Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Empowerment of women as a key factor, by Amy
As I'm going through the readings, my first thoughts are not on access to current health care but rather to preventative health care (i.e. education). Many of the case studies involve families in which the young parents are uneducated--as Sam mentioned in her blog post several days ago--and who subsequently have many children that must be sent to live with grandparents. The problems have now been compounded: young dependents, more mouths to feed, greater necessity for work. Now this may seem like a quick fix on the surface level: simply implement health/sex education programs and birth control options like condoms, etc. However, there is also the cultural/religious aspect: the Catholic church, which dominates in Latin America, shuns birth control for reasons that I understand on some level. I think the question really boils down to whether it is "morally worse" to wear a condom and prevent a natural pregnancy or to have dangerous abortions, separated families, and greater stress on the immigration/agricultural system. The question remains: how best to rectify the situation? Trying for changing religious/cultural ways of thinking falls into dicey territory, but I feel that education and empowerment of women is key into helping the situation.
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I agree, Amy - women's empowerment is key, especially in cultures where "el machismo" is still such a dominating force. Sexual health/family planning education may be one area of empowerment, but I think "empowerment" definitely extends beyond these issues to topics like employment, child care, body image, etc. It seems to me that sometimes "women's empowerment" agendas seem to see responsibilities to children as an obstacle to women. In underserved communities where women often are the primary economic AND social provider for their families, I think that an approach that celebrates women's motherly role would be far more constructive. (I'm not saying that existing programs don't do this, just pointing out the idea!) For example, with this perspective sending the kids to stay with the grandparents isn't an indicator of poor parenting, but an affirmation of the value of family in the Latino culture, a smart decision that saves money on daycare, and one of many ways that a working mother can at once take care of her kids and maintain her support structure.
As a side note, I'm Catholic, so if you want more explanation of the birth control deal I'd be happy to tell you my understanding of it. It's still somewhat of a controversial issue within the Church - not all Catholics necessarily agree with the "official" teaching in this area.
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