Doctoral Dissertation Research: Community Context and Women's Health in India

Baylor University, Waco TX

Investigators

Abstract

Doctoral Dissertation Research: Community Context and Women's Health in India. ABSTRACT This research analyzes the intersection of community context, gender, and health in India. India has risen as a center of technological innovation and production and is poised as a large consumer market for globally produced goods and services. Yet, its role in the global economy partly depends on the development and health of all its citizens. The well-being of large sectors of India?s population has not risen in tandem with other sectors. India lags far behind most nations in terms of gender equality in health. There are also inequities in the health of women based on the geographic contexts in which they live. Relatively little is understood about how attributes of geographic contexts are linked to variations in women's health. Gender is not merely a personal characteristic but rather an arrangement of inequality with various dimensions. This project examines how gendered cultural and economic practices in communities are associated with women?s health, holding constant other key individual, family, and community-level characteristics. It uses national data on women drawn from community contexts located within all Indian states and union territories, excluding Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It will examine health outcomes using multilevel and spatial modeling techniques in order to isolate the role of community context factors in women's health. This research has varied broader impacts. For countries such as India, gaining a better understanding of processes through which community contexts influence women?s health is especially important because of the prevalence of and variation in gender norms across local communities. This research will also have policy implications for government and non-government initiatives to promote health equity. Insights stemming from this research will have the potential better equip leaders to face the practices and processes in communities that impact the lives of girls and women. More generally, this study promises to bring cultural and economic practices into sharper relief with regard to researchers' understanding of health and well-being.