Literate Women Research Articles

STANDPOINTS OF GRASSROOTS WOMEN ON DEVELOPMENT: LEADERSHIP BEYOND THE STATE

The development perspective is associated with women's security, their participation in programme implementation, and clear roles and responsibilities. Studies have revealed that programmes that build women's skills are immediate development factors. Development is also about upliftment, which offers justice and equality in society. It means improving all forms, including health, education, gainful employment, and infrastructure. The study describes the views of some grassroots women leaders that they put forward, including adequate communication, women's literacy, women's empowerment on social platforms, elimination of gender gaps, and the recognition of women as active social workers and volunteers. Development is the improvement of physical structures and facilities that involves improving knowledge and motivating people to contribute to the cause of the improvement of society. There are women in positions of authority, but few are involved in implementing programmes. Participation at all the stages of the programme for women leaders is vital to understand and deal with the developmental issues within the stipulated time frame and for the effective functioning and implementation of schemes at the village levels. Hence, the inclusion of women in programme delivery is one of the critical perspectives of development. Thus, the explorative study outlines the viewpoints of grassroots women leaders regarding how women perceive development, their awareness of different schemes and programs, their participation, and the factors contributing to their involvement. Finally, the finding proposes some glimmers for strengthening women's leadership and development from the standpoint of female leaders. For this study, the authors relied on fieldwork and applied In-depth Interactions (IDIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) to gather primary data. Simultaneously, secondary information has been collected from various sources and pieces of literature.

Working Class People, as Shown in "Manaamiyangal"

Salma's novel, Manaamiyangal, is entirely about women. It is constructed based on society's conception of a feminine energy that entangles itself in the structures of time. It resounds as a voice of women's disenfranchisement. Many people around the world are praising the glory of women. Every woman in society is still living a life crushed by daily needs and her freedom. Rituals, rituals, and customs in some societies keep women at the boundary line. Some of these women break barriers and are shunned by society when they come out. Even though there are many atrocities against women in society, her family tries to do well but gets them into many problems. Salma mentions in the story Manaamiyangal that the reason for that was the society they lived in and its restrictions. Salma, who thinks about women from many angles, in her portrayal of Sajitha, intuitively conveys the legitimate dreams of girls in childhood. Women like Mehar live a quiet life, keeping in mind the family circumstances. But she struggles to make life better for her children. She illustrates the struggles of less literate women outside of the normal course of society. Generally, women, no matter how educated they are, remain dependent on a man because they believe that men are the protectors of women. Many social superstitions have restricted women in their activities. The thoughts of the people who have such superstitions should be changed. This article is going to discuss the lives of Muslim women, their economies, lives, thoughts, attitudes, and the social conditions that they are unable to recover from due to these social conditions.

Women Literacy and Health Outcomes Inequality in Nepal

This article assesses the women literacy and health outcome inequality in Nepal. The study attempted to assess the nexus between women literacy and some key health outcomes based on provincial level data of Nepal. Basically the study follows the descriptive analysis with explanatory design under quantitative research based on the secondary data from ministry of health and population of Nepal (2017). Statistical analysis of provincial wise key health outcome data was done using chi-squire test of the goodness of fit to ensure evidence of inequality of the health outcome across the provinces of Nepal. Likewise, to find the causal relationship between women literacy rate (WLR) and institutional delivery rate (ID), contraceptive prevalence among married women (CPMW), child immunization rate (CIR), ANC (Antenatal Care) service receive by women (ANCRW), teenage pregnancy rate (TPR), total fertility rate (TFR) in seven provinces was observed using correlation and regression analysis tool. The result of chi-square test shows that there could be observed inequality in WLR and ID. Likewise, correlation analysis shows that there is positive correlation between WLR and ID, WLR and CPMW, and WLR and ANCRW but there is negative relation between WLR and CIR, WLR and TPR, WLR and TFR. The regression analysis shows that there is significant relationship among the variables WLR and ID, ANCRW, TPR, TFR. Therefore, it can be concluded that it is essential to increase women literacy to bring improvement in aforementioned key health outcomes. The implication of the study will help to make effective public health policy and strategy to reduce the equity gaps in health outcomes in Nepal.

A multilevel assessment of the influence of education on women's uptake of institutional delivery services during childbirth in Bangladesh

ObjectivesDespite a significant decline over time, maternal mortality remains high in Bangladesh. Institutional delivery during childbirth is crucial to reducing maternal mortality, but uptake of institutional delivery services (IDS) remains suboptimal in Bangladesh. Though women's education plays a crucial role in the use of IDS, the educational status of the household head and area-level literacy rate also appear to act as predictors of IDS uptake. This study aims to assess the effect of the educational status of women and household heads as well as district-level adult literacy rates on the use of IDS during childbirth among women in Bangladesh. DesignThis study analyzed nationally representative cross-sectional survey data from the 2019 Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. SettingBangladesh. Participants9,207 currently married women aged 15-49 years who had at least one live birth in the two years preceding the survey were included in the study. The outcome measure was women's use of IDS during their last childbirth. A multilevel logistic regression model was used to explore the association between education status of women and household heads, and district (i.e., area unit) adult literacy rates and uptake of IDS among women in Bangladesh by controlling for other sociodemographic covariates and clustering. ResultsAbout 53% of women used IDS during childbirth. Adjusting for other factors and clustering, women with higher educational status, those living in households with higher-educated heads, and those in districts with greater adult literacy rates are more likely to use IDS, after controlling for key sociodemographic variables including wealth. ConclusionsUptake of IDS in Bangladesh remains low, with education playing an important independent role in determining rates. The findings of the study provide empirical evidence for policymakers to design multi-modal educational programs targeted not only at literate women but also at household head (especially male) and communities where literacy (and equally importantly health literacy) may be variable or absent.

Difficulties and Problems Experienced by Rural Women due to Illiteracy in Contemporary World

Literacy is one of the foremost indicators of development in a society. Women literacy is very important and plays an essential role for the progress of the society. Illiteracy is a stumbling block to women’s development and empowerment in all spheres of life. In the daily living situations, they experience several problems. The main objectives of the study to identify the difficulties/ problems faced due to illiteracy among rural women in Dindigul District. A qualitative study was adopted and interview schedule was used to elicit the information from the respondents. Majority of the rural women were in age group of 36-40 years. The observation implies that illiteracy among women in the age range of 36 to 55 years is rampant among the socially backward classes. Difficulty in reading the name board of a bus and allied difficulties while travelling alone outside the village were mentioned by most of the rural women. Nearly 81 per cent of the rural women stated these two problems. Two thirds of the respondents mentioned their difficulties in putting their signature. 58.8 per cent of the respondents expressed difficulties in operating television and mobile phones.The results indicate that the major problems cited by the respondents were those affecting their mobility. The researcher, educationist and policy makers initiate the efforts in the area of women literacy is the need of the hour and also in this modern world.

Prevalence and determinants of anemia among resident female university students from Southern Punjab, Pakistan

ABSTRACT Health and nutritional status of the women of reproductive age (WRA) is expected to be influenced with women literacy status alongside other sociodemographic indicators. However, data are scant to validate if literate young women have lower incidence of anemia prevalence. Nexus to the problem stated, a cross-sectional study was conducted on 1,541 female resident university students (FRUS) aged 17–35 years from a public sector university located in Southern Punjab, Pakistan. Hemoglobin (Hb) led screening for anemia was performed followed by nutritional assessment and structured questionnaire-based sociodemographic and dietary assessment. The data generated were analyzed using independent t-test, Chi-square, and response surface regression models. Response rate for the prevalence of anemia in FRUS was 38 percent with mean Hb levels 10.5 g/dL. With a significant effect (p = .001) of participants’ weight on anemia prevalence, 22.45 percent of the sample population was recorded as underweight. Sociodemographic and dietary parameters analyzed suggested low daily food expenditure (x 2 = 20.59; p = .000) and reduced intake of meat (x 2 = 12.14; p = .01), beans & pulses (x 2 = 18.56; p = .001) to significantly influence rate of anemia prevalence in FRUS. The study concludes high prevalence rate of anemia among FRUS to strongly relate with students’ low monthly stipend, little daily food expenditure, and substandard dietary quality.

Lessons learnt from applying a human-centred design process to develop one of the largest mobile health communication programmes in the world

‘Design with the user’ is a guiding principle for creating digital solutions to solve systemic developmental challenges. According to this principle, digital solutions are more likely to be effective if...

The Effect of Financial Literacy and Financial Education on Women's Healthy Financial Behavior through Investment Motivation

This study aims to prove the effect of financial literacy and financial education on women's healthy financial behavior through investment motivation. The sample in this study consisted of 285 respondents from among women. Testing the data quality in this study uses Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis, namely the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) equation model with a variance-based approach or component-based structural equation modeling. Based on the study results, financial literacy has a significant effect on women's healthy financial behavior through investment motivation, and financial education has a significant impact on women's healthy financial behavior through investment motivation. This study recommends to women, that if they want to create healthy financial behavior, then the priority strategy applied is to have excellent and adequate financial education, then try to have the motivation to invest in themselves and have good financial literacy. It is believed that the improvement of women's healthy financial behavior can help overcome the low percentage of women's literacy index in IndonesiaJEL: A2, G4, I2

Women’s literacy and children’s mortality rate among Southeast Asia countries 1991-2020: a cross-sectional study

Background: Women’s literacy is often associated with the health status of family members, especially children. Unfortunately, in some regions of Southeast Asia, the rates of women’s literacy (WL) are still very low, and in these areas, children’s mortality rates (CMR) are also very high. This study aims to identify the changes and correlation between women's literacy and children’s mortality rate among Southeast Asian Countries in the last 3 decades. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we included 11 Southeast Asian countries; Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste, and Vietnam. The WL and CMR were the independent and dependent variables respectively. The CMR was measured by mortality rates in infant (IMR), neonatal (NMR), and under-fives (UFMR). We collected data for all variables from the World Bank website, and used the data from 1991 to 2020 for analysis. Kruskal–Wallis and Pearson correlation test were performed to identify the significant difference between variables and its correlation respectively. Then, we conducted linear regression analysis to identify how the WL affected the CMR in 11 Southeast Asian countries from 1991 to 2020. Results: In the last 30 years period, we found that the CMR trends in Southeast Asian countries vary. Moreover, during the same period, WL and CMR were changed significantly. Across these 11 countries, the correlation between WL and IMR was the highest (R=0.805). However, only 65% of IMR can be explained by WL ​​(R2=0.65). Conclusion: This study found that women's literacy had a significant impact on CMR in Southeast Asian countries. However, improvement in multiple sectors including governance, economy, freedom, health system, education, and gender equality is required to help countries in this region achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals target by 2030.

Causes of Infidelity as Expressed by Literate Working-Class Women in Lagos State, Nigeria

The act of infidelity is increasingly high among women and it is causing great concern for stakeholders. This study, therefore, investigated the causes of infidelity as expressed by literate working-class women in Lagos State. The study also examined whether moderating variables such as age and the educational qualification would affect the respondents’ views. A descriptive design was adopted for the study. A total of 300 respondents were drawn from the target population using purposive random sampling and simple random sampling techniques. A researcher-developed questionnaire tagged Causes of Infidelity (CIQ) was used to collect the data. The validity of the questionnaire was established by three experts in the Department of Counsellor Education, University of Ilorin. The reliability of the questionnaire was determined using a split-half method and a correlation coefficient of 0.74 was obtained. The data collected were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 alpha level. Results showed that lack of care and attention, nonchalant attitude of the husband, lack of emotional support, etc. are the causes of infidelity among women. It also showed that there was a significant difference in the causes of infidelity as expressed by literate working-class women based on age but there was no difference based on educational qualification. It was concluded that counsellors should organize seminars for couples to disseminate information on the causes of infidelity among women for possible solutions.

Prevalence of Depression among Menopausal women in a rural community of Morang, Nepal

There is a great diversity in nature of menopausal symptoms and frequencies across countries, even in the same cultures. These symptoms could be unpleasant and disabling leading to depression in some menopausal women. Hence, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence of depression among menopausal women and to assess the association of menopausal symptoms with the socio-demographic variables. A cross sectional study was conducted in the Tankisinuwari area of Morang District. Total of 355 menopausal women were enrolled using systematic random sampling. The women were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaire. Depression was assessed according to Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Data analysis was done using SPSS 16 version. The majority of women 226 (63.7%) were illiterate and 226 (63.7%) of them were living below the poverty line. Mean age of menopause and (SD) was 46.81± 4.64 years. Prevalence of depression was found to be 31.5% (n=112). Among women belonging to Dalit caste, menopausal symptoms were more common as compared to other ethnic groups. Menopausal symptoms were experienced most frequently by women living below poverty line. The menopausal symptoms which was found to be significantly associated with literate women was complaints of irritability (p=0.023) whereas with illiterate women were sleep problem (p=0.045), decrease in sexual desire (p=0.012) and nocturia (p=0.041). Depression was significantly associated with low economic condition (p=0.011). As there is increase in the life expectancy and population of menopausal women in Nepal, large efforts are required to educate and make these women aware of menopausal symptoms. It is also important for health-care providers to understand the differences between cultures, so that appropriate advice can be given and treatment can be tailored according to the needs of the community, irrespective of the country.

The modernity of tradition: Women and ‘healthy progress’ in late colonial Java and Sumatra

AbstractWriting in the Malay-language press from the late 1910s to the 1930s, literate women in colonial Java and Sumatra engaged deeply with understandings of modernity mediated through concepts of healthfulness and hygiene. Piecing together the views of writers who participated in conversations about health, child-rearing, child-feeding, and socio-political progress, and situating them against the backdrop of both imperial policies of hygienic modernity and systems of indigenous knowledge, this article argues that these women deployed their own agency and negotiation efforts to articulate a singular paradigm of progress. The article focuses on practices of infant-feeding, showing that these literate colonized women's conscious manipulation of the colonial discourse on scientific modernity was grounded in their awareness of the racial project of control of their own bodies. The promotion of ‘traditional’ breastfeeding was a way to affirm a path to progress that shared the underlying conditions for, but not the modalities of, Western modernity. Examining the processes of negotiation and subversion that emerged in these women's writings provides a productive space to question and reframe scholarly understandings of ‘modernity’ as a category of analysis.

Writing Gender in Early Modern Chinese Women's Tanci Fiction by Li Guo

Reviewed by: Writing Gender in Early Modern Chinese Women's Tanci Fiction by Li Guo Christopher Lupke (bio) Li Guo. Writing Gender in Early Modern Chinese Women's Tanci Fiction. Purdue UP, 2021. 273 p. The Chinese literary genre tanci 彈詞, a prosimetric form that mixes fictional narrative with poetry of various sorts, has been referred to in English translation as chantefable, plucking rhyme, or simply by its original Chinese term tanci or tanci fiction. It emerged in the late imperial era as the preferred medium of expression for literate women in China. Its mixed storytelling and singing structure suggests that it evolved out of an oral tradition. Long overlooked or dismissed as middlebrow, it has received little scholarly attention until recent decades. But in the past 30 years, and especially recently, it has attracted much serious scholarship, such as the Chinese-language book-length work of Hu Siao-chen, studies by Mark Bender, Maram Epstein, Yu Zhang, Lingzhen Wang, and others, as well as by Li Guo, this volume's author, her second on the topic of tanci. Guo's book comprises a lengthy, informative and sophisticated introduction, five main chapters--each devoted to the study of one tanci work—and a brief conclusion. As Guo indicates, the Chinese bibliographer Sheng Zhimei asserts that 538 novel-length tanci survive down to the present. Guo's rationale for selecting the five on which she focuses is to choose significant tanci that have received little to no scholarly attention in English. Of these five, one exists only in a handwritten manuscript in the Shanghai Library. Another has only recently been discovered, and Guo's discussion is its first such scholarly treatment in English. Having devoted her graduate research and first book to tanci, Guo presents these five tanci with the authority of a true expert—one of the leading scholars on the topic in the world. Her intimate understanding of the genre as a whole, her theoretical sophistication, and her exhaustive analysis of these five texts makes Writing Gender in Early Modern Chinese Women's Tanci Fiction an exemplary work of scholarship and a significant intervention into world feminist literary studies. It will be of great interest to any scholar who is curious about the development of literature written by women in Chinese but who does not have a knowledge of Chinese, and will assist Chinese [End Page 139] Studies scholars unfamiliar with the genre as well. It is not merely that tanci are mainly written by women. The themes of the narratives are deeply informed by the concerns of women and their status in late imperial China at a time when the onslaught of the Taiping and other rebellions, as well as the imperialist incursion of such military powers as the British, were posing a major threat to the millennia-long dynastic system and governmental structure. Additionally, the texts reflect the emergence of nascent global capitalism. Given these stresses, it stands to reason that the unprecedented social problems that Chinese people were confronting would surface in literature. Within these texts, traditional notions of gender roles, the established system of patriarchal kinship, as well as the relationship between subject and state were all called into question. And yet, as Guo demonstrates, the texts were doubly inscribed, which is to say that while genuinely subversive elements were at the center of these texts, they also depicted characters who ultimately returned to the fold, seeking readmission to the heteronormative hierarchies from which they initially strayed and rebelled. Among the theoretical reasoning that she draws upon, Guo turns to the notion of "spatialization" pioneered by Susan Friedman, who developed her ideas out of the writings of Julia Kristeva and Mikhail Bakhtin. "Spatialization" works on two axes, a horizontal and a vertical one. Guo sees Friedman's theory as fashioning a "horizontal" relationship between writer and reader and a "vertical" line in the space and time that the reader occupies. Space indeed does play a crucial role in most tanci, which frequently feature a woman who, in the disguise of a man, ventures out into the external world, leaving the domestic sphere behind. Guo also engages Nancy Armstrong's classic cornerstone essay "The Rise of Feminine...

Strategic Allocation of Development Projects in Post-Conflict Regions: A Gender Perspective for Colombia

We know little about the general geographic allocation of development projects in post-conflict regions, and specifically of gender-focused projects. In this study, we explore whether donor agencies prefer to work in “safe” places or dare to operate in conflict-affected zones. Using Colombia as a case study, we combine data on battle deaths from the UCDP Georeferenced Event Dataset (1994–2004) with georeferenced information on the location of development projects from the Colombia AIMS dataset (2006–2013) and manually geocode data for German-funded development projects (2012–2018) with gender as a significant objective. Using count models (N = 1120), we find a statistically strong and positive relationship: an increase in battle deaths increases the number of development projects (with and without gender-focus) in a municipality. Interaction models further reveal an amplification of this relationship for regions with a large proportion of female-headed households, as well as a high number of formally employed and literate women. A context-sensitive interpretation of our findings suggests that (1) development projects in general, and German-funded gender-focused projects in particular, dare to operate in post-conflict settings; (2) women may play an active role as community leaders and mobilizers to influence the allocation of development programs to certain regions.

Association of women’s literacy and children’s mortality rate among countries in southeast Asia 2015-2019: a cross-sectional study

Background: Women’s literacy is often associated with the health status of family members, especially children. Unfortunately, in some regions of Southeast Asia, the rates of women’s literacy are still very low, and in these areas, children’s mortality rates are also very high. This study aims to identify the association of women's literacy and children’s mortality rates among countries in the Southeast Asian region from 2015 to 2019. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, children’s mortality rates were defined as mortality rates in newborns and under-fives. Besides women’s literacy (WL), we also assessed the Human Development Index (HDI), Freedom Status (FS), Government Effectiveness (GE), and the proportion of births assisted by skilled health staff (BASHS) as the independent variables in this study. First, we describe the profiles of WL as well as newborn and under-five mortality rates among 11 countries in Southeast Asia from 2015 to 2019, and then we assess the correlations. Results: Between 2015 to 2019, Myanmar, Lao, and Timor-Leste had the highest child mortality rates. In addition, these four countries were the countries with the lowest WL rates compared to other countries. Children’s mortality rates were significantly associated with WL, GE, HDI, and BASHS. Meanwhile, this study found that the FS of a country was not significantly associated with the children’s mortality rate of countries in the Southeast Asia region. Conclusion: This study found that there’s an indication that the better the WL rate, as well as the governance, the HDI, and maternity services in a country, the lower its children’s mortality rates. Therefore, improvement in multiple sectors such as governance, economy, health system, education, and gender equality is required to help countries in this region achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals target by 2030.

Creating Demand and Creating Knowledge Communities: Myanmar/Burmese Buddhist Women, Monk Teachers, and the Shaping of Transnational Teachings

The importance of Abhidhamma (higher doctrine) in Myanmar Buddhist society is well known. However, it is only within the last century that this doctrine has become more accessible to the laity, and specifically to women devotees. Today, women make up the majority of monks’ devotees in the country. Indeed, as this article argues, a major role in increasing the Abhidhamma’s importance and visibility in Burmese society has been played by women. Although monks such as Ledi Sayadaw (1846–1923) reworked the teachings to make them more accessible to the laity, laywomen seem to have played an active role in creating a “demand” for learning the more difficult Buddhist teachings that were previously only available to monastic elites. It may be difficult to find individual female authors or references to women in texts written by monks during the earlier part of the colonial era, yet we can find examples of women displaying agency as part of larger groups. This fact complicates the notion of individual agency that is usually focused on in current research. During the colonial era, a considerable number of literate women were part of a “growing reading public,” and I argue that Burmese laywomen created a “demand” for learning Buddhist doctrine, with monks then creating a “supply”. My suspicions grew regarding women’s “demand” for learning, from multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Myanmar at a village monastery near Meiktila in 2014, and at a suburban house monastery in the San Francisco Bay Area during various visits beginning in 2010. I found that after observing the same teaching monk in both places that one woman student was responsible for creating these “knowledge communities” after creating a “demand” to learn the Abhidhamma. I was also able to learn how this monk’s doctrinal content and pedagogical methods of his teaching practice had been impacted not only by the different teaching environments, but also by the female students at the two sites.

Awareness of emergency contraceptive pills among female patients of family planning unit of tertiary care teaching hospital, Rajkot, Gujarat, India

Background: In India, sizeable population of pregnancies are either unplanned or unwanted and thus these pregnancies add to the population burden or the women may resort to pregnancy termination by traditional or harmful methods leading to serious health consequences. Emergency contraception, developed from trials and research during the past 10 years with aim to cut down the occurrence of unwanted and unintended pregnancies and abortion is one most important step being taken to solve the problem. Aims and Objectives: The objectives of the study were to assess the awareness regarding contraception and emergency contraceptive pills among female patients of reproductive age group and to evaluate any association between marital status, type of family and family member as a sister, education, and awareness about contraception and emergency contraceptive pills. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among women of reproductive age group over a period of 3 months after obtaining written informed consent. Data were collected regarding demographic parameters, knowledge of different contraceptive measures, and emergency contraceptive pills using an anonymous pretested structured questionnaire. Statistical analysis was done using Microsoft Excel sheet and Medcalc software. Results: A total of 253 women were included in the study. Majority of them were married (94.5%), literate (74.7%), belong to joint family (71.5%), having no history of abortion (69.2%), and having sister in their family (76.7%). About 67.2% know contraceptive methods and the most common source of information was a hospital (58.3%). About 15% were aware of emergency contraceptive pills and audio-visual (71%) is the most common source of information. Awareness about contraception was more in literate women and opposite to this awareness about emergency contraceptives pills was more in illiterate women. Those having sister in their family having more knowledge about contraception and emergency contraceptive pills. Conclusions: Awareness about emergency contraceptive pills is very low. Education can play important role either directly or indirectly to create awareness about emergency contraceptive pills.

Prevalence of pelvic floor dysfunction in women in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study.

Objective:Pelvic floor dysfunction has a high prevalence among women worldwide. However, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it is underreported. Thus, we aimed to estimate the prevalence and risk factors of pelvic floor dysfunction in women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.Methods:We conducted a cross-sectional study on literate non-pregnant women aged ⩾18 years who agreed to participate in our survey. We used the validated and translated Australian pelvic floor questionnaire and conducted a multivariate logistic regression analysis to assess the risk factors of pelvic floor dysfunction.Results:A total of 824 participants completed the questionnaire. While 60.2% of the participants had pelvic floor dysfunction, 67.7% reported signs of bowel dysfunction. Urinary dysfunction, prolapse, and sexual dysfunction were present in 44.1%, 67.7%, and 55.4% of the participants, respectively. Age, high body mass index, chronic medical illness, heavy weight lifting, and multiparity were found as the risk factors of bladder function problems. Meanwhile, chronic medical illness, heavy weight lifting, and multiparity were found as the risk factors of bowel dysfunction and prolapse. Age group and marital status were the independent factors associated with sexual dysfunction.Conclusion:We noted a high rate of pelvic floor dysfunction in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which calls for the need to provide holistic approaches for the prevention and management of pelvic floor dysfunction among women.

The impact of lifestyle stressors, menstrual pattern, and cardiometabolic risk factors on young females with cholelithiasis.

Lifestyle and nutritional transitions in the society driven by globalization have led to the rising burden of cholelithiasis. The present study was done to assess the impact of lifestyle, stress, menstrual pattern, and cardiometabolic risk factors on young females with cholelithiasis. A hospital-based case-control study was conducted on young females of 18-45 years. Cases and age-matched controls were compared on their lifestyle parameters like demography, marital status, occupation, educational status, family income, stress along with menstrual pattern, cardiometabolic parameters like anthropometric measures, blood pressure (BP), fasting blood sugar (FBS), and lipid profile. Chi-square test and unpaired t-test were used for the analysis of data using SPSS software, and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The majority of the cases were from rural areas, married, homemakers leading a comparatively sedentary lifestyle consuming more red meat, less literate, and belonged to a lower economic group with significantly more stress compared to controls. The age of menarche, neither the regularity nor irregularity of the menstrual cycle (regular cycle 21-35 days), showed any difference, but cases had significantly more pregnancies and usage of oral contraceptives compared to controls. Waist-height ratio, systolic BP, FBS, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) were significantly higher in cases. Cases had a 14.4 times more risk of developing metabolic syndrome when compared with controls. Married, rural, less literate Indian women leading a sedentary lifestyle, consuming more of red meat, and soft drinks with increased psychosomatic stress are more prone to develop cholelithiasis. Women who use hormonal contraceptives have increased occurrence of cholelithiasis and they were more prone to develop metabolic syndrome. The need for the hour is health education, to implement simple lifestyle changes, thereby decreasing the incidence of cholelithiasis in young females.

Impact of Female Education on Fertility Status of Muslim Community of Susta Rural Municipality: Kudiya, Nawalparasi

Background: This study explores the impact of female education on fertility status. Nepal has been experiencing a fertility decline over the last few decades. Although many factors have been shown to influence women’s childbearing, socioeconomic factors such as education and religion are some of the prime factors that mainly influence women’s fertility in Nepal. The major objective of this study is to examine the relationship between education and fertility behavior of the respondents. Methods: This study is descriptive in nature. Sample of this study consist the 218 married Muslim women randomly selected out of 689 families from Susta Rural Municipality of Parasi. Data were analyzed using the statistics like frequencies, percentages and mean value. Results: Level of education has inverse relation to fertility. The CEB between illiterate, literate, SLC and intermediate attainment women was found significantly different. Moreover, it was also found that most of the women had knowledge of family planning but they were reluctant to use family planning method. Conclusion: Major conclusion of this study indicated the inverse relationship between level of education and fertility behavior of Muslim women. Hence, fertility behavior can be changed through education policy intervention over Muslim women in rural area.