Rural Women : Work and Health

Contents: Preface. Introduction. 1. Profile of the study area: Aligarh district. 2. Profile of the sampled women respondents from the rural areas. 3. Women\'s work in the rural areas. 4. Women\'s income in the rural areas. 5. Women\'s health in the rural areas. Conclusion. Appendices. Bibliography.

"The book-\'Rural Women : Work and Health\' deals with the issue of women\'s and health, the type of work women do in rural areas, the limited options available to them, their striving towards working the most of whatever exists and the effects of these on their family and health are the themes which is being considered here.

The book is mainly based on primary sources of data, which has been collected through survey of 75 selected villages. The data was collected on the basis of questionnaire interviews of women respondents. The total sample size consisted of 2238 women respondents.

An analysis of women\'s work in rural areas shows that they are performing two types of work i.e. unpaid and paid work. Under paid work comes the household work, agricultural work in their own fields and animal husbandry. Paid work includes work as agricultural laborers and work in the non-agricultural sectors both inside and outside their villages. The average contribution of women\'s income to the family income was 40%. Strong linkages between women\'s work and health was observed. The heavy work load related to energy expenditure and the intake of food naturally affects their health. They reported of suffering both from common illness (fever, cough/cold, diarrhoea/dysentery, worms, T.B., respiratory diseases, malaria, jaundice etc.) and women specific illness (anemia, PID, DUB, LBW, still births, abortions, infant morality, prolapsed etc.)

Women need empowerment, the quality of life of rural women could be improved if they are provided with education, employment and health facilities." (jacket)