Drudgery of hill women in uttarakhand

                         Status of Hill Women in Uttarakhand

This article is written by Dr.Deepak Paliwal on 12/03/2010. Uttarakhand, which was created on 9th November 2009 is known for his natural beauty and rich cultural heritage.Women which is considered as the backbone of the state are fighting for their existence. Life of women is full of hard work, pain and drudgery. Women in hill wake up early in the morning and work till night without getting a time for herself.Her duty start with house hold work then trudgery long distance for collecting water and then collecting fooder and fuel.Lack of Medical facility, superstitious believe and traditional practices keep women catch up in their own life.Lots of NGO are working in the rural areas for women upliftment and gender equality issues but no positive result have been so far.In India, nearly 3/4 of all births take place at home and 2/3 of all births are not attended by medical personnel. The result of ill health and unsanitary conditions in motherhood is sometimes death. Less than half of pregnant women (44%) in Uttarakhand have received at least one antenatal check up compared with 65% in India as whole. The percentage of pregnant women who received at least three antenatal check ups is as low as 18%. In general, utilization of antenatal services is lower among illiterate mothers and among those from household with a lower standard of living. In Uttarakhand, more than 82 % of deliveries occur at home in rural areas: more than half of these get assistance from dais. Only one of seven births that occur outside a medical facility receives a postpartum check-up within two months of delivery. Facilities available for emergency obstetric care are grossly inadequate in the rural hill area. They have more faith in dais instead of doctor one of the important reason behind this is low level of awareness and unwillingness of doctor to visit rural hill area. Nutritional deficiency is more prevalent among rural, illiterate women and women belonging to households with a low a standard of living. About 46 % of the women in Uttarakhand are anemic compared with 52 % for India as a whole far only the physical stress associated with motherhood has drawn attention of health planners.Special measures will be taken to eliminate discrimination, universalize education, eradicate illiteracy, create a gender-sensitive educational system, increase enrolment and retention rates of girls and improve the quality of education to facilitate life-long learning as well as development of occupational/vocational/technical skills among women. To be able to grow into active, skilled and confident women, who can realize her potential, girl must be brought up in an environment of dignity and opportunity.