The wages of patriarchy

While there is gender disparity in all fields of life and activities in India, one area where it is most blatant and obvious is organ donation.

According to a recent report based on a study by the Indian Society of Organ Transplantation, four out of five living organ donors in India are women, while four out of five recipients are men.

It is a reflection of the patriarchal culture in society which considers men’s lives more important than women’s.

Organ donation is allowed only within families and among close relatives.

The report suggests that the main reasons for the skewed nature of donations is the perception that male members are in greater need of retaining all their functional organs because they are breadwinners.

The idea is that men have a greater right to receive organs than women because men’s lives are more important. 

It is clear that when male members of the family need an organ, there is pressure on women to donate it. But when women need it, there is no pressure on men to give it. The consequence is also clear. While a large number of men survive with women’s organs, a similar number of women may die or live with severe disabilities because they do not get organs from men. The breadwinner argument is wrong and cruel. It means the right to live depends on the ability to earn. However there is no statistics to prove that the asymmetry in organ donation is solely because of the economic factor. If economic considerations dominate organ donations in a large majority of cases in the country, that does not reflect well on us. Women are also economic agents, who are not paid for their domestic work and are made to contribute to the family with their work, health, and organs. 

There are social and cultural factors also at work in giving men greater advantage in the matter of organ donation. It is not difficult to imagine an employed woman making an organ donation to her husband or other members of the family even if they are not working or earning as much as she does. Women may feel such pressure, directly or indirectly, and that is because of the patriarchal nature of society. The patriarchal attitudes are internalised by women too. According to the UNDP’s gender inequality index, India’s rank is 122 among 191 countries. It is true that there is a bias in favour of men in organ donations in all countries but it is very large in India. Add to all these reasons the greater ability of women to feel empathy and kindness, and the organ donation figures cease to surprise.