Editor's Introduction

In the month of March, the world again had an opportunity to celebrate the twin international events.The first was on March 8 th (International Women's Day) and the second on March 21 st (The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination).Naturally, the magnitude of such celebrations vary from geographic region to geographic region and from country to country.Yet, with much disappointment, one can hardly avoid noticing that the infectious energy of the 1970s and 80s is lacking from the recent celebrations of the Women's Day events.Likewise, the outrage against racial segregation, apartheid and state-violence which formed the basis of the United Nations Declaration of the Elimination of Racial Discrimination ( 1966) is muted at best.What happened since the 1970s and 80s to erode some of the positive energy to demand and initiate social change?The optimists can argue that in the majority of the countries, including some remote and traditionbound patches of the globe, the most severe limitations against women have been mostly addressed if not completely resolved.Indeed, observations and statistical information abound to support such up-beat assertions.For example, who can forget the images of some Afghani women shedding their claustrophobic burkas and who can forget the victoriously raised purple-ink-stained fingers of the Iraqi women who were allowed to vote after a long period of oppression?Optimists can also make numerous positive claims in terms of race and ethnic relations.For example, even the ultra-conservative US Republicans recently chose a black woman to serve as the Secretary of the State.The cold war is long over and legalized apartheid has been abolished in South Africa.Moreover, the malevolence of ethnic cleansing in Rwanda, Bosnia, Chechia etc., is no longer making the daily headlines and evening-news nightmares.Regardless of the degree of one's optimism, however, the darker side of the coin also requires some acknowledgement.Just to give an example, there is a worrisome resignation in the masses about women's issues.This resignation is visible in the developed as well as the less developed worlds, although its causes may be quite different.In the west, there is a heightened sense, albeit mostly erroneous, that gender equality has been reached.Ironically, this belief is equally shared by young men and women.In contrast, in the less developed world, the existing problems of poverty, ethnic or racial strife, political instability and even natural disasters are so overwhelming that an in-depth focus on women's issues may not be palatable for most.For race and culture-based issues and problems, even a misguided level of resignation is not possible.The 'we versus them' and the 'good versus evil' rhetoric of most western political and economic decisionmakers are trickling down to dangerous polarizations.France and the war veterans has required a new and a loftier social construction-one that is particularly masculine in nature (shell shock).The second thread Reuter untangles is the 'legitimate' fears emerging from fast and not necessarily well-thought-out forms of urbanization.Rather than acknowledging women's legitimate fears, the urbanizing and industrializing capitalism has found a psychological twist to send women to their homes, as their labour got displaced by the labour of men returning from the war.The third thread Reuter follows is the gendered remedial interventions.Here, capitalism and patriarchy again join hands.Women's regaining their health is sought in sending them to 'shopping malls' whereas, men's efforts to get well are directed at their return to work.The game is to assure the gendered production and consumption cycles, as capitalism dictates, not necessarily a genuine concern about psychological states.After touching upon India, Turkey and the European and US efforts in genderizing and re-genderizing women's health, Ellen Sweeney's article on breast cancer brings our gaze back to Canada.In her work, the culprit is not patriarchy per se, but the capitalist system (although how men benefit from the workings of the capitalistic system remains obvious).Sweeney's paper identifies a disjuncture between what information is made available to women versus the environmental as the most probable etiology of breast cancer.Reuter's work implies that this disjuncture may not be benign (pun intended), but may be closely tied to the multibillion dollar research interests and drug profits biomedical industries spin-off.Women are led to believe that the danger that awaits them (breast cancer) is cellular, hormonal and genetic in nature.They are urged to engage in routine breast examinations, visit their doctors, subject themselves to mammograms etc.The odds that they are advised to beat is 1/8.If and when they get the bad news, their choices are limited to the slash/burn/chemical annihilation techniques.Although so far these are indeed the best tools that may be available to the patients who have cancer, these tools do nothing about preventative measures and environmental vigilance.As a physician on a CBC show on breast cancer 'honestly' argued, there are no profits to be made in prevention (aired on April 8, 2006; Host Wendy Mesley).If the latter were the emphasis (and Reuter's work suggests it is crucial), the gaze will shift from individual forms of responsibility to social and political forms of responsibility.In industrialized nations where the environmental factors are at a premium, women's health risks may be substantially reduced through cleaner work environments, cleaner water, air, soil, reduced use of pesticides, herbicides and by reduction of a whole host of other carcinogens.Ironically, some of the biomedical industries that produce and sell the medicines and pills for cancer are the same industries that spew carcinogens into the air we breathe and the water we drink.Aysan Sev'er April 28, 2006 The Deprived, Discriminated & Damned Girl Child: Story of Declining Child Sex Ratios in India P Pr re ee et t R Ru us st ta ag gi i 1 I In ns st ti it tu ut te e f fo or r H Hu um ma an n D De ev ve el lo op pm me en nt t, , N Ne ew w D De el lh hi i, , I In nd di ia a

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