ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the major conclusions and lessons that emerge from the study and analyses how various external and internal factors come to play in the journey towards women’s empowerment in a deeply patriarchal society operating through a democratic polity. It deals with ‘micro’ level changes: it summarizes the MS effects on women’s economic empowerment and discusses factors that could have influenced the outcomes: both external and internal. The strong and detailed design of the MS, well worked out and rooted in feminist philosophy, which also enabled contextualised implementation, has been the strongest aspect of the programme and led to sustained economic empowerment of women who came into contact with it in Bihar. An important weakening link was the absence of well-defined non-negotiables based on MS philosophy for its own management. MS was aimed at achieving women’s empowerment through changing social norms about gender roles, relations, positioning and expectations.
