RGCT: Working Towards Rural Women Empowerment

Women's empowerment organizations are considered some of the most important among non-government organizations working for improving the social standing of rural populations, mainly because there are many factors that lead to the domination of the male members of the family or the society on the women, who, all their lives, remain under the mercy of the men of their society.

The main factors for that include:

1.       Low Rate of Literacy and Education: Being mostly illiterate throughout their lives, they are totally dependent on their husbands and other male members on the day to day activities, which lowers down their confidence and so they don’t stand up for themselves when people disrespect them.

2.       No Financial Freedom: Being the breadwinners of the household male members push the women of their homes and society to work at home, without any recognition, which continuously lowers down their self-esteem and they also feel like they have no say in any matter and they have nowhere else to go.

3.       Less Understanding of The Economic, Social & Developmental Dynamics: being kept in a conservative environment with limited social interaction, the horizon of their thoughts is not developed enough to understand different dynamics, which throws them further away from mainstream development, further degrading their self-reliance.

4.       Low Awareness of Welfare Programmes: Because of limited or no exposure to the outside world, they are not aware of their rights, connections for help and the support that they are entitled to by the virtue of government schemes and provisions of non-governmental organizations.

To overcome these barriers, many NGO’s that work for the welfare and empowerment of the rural women go to the fields, and work at grass root level to solve their problems, and give them a better life, that they truly deserve.

RGCT is one such organization that works at the ground level for the upliftment of the rural women, but it is very different from all the other organizations in terms of working.

Our former Prime Minister Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was a visionary when it came to solving the problems, and he understood that one cannot help the rural women by choosing one problem and assisting them with that.

His view was that if these women become a part of the mainstream economy of the country, most of their problems will be solved and subside on their own, and his vision was realized by his widow Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, who founded RGCT.

Big brains got to work, and a working scheme was made towards the holistic development of rural women, and the result is evident in the success of RGCT. The way RGCT works brings together two major aspects into the picture, economic and social.

For this, the rural women are integrated into Self-help groups which are trained together for their capacity building, work together to earn a substantial capital for their business and run a business that is big enough to become the part of the mainstream economy. Furthermore, when one of the women in any group is in the need of financial, social or emotional help, she knows that she has her Sakhi (friends) to help her.

By following this kind of approach, RGCT has not only solved their financial and social problems but have also given the self-confidence to do great work as per their full potential.