2. 18-2
Women’s Health & Women’s Status
Women’s health (or ill-health) is directly related to her status in society. Women’s poor status in society is
reflected in her poor health. We cannot expect to help women get better health unless we can understand
and do something about lifting her status too. Gender and gender differences (dividing work based on
ideas about what is a man’s role and what is a woman’s role) influence health of women. We should
understand these concepots well so that along with other women we are able to make a lasting change.
“Sex” is different from “Gender”
Sex is the bodily difference between man and Gender: Society dumps all men and
woman. Women alone can bear children and women into two groups of males and
men cannot. Men have beards, women do not. females. From males, they expect a
The body structure of men is different from certain behaviour and males are given
women. Their voice is also very different from certain roles. Similarly, society expects
women. It is not always that some of these women to perform particular roles and
male features hold good. Like sometimes behave in certain ways that “befits” a
even men have a thin voice sounding like a woman. So, girls are not expected to
woman. But this is rare and usually men have drive a motorcycle or do well in
thicker voices than women. Men are mathematics. Men cannot raise
muscular, women are not . Various hormones children or cook food. Men fight in the
that flow in the body of men and women army and they fly aeroplanes. Women
cause these differences. While “sex” is the are the nurses in the hospital that look
actual bodily difference between men and after these men who fight or fly. Men
women, gender is something else. are the ones who plough the fields, and
women are the ones who pluck out the
weeds.
Sex
is Physical Difference
between Man &
Woman
and
Gender
is role difference
between Male &
Female
4. 18-4
Men make rules …. Women quietly follow ! Men have ruled and
made the rules!
Men have ruled the world and most rules in society have been
made by them. They made rules that were in their favor and
many of these rules were against women.
Let us look at some of the rules made by man and how they
affect the health of women (apart from affecting many other
areas of women’s lives).
a. “Only a man’s work is work”
From dawn till night a woman’s work never ends. She works in the
field, looks after the children, cooks, cleans, washes, weaves, fetches
water, collects firewood and does a hundred other backbreaking
tasks. Yet when you ask a man “what does your wife do?”, there is
every chance that he will say “Nothing”. Not only that, you ask a
woman “What do you do?” and there is every chance that she too
will say “Nothing”.
Woman’s role as producers and rearers of children (and of work
force) is not considered work or as an economic contribution. It
holds no value and in society’s way of thinking, the person
producing such valueless work is also of no value !
b. “Men work harder c. “Men should take care of
and so they need more their health as they bring in the
food”. money”
It is accepted that ‘women When we look at OPD or hospital
cannot eat as much as men’ records, about two thirds of all
that women end up eating admissions are of men. From a young
much less than what they age, girls are taught that to sacrifice
need. Pregnant women and ‘not to create a bother’ is the way
require more food than men they are supposed to behave. Women
working in the fields and are not supposed to “make a fuss”
when they are breastfeeding and so they get to the hospital only
a child., the need double the when they cannot work or walk any
food men eat. longer!
Because women do not get It is no wonder that in countries like India, out of one
enough nutrition, almost thousand women who give birth, about 55 women die in the
seventy percent of all women in process. Compare this to many countries of Europe where
India are found to have out of 1 lakh (one hundred thousand) women who give birth,
anaemia when their blood is only two may die.
tested !
d. “Only men know how to control the resources”
Most property and other productive resources are controlled by men and they pass from one man
to another, usually from father to son. Even where women have legal rights over property,
emotional pressures, social sanctions and sometimes, plain violence prevents them from having
actual control over it. Not only do women not have control over property but most times, they
have no control over the husband’s income. It is the man who ends up deciding what to spend on,
where to spend and when to spend. If a woman is sick, she has no power to decide whether she
can get treatment or not. Even if she would like to get treatment, she has no control over the
resources by which she can buy treatment. Unless the man decides that she needs treatment and
is willing to spend to get her treated, women most often do not have the power to decide.
5. 18-5
No control in most ways Do more and get less !
Years and years Women are half the They do three fourths
of the same world’s population of the world’s work
rules... Everyone
has accepted it
and no one wants Work
to question it. Men Women done
50% 50% by
The result ? women
Women have no
control over the
work they are expected to do,
over the money they are sup-
posed to get or over the re- They earn only ... and they own only one
sources that should be theirs. 1/10th of the hundreth of the
Women have no control over world’s income world’s property !
where they want to go and when
they want to go. Not only that,
they do not even have control
over their own bodies. It is not
in their hands to decide when
they want children, how many
chldren they want or if they even
want children at all or not!
Other things that go in to make women more ill
* Bad communication: Then, even if women want to seek help if they are sick, bad
communication makes it difficult for them to do so. Most of our areas in the northeast are
remote and poorly connected to medical and other facilities. Women, being less mobile suffer
the most in these cases. They have to think ten times before seeking treatment and by the time
they do so, they have to suffer more and the cost of treatment becomes unaffordable.
* Bad Sanitation: The state of our * Violence & Insecurity : In the
sanitation facilities in the rural atmosphere of violence and
area is very poor. Most insecurity that surrounds us in the
households do not have proper region, it is again the health of
latrines or bathing facilities. women that suffers the most.
Women’s hygiene suffers the most Violence and militancy has caused
in such cases, as they are unable the collapse of the health care
to wash themselves properly. As system in most places and women
a result, constant attacks of are unable to access it close to their
Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) houses. The mental health of
and Reproductive Tract women too suffers greatly as they
Infections (RTIs) are common. have to bear a greater mental burden
The health and well being of in times of turmoil and tension.
women suffer greatly in this case.
Women get caught in a vicious cycle of malnourishment and illness.
Thus, women have to carry greater emotional and physical burdens thoughout their lives.
6. l8-7
Numbers also tell us of the position of women
1. Sex ratio
Sex ratio tells us the number of women there are to every thousand men in society.
This is a very important indicator as girl babies are known to be biologically stronger than
boy babies. More boys than girls die before they are 6 months old. But after that, the
picture reverses : there are more men than women. Look at the figures below. Where have
all the women gone? What has happened to them?
Sex ratio (female per 1,000 males) : 1901-2001
India/ State/ Census year
Union
territory * 1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001
INDIA 972 964 955 950 945 946 941 930 934 927 933
Arunachal NA NA NA NA NA NA 894 861 862 859 901
Nagaland 973 993 992 997 1,021 999 933 871 863 886 909
Manipur 1,037 1,029 1,041 1,065 1,055 1,036 1,015 980 971 958 978
Mizoram 1,113 1,120 1,109 1,102 1,069 1,041 1,009 946 919 921 938
Tripura 874 885 885 885 886 904 932 943 946 945 950
Meghalaya 1,036 1,013 1,000 971 966 949 937 942 954 955 975
Assam 919 915 896 874 875 868 869 896 910 923 932
Sikkim 916 951 970 967 920 907 904 863 835 878 875
2. Literacy level of women
In almost all societies, greater impor- Percentage of Literacy among women
tance is given to men getting knowl-
% of Literacy in the northeast
edge. With knowledge, men can ac-
Place Total % Literate Men Literate Women
cess the outside world much more
India 65.38 75.96 54.28
than women. They make decisions
Arunachal 54.74 64.07 44.24
and they are the ones who lead.
Nagaland 67.11 71.77 61.92
Manipur 68.87 77.87 59.7
Without formal literacy, women get Mizoram 88.49 90.69 86.13
shut off to information and ideas that Tripura 73.66 81.47 65.41
can help better their lives. They con- Meghalaya 63.31 66.14 60.44
tinue to live as they have lived, with Assam 64.28 71.98 56.03
no progress and no improvement. Sikkim 69.68 76.73 61.46
Women MUST and CAN
change written rules....
And take charge of their lives
and their selves.
