SAGE Publications z Los Angeles/London/New Delhi/Singapore/Washington DC DOI: 10.1177/097300520900400208 RURAL INDIAN AND INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIAN WOMEN WORKING TOWARDS EMPOWERMENT: A PROPOSED CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY

The aim of this article is to introduce and discuss the notion of a comparative study between India and Australia in the area of rural work psychology. It has been argued that there is enormous scope for work psychology to be applied to and contribute to rural development (Dollard et al. 2004). This article explores an aspect of work psychology in the form of personal and economic empowerment of women in rural communities by engaging women in group enterprise. A large body of research taken from developing countries explores entrepreneurial activity using micro-credit to overcome poverty, increase income and enhance well-being. No such comparison study has been introduced amongst indigenous women in Australia. Through the process of case study analysis, the empowerment of rural Indian women engaging in group enterprise is examined. This article explores the scope for future research for the inclusion and examination of indigenous women in income-generating activities within a rural and remote setting. The United Nations (UN) and many government and non-government organ-izations (NGOs) are taking action to facilitate the empowerment of women in developing countries. Such initiatives are focusing on activity promotion to reduce poverty inflicted on rural women. This article largely focuses on the economic and personal empowerment of rural women in India. However, it is proposed to have applicability to women in developed countries such as Australia, where ‘indigenous women have reduced economic, social and health status ’ (Dollard et al. 2004: 6). at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on April 9, 2016irm.sagepub.comDownloaded fro