Annotated Source

A Community Health Programme in Rural Tamil Nadu, India: The Need for Gender Justice for Women

The article explores the work of Community Health and Development (CHAD). This group works to improve the status of women in rural communities of Tamil Nadu. Despite India's progress, Indian women still lag behind in rights and treatment. The birth ratio continues to decline, women receive little health care, education, and lower wages. Microcredit schemes that have significantly improved the situation of women in other areas has made little change in India. Their status as second class citizens makes a serious impact on the health care they receive. Despite CHAD's efforts, little has changed.

CHAD has worked in the area for fifty years and focuses on "care during pregnancy and delivery, contraception, education of girls, women's employment and empowerment". Analyzing their data has led them to the conclusion that their failure was not the fault of the program, but rather the result of the social structure. Maternal deaths and infant mortality have decreased (some). However, male infants have been almost the sole beneficiaries of these programs. Female infant mortality has changed very little in comparison. Female children continue to be brought to the hospital in much later stages of illness than males. This preferential treatment has not changed despite their work. 

These social inequalities run much deeper than I suspected. Mothers have been known to attempt commit suicide after failing to produce a male child. The female suicide rate is very high at 148 per 100,000 for ages 10-19 compared to men's 55 per 100,000. (Note: This is in sharp contrast to the United States where the male suicide rate is almost four times the female suicide rate.) Sexual violence is prevalent. Infertility too is often blamed on women. 

They conclude that the only way to improve the health of women is to confront gender issues openly. They have started including curriculum in schools addressing this issue. This curriculum seeks specifically towards changing men's attitudes about women. They know this will likely be a long endeavor. The government as well has joined the efforts, attempting to enact protective laws and include women voices in the government. 

This is the most relevant article I have read so far. I was surprised that microcredit seems to have made so little social change as my last source suggested that microcredit empowers women to have less children and seriously decreases the birthrate. Understanding the struggles that many groups have faced in improving women's health will be invaluable to my research.