Finding Gendered Inequities in Poor Women’s Experiences of Neoliberal Health Care and Labour: Perspectives from India

Abstract

Gender equity in health is, in part, a product of women’s experiences of two critically linked sectors: health care and labour. This paper is concerned with observing the trajectory of neoliberalism as the dominant global approach to macroeconomics and its effect on these two market sectors in India. Using a feminist political economy approach and the methods of a narrative literature review, the historical practices of India’s development and health policy are reviewed, namely the adoption of a US-driven Structural Adjustment Program (SAP). The findings show, first, that the SAP resulted in a roll back of the state. As a result, reproductive health services have become the contextual stand in for the provision of health care to poor women. Secondly, there has been a change in labour policies that has pressed many poor women into informal work and further devalued their role in the household. A neoliberal approach to policy making has intensified women’s oppression and exploitation and has confounded existing gendered and classed inequities in health.