Giving Compass' Take:

• Women healthcare volunteers in countries such as Afghanistan, Nepal, and Ethiopia are undervalued even though they provide useful and fundamental health care for people in their communities. 

• Interventions and local policy changes are more helpful ways to address gender equality issues rather than the UN SDG commitments. In what ways can the international community help strengthen local community laws that will do more to advocate for these women?

• Read about why gender equality is critical to human development. 

Women healthcare volunteers in low-income countries such as Afghanistan, Nepal and Ethiopia play a vital role in the healthcare system, yet they are undervalued and undertrained. Many community health programs use volunteer Community Health Workers (CHW) to provide basic health-related services in rural and remote populations.

The communities in which women volunteers work are mostly patriarchal, with limited opportunities for education and paid work for women. Generally, women are considered to be operating at a subordinate level compared to men. By becoming volunteer health workers, some women create opportunities for themselves: They learn and gain new skills outside the formal education system from which they are marginalized.

Although communities have learned to accept the presence of female health workers in social spheres, especially in health and education, they have also developed ways to maintain women’s second-grade status. Our observations regarding recruitment of Community Health Workers (CHWs) show that communities choose women to volunteer, whereas men choose to volunteer for the community, indicating a greater agency for men in their choices. The services of male volunteers are valued as “acts of selflessness,” where the services of female volunteers are considered “natural tasks” for women.

Upstream interventions in the forms of international declarations, national regulations and local policies have often been helpful. Whereas international attention on development is focused on the United Nations’ Agenda 2030, which includes gender equality, we suggest practical recommendations for gender-equitable and -inclusive strengthening of the health workforce, especially female volunteers, in low-income countries.

Read the full article about women healthcare volunteers by Maisam Najafizada and Jill Allison at News Deeply