Health Care and Women's Empowerment: The role of Self Help Groups (original) (raw)
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Self-Help Groups, Women's Health and Empowerment: Global Thinking and Contextual Issues
It is assumed that self-help groups (SHGs) will play a larger role in its countribution towards improving women's health and empowerment as well as for achieving 'Millennium Development Goals' in developing countries. These assumptions are largely based on the global neo-liberal agenda which suggests that the State should withdraw from social provisioning. The paper reviews scope and limitations of self-help groups in improving women's health and empowerment focusing on empirical work undertaken in one of the Indian States and reviews of existing literature. Till date, the functioning of SHGs has been viewed only from an economic perspective. The existing approach emphasizes economic development of people and women in particular, in case of women SHGs. However, how these economic benefits are being translated into change in women's status, particularly their health status has not been explored. The paper explores the extent to which SHGs can be involved in attaining better health for women and children.
This working research paper examines the impact of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) upon the health status of participating women across two blocks of the Ranchi District in the state of Jharkhand, India. Predominantly SHGs function as a tool for socioeconomic development of women by engaging them in income generation activities and providing them customized financial services in a need-based manner to make them economically self-reliant. In recent times SHGs have also emerged as a tool for providing health care services to the participating rural women who have been facing exclusion from the mainstream medical services which are available for urban people. The study aims to assess and analyze whether participation in SHGs has a noticeable impact upon women's health through participation in SHGs.
Empowering Women: A Critique of the Blueprint for Self-help Groups in India
Development agencies have increasingly regarded 'empowerment' as an essential objective to improve the well-being of marginalised women in India. The perceived success of self-help group (SHG) programmes in this project has encouraged their widespread application across India, becoming the primary mechanism to empower women. However, this success has often been assumed rather than proven, with evaluations generally lacking a conceptualisation of empowerment based on theoretical understandings of power relations. This article aims to overcome this by evaluating the potential of SHG programmes through the reduction of internal, institutional and social constraints that prevent the marginalised from pursuing their interests. An analysis of the 'normative' model of SHG programmes, and its actual application shows that while SHG programmes have the potential to empower women, this is often not realised through the persistence of 'top-down' approaches in implementation. SHG programmes are further limited in their ability to transform social relations due to their apparent insistence that the marginalised are the only legitimate actors in their own empowerment. Rather than argue for the discontinuation of SHG programmes in India, their potential to empower women can be increased through a 'bottom-up' orientation in implementation, while recognising that in and of themselves SHG programmes cannot reduce all the constraints preventing the pursuit of interests.
Women’s Empowerment through Self-help Groups and its Impact on Health Issues: Empirical Evidence
Based on an empirical study in West Bengal, this paper attempts to examine whether women’s involvement in the microcredit programme through SHGs makes any positive change on women’s empowerment. From the assessment of various criteria of empowerment(power, autonomy and self-reliance, entitlement, participation and awareness and capacity-building), the study suggests that if women participating in the microcredit programme through SHGs sustain for some longer period (eight years or more), such programme might contribute to higher level of women’s empowerment than women’s empowerment under all types of control group. This paper also finds that women’s earnings from saving and credit have positive and significant effect on nutritional status of the children of women members of SHGs and on the protein-intake for their household compared with that of among control groups. Keywords: Women’s empowerment, Power, Autonomy and Self-reliance, Entitlement, Participation, Awareness and Capacity-building, Nutritional Status.
Engaging 'Self-Help Group' in Improving Public Health in India
https://www.ijhsr.org/IJHSR\_Vol.10\_Issue.9\_Sep2020/IJHSR\_Abstract.023.html, 2020
India as a developing country has been looking forward to ways to cater health needs of its 1.32 billion populations, without hurting pockets of its citizen with universal health coverage as one of its core principles. The main challenge for achieving universal health coverage in India is ensuring effective coverage of poor and vulnerable communities. In such scenario self-help groups seems to be one the salvations as SHGs organise very poor people who do not have access to financial system in the organised sector. It is a possible way to deliver micro finance services to poor population. It is a holistic programme of micro-enterprises which covers all aspects of self-employment, organization of the rural poor into self Help groups and their capacity building. SHGs are also seen as one of the most significant tools for adopting participatory approach for the economic empowerment of women. Many studies have come up with a positive linkage between SHGs and health promotion. SHGs in our opinion can serve in dual manner first they can enhance capacities of individual to bear any financial catastrophe due to illnesses through easy loans, better financial safety through enhanced rates of employment with help of skill development programs and trainings and second using the platform for health promotion both ultimately making ways for improved public health in our nation. Hence SHGs can be the breakthrough way to amalgamate poverty alleviation and health interventions for community in an integrated strategy that leverages existing resources to achieve deeper impact and greater scale.
Role of self help groups in women empowerment and health
2016
Background: Self-help groups (SHGs) are small voluntary association of people from the same socio-economic background with a purpose of solving their common problems through self-help and mutual help. Since Women empowerment and health are interrelated -women's empowerment cannot be achieved by ignoring issues related to health of women. There have been fewer attempts to address the issue of women's health so as to have an impact on their total wellbeing. Hence the present study intends to explore the extent to which self-help groups are involved in health and also identify other possible methods to increase their involvement in health related matters. Methods: A Community based cross sectional study was conducted in urban field practice area of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute. Banglore, India. 95 women who were involved in SHG for 1 year were interviewed by a pre- validated questionnaire. Results: Out of 98 women 95 were interviewed, 62.1% we...
Self Help Groups (SHGs) and Women’s Development: A Case Study of the Varanasi District, India
Development is a multi-dimensional process that affects society in multiple ways. It is well documented that women constitute about half of the world’s population but their share in the economy and other development spheres remain neglected. In addition, this large section of population (including Indian women) have been suffering from various disadvantages - lack of accessibility to resources, non-recognition of their economic contribution within the family and society. In order to resolve these emerging challenges, Government of India (GOI) has implemented various programmes and policies since Independence. Among these programmes, Self Help Groups (SHGs) may be considered as a significant initiative of the government as well as the non-governmental organisations (NGOs). These are based on the principle of democratic process of development. The democratic institution provides a platform to the socially and economically deprived sections and encourages them for economic participation. Since the 1970s, SHGs have been working in many states of India and contributing to the development processes. The present paper is an attempt to analyse the contribution of SHGs in women’s development in the district of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The impact of these groups on women’s development has been analysed by Gender Development Index (GDI), which focused on the male-female differences in terms of longevity of life, knowledge and economic betterment.
Development is a multi-dimensional process that affects society in multiple ways. It is well documented that women constitute about half of the world’s population but their share in the economy and other development spheres remain neglected. In addition, this large section of population (including Indian women) have been suffering from various disadvantages - lack of accessibility to resources, non-recognition of their economic contribution within the family and society. In order to resolve these emerging challenges, Government of India (GOI) has implemented various programmes and policies since Independence. Among these programmes, Self Help Groups (SHGs) may be considered as a significant initiative of the government as well as the non-governmental organisations (NGOs). These are based on the principle of democratic process of development. The democratic institution provides a platform to the socially and economically deprived sections and encourages them for economic participation. Since the 1970s, SHGs have been working in many states of India and contributing to the development processes. The present paper is an attempt to analyse the contribution of SHGs in women’s development in the district of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The impact of these groups on women’s development has been analysed by Gender Development Index (GDI), which focused on the male-female differences in terms of longevity of life, knowledge and economic betterment. Key words: Development, Self Help Groups, Women in Development, Varanasi, India
International journal of research in social sciences, 2012
Introduction Empowerment has a wider connotation dealing with economic social and political aspects. In a country with a high rate of population below the poverty level, economic empowerment takes a top priority in any poverty up-liftment programmes. The self help group scheme to help the rural women, for more than a decade, has played a major role in uplifting women throughout the nation. But a general idea about the nation on such schemes, gives a deceptive picture about development in different parts of the country. This calls for studies at disaggregated levels like states or within states the districts or within district at block level or village level. Though dealing with all states at a time, is very difficult task, conducting studies for individual states, could be relatively easy. This study aims at comparing the experiences of reviews in two states, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu to analyse the extent of economical empowerment of women in these states through self help groups....