How Important the Role of a Housewife to India’s Economic Growth?
This question has to be answered in the point of a sense being institutional socially. This is because the primary social institution is a family. In that sense, although the head of the family goes to the men community, the female alone manages the financial crisis. That provokes the sense of micro savings – later it has been emerged as microfinance by Dr.Mohammed Yunus (Nobel laureate). My Professor used to say, “Even the developed countries were hit by a financial breakdown like USA in 1930s, India didn’t suffer because of the savings in every home”. Women being very conscious in spending money allot their money utilities in productive uses. Though everyone blames women on buying goods like jewellery, furniture, etc., it can be seen like the RBI maintains the SLR and free market operations because once the cash is with the hands, it will become a non-profitable liquid asset. So upon analyzing the time value of money whether or not, every housewife plays an important role to India’s economic growth.
Looking at the NPAs at the banking sector, microfinance has only the minimal amount of NPAs and is even declining now because the microfinance sector concentrates mostly women and their credit worthiness is better than the meek banking sector. Now the banking sector too through their priority sector lending finances money for the MSME sector at 7.5%. To the weaker sections, it goes upto 15%. So naturally the Government of India is helping the women community to get rid of overall economic breakdown in the country. Women are loyal payers to the debts and recovery of money is also easy.
Mostly women used to maintain thrifts than savings. Thrifts arise out of retaining some amount of money from the deficit. Such thrifts over the time leads to a huge amount like small drops make a mighty ocean. And that huge amount of money can be used as an investment. In India, the NABARD along with its SHG-bank linkage model from 1992 helps women SHGs to promote their financial position and performance as a whole.
Not only the GoI but also the private players like HUL with its Project Shakti promote their products and increase their sales volume on concentrating rural areas. As the definition of economic growth goes by, an increase in the amount of goods and services produced per head of the population over a period of time. It is indicated in terms of GNP and GDP. Now the housewives are being involved in increasing the GDP by making themselves in assigning the roles of in-house sellers, free lance traders, telecommuters, etc. Thus eventually the country’s GDP increases. Many schemes by the government promote women (mainly housewives) in becoming entrepreneurs selling FMCGs and other utility goods.
Housewives don’t differ by marriage alone. They are also differed in their tasks, lifestyle and all other traditional outlooks after getting married. In a normal nuclear household, the housewives are devoid of work after sending their spouse and children to work and school. To utilize their free time profitably, they are indulging in many business like selling jewelry items, sarees, etc. They can also become the members of some SHGs and seek some benefits on forming processing units for an example.
Not only promoting economic growth, housewives are also involved in raising the economic development by the modes of self-improvement, empowerment, standard of living and sustainability. So on looking into the economic growth seriously, housewives play an important role in contributing to both the economic growth and economic development of the country at its ultimatum.
- Srishakthi.M
