Brait, Women's Health Response

Women’s Health in the Developing World

What struck me most in our discussions about women’s health in the developing world was that the women with serious health issues were unaware that they weren’t alone. I saw this most vividly through the stories of women with obstructed fistulas in, ‘A Walk to Beautiful’. Living in a world where the large majority of what women do is talk to other women about a wide variety of things, it’s hard to imagine that in African countries and other developing countries these issues with regard to women’s health are not shared or discussed. The lack of access to medical care makes it difficult for women to get the help or information that they need. Of the doctors that do not leave the developing countries for better opportunities, the majority of them do not have the supplies or the time to care for these women. Often, the doctors do not provide the care that women need because they are not paid by their patients. This issue seems as though it could be somewhat relieved by training midwifes to provide prenatal care as well as care during delivery. Although they are limited in what they can do and the supplies that they have, this care would be better than the lack of care that these women currently receive. The problems that women have with child birth are often seen as the women’s problem, however this is really a problem for all genders. These problems are intertwined and effect entire populations. I found this point to be interesting, as it is viewed in a similar way in developed countries. Women’s health does not concern men in the eyes of many people, however this could not be further from the truth.

We discussed how women’s issues cannot be seen as solely women’s issues, because this isolates both men and women. This is especially true of health issues. Women are more prone to contracting AIDS then men are, but it partially the relationship between men and women that results in this. Men have social expectations to be the dominant figure and to be powerful. This leads to the mistreatment of women to exercise this expected power, causing the conditions which make it more likely that women will contract AIDS. Gender issues need to be addressed in terms of the relationship between men and women, not in relation of one gender to the other. I think that the resolution to gender imbalances is found in education of both men and women, through the same programs. There is no use in educating or empowering one gender, as this perpetuates the gender imbalance. Bringing balance, or at least understanding in differences between men and women, must come from a collaborative effort between both men and women.

Women’s health in China is directly affected by the One Child Policy. Women who do not consent to sign the policy are subject to forced sterilization. For those who do consent to sign but exceed the allotted number of children, they are also subject to forced sterilization as well as unsafe abortions and unsafe child birth. Because girls are often the children who, if born and not killed, are kept unregistered, women are at a disadvantage from birth. Those children who go unregistered are not eligible for health care nor do they receive education, as those benefits are reserved for children officially registered with the government. Girls are also subject to health issues when they are born and then gotten rid of or sold by their families. Families who do not want girls will sell them on the black market in hopes that next time they will have a boy and to pay the bills. If the girls aren’t sold, they are put in orphanages where large amounts of girls die because of the poor conditions and lack of care. Although there have been laws created to help prevent this and policies created to give incentive to women having children, the One Child Policy is held on to tightly and continuously enforced. I find it interesting that this policy, which holds no legal weight, can override actual laws within the governing bodies and law enforcers.