Corporate Social Responsibility and Empowerment of Women: A Sociological Perspective

International Journal of Humanities and Social Science

© 2019 by SSRG - IJHSS Journal

Volume 6 Issue 2

Year of Publication : 2019

Authors : Dr. Manosmita Mahapatra

10.14445/23942703/IJHSS-V6I2P108

How to Cite?

Dr. Manosmita Mahapatra, "Corporate Social Responsibility and Empowerment of Women: A Sociological Perspective," SSRG International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, vol. 6,  no. 2, pp. 44-51, 2019. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23942703/IJHSS-V6I2P108

Abstract:

Multinationals are seen to indulge in development process in India. It is a recent phenomenon. The governmental measures have often been inadequate to address the vast majority of population who live in villages which are underdeveloped and suffer from acute social problems. The companies and their CSR programs emerge as an important agency for societal development where the multinational corporation achieves unprecedented economic, political and social power. Such an approach of CSR from a societal perspective is less focused in research. The social initiatives are often implemented informally or implicitly as a response to local expectation and demands. This often is conceptualized as explicit CSR where the communities are taken as stakeholders. Multinationals undertake various issues for community development including health, education and sustainable livelihood. Their accountability and transparency through corporate social reporting legitimizes their corporate social power. Keeping this as background, the present study focuses on such social initiatives taken by CSR of Tata Steel towards community development specially women empowerment. The study is carried on using secondary sources of information through the annual sustainability reports. The findings suggest that the company plays a significant role in empowering women by providing maternal health care practices and also by rendering income generation activities for sustainable livelihood. The company helps in social transformation and in increasing the status of rural women in Jharkhand and Odisha. The present research becomes relevant from the point of view that CSR linkage with women empowerment has been given least attention in research areas.

Keywords:

Corporate social responsibility, women empowerment, maternal health, sustainable livelihood.

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