on Health Issues: Empirical

Based on an empirical study in West Bengal, this paper attempts to examine whether women’s involvement in the microcredit programme through SHGs makes any positive change on women’s empowerment. From the assessment of various criteria of empowerment(power, autonomy and self-reliance, entitlement, participation and awareness and capacity-building), the study suggests that if women participating in the microcredit programme through SHGs sustain for some longer period (eight years or more), such programme might contribute to higher level of women’s empowerment than women’s empowerment under all types of control group. This paper also finds that women’s earnings from saving and credit have positive and significant effect on nutritional status of the children of women members of SHGs and on the protein-intake for their household compared with that of among control groups