GENDER%20AND%20HEALTH

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GENDER AND HEALTH

• Keerti Bhushan Pradhan
• keerti_at_aravind.org

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The Challenge

• The goal of achieving equality between
  women and men is based on principles of human
  rights and social justice. Empowerment of women
  is more over a prerequisite for achieving people
  centered development..The abolition of poverty
  can not be achieved until men and women have
  equal access to the resources and services
  necessary to achieve their individual potential
  and fulfil their obligations to household,
  community and, more broadly society..
• (UK White Paper on International Development,
  1997)

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Gender Definitions

• Gender refers to the socially defined roles and
  responsibilities of men, women and boys and
  girls. Male and female gender roles are learned
  from families and communities and vary by culture
  and generation
• Gender equality means the absence of
  discrimination, on the basis of a persons sex,
  in opportunities, in the allocation of resources
  or benefits or in access to services
• Gender equity means fairness and justice in the
  distribution of benefits and responsibilities
  between women and men and often requires
  women-specific projects and programmes to end
  existing inequities

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Global Magnitude

• 70 of the worlds 1.3 billion people living in
  poverty are women
• Women represent two thirds of the worlds 960
  million non-literate people
• In most developing countries, boys enrolment in
  school exceeds that of girls
• Approximately two thirds of the 130 million
  children of school age who do not or can not go
  to school are girls
• Globally, violence against women causes more
  deaths and disability among women aged 15 to 44
  than do cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war
• 2 million girls are at risk each year of female
  genital mutilation

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MMR-Countries

• Canada-6
• India-570
• Nigeria-1000
• South Africa-230
• (Data from World Health Report,1999)
• Women suffer a heavier burden of ill-health than
  men and greater attention must be paid to their
  health needs

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INDIA

• 927/1000 MEN (World Bank-1996)
• 12 MILLION GIRL BORN(1.5m die before first birth
  day, 1.5m die before fifth birthday
• 70 of Indian women suffer from anaemia
• 70-90 suffer from gynecological problems
• Mental illness31-41 (Womens health project
  1994)
• 96 of female workforce in informal sector

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Mothers Education-Impact

• A study of 45 developing countries found that the
  average mortality rate for children under 5 was
  144 per 1000 live births when their mothers had
  no education, 106 per 1000 when they had primary
  education only, and 68 per 1000 when they had
  some secondary education.
• (World Development Report 1998)

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Gender in the context of health

• Gender Inequality in relation to health
• Lower status/social value in the household
• Cultural factors such as lack of female health
  provider
• Being excluded from decision making on health
  actions and expenditure
• Lower literacy rates and reduced access to
  information
• High opportunity costs of womens labour time
  distance, waiting time etc.
• Social division of labour (women-informal care
  provider)
• Susceptibility and Treatment to infectious
  diseases-Malaria Tb. High
• Public health issues like violence, alcoholism,
  smoking and life style related problems

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Gender Equity

• Men and Women do not receive less or inferior
  treatment by virtue of their sex. But Women are
  less likely to go for the treatment..Wrong
  assumption that disease rates are lower among
  women
• Health needs which are specific to each gender
  receive appropriate resources. For example women
  and girls have reproductive health needs

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Gender and Health Financing

• Are women more disadvantaged by particular modes
  of payment (or are they better able to manage
  some modes over others)?
• Does cost recovery-particularly the levying of
  user charges at point of delivery-have an adverse
  impact on womens health?
• How do different types of cost recovery affect
  access to services by gender?

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Gender and Private Sector

• Very little information on the gender aspects of
  governments working with the private sector
• Contracting out services to the private/NGO
  sector-framework of incentives to address health
  needs of women and girls

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Gender Decentralization

• Effort to include the voice/participation of less
  powerful both women and poorest households in the
  process of decentralization in healthcare

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WHO Technical Paper 1998

• WHO Technical Paper on gender and health (1998)
  cites the main criticism of WID policies as being
  that they continue to define women themselves as
  the problem, who need welfare and special
  treatment if improvements in their circumstances
  are to be made.
• The underlying reasons of women are largely
  unexplored and no explanation is offered for the
  systematic devaluation of their work or the
  continuing constraints on their access to
  resources

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Gender-Perspective

• Gender equality is an issue of development
  effectiveness, not just a matter of political
  correctness or kindness to women.
• (World Bank 2002)

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• THANK YOU