Women’s Self-Employment in Informal Settlements in Delhi, India: A Pathway to Empowerment?

Abstract

Within Western development discourse, women’s economic activity is often assumed to automatically lead to their empowerment. Using empirical qualitative research with focus groups as the primary research method, this paper explores the extent to which working class women in three informal settlement types in Delhi perceive their engagement in self-employment to be leading to their empowerment. Using the Capability Approach as a theoretical lens to privilege women’s perspectives, and building on previous scholarship related to gender, self-employment and empowerment within the Indian context, the paper argues that while engagement in self-employment has helped some women to adapt to financial challenges, it has often stopped short of enabling them to achieve lasting economic and social empowerment.