Abstract

Empowerment of women is considered important for building a knowledge-driven society, as it significantly contributes to the well-being of individual families and has a positive impact on society and the nation at large. The study explores the effect of health and maternity schemes on the social empowerment of women beneficiaries in the State of Goa. It assesses how the government initiatives bring about positive changes in the decision-making, personal independence, social status and security of women beneficiaries. An empirical approach was adopted and a sample size of 300 women beneficiaries was considered using the stratified and snowball sampling methods. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) using Smart PLS 4 were adopted for data analysis to identify the relationship between health schemes and social empowerment leading to overall women empowerment. The findings highlight that women beneficiaries have improved health outcomes along with greater confidence, autonomy and recognition in society, especially the marginalised. The need for continued strategy support and targeted outreach to maximise the empowering potential of health schemes among women, to bring about inclusive development, growth and gender parity in regional contexts is emphasised in the study.