Adolescent pregnancy: A feminist issue
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434360 , vital:73051 , ISBN 978-1-4899-8025-0 , https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4899-8026-7_6
- Description: Pregnancy and mothering are enduring and central concerns of feminism. DiQuinzo (1999) sums this up in stating that “mothering is both an important site at which the central concepts of feminist theory are elaborated and a site at which these concepts are challenged and reworked.” Stephens (2004) argues, ‘…reproduction and mothering are central to theories of patriarchy and women’s unequal position in Western society…Childbirth can paradoxically be seen as both a cause of women’s subordinate position in society and a means of empowerment.’ Yet, despite the pivotal nature of pregnancy and mothering in feminist literature, there has been surprisingly little direct engagement by feminists in the area of ‘adolescent pregnancy.’ The engagement that there has been is a whisper in relation to the plethora of public health, medical, and psychological writings on ‘adolescent pregnancy.’ The feminists who have engaged with ‘adolescent pregnancy’ have, from their initial engagement and to varying degrees, tried to undermine simple interpretations of ‘adolescent pregnancy’ as a social problem and to link micro- and macro-level gender relations to occurrence of, and responses to, ‘adolescent pregnancy.’ Thus, for example, in the 1980s, Chilman (1985) asserted, ‘Sexism particularly afflicts programs and policies for these young people [unmarried teenage parents] as well as the behaviors that lead up to their becoming unmarried parents.’ In the 1990s, Pillow (1997), using a combination of feminist and postmodern theory, argued that ‘teen research and policy interventions can be understood as entrenched in the dilemmas of modernism, resulting often in normative assumptions that reflect our paradoxical attitudes and practices concerning female sexuality.’ More recently, Wilson and Huntington (2005) observed ‘adolescent pregnancy’ at a time when rates of fertility among young women are decreasing in ‘Western’ societies is ‘underpinned by changing social and political imperatives regarding the role of women in these countries.’
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Pregnancy among young women in South Africa
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Tracey, Tiffany
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434371 , vital:73052 , ISBN 978-1-4899-8025-0 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-8026-7
- Description: In 1994, South Africa witnessed its first democratic elections after centuries of colonial and then apartheid rule. As time passes since that euphoric moment in 1994, the difficulties of transformation have become evident. In terms of sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS is acknowledged as one of the most significant challenges, with South Africa having one of the highest infection rates globally. Pregnancy among teenage women is receiving increasing attention as well. For example, public concern has been expressed that the recently introduced Child Support Grant (CSG) acts as a ‘perverse incentive’ for young women to bear children. This emotional claim was refuted by separately commissioned reviews of research on girls who received the grant. National statistics paint an interesting picture that negates the popular opinion in South Africa that rates of teenage pregnancy and childbearing are escalating. The 1998, the South African Demographic and Health Survey (SADHS) indicated that 35 % of women had had a child by the age of 19 years, while in the 2003 SADHS survey, this had decreased to 27 %. The rights-based approach adopted by the South African government to sexual and reproductive health enshrines a young woman’s right to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, to plan a pregnancy with her partner should they wish, to make an independent decision concerning the outcome of a pregnancy, to terminate that pregnancy safely should she wish, and to access non-discriminatory prenatal and postnatal care should she take the pregnancy to term. While there are still many obstacles and challenges associated with the issues of ‘adolescent pregnancy,’ it is important to remember the success represented by, and that arises from, this rights-based legislation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014