Women's Health: Fifty Years of Independence

Abstract

Women's health is an outcome of their social existence. The Indian women, though they had participated overwhelmingly in the National Freedom Movement, suffered since various aspects of their lives including health were under the control of the patriarchal social norms. The discourses on women's health revolved around biological reproduction; and successful biological reproduction meant a son by a 'pure' mother. This was the fulfilment of any man's existence and the ideological justification of man's control over women (l). Similarly, in the history of health services in Independent India, the health of women has been perceived by the planners primarily in the context of 'motherhood'.