By Dr Shireen Najam
Access to and fulfillment of justice directly affects a woman’s physical, mental and reproductive health. Aspects of justice include legal rights that are strongly tied to access to health care; reproductive justice that gives women control over their bodies, protection from violence, equal economic opportunities and pay; and social justice that protects against gender-based discrimination. Distributive justice guides the judicious allocation of scant resources for vulnerable populations. Women in Pakistan are a vulnerable group at risk of their rights being overridden, secondary to gender norms and biases.
Despite playing a pivotal role in the family unit, the health care needs of women in Pakistan are not being fulfilled across their lifespan, particularly in their adolesence and old age. Health inequity is driven by deep-seated patriarchy, poverty and limited autonomy, resulting in severe disparities in maternal care, nutrition, and disease management.
With Pakistan’s gender-gap ranking among the worst globally, women face significant barriers to health care access, leading to high rates of maternal mortality, anaemia, and untreated non-communicable diseases. A prime example is that Pakistan currently has one of the highest rates of breast cancer in Asia.
The foundations of justice can be traced to the notions of social stability, interdependence, and equal dignity. Women are often the primary caregivers and, when healthy, are more productive in both paid and unpaid work. Investing in women’s health can yield a significant return, with studies suggesting that $1 invested can result in a $3 return to the economy.
Women prioritize investing in their children’s education and health, as well as reinvesting earnings back into their households. Improving the health of women generates significant, far-reaching benefits for communities; including increased economic productivity, poverty reduction, improved intergenerational health, reduced child mortality, higher educational attainment, enhanced social stability and stronger local economies.
Addressing gender-based health care disparities require comprehensive reforms that go beyond reproductive health to include a life-cycle approach, improved governance, and targeted, gender-sensitive policies. Only by prioritizing women’s health can communities experience a positive, compounding effect that benefits current and future generations.
The author is Senior Instructor, Department of Psychiatry, at AKU.
The author apparently used chatgptb to write this article
There are so many contradictions in the article.
The author has ignored every single variable that would solve those issues
Firstly, a working woman cannot deal with raising a child anymore then a man can. She’s human, the so called working women get house help. They don’t do this alone.
The Pay gap ? Everyone is being paid less due to saturation in Job market. Even men can’t provide anymore. We used to have 1 bread winner per family and now both couple live paycheck to paycheck.
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And cancer is unrelated to these issues since it can occur in perfectly healthy people. The issue is affording the treatment.