Focus on gender最新文献

{"title":"Rape in South Africa: an invisible part of apartheid's legacy.","authors":"S Armstrong","doi":"10.1080/09682869308520009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09682869308520009","url":null,"abstract":"Male dominated power systems in South Africa coupled with a culture of aggression and domination have not allowed for the mainstream emergence of qualities such as trust, compassion, and gentleness, frequently associated with female virtues. Rape under such circumstances is the assertion of male power, and, as expected, the numbers of rape cases and other forms of gender violence have increased. Under an apartheid system, where only the rape of white women was prosecuted, and gender and race issues could diffuse the black struggle, there were difficulties in mobilizing support to end violence against black women. There was social acceptance that rape of black women was part of life. Police statistics on the incidence of rape were notoriously unreliable, because only a small percentage of cases are reported to police, and many women would be ashamed to admit to marital abuse, including rape. In women's groups, it was reported that 1 out of every 4 women had been raped, and raped at early ages, such as 14 years of age. In impoverished communities, there is widespread poverty, injustice, prejudice, alcohol abuse, and other conditions impacting on women. The rapists may be school classmates, or street fighters, or political activists. The sexual initiation of women worldwide and in South Africa frequently is accompanied by coercion. Abduction and forced sex is considered legitimate for young men, who believe that mental health is deleteriously affected by lack of sex. Girls may even be abducted from the classroom, as a way of preventing women's power and control over assets and resources and diminishing the potential threat to gender power relations. School girls who become pregnant are often forced to leave school. Victims of rape may be excluded from family life and forced to seek prostitution as a means of support. Rape is reportedly experienced among older women with bottles, tins, or other devices which inflict injury. Only rape with penal penetration is an official offense. HIV infection is an increased risk for raped women, who are likely to suffer from bleeding. With an end to apartheid, it is up to the new government to enforce more equitable laws. Improvements are evident in Soweto at Baragwanath Hospital and in some police precincts, but the best protection is to teach nonviolence and respect for women.","PeriodicalId":84761,"journal":{"name":"Focus on gender","volume":"2 2","pages":"35-9"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/09682869308520009","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22038326","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Women's health and feminist politics.","authors":"D Faure","doi":"10.1080/09682869308520012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09682869308520012","url":null,"abstract":"The Sempreviva Organizacao Feminista (SOF) has aimed since 1963 to improve women's health in low-income communities in southeastern Brazil. There is concern for the whole person in all stages of a woman's life, not just the reproductive one commonly addressed in population control programs. SOF has linked gender, health, and poverty and contributed to social movements to improve conditions. SOF's constituency is about 90% women aged 20-40 years, with 2-5 children, and a lack of education. About 70% remain in the home caring for their families, and 25% are employed formally or informally. The women's fertility rates are high and they desire to limit childbearing. Most women are unaware of their own reproductive physiology and had not discussed sex with their parents before marriage. Active membership by 1971 was 7600 members. SOF's present aims are to strengthen the women's movement, to develop feminist approaches to health issues, to implement a women's health program, and to incorporate gender issued into other social movements. The present goals evolved out of the initial program of offering health services and family planning in a suburb of Sao Paulo. After break with their funding agency in 1967, over the refusal to promote female sterilization, they found funding by the World Council of Churches and others, which opened the doors to improvement in the quality of care. Meetings held every 2 years provide a forum for involvement of grassroots groups. The National Feminist Network for Health and Reproductive Rights provides the integrating mechanism for feminist nongovernmental groups and pressures the national government for reforms that will benefit women. SOF is just one of the grassroots organizations that offers collective and innovative experiences and empowerment. Social movements in the south and west of Sao Paulo have become more organized and demanded better public health policy or improvements in sanitation and waste disposal. SOF is currently organizing or coalition of rural trade unions, independent groups, and women's grassroots groups to work toward improvement in living conditions.","PeriodicalId":84761,"journal":{"name":"Focus on gender","volume":"2 2","pages":"51-4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/09682869308520012","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22038329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Abortion, reproductive rights and maternal mortality.","authors":"R. Pearson, C. Sweetman","doi":"10.1080/09682869308520011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09682869308520011","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Women prefer to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Women do not prefer abortion. Unsafe abortion kills and contributes to 40% of maternal mortality worldwide or an estimated 200,000 deaths/year. More than 50% of abortions are performed by unskilled persons. Legal abortion i 11 times safer than childbirth in the USA. About 7 out of 10 women would have an unwanted pregnancy, even if fertility were reduced to 2 births/woman. There are costs beyond death, pain, and suffering of the women themselves; costs are incurred by families and communities and health services. The costs of after care exceed the cost of performing an abortion. Women are frequently denied autonomy to prevent pregnancy. When contraception is denied, the only possible option for women to take control of their lives and destiny is abortion. Male-dominated cultures prescribe the role of woman as procreation and motherhood, without contraception or abortion options. The Roman Catholic encyclical \"Veritatis Splendor\" espouses such a belief. Women in fact share a multiplicity of roles. Socially sanctioned norms have never been able to control sexual relations, and development initiatives must address functional behavior, rather than idealized behavior. For example, Safe Motherhood programs integrate family planning in educational and health care services, but the emphasis is on contraception among high risk women, and unsafe abortion is ignored. Abortion has not only been viewed as an option for contraceptive failure, but as a means of fertility control. Communist bloc countries frequently provided no other option, except abortion. Poverty and social status were considered tied to access to contraceptive advice and appropriate, safe technology. Poor women may seek unsafe abortion as an inexpensive option; safe abortion even in illegal circumstances can be purchased for those able to afford it. Although rape and incest are socially unacceptable, many countries will not provide abortion even in these circumstances. State funding of abortion may have limits for provision of services only to those in severe mental or physical conditions. Son preference has contributed to the abuse of abortion. The abortion issue should be viewed as an issue of human rights and women's empowerment, and unsafe abortion must be addressed as part of health policy.\u0000","PeriodicalId":84761,"journal":{"name":"Focus on gender","volume":"2 2 1","pages":"45-50"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/09682869308520011","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"59598193","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Children as a resource: environmental degradation and fertility.","authors":"S Joekes","doi":"10.1080/09682869308520006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09682869308520006","url":null,"abstract":"Through the use of case studies from Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, and Morocco, the influence of environmental degradation on women's livelihoods and fertility is broadly examined. The aim is to show how the environment impacts on women's childbearing decisions, and the consequences. The evidence appears to support the notion that environmental pressures on women will contribute to higher fertility, under conditions of gender division of labor, a very low social status for women, and women's limited educational opportunity. The Kenya experiences were among rural villages in various agro-ecological zones in Embu, on the slopes of Mt. Kenya, and involved coping strategies with poor soils and very little rainfall. The Malaysian research focused on river communities in the rain forests of Limbang River Basin in Sarawak and the logging industry and government regulation of tribal land use rights. In mountainous Tetouan and A1 Hoceimain, Moroccan populations struggle with poor social services and little rainfall. The study areas in Morocco and Kenya had very high population growth, but declining growth rates nationally. The study areas suffered from deforestation, declines in water quality and availability, and soil erosion and depletion. Family planning services would be welcome: 1) when women do not have to solely bear the responsibility for the additional work involved in environmentally degraded areas; and 2) when the value of children is not increased. Policy must recognize that where rigid gender division of labor is prominent, children are a crucial resource for women in the provision of household support. The Morocco case exemplified the extremes of men's refusal to ease women's workloads with time and labor saving technology. Family planning promotion in such situations must be accompanied by provision of alternative resources to address the adverse environmental impacts on women. Blaming women for environmental problems and family planning promotion will fail to gain credibility and the trust of women unless they are provided options.","PeriodicalId":84761,"journal":{"name":"Focus on gender","volume":"2 2","pages":"13-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/09682869308520006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22038995","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"\"Safe motherhood\", family planning and maternal mortality: an Indonesian case study.","authors":"I Smyth","doi":"10.1080/09682869308520007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09682869308520007","url":null,"abstract":"This case study in Indonesia examined some assumptions about the outcome of family planning services. Safe Motherhood programs were flawed, because of the misplaced emphasis on family planning as a strategy to reduce maternal mortality. Family planning programs reduce the exposure to the risks of child-bearing, but they do not reduce the actual risks. Reproductive health should not be linked so tightly to demographic concerns and family planning. That cost saving occurs from family planning is insufficient to justify inattention to the needs of high quality obstetric care. Family planning should be viewed as just one component of a larger, comprehensive set of measures designed to assure the health of women at all stages in the life cycle: as citizens and workers, as mothers, and as adolescents. Interventions must begin before childbearing and include growth in economic, educational, and health opportunities. The aim of reducing maternal mortality by 50% by the year 2000 was included in Indonesia's five-year development plan: Repelita V. The example of Indonesia was important, because of its achievements in reducing poverty and increasing the standard of living of the population, and because of its large population size. Estimated maternal mortality in Indonesia was 450/100,000 live births in 1989, up from 390/100,000 in 1982. There was evidence from other studies that maternal mortality has increased. Criticism has been directed to the misplaced emphasis on family planning and the top-down delivery of professional services for ignoring local health-enhancing practices and the role of families, fathers, and communities as health providers. The realized cost effectiveness of family planning is an abstraction. Fertility has declined with an increase in family planning from 5.6 children to 3.0 children in 1990, but, for example, Bali has both high levels of contraception use and high maternal mortality. Integrated programs and the high risk approach have not been particularly successful.","PeriodicalId":84761,"journal":{"name":"Focus on gender","volume":"2 2","pages":"19-28"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/09682869308520007","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22038996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Female sexuality, regulation and resistance.","authors":"R Khanna, J Price","doi":"10.1080/09682869308520021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09682869308520021","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":84761,"journal":{"name":"Focus on gender","volume":"2 2","pages":"29-34"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/09682869308520021","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22038997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The road to Cairo.","authors":"P Antrobus","doi":"10.1080/09682869308520013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09682869308520013","url":null,"abstract":"The final statement made by DAWN to the 3rd final preparatory meeting for the United Nations Conference on Population and Development scheduled for September, 1994, in Cairo was given in full. DAWN's recommendations were briefly stated in 10 points. The women's group suggested that 1) structural adjustment assurances be made that investments in social programs would not be reduced; 2) equity and poverty adjustment and job creation be included in the development model; 3) population policy promote the well-being of people and reproductive rights of women; 4) comprehensive, high quality health services for women be provided responsibly by governments; 5) women's rights be recognized as human rights; 6) health services be reorganized to incorporate a wide range of services, including safe abortion; 7) safe, legal abortion be recognized as a necessary right; 8) gender and empowerment programs receive financial support; 9) accountability be required and women's groups' representation be included; and 10) resources be restructured to incorporate the aforementioned recommendations. The closing statement stressed the need to use a broad context and not to separate population issues from other issues of development. Women's issues are inseparably linked with women's rights, women's empowerment, and provision of comprehensive health services. Equity is a central development issue. The impact of development models on women must be considered. Development models and women's rights are both topics that need to be addressed concurrently at the conference. The Vatican's attempt to separate the issues and focus exclusively on women's rights only in religiously defined terms is blatantly political and an exercise of power domination of women. Many women's groups from a broad base of support have lobbied this forthcoming proceeding for a broader framework of women's rights within the document. Respect for women's issues will come from greater involvement of women in monitoring policies and implementation of programs.","PeriodicalId":84761,"journal":{"name":"Focus on gender","volume":"2 2","pages":"55-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/09682869308520013","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22038330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Abortion, reproductive rights and maternal mortality.","authors":"R Pearson, C Sweetman","doi":"10.1080/09682869308520025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09682869308520025","url":null,"abstract":"Vanete Almeida, from Brazil, is one of eight Southern women activists who visited Britain in 1992 to meet with women from a variety of kindred organisations in the UK and Ireland, to share their experiences of work, discuss commonalities and differences in their vision, and find ways of cooperating and supporting each other. The following is Vanete's report of her visit to Southampton, a city on England's south coast.","PeriodicalId":84761,"journal":{"name":"Focus on gender","volume":"2 2","pages":"45-50"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/09682869308520025","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22038328","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The development of contraceptive technologies: a feminist critique.","authors":"A Hardon","doi":"10.1080/09682869308520010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09682869308520010","url":null,"abstract":"Women's health advocates have criticized the choice of contraceptives available for not meeting reproductive needs and for controlling women's fertility at the expense of women's health. There is a call for technology that is appropriate, safe, and under the user's control. Concern about contraceptive testing does not mean that all contraceptive methods should be criticized. Development and evaluation of contraceptive technologies involves conformity with drug regulatory and licensing groups. Scientific trials are used to evaluate a drug's performance, but a shortcoming of the method is the exclusion of vulnerable populations such as adolescent, anemic, pregnant or breast-feeding women. The assumptions for distribution after approval are healthy, well-informed clients, in clean, well-equipped settings, with adequate follow-up. However, the realities may be quite different. Providers may be poorly trained to serve users who are in poor health and/or illiterate, and who will be likely not to return for follow-up. Clinical trials are limited also by the time frame, which is usually five years and not long enough to ascertain long-term effects for cancer, for instance. Sample sizes may be too small to detect serious side effects. Acceptability trials also have limitations. Acceptability is defined by researchers and is sometimes not made explicit. The generally agreed upon criteria is the continued use of the method by the women in the trial, who do not represent the entire population of potential users of the method. Goals of users and researchers may be different. Prevention of pregnancy is the goal of researchers, while women may be selectively concerned with safety and acceptability. Researchers make value judgments about what is and what is not important to women. Menstrual disturbance is one measure that is frequently cited as more important to women than researchers, or for which cultural practices may be violated. Population growth limitation can be used as the entire justification for research; researchers do not report that women themselves desire longer acting contraceptive alternatives. Consideration is not given to client-provider relations, or to deficiencies in health infrastructure affecting provision. The potential for abuse or coercion is ignored by researchers.","PeriodicalId":84761,"journal":{"name":"Focus on gender","volume":"2 2","pages":"40-4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/09682869308520010","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22038327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From family planning and maternal and child health to reproductive health.","authors":"J. Mosse","doi":"10.1080/09682869308520005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09682869308520005","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 A broad overview was provided of the changes occurring in women's health in the context of donors. In the 1990s, women's health issues began to be addressed by reproductive health rather than by family planning and maternal and child health programs in official and nongovernmental development programs (NGOs). The World Health Organization definition of reproductive health includes the right of to regulate and control their own fertility. There is international donor recognition, such as the United Nations Population Fund support for the WHO definition, children by choice, and reproductive health services for women. Family planning programs have tended to use the \"welfare approach\" of targeting women as mothers, and their children. Welfare programs began distribution of contraceptives, when the US Agency for International Development began in the 1960s its policy of contraceptive promotion. Target populations in developing countries were reached through social welfare and health service programs, which included women as passive recipients. The issues of poverty, environmental degradation, and violence were unheeded. The period of 1975-85 marked the emergence of discussion about women's role in society. Links were made between high fertility and low status. The research focus was on determinants of fertility decline, regardless of equity issues. Women were encouraged to become involved in political, social, economic, and education activities as a means of creating a \"favorable climate for pursuing population...goals.\" The development literature relegated women to the subordinate position of meeting demographic objectives. The focus on poverty alleviation opened up the literature to the complexities of the relationships between fertility, education, and work. Empowerment has grown out of the framework and enhanced development. Reproductive health programs are still limited in their offerings, but there has been expansion through the linkages with NGOs. Women's preparatory meetings before the Cairo conference have stressed that gender equity and reproductive rights be placed within a broad framework with policy support.\u0000","PeriodicalId":84761,"journal":{"name":"Focus on gender","volume":"2 2 1","pages":"6-12"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/09682869308520005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"59598153","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}