Women's empowerment and its differential impact on health in low-income communities in Mumbai, India

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship of empowerment to women's self-reported general health status and women's self-reported health during pregnancy in low-income communities in Mumbai. The data on which this paper is based were collected in three study communities located in a marginalised area of Mumbai. We draw on two data sources: in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with 66 married women and a survey sample of 260 married women. Our analysis shows that empowerment functions differently in relation to women's reproductive status. Non-pregnant women with higher levels of empowerment experience greater general health problems, while pregnant women with higher levels of empowerment are less likely to experience pregnancy-related health problems. We explain this non-intuitive finding and suggest that a globally defined empowerment measure for women may be less useful that one that is contextually and situationally defined.

Keywords:

• empowerment
• women
• health
• pregnancy
• India

Acknowledgement

We thank the research staff who conducted both the interviews and survey administration.

Funding

This work was supported by the Office of AIDS Research of the National Institutes of Health [RO1 MH064875].

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This work was supported by the Office of AIDS Research of the National Institutes of Health [RO1 MH064875].