GENDER-LAW-AND-HEALTH: international perspectives

The United Nations has spearheaded the movement to eliminate gender discrimination and bring gender equality to the centre stage of the global agenda. A number of meetings and conferences were organized to bring the attention of the world community on the issue. The first three decades of the work of UN focused primarily on the codification of women’s legal, civil and human rights along with gathering of data on the status of women around the world. However, later it was evidenced that formulating laws do not suffice to ensure the rights and gender equality. The Beijing Conference of 1995 assured women of their rights. It was here that gender and law assume significance and attracted scholarly attention to focus on the strategies and plans of action for the advancement of women in terms of their legal rights to fully participate at all levels of human activity.
In addition to the legal rights, international agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO) has contributed significantly to formulate gender strategies to ensure equality in health. It has developed tools to ensure systematic consideration of gender in the design, implementation and evaluation of health policies and programmes. Strategies for gender mainstreaming, women empowerment and developing gender responsive health programmes have been devised to ensure physical and mental health of women.
Taking clue from research, an attempt was made to discuss, deliberate and present multiple perspectives in a volume showcasing the best practices, research papers and viewpoints from across the world. The contributors of this volume, have covered a wide variety of subjects encompassing gender, law and health which broadly includes the implementation of law in India and across the world.
This book is an excellent compendium of interdisciplinary articles on issues relating to gender, law and health, which will benefit professionals, scholars and researchers.