Gender Angle to IAQ
Padma wakes up at 5:00 a.m. in Hedvi village, to feed her family with nutritious bhaakri cooked over the chulha. She packs in all tiffins right in time & leaves with the 7:00 a.m ST bus to work in Gram Panchyat schools of nearby villages. Padma is a woman modern enough to earn for her living & yet age old to savour the taste of bhaakri on chulha. While her contemporary Irawati in Bhandup, Mumbai is not far from similar mornings. Irawati too packs in all tiffins right in time to push herself into the 7:52 a.m. local train to CST. She is a bit privileged to work in an air conditioned office & cook on LPG but not enough to be protected from its emissions in a 6 x 8 feet kitchen area.
Emissions from use of kitchen fuels indoors, contributes to 12 % of still births in the country & National Family Health survey (2005 -06 ) revealed significant increases in child morbidity due to poor household air quality.
Men are prone to this harm as well, since Indoor Air pollution is a major killer in India, even more than outdoors! But there is a gender angle to this issue, as the Indian parampara (tradition) hails with women staying indoors, running the kitchen & breathing in-out of the chulha.
A TERI report (2014) finds out that over 2.4 million cases of chronic bronchitis, 0.3 million cases of tuberculosis, 5 million cases of cataract & various adverse pregnancy outcomes among Indian women, are attributed to household air pollution due to biomass used as fuel.
Also, a WHO study stated that the smoke inhaled by women from unclean fuel is equivalent to that of burning 400 cigarettes in one hour.
So while men’s stresses are fagged into smoke rings & the Government promotes subsidies for cleaner fuels to phase in till every woman of this nation, let us do our bit of having cognizance of what she breathes. “She” could be your sister, wife, mother, friend or even your barbeque chef!
Until electrical demand for cooking needs is within reach for all, a switch to natural gas & LPG is the way forward to clean up the air inside our homes.
Meanwhile, Padma retires from being a school teacher & is diagnosed with cancer. Irawati has wrapped up tiffins for her grand children and is awaiting her retirement.
As we forward Whats App messages this International Women’s Day, let’s take an insight to comprehend on why she is coughing inside & Google in more on Indoor Air Pollution.
Cheers to a Happy Women’s Day!
~ Prachi Nimkar
