Women's health

Background

While women play crucial roles in farming, family care and households, they face significant challenges in maintaining their health due to limited awareness of women’s health issues, inadequate access to sanitation products, poor menstruation management, and cultural taboos. It is, therefore, often difficult or impossible for female farmers to carry out physical work in the fields and to cope with the numerous tasks. SysCom India has established exchange groups for female farmers and labourers, through which the women receive training and support. The thesis of Alicia Luther (see more here), which examined these training programs for women, found that women's health is an important and highly relevant but largely underdeveloped issue that impacts not only the daily lives of women farmers and workers but also their families as a whole.

Recognizing that education on health issues related to the female reproductive cycle is vital for empowerment and dispelling myths and misconceptions, SysCom India also focuses on creating communication materials that are both informative and accessible. These materials have been tailored for different genders and age groups of farmers in the surrounding area. The content was developed in a participatory approach together with women farmers, labourers, trainers and girls to ensure that information gaps can be closed and the necessary knowledge is imparted. It is essential that both rural women and men become more informed, so they can advocate for and support initiatives such as the availability of sanitation products for women, challenge harmful taboos, and improve the livelihoods of female farmers, laborers, and their families.

How to use the training materials

The comic books can be printed and distributed to the target audience or shared digitally. Ideally, they should be discussed with a trainer, healthcare professional, or another knowledgeable person to enhance understanding and impact.

Where to get the training materials

All informational materials are available upon request from FiBL. To receive a PDF (view-only or print version), please contact akanksha.singh(at)fibl.org.