title: A community health programme in rural Tamil Nadu, India: the need for gender justice for women.
abstract: This article highlights the efforts of the Community Health and Development (CHAD) Programme of Christian Medical College to address the issues of gender discrimination and improve the status of women in the Kaniyambadi Block, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. The many schemes that are specifically for women and general projects for the community from which women can also benefit represent a multi-pronged approach whose aim is the improvement of women's health, education and employment in the context of community development. However, despite five decades of work with a clear bias in favour of women, the improvement in health and the empowerment of women has lagged behind that achieved by men. We believe this is because the community, with its strong male bias, utilises the health facilities and education and employment programmes more for the benefit of men and boys than women and girls. The article argues for a change of approach, in which gender and women's issues are openly discussed and debated with the community. It would appear that nothing short of social change will bring about an improvement in the health of women and a semblance of gender equality in the region.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India.
authors.forename: Mini Elizabeth
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.forename: Sulochana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abraham
authors.forename: Susila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Surya
authors.forename: Shantidani
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Minz
authors.forename: Daisy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Vinod Joseph
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Abraham
authors.forename: Jasmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.forename: Kuryan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: George
authors.forename: Anju
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kuruvilla
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Jacob
mesh_terms: D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003256:Community Participation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D011287:Prejudice; D012424:Rural Population; D012923:Social Class; D014930:Women