Mobile Communication and Women Empowerment with Special Reference to Health Seeking Behavior

Empowerment of women is a major factor in the global scenario. Women empowerment is a process in which women are made independent and self-reliant, it involves upgrading the status of women in a society with involvement of decision making and right to make their own choices. Women empowerment boosts the status of women in a society through education, literacy and awareness. It creates awareness among women about the basic rights to live a life of well-being. Health is one such basic fundamental right entitled to every human being and empowerment of women helps in creating awareness about the importance of health among women. Health is also one of the important parameters that contribute to the measurement of overall development index of any nation. The aspect of health is ignored in most societies due to various reasons, and in such context women who are considered more vulnerable to health issues suffer the most. In this context the paper applies the method of focus group discussion to understand the need and importance of women empowerment in the area of health literacy. Apart from that the paper reflects on the role of mobile communication in empowering women about health and creating awareness about mental health issues, which is one of the most neglected health issues prevalent among women