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