Why Are Women Dying?

As I mentioned in class last Thursday, our reading and discussions over the past couple of weeks about women’s lack of access to education globally, their systemic inability to participate in formal politics, the structural patriarchy of organized religions, and this week’s topic—women’s ill health and lack of access to health care—are all connected in their collective and individual ability to control women’s bodies and behaviors. This, as you know, is the main focus of Part 2 of our course.

Administrative Stuff
Before I say more about that, though, I want to remind you of a few things:

1. You should be well into your research for your Term Project by now, so you should start thinking about scheduling a meeting with me. This meeting is a requirement of the Term Project and must be completed by Thursday, March 3rd. You won’t be permitted to complete your Term Project if you don’t meet with me by that date, so I encourage you to e-mail me ASAP to get on my calendar. And remember: I’m always happy to chat with you if you’d like to ask questions, brainstorm ideas, or anything else as you do your research, so don’t hesitate to drop by during my office hours in advance of our “official” meeting.

2. With regard to the Term Project, don’t forget to use your textbooks and other course materials as informational resources. There’s lots of valuable information provided by Burn, Seager, and the other authors we’re working with this semester, and you should be taking advantage of that information when you can!

3. The list of who’s scheduled to present when on “Women’s Live in the News” is available via Blackboard, so be sure to take a look to see when it’s your turn!

Women, (Poor) Health, and (Lack of) Health Care
I decided that we should read and talk about the global status of women’s health and their (lack of) access to health care at this point in the semester, because it makes the most sense to do so immediately following our discussion about the ways in which lack of access to education, lack of participation in formal politics, and the patriarchy of organized religions contribute mightily to women’s lack of social, economic, and political status worldwide.

Separation of Church and State?
On Tuesday, we’ll continue our conversation about organized religions as patriarchal structures by focusing particularly on the ways in which religions get mixed up with government policies and formal politics, and vice versa.

The most (in)famous example of this, which I mentioned last week, is called the “Global Gag Rule” and is discussed briefly in chapter 8 of Kristoff & WuDunn. According to the International Women’s Health Coalition, this U.S.-based Executive Order (meaning that the President is empowered to enact or rescind it at will, without the permission of Congress)

denies family planning funds to any foreign nongovernmental organization that uses its own (non-U.S.) money to provide legal abortion services or counseling, gives referrals on safe abortion options, provides facts about the consequences of unsafe abortion, or participates in public debate, no matter how informal, that might improve access to safe services. The Gag Rule does not, however, prohibit speech against abortion. The policy applies even if abortion is permitted by local laws, and even if organizations use non-U.S. money for any of the activities listed above (http://www.iwhc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3529&Itemid=1217).

For more details on the “global gage rule” and the consequences for women, click here.

The “global gage rule” has been enacted by politically conservative U.S. presidents who are also intimately connected to the ideologies and practices of conservative Christian faiths. Often, as practitioners of these evangelical Christian traditions, they appoint their like-minded friends and colleagues to leadership and decision-making positions within formal government, thus blurring the lines between Church and state. President Barack Obama rescinded the “global gag rule” upon taking office in January 2009.

Interestingly, on the eve of last year’s G8/G20 meetings in Toronto, the Canadian government imposed its own “global gag rule” – a foreign aid package advocating improved maternal health care that did not include financial support for abortion or contraception. For more info on Canada's version of the "global gag rule," check out British blogger Sarah Boseley's Global Health Blog and Foreign Policy's blog post on the issue.

As you’ll read about this week, both contraception and access to safe, affordable abortion are needed to accomplish the goal of saving the lives of women as well as halting the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS and other STIs (see Seager, pp. 48-49).

You’ll notice in Figure 3.1 (Burn, p. 42) that one of the common factors affecting women’s reproductive rights and choices is religious extremism. Another is government policies, laws and bureaucracies. The “global gag rule” and other copycat versions are an example of what happens when the two work together to control women’s bodies and behaviors.

Given this connection between religious institutions and formal government structures, then, our first question this week is: Can women access safe, affordable health care (and not only reproductive health care) when they need it?

Unfortunately, as you’ll learn from your reading this week, the answer is “No.” And our task will be to use the four themes Burn discusses in chapter 2 to figure out why.

We’ll also be concerned with the global status of women’s health, more broadly. Why are women dying in extraordinary numbers? What are some of the other factors affecting women’s reproductive rights and choice, and how might those factors also contribute to women’s ill health more generally?

Kristoff and WuDunn contend that “[m]aternal mortality is an injustice that is tolerated only because its victims are poor, rural women” (122). Given that the highest rates of maternal mortality—and women’s deaths from HIV/AIDS, violent conflict, and other non-natural causes—occur in “third world” countries in which the majority of people are people of color, I also want us to think about how skin color also has much to do with why women’s ill health and lack of access to health care is tolerated by the people and countries of the “first world.”

In addition, we’ll also be reading and talking quite a bit about what’s being done to address these global GENDER HEALTH DISPARITIES. A focus of the eight United Nations’ Millenium Development Goals is women’s health and health care, including ending poverty, combating HIV/AIDS, and improving maternal health.

All UN member countries are currently involved in a global effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Most countries aren’t even close, but, as you’ll read about in Kristoff & WuDunn, Sri Lanka is an exception:

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