of Kerala, the role of SHGs in tourism entrepreneurship education and to find out the effectiveness it has on the various levels of empowerment of women. Random sampling technique was employed to select SHGs, and survey was conducted for data collection. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to measure the impact of the variables on the outcome and the findings of the study show that the education/training imparted to the SHG members has empowered them to a great extent and among the four levels of empowerment, viz. Psychological, economic, social and political empowerment, the two latter variables positively influence entrepreneurial skills. This implies a positive transition of women from a conventional society to individuals who can take up demanding challenges.