Patriarchy and the Pandemic: Housework Allocation Among Dual-Earner Urban Couples in India

High frequency of low birth weight (LBW) is observed in rural compared with urban Indian women. Since maternal BMI is known to be associated with pregnancy outcomes, the present study aimed to investigate factors associated with BMI in early pregnancy of urban and rural South Indian women. Prospective observational cohort. A hospital-based study conducted at an urban and a rural health centre in Karnataka State. Pregnant women (n 843) aged 18-40 years recruited in early pregnancy from whom detailed sociodemographic, environmental, anthropometric and dietary intake information was collected. A high proportion of low BMI (32 v. 26 %, P<0·000) and anaemia (48 v. 23 %, P<0·000) was observed in the rural v. the urban cohort. Rural women were younger, had lower body weight, tended to be shorter and less educated. They lived in poor housing conditions, had less access to piped water and good sanitation, used unrefined fuel for cooking and had lower standard of living score. The age (β=0·21, 95 % CI 0·14, 0·29), education level of their spouse (β=1·36, 95 % CI 0·71, 2·71) and fat intake (β=1·24, 95 % CI 0·20, 2·28) were positively associated with BMI in urban women. Our findings indicate that risk factors associated with BMI in early pregnancy are different in rural and urban settings. It is important to study population-specific risk factors in relation to perinatal health.

Many women of reproductive age from developing countries have poor nutritional status, and the prevalence of depression during pregnancy is high. The objective of the present study was to assess the prevalence of antenatal depressive symptoms in early pregnancy, and to identify the demographic and nutritional factors associated with these symptoms in a sample of urban South Indian pregnant women. This cross-sectional study was the baseline assessment of a prospective randomized controlled trial of vitamin B12 supplementation in urban pregnant south Indian women between the ages of 18 and 40years ( www.clinicaltrials.gov : NCT00641862). 365 women in their first trimester of pregnancy were screened for depressive symptoms at an urban clinic in Karnataka, South India, using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10). Nutritional, clinical and biochemical factors were also assessed. Mean (SD) age of the cohort was 22.6 (3.7)years and mean (SD) BMI was 20.4 (3.3) kg/m(2). 121 (33%) of the women in the 1st trimester had symptoms consistent with depression (K-10 score >6). In multivariate log binomial regression analysis, presence of antenatal depressive symptoms in the first trimester were positively associated with vomiting, prevalence ratio (PR)=1.54 (95% CI 1.10, 2.16) and negatively with anemia, PR=0.67 (95% CI 0.47, 0.96). Nutrient intakes, serum vitamin B12, methylmalonic acid, homocysteine and red cell folate levels were not associated with measures of depression. Antenatal depressive symptoms in early pregnancy are highly prevalent in urban Indian women and are more common in women with vomiting and without anemia. In this cross-sectional data, blood concentrations of vitamin B12 and folate were not associated with depressive symptoms. The relationship between nutritional status and depressive symptoms may require larger and longitudinal studies.

Objective The study tried to analyze the efficacy of levonorgestrel intrauterine system (LNGIUS) for the treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding in the urban and suburban Indian women. Materials and methods The present study was conducted in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Vivekananda Institute of Medical Sciences, Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan, Kolkata, over a period of 1 year. A total of 20 patients suffering from abnormal uterine bleeding in the age group of 20 to 45 years were recruited in this study. The LNGIUS was inserted in all the women and they were followed up at the end of 3, 6, and 12 months. All subjects completed 1 year duration of follow-up. We used the Student’s paired t-test to evaluate the reduction in the menstrual blood loss, passage of clots, and increase in hemoglobin concentration at each point from the baseline. Results At the end of 6 months, most (90%) of the women had an acceptable bleeding, with 10% having amenorrhea (pictorial blood-loss assessment chart score 0). Statistically significant improvement in the hemoglobin level was observed at the end of 3, 6, and 12 months postinsertion. The level of satisfaction increased steadily with time. Conclusion Levonorgestrel intrauterine system is an effective reversible treatment for menorrhagia. Levonorgestrel intrauterine system can be used as an effective alternative to hysterectomy in the future in the urban and suburban affluent Indian women. How to cite this article Gupta A, Roychoudhury B, Sanyal P, Chowdhury B, Zoha MMS. A Study to Analyze the Efficacy of Levonorgestrel Intrauterine System in the Management of Abnormal Uterine Bleeding among Urban Indian Women. J South Asian Feder Menopause Soc 2017;5(1):19-22.

MotivationAlthough women continue to bear an unequal burden when it comes to unpaid housework and care work regardless of the level of economic progress, a systematic analysis of the gender gap in terms of the time allocated to these responsibilities has not been carried out in the context of India so far, primarily due to the lack of national‐level data.PurposeThis article measures how the burden of unpaid housework and care work is shared between men and women and investigates the factors associated with the allocation of time.Methods and approachWe use the first nationally representative Time Use Survey (2019) data of India and employ Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition analysis to explain the gender gap in unpaid housework and care work.FindingsAfter accounting for individual characteristics and household factors, the regression analysis shows that women spend a little over three hours more per day on unpaid housework and 20 minutes more on unpaid care work than men. The decomposition analysis reveals that the differences in socioeconomic and demographic factors between men and women only contribute a small part of the average gender gap in unpaid housework and care work. In other words, most of the gap in unpaid work at home between men and women in India can be attributed to structural factors, including inadequate infrastructural support and social programmes to alleviate the burden of housework and childcare, as well as the prevalence of unobserved gender norms and practices that pin the responsibility of unpaid housework and care work on women.Policy implicationsTo achieve equitable distribution of unpaid work between women and men, there is a need to provide more opportunities for women to participate in remunerative paid employment. Infrastructural support and policies that can reduce the burden of time spent by women in day‐to‐day unpaid housework and care activities are crucial to reduce the gender gap.

We need to make sure telecommuting does not exacerbate gender disparity

It is now well-accepted among policy makers that the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene is a basic human right. Yet, millions of people lack access to basic toilet facilities, which anecdotal evidence suggests may increase violence against women. We examine the relationship between the lack of toilet facilities in the Indian household on non-family violence (i.e. not family member) against Indian women. Using the latest 2005-2006 National Family Health Surveys (NFHS-3) data, we relate the lack of toilet facilities in Indian households (when members use bush or pit latrines to relieve themselves) to non-family violence against Indian women. Multilevel logistic regression results, using data from 60,847 Indian women, indicate that after controlling for economic prosperity and other covariates, lack of toilet facilities in the household is positively related to non-family violence against urban Indian women but not for rural Indian women. Further, this relationship is stronger for poor urban women. Additional analysis indicate that the findings are robust. The paper’s insights indicate that the lack of toilet facilities in households is a source of violence against urban Indian women. We offer policy recommendations to reduce non-family violence against urban Indian women.

SummaryMotivationUrbanization and the increasing number of double‐income households has led to a rise in demand for domestic workers in many African countries. With a population of over 75% people below 30 years of age, young people's unemployment is a major challenge for Uganda. Approximately 90% of young people work in the informal economy. Domestic workers' informal employment is unregulated and precarious.PurposeThe article examines the role of social and gender norms in voicing and formal reporting of sexual harassment. It demonstrates the intersecting risk factors that create exposure to sexual harassment, challenges relating to voicing, as well as how restrictive norms are reproduced by other actors.Methods and approachThe study adopted a qualitative research approach; desk review, qualitative, and visual methods. Primary data collection included safety audits and body mappings with groups of live‐in domestic workers and firm workers, and in‐depth individual interviews with domestic workers. Safety audits discussed forms of harassment and response mechanisms while the body mappings focused on language.FindingsIsolated working conditions increase the risk of experiencing sexual harassment and limit avenues for reporting. Social and gender norms undermine domestic workers' ability to report it formally. The culture of silence and notions of victim blaming, stigmatization, and lack of a language that raises matters of sexual harassment all hinder women's voice towards self‐care and justice. Social and gender norms contribute to the persistence of sexual harassment through its normalization.Policy implicationsDomestic work should legally be recognized as work and labour laws need to extend to domestic workers. Workplace sexual harassment policy needs to extend to all workspaces, regardless of the number of employees. Domestic workers need better access to information, co‐workers, and associations, for instance through information technology. Advocacy for the rights of domestic workers and network building are recommended.

PURPOSEThe 2018 WHO health workforce report analyzing gender equity in 104 countries reported that although women constituted 70% of the workers, they were less likely to be employed full-time and faced a 28% gender pay gap. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected professional as well as personal lives of physicians. We conducted a survey among Indian physicians to understand this impact.METHODSA 31-point anonymized survey to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown on physicians' domestic responsibilities was disseminated via e-mail and text messaging applications. Our aim was to evaluate whether the impact was gender-based and to look for differences in aspects of domestic work, childcare, and professional commitments.RESULTSWe obtained 1,041 responses, of which 643 identified themselves as men and 393 as women. An increase in the domestic responsibilities during the lockdown was confirmed by 90% of the women compared with 82% men. More women than men were solely responsible for domestic chores (38.7% v 23.7%), managed their children's education (74% v 31%), and felt an adverse impact of the pandemic on their professional work (60.8% v 42.6%). Fewer women's spouses (57/359) than men's (174/594, P = .00001) were forced to take leave or work reduced hours, and double the proportion of women (3.5% v 1.5%) had to quit their jobs to manage responsibilities at home.CONCLUSIONAs the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures threw newer challenges, more women physicians than men (81% v 63%) shouldered the burden of increased domestic work and childcare. This survey highlights the need to re-examine the specific challenges faced by women physicians and identify means to support and empower them.

The empowerment of women is of utmost importance; nonetheless, women frequently face role conflicts between their professional responsibilities and their domestic responsibilities. As a result of the demands of juggling professional commitments with unpaid domestic chores, women find themselves confronted with major mental health challenges. Women continue to fulfil the bulk of unpaid caregiving and home chores while also participating in the labor force, notwithstanding the progress that has been made in the area of gender equality. This review paper makes use of a process known as a systematic literature review in order to synthesize the most recent studies about the impact of work and unpaid domestic labor on the mental health to which women are exposed. According to research, the "double burden" that women experience as they attempt to balance the competing demands of their professional and family responsibilities is a factor that contributes to increased levels of stress, anxiety, burnout, and hopelessness. There are a number of factors that greatly contribute to the phenomenon of the double load. These factors include the unequal division of household responsibilities, the gender-role expectations of society, and the absence of employment laws such as paid family leave and accessible childcare. Conflict between job and family is a significant component that contributes to the mental health problems that women experience. This conflict occurs when the needs of one domain interfere with those of the other domain. The findings of gender studies, psychology, and sociology are incorporated into this analysis in order to shed light on the cumulative psychological impact of balancing paid and unpaid employment positions. This highlights the necessity of structural reforms in workplace legislation, cultural norms, and the division of domestic labor in order to relieve the mental health issues that are experienced by working women.

Although the last decade of research on families has contributed enormously to our understanding of diversity in family structures and the relationship of family units to various other aspects of social life, it has, it seems to me, generally failed to identify and address sources of conflict within family life. Thus, the usefulness of this research for understanding women's situation has been particularly limited. The persistence and resilience of family forms in the midst of general social change, often forcefully documented in this research, have certainly helped to goad us, as feminists, to consider what women's interests may be in the mainte-

&lt;div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Women in India are approximately about out half of the population, they have been the weakest of the weaker sections which have been the most exploited in every field and in all sectors .Women in have been the most abused and have been undergone a various types of hardships in their everyday life. Even though the government of India have been implemented some of policies implemented as their social security not many of them have come to reality. The women domestic workers in India are the unorganized group who strived to make their living without any life security and are in the vital situations in their social life. Over the last few years, studies on domestic life security in India have noted the increase in the numbers of migrant female domestic workers in the cities. They have also observed that domestic work is highly informal in its organization and tinted the vulnerabilities of domestic workers who belong to the poorer and uneducated sections of society. These studies also note that women from &lt;strong&gt;marginalized castes&lt;/strong&gt; form a substantive group of domestic workers (Kaur 2006; Neetha 2004 and 2008). Domestic workers form a significant part of this informal economy which is unorganised. Despite the fact, domestic workers, constitute a crushing 90% of this unorganized labor force in India, they have always been &lt;strong&gt;marginalized&lt;/strong&gt; as the unorganised sector. Whether they work part time, full day or as live in workers, they are forced to put up with various indignities, in the privacy of the households they work in. This part of my paper constitutes the study of Domestic workers in the Bangalore city is significant aspect due to its urban development process and women domestic have found to be the most wanted. Domestic workers, an estimated &lt;strong&gt;4 lakhs&lt;/strong&gt; in &lt;strong&gt;Bangalore City&lt;/strong&gt; work under illogical rules, are largely unskilled and illiterate. For years, women have been doing the drudgery of washing, cleaning, cooking and all menial tasks in other households for their own survival. Long hours of work, years of toil often with no living wage, no rest or recreation, sexual harassment, abuse of their dignity, untouchability, often treated callously are the story of their lives. The conditions of lakhs of child women domestic workers, the 24 hours live in workers, are even more exploitative and obnoxious. There have been many cases of rape and murder, horror tales of children being beaten, locked in bathrooms, bitten and burnt by employers. In my paper I have highlight some of the vital incidents where women have been facing and also the government policies and programmes and polices in the women empowerment in the social sector.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

Little is known about leisure consumption among professional women in emerging economies like India in contrast to extensive research on this topic in the West. This group of professional women, however, is of growing economic and social clout within their countries with increasingly important ramifications for the choices they take, including leisure. This study aims to understand meanings and expressions of leisure among urban Indian middle-class working women. Using a phenomenological approach, 28 urban Indian middle-class women working in Bangalore from varied sectors, belonging to different age groups and at diverse life-stages, were interviewed in-depth between the period of July 2017 and September 2018. The analysis showed that leisure activities among urban Indian middle-class working women strike a delicate balance between individual and social fulfilment. The activities were varied and performed for passion, health and well-being, commitment and fun. Two new meanings of leisure emerged from the study: being with myself and being stress-free. It was seen that this group of working women are actively negotiating a new balance – the work–leisure balance – between demands of their work-life and their own need for personal leisure. These new meanings, reflective of newly empowered gender roles in the changing socio-economic environment of emerging economies, saliently extend our understanding of gendered meaning of leisure.

BackgroundWomen in their reproductive age have tremendous health implications that affect their health and well-being. Anaemia is an indicator of inadequate dietary intake and poor health. Maternal malnutrition significantly impacts maternal and child health outcomes, increasing the mother's risk of dying during delivery. High-risk fertility behaviour is a barrier to reducing mother and child mortality. This study aims to examine the level of high-risk fertility behaviour and anaemia among ever-married urban Indian women and also examine the linkages between the both.MethodsBased on the National Family Health Survey's fifth round of data, the study analyzed 44,225 samples of ever-married urban women. Univariate and bivariate analysis and binary logistic regression have been used for the analysis.ResultsFindings suggested that more than half (55%) of the urban women were anaemic, and about one-fourth (24%) of women had any high-risk fertility behaviour. Furthermore, the results suggest that 20% of women were more vulnerable to anaemia due to high-risk fertility behaviour. For the specific category, 19% and 28% of women were more likely to be anaemic due to single and multiple high-risk fertility. However, after controlling for sociodemographic factors, the findings showed a statistically significant link between high-risk fertility behaviour and anaemia. As a result, 16% of the women were more likely to be anaemic due to high-risk fertility behaviour, and 16% and 24% were more likely to be anaemic due to single and multiple high-risk fertility behaviour, respectively.ConclusionsThe findings exposed that maternal high-risk fertility behaviour is a significant factor in raising the chance of anaemia in ever-married urban women of reproductive age in forms of the short birth interval, advanced maternal age, and advanced maternal age & higher order. Policy and choice-based family planning techniques should be employed to minimize the high-risk fertility behaviour among Indian urban women. This might aid in the reduction of the malnutrition status of their children.

Cardiovascular diseases are important causes of morbidity and mortality in postmenopausal women. A major determinant of cardiovascular health is the status of autonomic nervous system and assessment of Heart Rate Variability (HRV). Heart Rate Variability is a noninvasive and sensitive technique to evaluate cardiovascular autonomic control. Reduced HRV is an independent risk factor for the development of heart disease. This study evaluated the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases using HRV, between urban and rural Indian postmenopausal women ranging in age from 40 to 75 years. Findings of the analysis of HRV have showed that the total power which reflects overall modulation of cardiac autonomic activity (759 ± 100 versus 444 ± 65), the absolute power of high frequency which is surrogate of cardiovagal activity (247 ± 41 versus 163 ± 45), and low frequency that reflects cardiac sympathetic activity (205 ± 26 versus 127 ± 18) were significantly higher in urban women than that of their rural counterparts. Further, among the anthropometric measures, waist circumference was significantly correlated with indices of HRV. The study concludes that rural Indian women are associated with an additional risk beyond that of ageing and postmenopausal status when compared to the urban women. The higher central obesity could be the contributing factor for developing higher risk for cardiovascular disease among the rural women.

Associations of total daily working hours encompassing unpaid care and domestic work with nonrestorative sleep and mental health in middle-aged Japanese men and women: A cross-sectional study.