In the last input, we summarised one interpretation for women getting, to use their words, ‘stuck’, for feeling out of control. This is not the last word on this matter. But, supposing it is correct, why would an SRG make a difference?
Again, we asked the women, and the staff group, and we trawled through the the evidence that has been collected on SRGs to date. That analysis suggests the following.
9. The women are connected to others in their SRG. 10. This opens up new possibilities, of saving, of finding work, of setting up a business, of friends helping each other. 11. Ordinary day to day conversations broaden the women’s cognitive bandwidth, they can think of more than getting through the day. 12. This creates the potential for women to come unstuck, to take control of their life, to be enterprising in the broadest sense of the word.
A different kind of relationship
13. There is nothing in the workings of an SRG that resembles traditional ‘third sector’ support. There are no ‘workers’, trained or otherwise. If a woman is facing challenges, she can turn to others in her group. The decision about whether to do so is hers, and hers alone. And the decision about whether to help and how is for the other women. An SRG recovers agency, and it leaves it with the women.