INITIATIVE TO CURB GENDER BIAS
Corporators to learn why sex tests are bad ………Madhavi Rajadhyaksha I TNN
Mumbai: Elected representatives including corporators from 22 civic corporations in the state will soon get lessons in the ills of sex selective practices in an effort to curb the rapidly declining sex ratios.
The initiative will be undertaken by officials of the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) who emphasised the need for culture and gender-sensitive practices at the release of the State of the World Population Report 2008 on Wednesday.
The purpose is that corporators take the message that the girl child has a right to live back to their local areas. So, they can constitute sex selection committees to crack down on illegal practices, monitor ultrasonography clinics and run awareness campaigns, said Anuja Gulati of the UNFPA, which has tied up with the All India Institute for Local Self Governance for the training programme. For starters, corporators, mayors and deputy mayors from Ulhasnagar, Bhiwandi, Navi Mumbai and Mira-Bhayander corporations will undergo the training from Friday.
The preference for a boy has been a major failing of the Indian society, with only 934 girls born for every 1,000 boys born across the country.
A dose of cultural sensitivity in government policies and programmes is what the report stressed on. Admitting that we often fall short in tackling cultural biases, health and family welfare secretary Vandana Krishna cited how introduction of sex education in the mainstream curriculum had sparked vociferous protests from various quarters. She said women in several tribal settlements were still married at 15, three years before the legally permissible age, infertility was still taboo and it was culturally unacceptable for a youngster to remain unmarried. This is why condom vending machines have failed in many areas and why female contraceptive practices are preferred to male vasectomy procedures.
The government is working hard to fight these practices. Director of health services Dr P Doke told TOI that they were trying to mainstream gender training among doctors and nurses as well as integrate alternative medical practices such as ayurveda and homeopathy.
We have been working on a rape-testing protocol so as to sensitise hospital staffers and the police to tackle a rape case in a way that the accused is not exonerated for want of medical evidence, Doke said. The protocol will be pilot-run in four medical collegesSion Hospital, a government college in Pune, Thane and Kalwa district hospitals.
The state has introduced women volunteers in its rural health programme and is trying to rope in faith-based healers and spiritual leader to beat biases. They are also introducing counsellors within the health machinery.
GLOBAL PRACTICES INDIA COULD LEARN FROM
In Cambodia, Buddhist nuns and monks are prominent in the struggle against HIV/AIDS.
The ministry of womens empowerment in Indonesia worked with feminist Muslims and intellectuals to empower women, prevent violence and provide services for survivors through Islamic values. URL: http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA4LzExLzEzI0FyMDExMDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom
GLOBAL PRACTICES INDIA COULD LEARN FROM
In Brazil, the creation of special police stations for battered women staffed by women police officials increased the number of registered cases of violence against women.
In Cambodia, Buddhist nuns and monks are prominent in the struggle against HIV/AIDS.
To improve maternal mortality rates, the government of Ethiopia trained 2,800 women to become rural health extension workers.
The ministry of womens empowerment in Indonesia worked with feminist Muslims and intellectuals to empower women, prevent violence and provide services for survivors through Islamic values. URL: http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA4LzExLzEzI0FyMDExMDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom