DOI: 10.28934/jwee21.34.pp96-112 ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC PAPER 5BCan Social Enterprises Create Holistic Women Empowerment? – A Case of Indian Artisan Women Shalaghya Sharma1 2F1 IILM Graduate School of Management, Greater Noida, India Amit Kumar Amity University, India A B S T R A C T World leaders across the globe are focusing on issues of women empowerment through the creation of equal opportunities in education, work, and society. The Indian artisans are being exposed to several interventions that aim at creating empowerment for these women from the rural underprivileged social strata. Social entrepreneurship has been considered as a driver of women's empowerment; hence it also becomes important to assess its potential to empower women in Indian rural artisan communities. The study was conducted in rural villages of one of the most underdeveloped states of India. Woman empowerment was measured on indices proposes by OXFAM. 130 women engaged with a social enterprise, and 127 women who were part of an NGO were compared with a base group of 130 women untouched by any intervention. We found that both social entrepreneurship and non-governmental organizations had the potential to influence women's empowerment, but social enterprises performed better on most of the indexes. The women working with the social enterprise have stronger financial independence that may be attributing to better self-confidence, autonomy, individual capability, opinion towards women’s economic role, greater control over household decisions and assets. While the environmental level indicators are slightly improved for NGO-based women, most probably due to their unity and 1 Corresponding author, e-mail: shalaghya.sharma@hotmail.com Shalaghya Sharma, Amit Kumar 97 psychological effect of being in a group. Social enterprises provided these women with hassle-free earnings and were accepted by the patriarchal social structure. KEY WORDS: Women Artisans, women empowerment, social entrepreneurship, skill development Introduction Throughout the history of humankind, men have been found to have greater access to power. It has been found through research that power has a strong influence on gender. Men have been found to have greater access to power, greater access to resources, and control over these resources. They also have fewer social obligations and cultural values that are more advantageous for them. (Cuddy et al., 2015). This gender inequality can be observed in several aspects of daily life, such as access to education, job opportunities, and economic resources (Qadir, 2015). Diverse interventions have been developed and implemented to strengthen the position of women across the world, such as health, educational or financial. (UN Women, 2016) It becomes essential to understand empowerment before focusing on the arena of women's empowerment. When empowerment is generated, one or the other of the following activities should at least happen i.e. you helped them recognize the already existing power in them, you help them recover the power that they had in the past but had lost, or give power to them that they never had. (Ciulla, 2020). Several Non Governmental organizations and social enterprises are contributing towards women's empowerment. Hence, it is very important to determine whether these interventions are capable of creating holistic women empowerment. Through this study, we intend to assess the potential of social entrepreneurship as a driver of women's empowerment. This leads to framing the basic objectives that this research tries to achieve RQ1: Do these interventions empower women? What has been the impact of these projects on women’s empowerment? RQ2: If yes, then which indices of women empowerment are influenced by a certain intervention? The field of entrepreneurship has been focusing on the contributions of social enterprises to business and society. (De, Brush, & Welter, 2007) 98 Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education (2021, No. 3-4, 96-112) This research draws upon and aims to make valuable contributions to the emerging field of social entrepreneurship. Through these efforts, the doubts about the need and scope of social entrepreneurship will get addressed. (Austin, Stevenson, & Wei-Skillern, 2006; Zahra et al., 2009). This article proceeds as follows. First, we frame our study in the existing literature related to women’s empowerment and social entrepreneurship. Second, we explain the scenario under which the study was conducted and why is it important to conduct the study. Thirdly the methodology we have used to conduct our study. Fourthly, we outline our research findings and compare them to findings by other researchers in the field; finally, we conclude with implications for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners while offering recommendations for future research. Women Empowerment – A Basic Understanding of the Term Empowerment aims at removing the barriers social, political, or legal that may be working against a particular group and help in building the assets of the underprivileged to help in their effective market engagement. (World Bank, 2006) Empowerment falls into three categories, i.e. removal of social barriers, creation of responsiveness among the institutions, and creation of social institutions and capital (Grootaert, 2005). Women's Empowerment is instrumental to achieving progress in all spheres of society. (Sharma and Varma, 2008). While there is no one overall agreed definition of women’s empowerment in the sector, a significant body of the literature points to (Kabeer, 2001) who defines empowerment as ‘the expansion in people’s ability to make strategic life choices in a context where this ability was previously denied to them’, and to (Narayan, 2005) who defines empowerment as ‘the expansion of freedom of choice and action to shape one’s life. Women empowerment can be seen as a process through which women challenge the existing norms to improve their status within their families and in society as well (Upadhaye and Madan, 2012). Economic empowerment has been defined as financial independence or strength of the individual, while personal empowerment involves an increase in self- sufficiency and development of inner strength that gives them the power to make their own choices (Moser,1989). In almost all cultures, women have traditionally been less powerful than men, with lower wages and less control Shalaghya Sharma, Amit Kumar 99 over resources. They are regarded as an “invisible” workforce, and their ability to grow, excel, and develop is limited (Sharma and Varma, 2008). The key ability to make choices is the true measure of a women’s empowerment (Kabeer, 1999). Three interrelated dimensions are required by women for making key decisions in their lives. Firstly, access to resources that also includes preconditions; secondly, agency that includes processes; and thirdly, achievements that include outcomes. Women face several obstacles in their path of getting empowered, like traditional and patriarchal attitudes, budget restrictions affecting healthcare, the right to maternity leave, childcare, and retirement. Apart from this, they also face a conflict between work and family (Radovic et al., 2012). Women’s access to resources and jobs is limited in the formal economy due to cultural prejudices that limit the role of women (Goyal et al., 2020). There is a direct single-domain condition existing in India, leading to the subordination of women from the poorer socio-economic sections is their lack of skills. These macro technical skills need to be imparted in school or vocational training (Ahmed-Ghosh, 2002), but girls are often inhibited from getting the skill-based training due to family choice or due to social norms. Lack of these skills prevents women from getting engaged in livelihood generation to contribute to household income. She also needs to do double the work as she has to manage both family and work. Women empowerment helps in social growth as well as economic development through various innovative and entrepreneurial activities. (Agarwal and Lenka, 2015). Women empowerment and economic development are complementing each other. (Duflo, 2012). If the economic conditions of a country like poverty, the standard of living, access to resources health, and education can be improved, then women will get empowered. While the policymakers argue that if women get empowered, they will contribute to the economic and social growth of the country that would, in turn, lead to a reduction in poverty, betterment of education, and improvement of health conditions. Women empowerment has the potential to change the gender-related issues prevalent in Indian society. Patriarchal decision-making or the ability to impose decisions can directly or indirectly affect their skill gain and ability to work. If a father or husband does not agree to the idea of their daughters or wives gaining certain skills, it will not be possible for women to engage in skill development. This hinders her ability to pursue economic opportunities and achieving her possibilities (Mishra and Tripathi, 2011). 100 Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education (2021, No. 3-4, 96-112) Hence, it is also a challenge to measure the women's empowerment that has been achieved through several interventions. It is important to understand that increasing an opportunity is different from ensuring that a woman can make her own choices (Williams, 2005). It is also important to measure a woman’s perception of her ability to make her own decisions. Real achievements or outcomes are critical to developing an understanding of women's empowerment. The always evolving nature of power dynamics in society poses a challenge towards measuring empowerment. (Kabeer, 1999) Women Empowerment, Non-Government Organizations and Social Enterprises The Government of India has initiated several projects for social and economic empowerment of rural like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao 2015, Mahila-e;haat 2016, Mahila Shakti Kendra 2017, Sukanya Samridhi Yojana 2018 and several others, but little has been achieved through these projects till now. (Balakrishnan, 2019). Women empowerment via entrepreneurial efforts has always been neglected by society due to its patriarchy (Singh et al., 2013). Apart from that, various NGOs and self-help groups (SHGs) are also empowered for the growth and development of women in underprivileged areas of rural India. The NGOs provide this advantage of groups to these women who alone are incapable of fighting patriarchy alone. The social learning theory cites how interactions among individuals within and outside their communities help them in discussing and solving their problems. Artisans and art entrepreneurs play a significant role in promoting the culture but are more emotional and less business-oriented (Salamzadeh, 2021). Hence, it becomes important to assess their level of empowerment achieved through their entrepreneurial ventures. Due to their low financial status, women have weaker powers of bargaining. Micro finance reinforces their confidence and self-esteem, which further leads to active participation in household and community decision-making processes. (Annim and Alnaa, 2013). Women attach more importance to social networks and work more diligently in their creation. More freedom and flexibility in learning can help these women to achieve critical milestones of self-confidence and development. (Salamzadeh et al., 2013). The impact and success of the social enterprises are dependent on Shalaghya Sharma, Amit Kumar 101 their idea of the market and their insight into their customers (Salamzadeh et al.,2017) Research Methodology The villages in the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar are known for their exquisite embroidery work known as Sujani. The women make Sujani embroideries using old clothes and transform them into colorful pieces of art. This art form is passed on from mothers to daughters, and women take extreme pride in their embroidery skills. Through our survey across these villages, we could identify 130 women who were actively engaged with the social enterprise and 127 women who were part of the NGO. To carry on the study, it was essential to identify a base group that was untouched by any of the above-identified interventions. So, a group of 130 women who were residents of these villages and non-members of any group at present was identified. We also identified a group of another 130 women who could be their replacement if they were not available for the survey. All these women were being exposed to the same cultural and social conditions as the other women of these villages. These formed the comparison group. The main purpose of this study is to assess the impact of different interventions by Non-governmental organizations and social enterprises on women empowerment and provide insights on how the different interventions can influence women empowerment among rural women. The questionnaire was converted into the regional language, it was translated back into English and compared to the original one developed by the researchers to ensure that it does not lose meaning. It was tested on a group of 10 women respondents to check whether they could understand the context of the questions. The first reliability test was conducted to check the internal consistency of the questionnaire. Then, ANOVA was used to identify whether any significant differences exist between the groups on the women empowerment dimensions. A thorough review of the previous studies on women empowerment based on OXFAM indicators was carried on in order to identify the dimensions of women empowerment and relevant questions. The first draft of the questionnaire was prepared to measure the 1. Demographics of the respondents and 2. The women empowerment dimensions. The questionnaire was revised after administering three pilot tests. The final version was distributed among the sample groups. This study 102 Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education (2021, No. 3-4, 96-112) intends to understand women empowerment created through the various interventions at the personal, relational and environmental levels. Oxfam recognizes women’s empowerment as a multidimensional context-specific concept (Oxfam, 2016). It is ‘multidimensional’ because women who may be empowered in one area of life may not be in others (Malhotra and Mather 1997; Alkire et al., 2013), and ‘context-specific because behaviors or attributes that might signify empowerment in one context may have different meanings elsewhere (Malhotra and Schuler 2005). To ascertain that the group under study was homogenous they were compared on social and economic parameters. To carry out the study, a five- point Likert scale was used to design the questionnaire where 1 represented strongly disagree and 5 represented Strongly agree. As opposed to WEAI, where the cut-off was dual (either 0 or 1), we chose to evaluate the responses on a Likert scale as we do not aim to calculate the index but compare it on several parameters to draw an understanding of empowerment at personal, relational and environmental levels. As the questionnaire of this study was developed as per the clear guidelines of WEI dimensions developed by OXFAM, the validity analysis for systematic errors was not required. However, reliability analysis to check random errors, which lead to fluctuation of values around the exact value, was carried on. Measurement reliability is the measure of the extent to which the data produce consistent measures. Internal reliability was measured through Cronbach Alpha, which was used to measure the degree of relatedness of individual items. Table 1: Test of Reliability Dimensions of Women Empowerment Items Alpha Value Self-confidence I am equal to others 0.722 I have good qualities I am proud of myself Opinion towards women’s economic role Women can be a leader just like any men Women should be trained to keep financial records Women need education more than marriage 0.753 Shalaghya Sharma, Amit Kumar 103 Dimensions of Women Empowerment Items Alpha Value Acceptability of Gender- based Violence I should be beaten if I disobey my husband 0.832 If he suspects me of unfaithfulness, he can beat me If I neglect children, he can beat me If I spend money without his permission, he can beat me If I do not help in livestock and agriculture activities, he can beat me If I visit my family without permission, he can beat me Individual Knowledge I have no right to Alimony 0.781 I have no right to my children's custody I have no right if my husband remarries Individual capability I am willing to support other women, if they have any problem 0.737 I am willing to report and go to court for the rights Personal Autonomy I can travel to meet friends, family in other cities or states 0.725 I can participate in community groups I can use money at my own will Group Participation and degree of Influence in a group I attend Women’s association meetings 0.783 I participate in Credit Groups I attend Religious Group meetings I am part of Civic groups for improving community Leadership and degree of Influence in a group I contribute in making important decisions in the Women's association 0.759 I contribute to making important decisions in the credit groups I contribute to making important decisions in the religious groups I contribute to making an important decision in the community group Control over household assets I decide or help to decide on whether to buy /sell cattle in my household 0.785 104 Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education (2021, No. 3-4, 96-112) Dimensions of Women Empowerment Items Alpha Value I decide or help to decide on whether to buy /sell goats in my household I decide or help to decide on whether to have a gas stove in my house or not Involvement in Household decision making I decide or help to decide what part of the crops should be kept for consumption 0.699 I decide or help to decide how to spend the money from the sale of crops I decide or help to decide about money earned by me I decide or help to decide about what foods to buy and consume I decide or help to decide about buying furniture for the house I decide or help to decide about buying livestock I decide or help to decide about buying land I decide or help to decide about buying utensils I decide or help to decide about getting a loan I decide or help to decide how to use the loan money I decide or help to decide about gifts to relatives I decide or help to decide about children education I decide or help to decide about having children I decide or help to decide about the transfer of property I decide or help to decide about housework and care of family Gender-Based Violence My husband or in-laws can humiliate me in front of others 0.734 husband/In-laws can threaten to hurt me or someone I care about Shalaghya Sharma, Amit Kumar 105 Dimensions of Women Empowerment Items Alpha Value Husband/In-laws insult me, push me, shake me, slap me or punch me Husband/In-laws threaten to attack with knife or weapon Contribution to Household income I contribute to my household income 0.897 Safety of Movement I feel safe walking alone in the village 0.824 Social norm and stereotypes Women are just as capable as men of contributing to household income 0.763 A man's job is to earn money, and women's job is to look after the house and children Women are able to be good leaders as well as men Table 2: Test of homogeneity of respondent groups Base group IG1 IG2 Diff1 Diff 2 Household Size 4.652 4.997 5.112 -0.345 -0.46 Household income above line BPL 0.283 0.165 0.167 0.118 0.116 Respondent is able to work 0.938 0.871 0.872 0.067 0.066 head of Household is a male 0.776 0.829 0.831 -0.053 -0.055 Head of household is able to work 0.233 0.312 0.297 -0.079 -0.064 Respondent has more than primary education 0.235 0.285 0.273 -0.05 -0.038 Head of household has more the primary education 0.265 0.312 0.274 -0.047 -0.009 Respondent is married 0.579 0.635 0.564 -0.056 0.015 The marriage has no troubles 0.374 0.484 0.497 -0.11 -0.123 Husband's age 42.05 42.32 41.76 -0.27 0.29 Respondent's age 35.89 35.87 35.01 0.02 0.88 Each indicator was further disintegrated into measurable items. Every item was considered to be of equal weightage, a group mean was calculated for every indicator, revealing the empowerment value for every indicator under study. 106 Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education (2021, No. 3-4, 96-112) Table 3: Women Empowerment Indicators Personal level indicators Relational level indicators Environment level indicators • Self-confidence • Opinion towards women’s economic role • Acceptability of Gender-based Violence • Individual Knowledge • Individual capability • Personal Autonomy • Group Participation and degree of Influence in a group • Leadership and degree of Influence in a group Control over household assets • Household decision making • Contribution to Household income • Safety of Movement • Social Norms and stereotypes of women’s economic role Source: (Lombardini et al. ,2017) Analysis Table 4: Results of ANOVA test Results of ANOVA Test Sum of Square Df Mean Square F Sig Self confidence Btw grps- 33.534 Within grps – 235.816 2 387 8.364 39.962 0 Opinion towards women’s economic role Btw grps- 31.534 Within grps-237.819 2 387 8.563 29.256 0 Acceptability of Gender based Violence Btw grps- 31.534 Within grps – 132.814 2 387 7.567 28.936 0 Individual Knowledge Btw grps- 93.534 Within grps-235.813 2 387 23.476 39.958 0 Individual capability Btw grps- 31.534 Within grps -234.816 2 387 8.634 39.745 0 Personal Autonomy Btw grps- 36.534 Within grps- 232.823 2 387 7.899 28.992 0 Group Participation Btw grps- 33.534 Within grps -232.876 2 387 8.542 39.993 0 Leadership and degree of Influence in a group Btw grps- 32.534 Within grps -235.816 2 387 8.364 34.928 0 Control over household assets Btw grps- 33.512 Within grps-235.826 2 387 7.325 39.918 0 Household decision Btw grps- 31.534 2 8.368 39.925 0 Shalaghya Sharma, Amit Kumar 107 Results of ANOVA Test Sum of Square Df Mean Square F Sig making Within grps-235.816 387 Contribution to Household income Btw grps- 34.534 Within grps-235.71 2 387 8.364 39.929 0 Safety of Movement Btw grps- 33.534 Within grps – 237.814 2 387 8.368 39.928 0 Social Norms and stereotypes of women’s economic role Btw grps- 31.534 Within grps-232.8 2 387 8.643 39.642 0 The preliminary analysis shows that all the three groups involved in this study are similar in terms of socio-economic background as there is no significant difference in the mean values. So, it can concur that coming from a similar social and economic background, all three groups under the study have an equal probability of getting empowered through the interventions under study. Further on analysing the indices of women empowerment for the base group and for intervention group 1 (an NGO involved in generating women empowerment) and intervention group 2 (a social enterprise involved in generating empowerment through a market-based model). It is clear from analysing the values that both interventions have a substantial effect on women empowerment as the base group shows low mean values. Table 5: Results of comparisons Personal level indicators Self confidence SE > NGO Opinion towards women’s economic role SE > NGO Acceptability of Gender based Violence SE < NGO Individual Knowledge SE < NGO Individual capability SE > NGO Personal Autonomy SE > NGO Relational level indicators Group Participation and degree of Influence in a group SE < NGO Leadership and degree of Influence in a group SE < NGO Control over household assets SE > NGO 108 Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education (2021, No. 3-4, 96-112) Household decision making SE > NGO Contribution to Household income SE > NGO Environment level indicators Safety of Movement SE > NGO Social Norms and stereotypes of women’s economic role SE > NGO In totality, it was observed that whether it be the NGO or the social enterprise, they were able to empower women, as compared to women who did not get exposed to either of the interventions, showed low value on all the indices. Women respondents from intervention 1 showed higher mean values for individual knowledge, Individual capability, Group participation, and lower tolerance towards gender-based violence, while respondents from group 2 showed higher mean values for self-confidence, opinion towards women’s economic role, personal autonomy, leadership, influence on decision making in groups, control over home assets, The women working with the social enterprise find this engagement better than a commercial enterprise as well as an NGO. This can majorly be attributed to the availability of work throughout the year and ease of work. While the NGOs create an additional challenge of marketing products by themselves, the social enterprise provides them with regular work without the hassle of going out to sell their products. This serves as an innovative solution for women's empowerment as it takes into consideration the challenge of patriarchy too. This solution addresses the core of the social problem, i.e. patriarchy. Previously men were not letting women learn the skills as they were not comfortable with women making groups that interfered with their family lives and travelling outside the village, but now when these skills are giving these women the ability to earn livelihood in the comfort of home, men are happy too. Many times, an intervention that is aimed at solving an issue may create additional challenges for some other issue faced by the group (Aisa, 2014). In this case, while women empowerment through Non- Government organizations led to women empowerment but it can also alter power relations within the households, and men may try to assert control through domestic violence or forceful detachment from the NGO. Conclusion Considering these findings, it can be inferred that intervention 2, i.e., involvement with social enterprise, fairs better on a majority of the indexes Shalaghya Sharma, Amit Kumar 109 so, they are better at creating an overall sense of women empowerment (Datta and Galley, 2012). The NGO-based intervention is better at creating knowledge about their individuality, fewer acceptances towards Gender- based Violence, group participation, and leadership skills. This has a plausible explanation in the training provided by the NGOs and the sense of strength that being part of a group provides to these women. The women working with the social enterprise have stronger financial independence that may be attributing to better self-confidence, autonomy, individual capability, opinion towards women’s economic role, greater control over household decisions and assets. While the environmental level indicators are slightly improved for NGO-based women, most probably due to their unity and psychological effect of being in a group. The social enterprises should consider the inclusion of more training and self-help group formation so that the sense of unity and power is increased in these women, which may lead to a wholesome increase in all the indexes of women empowerment. Several other studies have also highlighted the creation of social and economic benefits for local underprivileged groups through social entrepreneurship. (Rosca et al., 2020). This study has offered insights to non-profit practitioners on how the inclusion of a revenue model can improve the empowerment indices for poor, illiterate rural women. This is also a learning for the For-profit sector that how social entrepreneurial models can successfully create and nurture women empowerment. 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