Self-help groups are a small group of women or men with around 10-12 members. These groups are mainly formed in rural areas to provide women with financial inclusion and literacy. In addition, it is envisioned that these collectives would contribute towards community development. These SHGs are either promoted by NGOs or State Rural Livelihood missions. These SHGs are also provided with numerous training and workshops around livelihood, nutrition, financial inclusion and gender. The main objective of forming an SHG is often women empowerment.
My experience with SHGs in the rural interiors of MP has allowed me to interact with these women and assess the impact that these SHGs have had upon them. These groups of women meet once a week at a decided place and time to save and provide credit to other women in the group in need.
Observation Of SHGs
SHGs have given women mobility and the freedom to interact with other women. It has given them the liberty to take care of finances and avail loans in need. The SHGs have also been a space where women can interact with other women freely. It has been a place for livelihood growth and generation as well. After joining SHGs, a few women have been able to challenge the injustice within their respective houses. Through these groups, women have been able to raise their voice collectively. SHGs have also allowed women from different castes to come together and discuss. Earlier, women from different castes would hardly interact with each other in the community.
The SHGs were envisioned with the hope that women’s collectives would also help them to better their lives in the political, economic and social sphere. My experience has made me realise that even today, women’s organisations are not able to tackle menstrual issues and discuss them. They are still not comfortable with discussing menstruation and matters pertaining to their bodies. Topics such as menstruation and contraceptives are still a taboo to be discussed in the open, but, I believe, SHGs are the space that can be utilised to discuss these topics.
Collectives And Their Role In Menstrual Hygiene
Civil society needs to open up and discuss menstruation through training, regular engagements and workshops. In addition, it is essential to include menstruation under health-related training and seminars. Further, SHGs can be tagged with Aanganwadi, ASHA and ANM to initiate these conversations. One of the roles of grassroots health workers is to create awareness, and collectives can be a space and point to begin to spread awareness around cause.
While interacting with a few women, I learned that accessibility of sanitary pads in the community is an issue. Therefore, they have to make use of clothes instead. SHGs today can generate livelihood through the help of collectives. I believe, given proper infrastructure and resources, they would also be able to prepare pads in the village that can then be sold off through Aanganwadi centers free of cost.
This would help minimise the cost of transportation, generate livelihood options, and combat the inaccessibility of sanitary pads within the community. In addition, these SHGs can help educate women around menstrual hygiene. In the year 2015, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India, published National Guidelines on Menstrual Hygiene Management. The document mentions the role of the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Rural Development Department should be to make absorbents available through the help of SHGs.
Departments such as the women and child development should come forward to work closely with SHGs by providing them with the required resources. The departments should also actively National Rural Livelihood Mission, RRD and MWCD should work towards Menstrual Hygiene Management. The convergence with these departments would help to widen the scope of accessibility, production and information dissemination.
The author is a part of the current batch of the #PeriodParGyan Writer’s Training Program