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Health
and the Status of Women in Manipur
By Dr. Suresh Laishram
The status of women in a society is a significant reflection of the level of social justice in that society, and the nature of their participation in the process of development is the key to how a society can reach the goal of development. Women make up half of
the world’s human resources, where they are trapped in
a cycle of poverty and ill health; their potential contribution to development is unrealized. Wherever they are
bypassed by education and technological advances and isolated from the mainstream
community action, development is progressing at half stream. Where there are inequalities between women and men, true development is not being achieved.
The status of women is a complex matter, and it is often described in terms of
the level of women’s income, employment, education, health and fertility as well as the
role played within the family, in the society and community, as compared with those of men. It also involves how these roles are perceived or valued by society. What women do- their contribution to the family income, household maintenance, community organization and development, their roles in bearing and rearing of children and in family functioning, their work in agriculture and trade or industrial production, in political movements, government administration or affairs of the state – is affected by and has an effect on the women’s movement for any development.
What women think and how they feel about themselves, including their personal satisfaction and fulfillments have importance in the empowerment of women in the society for any development. It is within this context that the equitable participation of women in development has to be seen, and that society’s responsibilities to support their participation have to be defined, so that women can contribute without detriment to their own society for any development or women’s movements for their society
toward developments, and to oppose any social
discrimination and injustice and in so doing fully realize their potential.
This paper attempts to review some of the issues
of women in Manipur involved in the inter-relationship between the status of Manipur women and their movement in the 21st century. It is also intended to be a short reference for those working
for the upliftment of the status of women and to achieve the goals of
women which have been in the pipeline for
decades –i.e., equality, development, and peace. The purpose is to increase awareness of and
provide information about the scope and priorities involved.
To describe the status of Manipuri women is a complex matter. What we see in
the day-to-day life and that in the ground reality have a wide gap. The status of Manipuri women has to be seen within the overall context of development. The state continues to be socio-economically backward, with 34 percent of the people living below
the poverty line. Literacy rates in the state however are higher than the
national average where literacy rate per 1,000 were 716 for male and 476 for
female respectively in the 1991 census. The per capita annual income is Rs.3, 502 against the all India Figure of Rs.10,500.
About 20 percent of the urban population live in slums, while the labor force participation rates for women are higher compared to many other parts of India (31.1 and 29 for rural and urban respectively, the rate of men are low (48.9 for rural and 45.6 for the urban respectively. * (A situation analysis of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and responses in the state of Manipur, AUSAID, page no. 20) only 80,000 are employed in the organized sector with half in the public
sector. This indicates that most of the employed population is in the poorly paid informal sector. Unemployment rates are very high especially among the young.
Although there is no universal “status of women” there are various trends, which show that similar patterns, along with similar problems, do emerge throughout the world. In a variety of ways, the prevailing
pattern of development in Manipur tend to preclude the full or effective participation of women. The low profile
accorded to the work and role of Manipuri women is manifested in the inadequate attention given to
the provision of services that includes rural co-operatives, credit, health care, education and technology that would make women's tasks less burdensome and increase their productivity. The state is economically very
much backward in comparison to national per capita income. The development in Manipur is urban-biased; city life has brought additional problems to large numbers of women who fined themselves without support and in
a new situation of economic and social exploitation.
On the other hand, the migration of men to urban areas has left many women alone in rural areas, having to cope with increased work and home responsibilities. While the problems of unemployment in Manipur affect both sexes, women are usually more disadvantaged. Women in Manipur like other parts of the world
find themselves difficult to compete with men for better jobs, which is
much more affected among the poorer group. Maximum burden for the family is loaded to the women; this is clearly witnessed by the existing women's market
which has 60% of the women in the reproductive age
group. This is because 80% to 90% of the educated youths are unemployed and when they are married the females are at
risk at the reproductive age group to earn with small trades to support their family in
addition to their household activities.
When one simply sees the scenario of Imphal city, outsiders usually witness the women's market which they consider to be the biggest women's market in South-East Asia. They also assume that the Manipuri women are laborious and they have a high work culture. One will be very sorry to know that a high percentage of the women population is exploited by their male family members giving full responsibility to the women in supporting their families. This shows that the burden of women increases among the lower income group. This pattern of development both reflects and perpetuates the status of women in the negative side. In many areas they have also created a situation in which the status of women is even worse than in the past. Women are placed in a disadvantaged position by the problems of double dependence, economic marginalization, and discriminations and by the burdens of their multiple roles. The strategies for Human Rights defenders in their work vary from one area to another.
In Manipur every women representation of Meira Paibi (torch bearer) is made on the unique phenomenon of village women mobilizing in large numbers to protect the Human Rights violation
occurring and lobby with the authorities for redress
where thousands of women would gather if someone had been beaten, tortured, sexually
abused, killed or disappeared, if a cordon and search operation were to take place by
the state or Indian security forces. It is a sustained
but spontaneous response to the widespread Human Rights violation. They kept vigil all night by gathering at street corners in all seasons and
intervene in cordon and search operations that usually took place at night. They are unarmed and nonviolent (Amnesty International, April 200. Al index ASA 04/01/00). This cannot be treated as awareness to the International Human Rights declaration but from the continuous trends of traditional women’s movements like the Nupi Lal of 1904 and 1939 during the British rule.
The prevailing women’s movements of Meira Paibi (Torch Bearer) give major impact in the Manipur society in controlling the addiction to drugs among the
youth and to resist Human Rights abuse by the Indian and state forces and also for other related
to social injustice. We all witnessed the massive women’s movement in Manipur in the 21st century in many aspects but with less fruitful result. They are always trapped in the political wheels for the gain of the political
opportunism and opportunist women leaders. They need perfect women leaders to lead them to the right tract for women’s empowerments for their development. The literacy rate of Manipuri women is lower in comparison to men and the existing low quality education system hampered the empowerment of the women to raise their status. As far as schooling is concerned, girls have benefited less than boys, due to discrimination at both family and social systems.
Changing economic, social situations and armed conflicts have an enormous impact on the structure and functions with concomitant changes of the role of women in the society. Women’s lives are becoming more difficult, and their responsibility in the family and in the society more demanding. An increasing number of Manipuri women are being left alone to provide for the household, with
meager means. In addition, rising rates of male unemployment may
mean a great reliance on the income of women, who had been employed in different areas or at lower levels to play. But we are proud of our women for their sacrifices and their role in the social movements with their entire family burden for social justice in the society as a Human Rights Defender and in the development of the state to reach the goal of development.
In general, the scarcity of information on
women's status reflects the bias of state priorities in collection and use of data for state programs of development. Pertinent dimensions of women‘s lives tend to be excluded, underreported, or underestimated as parameters, e.g. information on family life or income activities.
Within the health context, information on women is unsatisfactory from many points of view. Health statistics in general are poor, resulting in a lack of reliable state data on which to base an adequate state analysis of health status. It is being increasingly realized that the collection of data on fertility, mortality (death) and morbidity (sickness) has to be supplemented by another health indicators reflecting more positive aspect of health. There is a need to develop more appropriate indicators of women’s health, and to give higher priorities to the collection of sex-specific statistics, especially in those areas where the problems are greatest. More attention needs to be given to female-specific morbidity, including the impact of nutrition preferences, stress and fatigue on women ‘s health, anemia, infection, etc.
Health and development are well recognized to be interrelated: where there is poverty, an adverse environment and lack of health care, health is difficult to achieve. In most parts of the world, women’s low social status put them at an initial disadvantage all their other problems. The status of women and women status are closely co-related. Various measures of infant and child mortality rate indicate that reproductive and child health continues to be poor in the state. Manipur has an infant mortality rate of 42.4 per 1000 live births and under five-mortality rate of 61.7 per 1000. These rates are much higher in comparison to that of the neighboring sate of Mizoram where the rates are 87 and 134 per 1000 respectively for rural and urban. This shows that the health status of Manipur women is lower than that of Mizoram. In most all countries maternal causes are among the five leading causes of death for women aged 15-44; in countries that have well developed health care systems and where the maternal mortality rate is well documented, this rate is of the magnitude of 5-30 per 1000 live births. Rate of over 1000 per 100,000 have3 been reported in parts of Africa. * Health and status of women, WHO, Division of Family Health, 1980, Geneva.
The biological and social realities of women’s reproductive role are central to their health and social status. The perception and value of this role in society (including the attitudes of both partners) determine how well women are able to fulfill it, and how well it complements the other aspects of their lives. The support of family, community and society are required. In Manipur responsibilities for the rearing of children and for the work in the home are not fairly shared by men and women, leaving women with greater loads of work and leaving many of the problems unsolved. The conflicts women face here in Manipur, especially those concerning single women with children and women who arte breast feeding and caring for young children while earning their living, reflect many of the problems of women’s status and health. The social value accorded to motherhood must be more than a romantic image. Social measures to support women through out the process are required, but these can only complement the support required within the family itself. The attitudes and roles of men will be change, if they are to assume their full responsibilities in the workload within the household, in family planning, and in the parents’ caring and providing functions. Women’s role in reproduction, production and development in general are not incompatible. But, without changes in roles and attitudes, women will continue to face difficulties in carrying out their roles and achieving personal satisfaction and fulfillment as individual human being. Especial measures need to be made to ensure that necessary measures are made available to all women.
Moreover, this measure will be inadequate unless they are developed as part of broader policies and programs to improve the status of women or to restructure the social systems to facilitate an equitable distribution of economic resources and political power. These issues related to the sharing of responsibilities and social support for reproduction are important elements for women and health, and emphasizes the need to focus on equity as a goal of development. They imply more than equality between women and m3en, and involve fundamental changes throughout society – in the family, the community and state development strategies.
Health is an essential part of development: it both contributes to and results from economic and social development, and to achieve “health for all” priority must be given to the women’s health. This priority is justified not only on the proportion of the total population comprised of women and the important of their individual health for development but also because women health is intimately tied with the health of the children and that of the family as a whole.
Life cycle:
The major needs and problems specific to women are related to the biological and psychosocial needs inherent in the process of growth, development and reproduction.
The stages of this process are all very closely interrelated, each stage building on the one before and influencing the next; the growth and development of one generation affect the next generation. For example, the evens at birth are largely determi8ned by the mother’s previous health status. Certain stages in this process are more critical, with great risks. Because of the special characteristics of the female reproductive process, women are, in health terms, considered vulnerable. This is to be noted that this area of reproduction, which is so specific to women health, cannot be looked at as a disease to be eradicated and the old disease-sickness models of medical services do not apply. It is the basis of human life.
CHILDHOOD
The nutritional and health equipments are the same in both the sexes; during infancy and childhood males and females require on a weight-for weight basis equal intakes of all nutrition’s. However, cultural norms and attitudes to girl in Manipur society result in parents having a preference for boys. In addition, such sex preference has implications for a couple’s decision concerning family size; couples who do not have a son are less willing to practice contraception. And for operative sterilization females are force or volunteered for sterilization.
The inequality in nutritional health attention during childhood, which may result from sex preference often, brings problems later in life. Without adequate supply of require correct nourishment the bones will not grow so long, strong or hard as they should; the pelvic bones will be smaller and may be deformed in shape, causing difficulties during child birth.
MENSTRUATION
Many taboos exist in connection with the menstrual cycle that both reflect and affect the status of Manipur women. Most of them are restrictive and at the least tend to inhibit women from assuming a full role in the family and in the society. In our society women during the menstrual period they are untouchable to male and to perform duty of kitchen. The commonest are related to beliefs that women are unclean, weaker or more emotional during the time of menstruation, resulting in the social; contact at these time.
So far as the physiological demand is concerned, menstruation increases the need for the dietary components essential to blood formation. So without adequate nutritional supplies, blood formation will be deficient and anemia will result.
ADOLESCENCE
Adolescence is a crucial time concerning the roles and status of women in society. Adolescents have great potential for adopting new attitudes towards the social and personal roles of women, and fore establishing equality in relationships between women and men.
Experience indicates that there is a marked increase in the number of unmarried teenagers seeking and obtaining illegal abortions. Although data are limited, there is concern that abortions performed on adolescents of very young age may lead to problems in later pregnancies. Further, because of special psychological and social characteristics of adolescents often have limited access to health care and family planning services.
MATERNAL NUTRITION, LACTATION AND CHILD REARING
The women’s nutritional requirements during pregnancy and lactation are considerable; in pregnancy there is mark increase of food supplements to cope the requirements. Malnutrition and anemia during pregnancy and lactation period are highly increasing due to socio-economic problems and also from the social systems like food taboos especially in the rural region.
Maternal malnutrition not only represents drain on the women herself, but also significantly increases the risk that the baby will have a low birth weight, which limits the infant’s chance of survival and its potential for healthy growth and development.
In the Manipur society the women continue their full work and activities during pregnancy until labor; and that after childbirth women tent to limit their duties for a short period of time only. In addition there are also food taboos restricting in a few food habits resume the household work along with less time to take rest. It is the children of these women who have the lowest prospect of health future.
The maternity and child health are closely related with the women status. The factors influencing the practice of breast-feeding are also the same. The interrelationship of infant and young children feeding and the status of women demonstrate the possible conflicts of women’s role as mother with their other role in the production, handling, preparation and serving of food within the Manipur society. Which demand so much of their time and energy, and highlights the importance of attitudes and structural support related to the process of reproduction? The problems women face in combining their reproductive role and their heavy domestic workload with their participation in economic activities outside the domestic sphere including that of social activist as Human Rights activist are cited as crucial for most women in Manipur .But, without changes in roles and attitudes , women will continue to face difficulties in carrying out their roles and achieving personal satisfaction and fulfillment as individual human beings and emphasize the need to focus on equity as a goal of development. They imply more than equality between women and men, and involve fundamental changes through out society- in family, the community and national development strategies.
**Manipur History Department, Seminar on Manipur women’s movement in the 20th century.26 and 27 March, 2002
(Courtesy:
The Imphal Free Press) |
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