In the recent assembly elections, we were once again inundated with information about how much of a difference the women’s vote made to the outcome.

Introduction The Present e-rural camp was conducted under the Centre for Gender and Labour Studies for strengthening the skills of the p

“Women hold up half the sky”, the Chinese saying goes. But we need to recognize that it is not an equal world for women, globally and in India.

India is a signatory to the Alma Ata declaration and has committed herself to achieving "Health for All by the Year 2000". Since then, a lot of planning, effort and public expenditure has been devoted to improving the health of the people both in rural and urban areas of the country.

In recent years, there has been increased recognition of the scope and significance of gynaecological problems experienced by poor women in developing countries.

Acceptance and sustained use of family planning especially of modern spacing methods have generally been low in developing countries particularly in India. The use rate for modern spacing methods was only 6 per cent among the eligible couples in India in 1992 (IIPS, 1995).

This paper is divided into two parts.