GI Tags and Women’s Economic Empowerment in India’s Handicraft Sector

Anita Bhatt

GI Tags and Women’s Economic Empowerment in India’s Handicraft Sector

Author(s)	Dr. Anita Bhatt
Country	India
Abstract	The handicraft sector in India is a vital domain for generating employment in rural areas, preserving cultural heritage, and earning export revenue. According to recent government and industry data, approximately 6.9–7.0 million artisans are engaged in handicrafts across the country, with over 56% of these workers being women. The high female presence in a traditionally informal sector points to significant gendered labour contributions. The introduction of Geographical Indication (GI) protection for region-specific crafts offers a potential mechanism to convert traditional artisanal labour into recognised, premium-value economic output. This transformation supports SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). This shift has the potential to elevate women artisans from informal workers to empowered stakeholders. This paper investigates whether GI tagging translates into real economic and social empowerment for women artisans in India, focusing on income augmentation, institutional participation, control over value chains, and social recognition. The study examines four representative GI-protected handicraft clusters across different regions and crafts. It demonstrates how women’s economic outcomes vary across levels of institutional support, value chain structures, and market linkages. The analysis reveals that GI status holds significant potential for empowerment, but the actual benefits are highly uneven. Women fare better when they are supported by well-organised self-help groups (SHGs) or cooperatives that enable collective bargaining, quality assurance, and direct market access. In contexts where value-chain control remains male-dominated, and women artisans are excluded from high-value segments (design, marketing, export), GI tagging alone yields limited gains. The paper concludes that GI protection must be complemented by gender-sensitive institutional frameworks, access to finance, skill upgradation, and better integration into value chains for sustainable empowerment.
Keywords	Geographical Indications (GI), Women Empowerment, Handicrafts, Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Value Chains, India, Cultural Heritage, Gender, Rural Livelihoods, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 1, January-February 2026
Published On	2026-02-17

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GI Tags and Women’s Economic Empowerment in India’s Handicraft Sector

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