ASHA between spaces of state, empowerment and culture: A thematic review
Vol.10,No.2(2019)
Through this article the role of state in providing “empowerment” and also “controlling” those women who are a common intersecting ground for both the health care service providers and service utilisers – the community health workers like Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) is highlighted. The article is a thematic review based on the role and status of ASHA as a site of neoliberal agency, a state employee under constant surveillance and a woman embedded in the structure of iron cage of bureaucracy. This creates an imaginary of the ASHA as a site of confluence as well as contest between an activist and an employee, providing for a stimulating locale for intersectionality between state, culture and gender. The article is based upon readings and reviews of some significant research conducted in role and status of community health workers around the world.
ASHA; globalisation; state; empowerment; gender
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