IMPACT OF BEEDI WORK ON SELF DECISION EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN BEEDI WORKERS IN TIRUNELVELI DISTRICT

The purpose of the present study was to analyze the the impact of Beedi work on Self Decision Empowerment (SDE) of women beedi workers in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. To achieve the purpose of the study, 600 women beedi workers were identified as sample evenly from 19 blocks of the district by adopting the multistage random sampling technique. Causal research design was carried out as research design for this study. The five variables of family day-to-day expenditures, going outside of home, visiting village market, helping a relative with money and purchasing women's / children's clothes under the core variable of Self Decision Empowerment (SDE) of women beedi workers were selected for this study. Collected data were subjected to statistical analysis by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique with the help of popular statistical package 'AMOS 20' (Analysis of Moment Structures) software. The results of the study indicate that there was a significant impact in the variables of family day-to-day expenditures, going outside of home, visiting village market, helping a relative with money and purchasing women's / children's clothes due to the beedi work of the respondents. It also reveals that all predator variables have a positive medium level effect due to beedi work on Self Decision Empowerment (SDE) of women beedi workers. This study will be relevant and significant to the women beedi workers.