ICYO – YOUTH INFORMATION

No. 2007/23                                                             (April 2007)

(e-newsletter from

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations)

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India Asks Civil Servants

About Their Periods

India's female civil servants are being told to provide details of their menstrual cycles in a new job appraisal form.

 

Women have been angered by the new form sent out this year which asks, among questions about their goals and skills, "when was your last menstrual period?" and "give details of your menstrual history."

 

It also says "all female officers" must list details of their last maternity leave. "This is insensitive. We feel strongly about this," said Seema Vyas, a civil servant in the western state of Maharashtra's administration department. "What will the government do with this information?"

 

All civil servants routinely undergo health check-ups, but the details of the tests are not supposed to be part of their appraisals. The form was based on guidelines issued by the Health Ministry, a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.

 

In Maharashtra women angered by the new appraisal form are to meet next week to organize a formal complaint to the federal government's personnel department, demanding the offending questions be excised.

 

There was no word on whether women bureaucrats in other parts of the country were planning to make similar demands, and the Federal Health Ministry said it had not yet received any complaints from female civil servants.

 

Nearly 10 per cent of India's 4,000 civil service bureaucrats are women. One female civil servant said on condition of anonymity that she and others were shocked by the move, which showed gender insensitivity at the top level of the Indian bureaucracy.

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Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations; Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development; Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand; ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign; Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network; Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD); International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD); World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.