PROBLEMS AND STRATEGIES REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

According to WHO reports , out of global burden of ill health, reproductive and sexual ill-health accounts for 20%for women and 14% for men.

1.family planning.the programme of family planning was initiated in 1951 to achieve total reproductive health. Main problem of India is its excess population which is directly connected with reproductive health.

2.maternal health. Early child bearing can have helth risk for women and their infants. A girl before 18years of age is not matured with respect to her reproductive system to bear a child. At least tow years gap is necessary before going for the second issue.

3.proper medical care. The WHO estimates that each year 358000 women die due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.99% of theses deaths occor in poorest countries of the world. Most of these deaths can be avoided with improving women's access to quality care from skilled medical professionals before, during and after pregnancy and child birth.

4.Awarness. Audio -visual and print media, government and and non-government agencies are creating awareness among people about reproductive health. Parents, close rei, friends ans teachers also have a mejor role in giving these information.

5.sex education. Sex education should be introduced and encouraged in schools to provide right information about myself and misconceptions about sex related issues.

6.Access to reproductive and sex helth. Family planning counseling, pre-natal care, safe delivery, post-natal care, appropriate treatment of infertit, prevention of about, treatment of sexually transmitted disease, responsible parents hood, service against HIV/AIDS, breast cancer should be made available.

7.Birth control device. Fertile couple and people of active sex life should know about available birth control device.

8. Prevention of sex abuse and sex related crime. These are social evils which can be controlled by proper law and order as well as pablic awareness. This will build up a reproductivity health society. 

9. Misuse of Amniocentesis. Amniocentesis is a method of sex determination of of fortus.chromosomal study of amniotic fluid cells can determine the sex of the foetus and also to identify any abnormality in number be choromosomes to detect any serious incurable congenital defect so that the foetus may be aborted. But, this technique is being used to kill normal female foetus.it is legally banned to avoid female foreticide.

10.RCH. improved programmes covering wider reproductive - related areas are currently in operation under the popular name 'Reproductive and child Health care (RCH) programmes. Creating awareness among people about various reproductive related aspects and providing facilities and support for building up a reproductivity health society are the major tasks under these programmes.

GENDER BASED DIVISION OF LABOUR IN FAMILY

Gender-based division of labour in the family

In a household or a family, men and women both work. But they do not do the work as they like. They do the work they are allotted to do on the basis of their gender. This sex-based allotment of work is called gender division of labour. Gender division of labour is based neither on capacity nor on rationality, but on age old practices and belief systems. When we claim that our society has advanced, that women have occupied several public spaces, that they are visible in almost all important fields like Board Rooms, space missions, and that they have emerged as political leaders in this country at village and the national levels (Palli to Parliament), let us ask ourselves if the gender division of labour in the family has been affected by these success stories?

In real life, the number of women joining the employment market has gone up. A large number of women have joined the workforce. But it has not relieved them from domestic work. They are now "doubly burdened". The situation of women doing white collar jobs is different from that of women who earn their daily wage. Millions of women struggle to perform their domestic chores while doing work outside home. This places a heavy burden on them.

Women's work at home is invisible. Shockingly, only paid or remunerated activities are defined as work. A woman who does the bulk of the work in the family is never paid. So, her contributions are never considered as work. Her economic contributions to the maintenance and development of the family and its members go unrecognised. Care has long been considered to be the 'natural' responsibility of women. Women's work within families is variously known as "domestic work", "reproductive labour", "carework" and "emotional labour". These works remain invisible, are under-recognized, undervalued and unremunerated. It is not taken into account in the National GDP Account or the census enumeration of work.

Thus, there are many areas of human activity which are excluded from economic measurement. The unpaid services include household maintenance, subsistence agriculture, voluntary work, family sustenance activities and reproductive work. All these are undertaken by women. A simple example given below can explain the difference between visible and invisible work:

The teacher here can also cite the example of recognized productive and unrecognized productive work of "pickle making". All over India, women at home make different kinds of pickle, which is a side dish and for some it becomes a principal dish. When this pickle is made by women as part of a cottage industry or S.H.G. endeavor and sold in the market, it acquires an economic value. Here the work becomes paid work. On the other hand, the pickle made by womenfolk for home consumption becomes a regular consumption item without monetary value and is unpaid, unrecognized and invisible.

As per the U.N. Report, 2020

On an average day, women globally spend about three times more hours on unpaid domestic and care work than men. This includes cooking, cleaning, fetching water and firewood and other non-market essential daily tasks within households. These works go unpaid.

GENDER PRACTICES IN FAMILY

Gendered practices in the family:

Men and women together constitute a family. Both contribute to its functioning and development. Thus, in a family, men and women complement and supplement each other. But does this really happen in our families? Even today, in many families, a woman's identity is derived from that of her father, and the father is recognised as the so-called head of the family.

Is it not a common practice noticed by all of us that when a child excels in any field, people ask who his/her father is and the child's identity is traced through his/her father?

But if the mother has established her identity through a job she does or by excelling in some field, then only we say the child's identity is derived from that of the mother.

• When a field or house or any property's ownership is traced, it is again through a male person. Women who do not earn an income own hardly any property.

Sons and daughters are nature's gifts to families. But often they are treated unequally. In many households, sons are regarded as more valuable than daughters. Accordingly, their birth is celebrated with more pomp and their needs are given priority over those of daughter. This makes boys more privileged in comparison to girls. While a son is given better educational opportunities, given better nutrition and access to health facilities, a daughter's access to such facilities is severely restricted. These lay the foundation for gender-based discrimination.

Similarly, the socialisation process varies for children on the basis of their gender. A daughter is taught to display some typical

traits like submissiveness, shyness, and is required to be less demanding, more empathetic and accommodating while a boy is taught to be smart, aggressive, and demanding. Family members insist on girls getting used to doing household chores and taking up sibling care responsibilities from their very childhood. During adulthood, daughters face many restrictions. The world shrinks for them while it expands for boys. The freedom and autonomy of daughters are severely curtailed and sons are allowed to enjoy more freedom and autonomy.

No doubt, today, the scenario is changing. Girls are enrolled in larger numbers in schools and colleges. They excel academically. This has no doubt changed family attitudes towards girls' education. In the urban-based affluent families, equality of opportunity in education, health services are increasingly enjoyed by girls. But in the rural, poverty-stricken families, many girls fail to complete their school education. The higher becomes the level of education; the lower becomes the share of girls in rural areas. Even if they get enrolled in schools and colleges, parents send them to the educational institutions run by the government where investment is almost zero. The girls still bear the burden of doing chores at home, which affects their academic performance while boys are allowed to go to better educational institutions and are totally freed from household responsibilities. Thus, families do not provide equal opportunities to boys and girls. This is a gender discriminatory practice.

Women provide food and comfort to all in the family as wives and mothers. As wives, women seem to sacrifice their own comforts and happiness. They eat after everyone else in the family have eaten and eat whatever little is left. They are the prime care givers in families. They render services like cooking meals, collecting fuel, water, taking care of children, husbands, elderly members and pets. They spend sleepless nights to tend members of the family when they fall ill.

Gender practices of our families have unequal expectations from men and women. Men are not expected to do the household chores even when they have free time. But, women are expected to do all household chores. We take them for granted. We hardly care for their wishes, aspirations and needs. Below are some situations which can make you realise the plight of women in your families and think of some small changes that can bring a difference to their situation.

There are four cakes and five members in a family. Who sacrifices her share? It is always the wife and the mother.

When, during a cele- bration, men enjoy them- selves talking, sitting together, playing cards, where do you find the woman of the family? - She heads for the kitchen to feed everybody.

Imagine the lunch and the dinner time. While every-

Just think what the following actions can do:

Can we not cut the four cakes into five pieces and share them with our sisters, mothers and wives?

During a celebration, if we can share the respon sibilities, our mothers can also enjoy playing, singing and sitting with us..

If we can help our mothers with the cooking, chopping vegetables,

WOMEN'S AND FAMILY

Women and Family

A girl passes through her entire lifecycle within the framework of a family. She is conceived in the mother's womb; she arrives in a family as a baby girl, spends her childhood in the family, attains her adulthood after adolescence, reaches reproductive age and finally grows old. As an adult, she performs different roles like those of a daughter, sister, wife, mother, and grandmother. In each of these stages, she has to make well-defined and definite contributions to her family. She undertakes different responsibilities in these roles. In discharging these responsibilities, she faces restrictions and risks which are heavier than those facing her male counterparts. In this sub-unit, we will bring under discussion the plight of women in the family as they perform different roles and explain what should be our ethical responsibilities towards them.

PRE-NATAL SEX SELECTION

Pre-natal sex selection and women

Indian parents invariably have a son preference. Gradually, this mindset is changing with the spread of education, advocacies and campaigns promoted by the state and non-state actors. But this change is confined to the higher classes, educated families living in urban areas. Majority of the poverty-ridden families, who do not have education, awareness about the importance of girls and women in a society continue to believe that lineage is traced through males, a son is expected to perform certain last rites which daughters cannot, that a son (putra) saves his parents from the hell called "put". As for the daughters, they are considered "parayadhan"(property belonging to others). In short, daughters

are treated as liabilities while sons are looked upon as assets. These beliefs compel parents to opt for prenatal sex selection. The detection of a female foetus leads parents to kill it in the mother's womb itself. This results in a declining sex ratio in society. The 2011 census shows that there are 940 females per 1000 males in our country. It is alarmingly low in some states and Union Territories like Haryana (877), Delhi (866), Chandigarh (818), Dadra Nagar Haveli (775), Daman and Diu (618). In our own state Odisha, the districts like Nayagarh (916) and Khordha(925), Anugul (942) and Dhenkanal (947) also have a low sex ratio.

Similarly, many girls are thrown on river banks, into wells or left on streets after birth. Such painful incidents take place during their infancy (i.e. Between 0 to 5 years of age). These are more common in northern states such as UP, Bihar, MP, and Rajasthan. It is also a gender-selective killing.

The Present Scenario

The present scenario

Even now women throughout the world are still treated as unequal to men. But gender equality is vitally important for society. Realising this, social reformers tried to fight against many customary practices that undermined women's position in society. Developmental activists, the international community and national policy planners are trying to ensure equality to women in various spheres of life. Considerable progress has been made in this direction so far as education, access to health services and participation in the economy and polity are concerned. But this progress has not benefited all women. Still a major portion of the

Women, Social Institutions and Practices

women population and girls face inequality in their homes, communities, work places and in the larger society. They fail to enjoy their human rights and are denied privileges and opportunities available to men. They do not lead a life of dignity.

Women's position in society can be better understood through a "life cycle" approach. The" life cycle "approach simply means that a woman's lifespan comprises different stages. There are six definable stages through which every individual goes: the pre-natal stage, infancy, childhood, adolescence, reproductive age and old age. In each of these stages we find a few women enjoying some degree of equality with men. But biological differences between men and women make women lead a different type of life in each of these stages.

The chart below depicts the stages of life a woman passes

Even now women throughout the world are still treated as unequal to men. But gender equality is vitally important for society. Realising this, social reformers tried to fight against many customary practices that undermined women's position in society. Developmental activists, the international community and national policy planners are trying to ensure equality to women in various spheres of life. Considerable progress has been made in this direction so far as education, access to health services and participation in the economy and polity are concerned. But this progress has not benefited all women. Still a major portion of the

Women, Social Institutions and Practices

women population and girls face inequality in their homes, communities, work places and in the larger society. They fail to enjoy their human rights and are denied privileges and opportunities available to men. They do not lead a life of dignity.

Women's position in society can be better understood through a "life cycle" approach. The" life cycle "approach simply means that a woman's lifespan comprises different stages. There are six definable stages through which every individual goes: the pre-natal stage, infancy, childhood, adolescence, reproductive age and old age. In each of these stages we find a few women enjoying some degree of equality with men. But biological differences between men and women make women lead a different type of life in each of these stages.

The chart below depicts the stages of life a woman passesIn each of these stages, it is noted that boys and girls, men and women lead different types of lives and their experiences become diverse. Customary practices, age-old beliefs, unequal power relations, social institutions like family, marriage, property do not treat men and women, boys and girls equally. Different set of rules, different attitudes and behaviour patterns on the basis of sex create gender inequality in society.

If we want to change these practices, let us take up this module and find ways to get rid of them. In this module, we are going to look into how many of our gender practices are against human values, morality and ethics and what we can do to eradicate them. Let us hope that a new wave of consciousness will shape a new generation of girls and boys in these class rooms, who will respect one another and work together to protect the rights of all people.

1.1.3 Desirable gender-related values

In this module we will be talking about some desirable gender-related values like

Gender Justice

Gender equality

Dignity of women

Eradication of discrimination on the grounds of sex

Respecting and honouring the human rights of women Recognising and appreciating the contributions of women

Developing compassion, care and respect for women

Social and economic inclusion of women

GENDER EQUALITY AS AN ESSENTIAL PRECURSOR TO SOCIAL PROGRESS

Gender equality as an essential precursor to social progress:

Social progress is achieved when a society meets the basic human needs of its citizens, allows the members to enhance and sustain the quality of their lives, and creates the conditions for all individuals to realise their full potential. But no society can

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Women, Social Institutions and Practices

develop without improving the condition of women. Evidences show that societies with greater gender equality achieve higher levels of social and economic rights for all their members. To put it simply, gender equality impacts Human Development. Therefore, Mahatma Gandhi rightly said, "If you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate an entire family."Making women equal in all spheres would bring qualitative change in society. It improves people's health, raises the nutritional standards of the family, reduces child mortality and ensures better educational outcomes for the next generation. Gender equality is intimately related to sustainable development and economic progress. Women can also play a significant role in the conservation of natural resources, and combating climate change. Once they acquire knowledge and training, food, water and energy crisis can be dealt with more effectively. Women contribute equally to the economy. Gender equality can successfully reduce poverty. So, in order to achieve social progress we should make sure that "No one is left behind".