The Health Status of Women in Indian Society

Abstract

Though every society claims to have accorded high status to women, yet the reality is quite contrary. Women in general play a pivotal role in the society. They provide services without any remuneration and reward; yet they are regarded as a source of misery and a dependent category on the male members of their families. The traditional belief has always been that they are supposed to move and work within the periphery of their homes. Culturally construed traditional image of the wife is to bear and rear children. Thus, their status is considered to be subjugated and dependent. This article uses Scale of Change theory as a framework to guide global health researchers to synergistically target women's health outcomes in the context of improving their right to freedom, equity, and equality of opportunities. We hypothesize that health researchers can do so through six action strategies. These strategies include (1) becoming fully informed of women's human rights directives to integrate them into research, (2) mainstreaming gender in the research, (3) using the expertise of grass roots women's organizations in the setting, (4) showcasing women's equity and equality in the organizational infrastructure, (5) disseminating research findings to policymakers in the study locale to influence health priorities, and (6) publicizing the social conditions that are linked to women's diseases. Our intent is to offer a feasible approach to health researchers who, conceptually, may link women's health to social and cultural conditions but are looking for practical implementation strategies to examine a women's health issue through the lens of their human rights.