(Written in Nov 2008)
This year I completed ten years of my work in the development sector. A substantial part of this time I spent working on rights and issues of women. These have included a wide array, namely, economic empowerment, health, legal rights, local governance, mental health and human-trafficking. After working closely with women around these issues, I decided to commit myself to them for the rest of my life. But the question that continued to press on my mind was which particular women’s right did I want to dedicate myself to. The process of determining that one area or one right was increasingly becoming difficult. I understood that most definitely no right supersedes the other and a comparison between them cannot be drawn. I could have chosen to be a generalist on women’s rights but I wanted to make that transition to specializing in one thematic area and contribute to that. The question continued to bother me till the time I began my Atlas Corps Fellowship at Population Action International and began learning the significance of Reproductive Health rights of women to their overall empowerment.
My very first learning about Reproductive health was that it implies that people are able to have a responsible, satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so. Implicit in this are the right of men and women to be informed of and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of fertility regulation of their choice, and the right of access to appropriate health care services that will enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples with the best chance of having a healthy infant. (Source: WHO). Reproductive illnesses are a major threat to the health of adults especially in the developing countries. According to the World Bank and World Health Organization, the reproductive health burden is highest in Africa and South Asia. In sub-Saharan Africa, reproductive illnesses, including complications of unsafe abortion and AIDS, cause about one-third of all disability and premature death among females, and about one-quarter in males. In India, they cause roughly 18 percent of the total health burden of females. The WHO estimates that more than 500,000 women die each year from pregnancy-related causes and unsafe abortion.
The gender inequities that are so inextricably woven in the socio-cultural fabric of these societies make women more vulnerable to reproductive health illnesses, so they are the worst hit. Because women experience pregnancy and childbirth, they are about seven times more vulnerable to reproductive illnesses than men. In addition, women’s risk of acquiring HIV is five to 10 times higher than men at each exposure. (Source: PAI) Unfortunately due to the lop-sided and discriminatory gender situation in these countries, which also includes my own country, India, women experience the greatest reproductive risks; they have limited access to the supplies, services and information that can save them from these illnesses and negligible role in decision-making processes. Further, women are seldom able to negotiate the conditions of sexual intercourse and contraceptive use with men which aggravates their vulnerabilities. Thus, I learned that reproductive health rights of women and issues linked to it cannot be overlooked if the penultimate goal of women empowerment and human development has to be achieved.
These and many more learnings around reproductive health policies, financing of reproductive health programs, and inter-linkages between reproductive health and poverty, climate change, environment, and security, answered my question and gave me the path to walk on. Hereafter, reproductive health rights of women is what I want to commit myself to and contribute to in both a professional and personal capacity.
This year I completed ten years of my work in the development sector. A substantial part of this time I spent working on rights and issues of women. These have included a wide array, namely, economic empowerment, health, legal rights, local governance, mental health and human-trafficking. After working closely with women around these issues, I decided to commit myself to them for the rest of my life. But the question that continued to press on my mind was which particular women’s right did I want to dedicate myself to. The process of determining that one area or one right was increasingly becoming difficult. I understood that most definitely no right supersedes the other and a comparison between them cannot be drawn. I could have chosen to be a generalist on women’s rights but I wanted to make that transition to specializing in one thematic area and contribute to that. The question continued to bother me till the time I began my Atlas Corps Fellowship at Population Action International and began learning the significance of Reproductive Health rights of women to their overall empowerment.
My very first learning about Reproductive health was that it implies that people are able to have a responsible, satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so. Implicit in this are the right of men and women to be informed of and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of fertility regulation of their choice, and the right of access to appropriate health care services that will enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples with the best chance of having a healthy infant. (Source: WHO). Reproductive illnesses are a major threat to the health of adults especially in the developing countries. According to the World Bank and World Health Organization, the reproductive health burden is highest in Africa and South Asia. In sub-Saharan Africa, reproductive illnesses, including complications of unsafe abortion and AIDS, cause about one-third of all disability and premature death among females, and about one-quarter in males. In India, they cause roughly 18 percent of the total health burden of females. The WHO estimates that more than 500,000 women die each year from pregnancy-related causes and unsafe abortion.
The gender inequities that are so inextricably woven in the socio-cultural fabric of these societies make women more vulnerable to reproductive health illnesses, so they are the worst hit. Because women experience pregnancy and childbirth, they are about seven times more vulnerable to reproductive illnesses than men. In addition, women’s risk of acquiring HIV is five to 10 times higher than men at each exposure. (Source: PAI) Unfortunately due to the lop-sided and discriminatory gender situation in these countries, which also includes my own country, India, women experience the greatest reproductive risks; they have limited access to the supplies, services and information that can save them from these illnesses and negligible role in decision-making processes. Further, women are seldom able to negotiate the conditions of sexual intercourse and contraceptive use with men which aggravates their vulnerabilities. Thus, I learned that reproductive health rights of women and issues linked to it cannot be overlooked if the penultimate goal of women empowerment and human development has to be achieved.
These and many more learnings around reproductive health policies, financing of reproductive health programs, and inter-linkages between reproductive health and poverty, climate change, environment, and security, answered my question and gave me the path to walk on. Hereafter, reproductive health rights of women is what I want to commit myself to and contribute to in both a professional and personal capacity.
