International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences | 2019
Role of Self Help Groups in Women Empowerment and Health
Abstract
Introduction Self-help groups (SHGs)-small voluntary association of people from the same socioeconomic background with a purpose of solving their common problems through selfhelp and mutual help. 1 In India, self-help groups are women oriented and most of their activities are concentrated towards savings and credit activities. 2 There is a common perception in development literature that increased participation of women in savings and credit activities or economic attainment will empower women and it is an effective tool to alleviate poverty and empower women has garnered considerable interest worldwide. 3 There is also the perception that economic attainment will empower women s status in International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 04 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Self-help groups (SHGs) are small voluntary association of people from the same socioeconomic 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. A Community based cross sectional study was conducted in rural area of Rajkot district of Gujarat, India. 120 women who were involved in SHG for 1 year were interviewed by a prevalidated questionnaire. Out of 120 women 110 were interviewed, 63.64% were literates, 66.48% received economic help through this programme, 28.50% got importance in family as well as community, 21.40% had improvement in personal health, 70.50% of individuals self decides to seek medical care for health related issues. Self-help group is a useful platform to enhance women s health through increased knowledge and awareness on health issues, and financial security during health emergencies etc. it’s very active in providing income generating activities. However there is no much significant improvement in health behaviour or knowledge about health related issues. K e y w o r d s Self -help group, Women’s empowerment, Health Accepted: 12 March 2019 Available Online: 10 April 2019 Article Info Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(4): 1613-1617 1614 family and in the community, giving them more power to participate in decision-making process. 4 In the context of women s empowerment, it is assumed that when women come together, they find strength and move towards further knowledge and awareness. This process leads to further empowerment. Thus, collective action through self-help groups introduces an element of leadership, reduces risk and external threat, and enables women to overcome the oppression of patriarchy, and to realise their own true potential and achieve total well-being. 3,5 Women’s empowerment cannot be achieved by ignoring or denying issues related to health of women. Although women s empowerment has been a central issue on the agenda of various developmental programmes for so many years, women s health has got little attention or at best it has been confined to the field of family planning and contraception. 6 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. Materials and Methods A Community based cross sectional study was conducted in urban and rural area of Rajkot district of Gujarat during January to June 2015. Out of 15 functioning SHG’s, 9 groups were selected by simple random method. 110 women from those selected group who were involved in SHG’s for a period of 1 year and who were willing to participate were interviewed by using a pre-validated questionnaire. Data was analysed using Epi info version 7 and Microsoft excel version 2007. Results and Discussion Out of 120 women who were involved in selfhelp group for 1 year were interviewed, 63.64% (70) were literates and 36.37 (40) were illiterates as depicted in the Figure 1. Majority of the respondents gained economic help through self-help group (66.48%), 28.3% had saved money followed by which 7.2% had economic independence, 28.5% got importance in family as well as community, 47.5% had employment opportunity partially, 79.8% majority of the respondents had better relations and more friends compared to study conducted by Kumar A et. al; showed 54% had economic help 16% had employment opportunity and 76% had got importance in family 4 (Fig. 2) Regarding the impact of self-help group on health knowledge and awareness, 68.5% had increase awareness regarding health and hygiene, (compared to study by Kumar et al where increased awareness was 70%), 63.2% had knowledge regarding contraceptive methods, 51.5% had increased knowledge and awareness regarding care during pregnancy, followed by care of self-post child birth (52.6 %) and 60% had increased knowledge towards infant care 4 (Fig. 3). Impact of self-help group on empowerment and health-regarding decision of seeking medical care and consulting doctor, 67.4% take self-decision on going to doctor, followed by 22% whose husband take decision regarding consultation of doctor. 24.2% of women discuss with their husband about reproductive health issues, compared to study conducted by Kumar et al which showed 38% who would discuss reproductive health issues with their husband 4 (Fig. 4; Table 1 and 2). Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(4): 1613-1617 1615 Table.1 Illustrating the fully and partial impact of self-help group on women’s empowerment Fully Partly Unnoticeable Increase in income 53.3% 46.7% Employment opportunity 47.3% 52.7% Got importance in family 27.3% 65.3% 7.4% Got importance in community 27.5% 67.2% 5.3% Family empowerment 100% Cooperation in social processes 74.5% 24.5% Better relations & more friends 80.5% 19.5% Improvement in personal health 22.5% 65.5% 12% Improvement in family health 18.9% 53.7% 27.4% Table.2 Depicting the impact of self-help group on health knowledge and awareness Increase Decrease No change Health and Hygiene 68.5 % -31.5 % Vaccination 79 % -21 % Contraceptives 63.2 % 36.8 % Care during pregnancy 51.5 % -48.5 % Care of self-post child birth 52.6 % 47.4 % Care of Infant 60% -40 % Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(4): 1613-1617 1616 Fig.1 The literacy status of women involved in self-help group