Women’s issues are clearly everyone’s issues just for the very reason that it is the woman who carries the child in the womb. Even for only this one reason, women’s reproductive rights remain an issue that society continues to debate upon attacking it from different perspectives and social constructs that spell the success of sustaining good health of the woman. Reproductive rights as a whole encompass both male and women issues but focusing on the women’s reproductive rights bears critical research, discussions and action on the reproductive and sexual health of a woman as a component of the overall health of human beings.
Reproductive health is all about the decision making capacity of women over their own bodies. It includes issues pertaining to all reproductive health aspects of women, starting from pre-menstrual issues of sex before marriage, how women involve themselves in marriage, determination of how many offspring to produce, family formation, right to access of information and extent in negotiating with society on how far will society let the woman decide for herself on issues that affect her reproductive rights.
Though this issue are bounded under health as an individual’s wellness and wellbeing, the issue of reproductive rights encompass a bigger realm of wellness. Reproductive rights issues are a concern of the whole wellness of a community in particular and humanity in general. To be able to dissect what reproductive rights are, its historical context, existing issues, effects and development points is imperative to all stakeholders of the continuance of the human species.
Cultures around the globe have been developing rapidly under the leadership of technology and communication. Unfortunately, it is still man’s health that must be prioritized if the planet is to survive. Economic As nations look at populations as key elements in nation building or culture sustainability, at the most basic unit of society composed of a man and a woman, issues on economics are very much in the heart of reproductive rights.
First world countries that see both men and women working go through hard adjustments when there is a decision to procreate. Third world countries on the other hand have the same hard adjustments for the woman when the males decide to procreate. These observations are supported with astonish data such as an increase in the ageing population in Sri Lanka. “Population ageing in Sri Lanka will be unusually rapid both in comparison to other countries in the region, as well as the historical experience of the advanced economies of Europe and North America.
In comparison with the European countries where this took 50 to 150 years, the percentage of people aged 65 years and over will double from 7 per cent to 14 per cent in Sri Lanka in less than 20 years. The median age of the population will increase rapidly from 25 currently to reach 50 in less than sixty years, or less than one life span. This raises significant challenges for policy makers and society. IPS -HPP’s research effort in this area is committed to both raising awareness of the issues, and to developing potential solutions.
” (De Silva, 2002) Simply put, when a woman holds two jobs, once she decides to have a baby, those jobs will be affected and household economics will change. As it is even in countries that offer subsidies in the form of insurance or welfare systems, getting another mouth to feed inside the household is an issue traversing reproductive rights in particular and reproductive health in general. But on a country wide scale, a nation needs to strengthen its population so that their culture will survive.
Unfortunately, culture is another factor that remains to be a very strong element in affecting reproductive rights. Cultural Each cultural group, small or big, has a basic hierarchical gender system. As social and health scientists analyse the basic social structures, major characteristics of social groups govern the complex social relations playing amongst men, women, and children. Gender systems are dependent on type and organizational structures of these social structures. Issues on reproductive health work on these larger structures.
Therefore, knowing salient elements that mold social structures is important in studying how these social relations bring implications to the gender system of a particular culture. “For example, in many parts of South Asia, the social structure is patrilineal, and is based upon male descent, authority, and power. As such, all children are born into the kinship group of their father, while females leave the group upon marriage and join the kin group of their respective husbands.
Adult males are ascribed formal financial responsibility for their parents (and anyone residing in the parental household) as well as their own households. Accordingly, males are the sole heirs to property (primarily land) upon the death of their father or other male relatives. (In the rare occasions of divorce, the children remain with their father, and mothers must return to their parental household without financial compensation or sometimes rights of visitation with the children).
Polygamy is socially sanctioned although generally only affordable by more prosperous households. ” (FAO, 1998) Reproductive rights therefore remain largely a concern of the whole community when taken in a cultural context. One woman cannot single handedly decide on how to take control of her own body and reproductive role because one cannot help be part of a larger community that have governing rules. These cultural traditions, though against healthy reproductive well being will always be prioritized.