EMPOWERMENT OF LOW INCOME, MOTHERS OR PREGNANT WOMEN THROUGH
SOCIAL SUPPORT NETWORKS: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
The empowerment of women has been defined by Lapierre, Perreault and Goulet (1995) who characterize women's empowerment as the extent to which women have the power to get their physical, psychoemotional and psychosocial needs met. Over the years there has been a good deal of research that has examined for factors that assist the empowerment of women in general. One of the factors that has been found to be empowering is a woman's social support network defined as the number of one's family members, friends and relatives available and able to provide emotional support (Sue, Sue & Sue, 1994).
Regarding social support networks and female empowerment, several findings have been observed. For example, social support networks have been found to empower women by strengthening their psychological and/or psychoemotional status (Sue, Sue & Sue, 1994).
Also, social support networks have been found to be help women meet various needs consequent upon their making certain developmental role transitions such as entering middle or late adulthood, getting divorced, etc. (Arber & Ginn, 1995). In addition, social support networks have been found to empower women to more fully socialize within their communities and so more fully meet their psychosocial needs (Suitor & Keeton, 1997).
There is, however, some limitation on the effects of social support networks. In this regard, Goodman and Johnson (1996) found that the effect may disappear for samples of seriously disturbed women. This was observed by the authors in their study of social supports and the psychological function of emotionally disturbed and "normal" women.
What can be noted here is that in most of the studies conducted on women's empowerment and social support, researchers used samples utilized women from various socioeconomic backgrounds as part of t...