scholarly journals Intersectionality and the Struggle for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: An Analysis of UN Discursive Patterns

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Amie Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Sexual And Reproductive Health ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Population Movement ◽  
Development Discourse ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Normative Argument ◽  
Men’S Involvement

<p>This thesis makes the normative argument that intersectionality should be taken seriously by the United Nations in their efforts to address Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). This work suggests that, in spite of widespread recognition of the value of intersectionality for approaching issues of SRHR, the UN has insufficiently adopted the theory into its policy and practice. At the international policy level, intersectionality is nearly absent as a paradigm, yet its central components are dominant within mainstream development discourse. These components include discourses of women's empowerment, human rights, and men's involvement. Drawing on critical feminist and race theory, I argue that a narrow gender vision of SRHR is not sufficient and that intersectionality should be recognized both in discourse and practice by UN agencies. This argument is examined along the parallel tracks of the population movement within the UN system and the evolution of the global women's movement (GWM). This study shows that the UN system has traditionally adopted the approaches and discourses of the global women's movement, as analysed over four decades of UN population movement discourse. However, a shift occurring at the new millennium, as well as significant political barriers barring a discussion of race and racism, have led to a break in this relationship, damaging the take-up of GWM discourse. The conclusion drawn from this argument is that SRHR is an intersectional issue and the new and emerging intersectional paradigm must be adopted by the UN in order to effectively address SRHR on a local and global scale.</p>

scholarly journals Intersectionality and the Struggle for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: An Analysis of UN Discursive Patterns

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Amie Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Sexual And Reproductive Health ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Population Movement ◽  
Development Discourse ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Normative Argument ◽  
Men’S Involvement

<p>This thesis makes the normative argument that intersectionality should be taken seriously by the United Nations in their efforts to address Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). This work suggests that, in spite of widespread recognition of the value of intersectionality for approaching issues of SRHR, the UN has insufficiently adopted the theory into its policy and practice. At the international policy level, intersectionality is nearly absent as a paradigm, yet its central components are dominant within mainstream development discourse. These components include discourses of women's empowerment, human rights, and men's involvement. Drawing on critical feminist and race theory, I argue that a narrow gender vision of SRHR is not sufficient and that intersectionality should be recognized both in discourse and practice by UN agencies. This argument is examined along the parallel tracks of the population movement within the UN system and the evolution of the global women's movement (GWM). This study shows that the UN system has traditionally adopted the approaches and discourses of the global women's movement, as analysed over four decades of UN population movement discourse. However, a shift occurring at the new millennium, as well as significant political barriers barring a discussion of race and racism, have led to a break in this relationship, damaging the take-up of GWM discourse. The conclusion drawn from this argument is that SRHR is an intersectional issue and the new and emerging intersectional paradigm must be adopted by the UN in order to effectively address SRHR on a local and global scale.</p>

scholarly journals What contextual factors and mechanisms facilitate male involvement in women's sexual and reproductive health in Sub-Saharan Africa? A rapid realist review protocol

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Purity Mwendwa ◽  
Caroline Karani ◽  
Elizabeth Kamolo ◽  
Thilo Kroll ◽  
Aoife De Brún ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Sexual And Reproductive Health ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Realist Review ◽  
Male Involvement ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Men’S Involvement ◽  
Rapid Realist Review

Background:  Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes of women within low resource contexts continue to be of concern to policymakers. Notably, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) continues to lag behind other regions of the world in improving SRH outcomes for women in the region. A key suggested strategy is male involvement through interventions that respect, promote and facilitate women in taking care of themselves and their new-borns. However, factors such as social-cultural barriers may preclude men's involvement in these programmes. There is a need for a context-specific understanding of gender dynamics and interaction and the mechanisms that enhance or impede men's involvement. Methods: We will employ a rapid realist review (RRR) methodology to examine what mechanisms and contextual factors are essential to facilitate the involvement of men in women's SRH programmes in SSA. In keeping with the realist literature we will follow six steps, which will include: (1) developing a theory, (2) developing a search strategy, (3) selecting and appraising documents, (4) extracting data, (5) analysing data and synthesising the evidence, and (6) presenting and disseminating a revised theory. We will also engage with key stakeholders who will provide local contextual insights and with experts in the subject area. The review findings will be shared with relevant stakeholders using a variety of avenues including through publications, at conferences and on social media platforms. Discussion: This review will identify the mechanisms and contextual factors that facilitate or hinder men's involvement in women's SRH programmes in SSA. The rationale for adopting an RRR approach is to help gather the information within a relatively short period to ensure relevance of findings to policymakers in SSA. Results from this work also have the potential to be adapted to the other contexts, for example, Ireland and the UK, which have a growing population of people from SSA.

scholarly journals Empowerment as a pre-requisite to managing and influencing health in the workplace: The sexual and reproductive health needs of factory women migrant workers in Malaysia

2021 ◽  
pp. 0143831X2110247
Author(s):  
Lilian Miles ◽  
Tim Freeman ◽  
Lai Wan Teng ◽  
Suziana Mat Yasin ◽  
Kelvin Ying
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Sexual And Reproductive Health ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
Workplace Democracy ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Effect Change ◽  
Normative Expectations ◽  
And Migration

Malaysia is a major importer of migrant labour within the ASEAN region, and migration has adverse implications for the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of women migrant workers. Given the centrality of the workplace to the lives of such women, this article reports a qualitative analysis of interview data with women migrant workers ( N = 14) and wider stakeholders ( N = 10) and considers the extent to which they are able to effect change in workplace SRH policy and practice. Informed by Jo Rowlands’ typology of power and model of empowerment, the analysis considers the extent to which normative expectations of process and collective mobilisation upon which feminist empowerment models are predicated operate in such contexts, and discusses the implications of the findings for research to advance workplace democracy.

scholarly journals The politest form of racism: sexual and reproductive health and rights paradigm in Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ieman M. El-Mowafi ◽  
Abdiasis Yalahow ◽  
Dina Idriss-Wheeler ◽  
Sanni Yaya
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Sexual And Reproductive Health ◽  
Black People ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Reproductive Justice ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
Grassroots Level

AbstractThe Canadian national identity is often understood as what it is not; American. Inundation with American history, news, and culture around race and racism imbues Canadians with a false impression of egalitarianism, resulting in a lack of critical national reflection. While this is true in instances, the cruel reality of inequity, injustice and racism is rampant within the Canadian sexual and reproductive health and rights realm. Indeed, the inequitable health outcomes for Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) are rooted in policy, research, health promotion and patient care. Built by colonial settlers, many of the systems currently in place have yet to embark on the necessary process of addressing the colonial, racist, and ableist structures perpetuating inequities in health outcomes. The mere fact that Canada sees itself as better than America in terms of race relations is an excuse to overlook its decades of racial and cultural discrimination against Indigenous and Black people. While this commentary may not be ground-breaking for BIPOC communities who have remained vocal about these issues at a grassroots level for decades, there exists a gap in the Canadian literature in exploring these difficult and often underlying dynamics of racism. In this commentary series, the authors aim to promote strategies addressing systemic racism and incorporating a reproductive justice framework in an attempt to reduce health inequities among Indigenous, Black and racialized communities in Canada.

scholarly journals What contextual factors and mechanisms facilitate male involvement in women's sexual and reproductive health in Sub-Saharan Africa? A rapid realist review protocol

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Purity Mwendwa ◽  
Caroline Karani ◽  
Elizabeth Kamolo ◽  
Thilo Kroll ◽  
Aoife De Brún ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Sexual And Reproductive Health ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Realist Review ◽  
Male Involvement ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Men’S Involvement ◽  
Rapid Realist Review

Background:  Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes of women within low resource contexts continue to be of concern to policymakers. Notably, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) continues to lag behind other regions of the world in improving SRH outcomes for women in the region. A key suggested strategy is male involvement through interventions that respect, promote and facilitate women in taking care of themselves and their new-borns. However, factors such as social-cultural barriers may preclude men's involvement in these programmes. There is a need for a context-specific understanding of gender dynamics and interaction and the mechanisms that enhance or impede men's involvement. Methods: We will employ a rapid realist review (RRR) methodology to examine what mechanisms and contextual factors are essential to facilitate the involvement of men in women's SRH programmes in SSA. In keeping with the realist literature we will follow six steps, which will include: (1) developing a theory, (2) developing a search strategy, (3) selecting and appraising documents, (4) extracting data, (5) analysing data and synthesising the evidence, and (6) presenting and disseminating a revised theory. We will also engage with key stakeholders who will provide local contextual insights and with experts in the subject area. The review findings will be shared with relevant stakeholders using a variety of avenues including through publications, at conferences and on social media platforms. Discussion: This review will identify the mechanisms and contextual factors that facilitate or hinder men's involvement in women's SRH programmes in SSA. The rationale for adopting an RRR approach is to help gather the information within a relatively short period to ensure relevance of findings to policymakers in SSA. Results from this work also have the potential to be adapted to the other contexts, for example, Ireland and the UK, which have a growing population of people from SSA.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document