Women's and Girls' Health in South Asia: Challenges for Global Policy

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A woman suffering from HIV/AIDS uses a stick to walk back to her bed in hospital. Cambodia. (© Masaru Goto / World Bank)

Ms. Marton: Thank you for raising that because of course, both have to be dealt with. And changing behavior patterns takes much longer than condom distribution or hopefully microbicides. To change how people actually relate to each other is tough work. But in fact we have been involved in Nigeria in a successful program of young male behavior modification and there are instances of it all over the developing world. But no, I don't think we want to give up on male behavior. We want to encourage its modification, the other side of the handshake.

And I must say that the adolescents that we met with in India seemed to be of a more progressive bent so I think it is yet another more positive byproduct of globalization. Nothing can be isolated, diseases, what have you, but different behavior patterns are also exposed as a result of globalization and mass media and women are seeing that there are other options and are putting more pressure on their male partners for modification.

Ms. Atkin: Yes, when we talk about gender equity promotion, we are really talking about both work with girls and boys, women and men. Two years ago I remember going to a meeting in Washington, talking about trying to promote male involvement. Margaret Sanger Center International has been working in men's programs for probably a decade but it's gotten very much more popular now. There was a committee in Washington that was trying to find examples of programs that were working with boys and men, particularly from a gender equity promotion focus and there really weren't that many.

And I just went to a conference a month ago and we had to have simultaneous sessions. It was an international conference and there were 300 presenters from all over the world, with different arrays and different kinds of programs but I think the idea has caught on that while we are talking about women's empowerment, men and boys have got to change and have got to benefit from the change in gender roles. Traditional male gender roles are killing boys and men by HIV/AIDS, in violence and homicides and alcoholism. Once you start working from a gender equity perspective, men and boys, particularly boys and adolescents, really see the benefit of redefining some of those patterns that have driven them to some very life-threatening behaviors.

Ms. Germain: We can end on that note and reiterate and reinforce that we do face a win-win opportunity here. Investing in girls and women is good in its own right and in its own sake. It also, whether in South Asia or worldwide, will help countries make the progress they want. I hope now you will join us for a brief reception and more of your questions and concerns can be raised directly with the panelists. Again, thank you so much for coming.