Hysterectomies and Violation of Human Rights: Case Study from India

Abstract

Patriarchal values at one level and gender bias at the other are pervasive in south Asian countries. Even after six decades of planned development, the incidence of women's human rights in general and in particular sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) are being violated for different motives by different sections of the Indian society. Our studies and resultant social action commenced when we heard about women already experiencing poverty and who were further robbed off their bodies and life by conniving mechanisms in society through abuse of health insurance schemes. Most of these rural women were cheated to undergo hysterectomy due to their illiteracy and their vulnerability. Narratives and the accounts of the rural poor women victims clearly identify their poverty, illiteracy and status in the overall social fabric of the Indian society that went against them. These unwanted hysterectomies in Medak district in India highlighted the role of insurance, gender bias, lack of ethical conduct in the medical profession.