Indian women : their health and economic productivity

Abstract

The relationship between women's health and their productivity is characterized by 'flows' in both directions and a host of intervening factors. Two statements summarize the major directional flows: (a) women's health affects their productivity, and (b) productivity affects women's health. This paper documents the nature of these relationships, using available data on Indian women which relate to a variety of health indices, and construing 'productivity' in the broadest possible way, including labor force participation, work output, income, and so on. The overall purpose is to discuss women's health within the context of the need to improve both women's productivity and welfare. Thus, women's health status, its determinants and consequences, are explored, leading ultimately to the identification of interventions required to improve it and thereby to improve women's productivity. The suggested interventions are viewed against the Bank's past and current efforts in the health (and nutrition) sectors in India and against current overall directions in Bank programming in these sectors; they may also signal possible new intitiatives for Bank assistance for the development of women and health in the country.

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