Original Research Article
Wellbeing, occupation, money, education and knowledge (WOMEN): a descriptive study of NFHS-4 data comparing Maharashtra and national data on the WOMEN parameters
Department of Community Medicine, MGM Medical College and Hospital, Kamothe, Maharashtra, India
Received: 17 March 2022
Revised: 15 May 2022
Accepted: 16 May 2022
*Correspondence:
Dr. Saili U. Jadhav,
E-mail: drmvkshirsagar@yahoo.co.in
Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
ABSTRACT
Background: ‘Women rights’ is a contentious social issue. Well-being, occupation, money, education and knowledge (W. O. M. E. N.), are the basic parameters based on which a women’s status in the society depends. Her wellbeing shows us her health, her occupation and education help us understand how she gets treated in her family and her capability to take future life decisions. Her involvement in the family money, her income, shows her economic understanding. Her knowledge, on her reproductive and sexual health, on domestic abuse shows her awareness on these issues and reflects on her personal experiences as well.
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on NFHS-4 data (with permission from DHS) using Maharashtra and India data for analysis of W. O. M. E. N.’s characteristics.
Results: The results showed that p value for all W. O. M. E. N.’s characteristics in association with Maharashtra and India values was found to be highly significant.
Conclusions: the 904 (19.2%) women in Maharashtra said that beating was justified when wife goes out without telling the husband, whereas compared to India statistics, 28002 (23.8%) women feel the same. In a study by Jeyaseelan et al a cross-sectional study was conducted on 9938 women surveyed, 26% reported experiencing spousal physical violence during the lifetime of their marriage
Keywords: NFHS-4, Women health, Women empowerment
INTRODUCTION
‘Women rights’ is a contentious social issue even when humanity has crossed the threshold of the 21st century. Enough ink is spilt on voicing the issues related to women from different quarters of life, but the road to real freedom for women seems to be still far-fetched.
NFHS (National family health survey) is a survey conducted by IIPS (Indian Institute for Population Studies) to understand health and wellbeing of families as unit. Survey provides state and national information for India on fertility, infant and child mortality, practice of family planning, maternal and child health, reproductive health, nutrition, anaemia, utilization, quality of health and family planning services.1
Many parameters pertaining women’s health such as; access to maternal care, women’s empowerment, and nutritional status still require further improvement.2
Domestic violence is one of the forms of violence against women. It refers to violence emanating from household and within relationships covered by familial or emotional (former/present) attachment. It covers physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in domestic sphere.3
The global health burden from violence against women in reproductive age group is about 9.5 million disability adjusted life years (DALYs).4
One of the important obstacles in the prevention of violence against women is the lack of gender sensitive health research and reliable data on the magnitude of the problem and its consequences.5
The study has revealed that poor health status of women was also due to marriages at an early age, resulting in early age pregnancies and improper pregnancy spacing.6
W. O. M. E. N. are the basic parameters based on which a women’s status in the society depends. Her wellbeing shows us her health, her occupation and education help us understand how she gets treated in her family and her capability to take future life decisions. Her involvement in the family money, her income, shows her economic understanding. Her knowledge, on her reproductive and sexual health, on domestic abuse shows her awareness on these issues and reflects on her personal experiences as well.
Therefore, this study asses women empowerment based on the W. O. M. E. N. parameters and comparative analysis of Maharashtra state and national (India) data by NFHS-4 data. (National family health survey).
Objectives
The objective of the study was as follows: To asses women empowerment based on W. O. M. E. N. parameters in state of Maharashtra by NFHS-4 data, to asses women empowerment based on W. O. M. E. N. parameters in India by NFHS-4 data and to compare Maharashtra state assessment to national (India) assessment of women empowerment by NFHS-4 data.
METHODS
Study type
The study was of retrospective, descriptive study.
Study place
Data of India and Maharashtra obtained from NFHS-4 and analysed at MGM medical college and hospital, Kamothe.
Study period
Data of 2015-16 collected from NHFS-4 and analysed in 2021.
Inclusión criteria
Inclusion criteria included-NFHS-4 data of Maharashtra and India on Women’s w ellbeing: Haemoglobin, recent illness, parity, domestic violence from family or husband. NFHS-4 data of Maharashtra and India on women’s occupation: Employed or not. NFHS-4 data of Maharashtra and India on women’s money: Salary (if employed). NFHS-4 data of Maharashtra and India on women’s education: educated till: Primary education, Secondary education, graduation, post-graduation. NFHS-4 data of Maharashtra and India on w omen’s knowledge: Knowledge on menstrual hygiene and reproductive health, knowledge on domestic violence.
Exclusion criteria
NFHS-4 data of other states of India, other NFHS data were excluded from the study.
Data collection tool
Data of NFHS-4 will be obtained from DHS.
Ethical approval
The study proceeded only with ethical approval from ethical committee of MGM medical college.
Data analysis plans and methods
Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS version 24.0. Content analysis will be done for qualitative data.
Amendment of protocol
No change in study procedure affected without mutual agreement of investigator, guide and ethical committee.
Confidentiality
The identity of the participating mother generated in the study was not be disclosed. The remaining data was available only to the investigator involved in the study and to the regulatory authorities.
Break in the confidentiality was possible only after detail review by the investigator and with the permission of the ethical committee. Information to be disclosed to the concerned person/authority under special circumstances like severe unreported untoward reactions.
RESULTS
Wellbeing
Wellness parameter involved physical abuse faced by the women and anemia assessment. Women in Maharashtra (29%) and India (29.2%) felt that beating from husband or family is justified if wide neglects the children and it was found to be highly statistically significant. Severe anemia in Maharashtra (0.7%) and India (1%) moderate anemia was seen in Maharashtra (10.2%) and India (12.2%) was seen respectively and it was also found to be statistically highly significant.
Occupation
In Maharashtra (60.4%) and India (70%) women were not in work force i.e., maximum women and 18.7% of women in Maharashtra were into agricultural labour, the values of occupational association were also found of be highly significant.
Money
As per the wealth index, 40.9% women were in the lower class in India but, 47.1% women were in the upper class in Maharashtra. The association of wealth index in Maharashtra and India data was found to be highly significant.
Education
Majority of the women, 58.8% from Maharashtra and 47.4% women from India had completed secondary education and the association found between education and Maharashtra and India data was found to be highly significant.
Knowledge
Knowledge of the women was judged on knowledge on ovulatory cycle reasons for hysterectomy performed and contraception used and intention of use. 49% women from Maharashtra stated that they used modern method of contraception and 21.8% women from Maharashtra and 33.3% women from India stated that they did not intend to use contraception.
32.8% women from India said that they feel their ovulation occurs immediately after her periods, where as 30% women from Maharashtra stated that they felt their ovulation occurs anytime. The association of the knowledge parameter with Maharashtra and India data was highly significant.
DISCUSSION
The following study shed light on the condition of women in Maharashtra and India from NFHS-4 data conducted in 2015-2016.All NFHS surveys have been conducted under the stewardship of the ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW), government of India.
NFHS-4 was designed to provide information on sexual behaviour; husband’s background and women’s work; HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour; and domestic violence only at the state level (in the state module), while most indicators in the district module are reported at the district level.
A subsample of 15 percent of households was selected for the implementation of the state module, in addition to the district module.
Wellbeing
The 904 (19.2%) women in Maharashtra said that beating was justified when wife goes out without telling the husband, whereas compared to India statistics, 28002 (23.8%) women feel the same. In a study by Jeyaseelan et al a cross-sectional study was conducted on 9938 women surveyed, 26% reported experiencing spousal physical violence during the lifetime of their marriage.7
Occupation
The 2845 (60.4%) of women in Maharashtra mentioned that they are no included in the work force, comparatively, 82293 (70%) women said the same. In a study by Babu et al stated that majority of women participants were house- wives. With regard to income, majority participants possessed monthly family income of less than INR 2000 (@US$ 40).8
Money
The 8452 (28.7%) women in Maharashtra, stated that they come under lower class, and 274263 (40.9%) in India, women stated the same.
Education
The 4671 (15.9%) women in Maharashtra, had no education, similarly 191885 (28.6%) had no education in India.
Knowledge
The 479 (69.3%) women stated that their reason for performing hysterectomy was excessive menstrual bleeding or pain, similarly in India 9294 (53.2%) stated the same.
Women and girls face barriers and disadvantages in every sector in which we work. Around the world 62 million girls are not in school. Globally, 1 in 3 women will experience gender-based violence in her lifetime. In the developing world, 1 in 7 girls is married before her 15th birthday, with some child brides as young as 8 or 9. Each year more than 287,000 women, 99 percent of them in developing countries, die from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. While women make up more than 40 percent of the agriculture labour force only 3 to 20 percent are landholders.
Limitations
The limitation of the study is that when the study was initiated, NFHS-5 data was not available therefore, a new study can be initiated on similar guidelines for analysis of NFHS-5 data.
CONCLUSION
The findings showed that more than 50% women were not having any occupation, resulting in house work. The percentage of women without education also is alarming as education of girl child has been promoted extensively by the government of India. From this study it can be concluded that W. O. M. E. N. criteria can be successfully used to analyse the general health amongst women and their social well-being combined.
Funding: No funding sources
Conflict of interest: None declared
Ethical approval: The study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee
REFERENCES
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- 7. Jeyaseelan L, Kumar S, Neelakantan N, Peedicayil A, Pillai R, Duvvury N. Physical spousal violence against women in India: some risk factors. J Biosocial Sci. 2007;39(5):657.
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APPENDIX
