The Sociology of South Asian Women’s Health, 1st ed. 2020

This contributed volume is the first-known collection of essays that brings together scholarly review, critiques, and primary and secondary data to assess how sociocultural factors influence health behavior in South Asian women. The essays are authored by working scholars or healthcare practitioners from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. In the chapters, the contributors acknowledge social, economic, and environmental factors to recommend improved interventions and health policy for women of the region.

Studies on South Asian women?s health have targeted clinical evidence, with less attention on social and environmental factors driving health recovery and health outcomes. The South Asian region, more than any other part of the world, is driven by traditional and cultural forces that are possibly the most significant factors determining a woman?s health awareness and her rights to adopt healthy behavior or pursue health recovery. Women of the region share a common culture and political history, and there are benefits to understanding their problems collectively in order to design joint improvements in health policy for women.

Salient, but neglected, socio-political areas that influence health behavior and health outcomes in women of the region are covered in the chapters including:

The Sociology of South Asian Women?s Health is a useful resource for students, researchers, and academicians, especially those interested in public health, gender, social policy, and occupational management, as well as healthcare practitioners, administrators, health and public policy-makers, government officers, and scholars of South Asian studies.

Sara Rizvi Jafree 

Sara Rizvi Jafree 

Deepti Sastry

It is imperative to consider theoretical explanations that provide a premise for the health behaviour of South Asian women. This chapter relies on using western theories and the available South Asian theories to explain health behaviour of women. One of the reasons for South Asian theory lagging behind Western theory is because indigenous researchers have been reluctant to develop philosophical models and suffer persecution from male dominated community notables, religious leaders, and politicians. Multiple theories are used to explain the different health behaviours and choices of South Asian women, as the range of behaviour patterns across regions and ethnicities is diverse and complex. Broad areas of influence covered in this chapter, include: (i) culture and community, (ii) religion and the state, (iii) the individual woman herself, (iv) the capitalist economy, and (iv) transnational factors. This chapter is an important read for diverse populations such as students, practitioners, researchers, and policy-makers.

Sara Rizvi Jafree

Fareen Rahman

Sara Rizvi Jafree

Rubeena Zakar

Shaheda Anwar 

Fionnuala Gormley

Sara Rizvi

Sara Rizvi Jafree

Bajiyanta Mukhopadhyay

Masha Asad Khan 

Sara Rizvi Jafree

Tahira Jibeen

The mental health of South Asian women is a grossly neglected area. Health budgets in the region are negligible, and rarely do any public- or private-sector health centres have separate wards or practitioners for service delivery. This is despite the fact that women of South Asia are known to commonly face problems related to domestic violence, gender inequity, and sexual abuse, which places them at greater risk for mental health challenges. According to the literature, the common and rising mental health challenges amongst South Asian women include: (i) post-traumatic stress disorder, (ii) dissociation disorders, (iii) conversion disorder and depression, (iv) self-harm and suicide, and (v) eating disorders. This chapter investigates the social risk factors for mental distress in South Asian women, covering areas such as status of the girl child, rights of passage, expectations of marriage, and non-conformity. The authors also examine the wider social and economic costs to society of neglecting women’s mental health. Secondary data is used to present a comparative assessment of mental health challenges and incidence among women sufferers across South Asian states. The authors also present a case study containing a thematic analysis of the perceptions of women primary care providers regarding mental health of South Asian women. The chapter ends with recommendations for improved mental health policy for women of the region.

Farooq Hasnat

Sara Rizvi Jafree

Ainul Momina

Zamurrad Awan

The sociology of political systems of South Asia and its influence on women’s health behaviour and health outcomes has been a neglected area in research. Where the sociology of health is important for helping us consider that social factors determine health, such as gender, class, wealth, ethnicity, and literacy; it is the sociology of politics that helps us identify that public health policy is instrumental in closing the social gaps of health inequality. In this chapter the authors consider that in the capitalist democracies of the modern world, health is political because the planning and distribution of public health services is dependent on political intervention and also because some social groups have more access compared to others. The role of the state becomes more important especially in conservative and traditional milieus like South Asia where regressive cultural forces prevent women from maintaining optimal health or seeking health recovery. The chapter discusses key areas such as: (i) political representation, (ii) government budget for health, (iii) government licensing, regulation, and honesty, (iv) skewed population ratios, and (v) poverty and health financing. The authors also present a systematic recommendation for women’s health policy reform at state level for South Asian countries.

Ainul Momina

Sara Rizvi Jafree