RESUMO
Introduction: Women empowerment in society and family are closely linked to decision-making. Empowerment of women is essentially the process of upliftment of economic, social, and political status of women, the traditionally underprivileged ones, in society. It involves the building up of a society wherein women can breathe without the fear of oppression, exploitation, apprehension, discrimination, and the general feeling of persecution which goes with being a woman in a traditionally male dominated society. The present study was conducted to assess women's empowerment status and factors affecting it. Material and Method: Community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among 175 women residing in urban field practice area of Dr. M. K. Shah Medical College and Research Centre, Ahmedabad. A pre-designed questionnaire was used for data collection by interviewing the women through house to house survey. Data were entered in Microsoft Excel and analyzed using (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Result: Around 85.71% of women were involved in decisions regarding trivial issues. A total of 17.72% of the women reported that they had suffered some form of domestic violence in their life. Around 23% of the women were not involved in any financial decisions of the family. Association between education of the women and involvement in decision-making was found statistically significant. Employment increases the participation of women in financial decision-making. 88.89% of employed women participated in financial decisions, while 71.42% of housewives were participating in these decisions. Conclusion: Education and employment were found to have impact on decision-making. So, education of girls should be given the priority.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme has been operational for more than three decades in India. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the various aspects of the ICDS program in terms of inputs, process and outcome (coverage), utilization, and issues related to the ICDS program. METHODS: A total of 130 Anganwadi centers (AWCs) were selected including 95 AWCs from rural areas and 35 AWCs from urban areas from April 2012 to March 2015, from 12 districts of Gujarat and the union territory of Diu. Information was collected for infrastructure, baseline characteristics of AWWs, provision, coverage and utilization of various ICDS services, and various issues related to program operation. RESULTS: A majority of pregnant (94.7%) and lactating (74.4%) mothers, and adolescent girls (86.6%) were availing ICDS services. In 96.9% of the AWCs, a growth chart was available and 92.3% AWWs were using it accurately. A total of 14.9% children were underweight including 13.5% moderately and 1.4% severely malnourished children. Two-third (66.2%) children were covered by supplementary nutrition (SN). Only 14.6% of the AWCs reported 100% preschool education (PSE) coverage among children. More than half (55.4%) of the AWCs reported an interruption in supply during the last 6 months. Various issues were reported by AWWs related to the ICDS. CONCLUSION: The study has reported gaps in terms of infrastructure facility, different trainings, coverage, supply, and provision of SN, status of PSE activities in AWCs, and provision of different services to the beneficiaries.