Product details

The economic status of women in Kerala was deplorable in spite of their good social health. Their participation in political activities was also very minimal in early days. In such a scenario, the Kudumbashree movement was initiated by the then Communist government in 1998. Kudumbashree meaning ‘family prosperity’ in Malayalam was an innovative community based women-oriented initiative to fight absolute poverty. The aim of the movement was to fight poverty through female emancipation with the help of the local self-governments. The project which started with a few thousand women grew to include 4.1 million members by 2014. About half of the state’s population made a living through this programme. In addition to economic empowerment, the movement also helped in political empowerment of women in Kerala. Will Kudumbashree continue to spread prosperity and grow across the state as well as in other parts of the country was a question which was upper most in the minds of experts watching the movement closely.