Gender, Health, Sexuality and Bodily Autonomy
This domain tests health equity, reproductive rights, sexuality and the legal conditions of bodily autonomy. Questions often distinguish related laws and ask about consent, access and outcomes.
Core concepts
- Reproductive rights: derived from ICPD (1994) and CEDAW; include access to services, information and decision-making.
- Bodily autonomy: the right to make decisions about one's body, sexuality and reproduction, subject to consent.
- Health equity: differential outcomes by gender, caste, class, disability and region.
- Indian indicators: NFHS-5 covers maternal care, contraception, anaemia and sex ratio; maternal mortality and nutrition remain policy concerns.
- Law: PCPNDT Act 1994 regulates prenatal diagnostic techniques to prevent sex-selective abortion; MTP Act 1971 (amended 2021) governs access to abortion; POCSO 2012 sets consent at 18; Navtej Singh Johar (2018) decriminalised consensual same-sex relations.
- Sexuality and stigma: menstrual stigma, HIV-related stigma, mental health and LGBTQ+ discrimination.
Worked example
Does the PCPNDT Act prohibit abortion? Reasoning: no. It regulates the use of prenatal diagnostic techniques to stop sex determination and sex-selective abortion. Abortion is governed by the MTP Act. Confusing the two is a common error.
Traps that cost marks
- Equating reproductive rights with population control.
- Treating consent as formal permission without attention to coercion.
- Assuming health outcomes are explained by gender alone, ignoring caste and class.