Abstract

Economic Empowerment of Women in Andhra Pradesh

Koorma Anjali, Dr. G. Ayyanna, Prof. G. Venkata Naidu

Volume: 15 Issue: 4 2025

Abstract:

Economic empowerment of women is widely regarded as a cornerstone of inclusive and sustainable development. Andhra Pradesh offers an instructive case: since the 1980s the state has combined a strong tradition of grassroots mobilisation with successive government programmes, a large self-help group (SHG) movement, and, more recently, MSME promotion, free public transport and digital-inclusion initiatives. Drawing on the empowerment framework of resources, agency and achievements (Kabeer, 1999) and on secondary sources, this paper traces the evolution of women's economic empowerment policy in the state, reviews published evidence on its outcomes, and identifies the constraints that limit its reach. The analysis suggests that SHG-based collective institutions have expanded women's access to credit, assets and public participation, with the strongest gains among poorer and tribal households, but that income, decision-making and occupational gains are less uniform than access gains. Newer interventions on mobility, entrepreneurship and digital services are promising yet still too recent for rigorous evaluation. The paper concludes with a policy agenda built around digital and financial capability, SHG-bank linkages, enterprise incubation, safe mobility, and gender-responsive budgeting with sex-disaggregated monitoring.

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