Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Rights<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> By Diana Brown

 

Human sexuality, like all animal sexuality, evolved primarily to enable us to reproduce. We have a sex drive, which in many individuals is very strong, independently of any desire for reproduction. Sexual rights refer to the right to express one’s sexuality, while reproductive rights refer to the right to manage one’s reproductive processes and their outcome.

 

The whole field of human sexuality is fraught with powerful emotion. Societies without exception seem to need to control sexuality in various ways. A large part of most religions has to do with sexuality. As Humanists from different cultures, it is important that we question our assumptions and try to break free from any religious conditioning to which we may have been subjected.

 

There is little doubt that the acquisition of sexual and reproductive rights does empower women. Historically, and still in many societies today, women are seen primarily in terms of their sexual and reproductive functions. Men, of course, have sexuality and play their part in reproduction, but they are not usually defined by these functions.

 

Who Owns My Body?

Various answers have been offered to this question: God, another person, the community, or I myself. The choice of answer is of profound importance with regard to the sexual and reproductive rights of women. Depending on which answer we look at, there are supplementary questions that arise from it. Let us look at each answer in turn.

 

1.  If God, how do we know what God wants for my body? There are of course many who claim to speak to us in God’s name, but how can we assess their claims?

 

2.  If another person, how and by what right is this person appointed? Are there limits to this person’s rights over my body? Can this person assign to another his/ her rights over my body?

 

We perhaps ought to mention here the different kinds of ownership that may exist. While a child, are you owned by your parents? Can you be owned by a pimp or brothel keeper? Can you be owned by a spouse?

 

3.  If the Community, how is it constituted? Am I allowed to leave it? Who speaks for the Community? How are the interests of the Community determined? Does the Community have equal control of all members’ bodies? What advantages do members of the Community gain as a result of ceding control of their bodies? (There are applications here also for euthanasia and abortion.) Is there any reason for objecting to efforts by the Community to influence any otherwise free choices that I might make?

 

In practice, we always cede some rights to a community in order to receive some benefits. We may, for example, cede the right of private revenge in order to have an efficient and fair legal system. We can all benefit from such a system. What is a different question is whether we should be obliged to cede rights for a particular individual’s or group’s benefit. Should a woman be obliged to cover large portions or even all of her body in order to avoid provoking lustful thoughts in men? Countries that don’t require this find other ways to protect women from sexual interference.

 

Then again, a society may be concerned about the cumulative effect of decisions about reproduction. China has attempted to coerce its citizens to have small families because of concern about overpopulation. Militaristic regimes, on the other hand, often feel weakened by low birth rates and encourage or even coerce people into having more children. We must ask: is either of these positions legitimate?

 

4.  If I myself, do I harm others by making free choices for my body? In societies where marriage is considered of great value, it is sometimes argued that homosexuality weakens the institution of marriage to the detriment of society as a whole. If a foetus is considered to be a human being, then abortion is harmful to another human being.

 

As Humanists, I would assume that we would choose the fourth answer when considering rights, although we may to some extent lean towards the third answer when considering ethics.

 

What rights relate to sexuality and reproduction?

1.   The right to own one’s own body. This includes the right to decide whether, when and with whom to have sexual experiences, always provided that such experiences are not harmful to another. Most of the other rights may be considered to flow from this primary right.

 

2.   The right to adequate education and information about sex and reproduction. Quite simply, ignorance can kill.

 

3.   The right to decouple sexual experiences from reproduction. This includes access to the means of controlling one’s fertility, in turn implying access to efficient contraception and related information.

 

4.   The right to choose whether or not to marry.

 

5.   The right to choose one’s marital partner.

 

6.   The right to decide whether and when to have children or to cease childbearing.

 

7.   The right to end one’s marriage for adequate reason and with adequate safeguards for the welfare of the other partner and any children. In some cultures, men have this right but women don’t, and they can be denied access to their children after divorce.

 

8.   The right to a reasonable standard of sexual and reproductive health care. In many countries, pregnancy and childbirth still threaten the lives of women and their children as they did in nineteenth- century Europe and America. In my opinion, this right should imply a right to safe abortion. Many women die every year as a result of dangerous abortions. Criminalizing abortion doesn’t save babies; it kills mothers.

 

9.   The right to joint responsibility for children born to a marriage. This is important both within marriage and after divorce. Children should not be deprived of access to one parent except in very special circumstances.

 

10. Protection from sexual abuse while a minor unable to exercise all the other rights. This one is very important. Girls may reach puberty, but that does not mean that their bodies are entirely ready for intercourse or pregnancy. Early pregnancy is responsible for much severe ill health in girls and women. Young girls are also more vulnerable to sexually transmitted infection. In some countries young girls are forced into prostitution or sex-slavery. In some others they are forced into marriage. In still others they are largely unprotected against rape. We should also consider what rights, if any, minors ought to have to express their sexuality.

 

To this list we should perhaps add two more:

 

11. Protection from genital mutilation. Worldwide, large numbers of baby boys are circumcised, but this is a minor infliction compared with female genital mutilation. This does not arise in most societies, but it is estimated that 80 to 135 million girls and women around the world have undergone it, and there are some two million girls at risk each year. It can destroy a woman’s ability to enjoy sex and can lead to severe health problems. In Ethiopia 85% of girls suffer from this cruel practice and in Somalia, 95%. It is also practised in 23 other African countries, in four Arab countries, and in Indonesia and Malaysia, and is also carried out in some immigrant communities in Europe and America. An international campaign is being waged to put an end to this practice.

 

12. Protection from other forms of violence against the person. Obviously, no-one should be subjected to violent attacks, but women are particularly vulnerable and it is thought that about one woman in three worldwide has suffered from this scourge. Often violence occurs within the home and is considered normal and acceptable. Outside the home, young girls in some countries are often subject to violent sexual attacks, carrying a risk of unwanted pregnancy or infection with sexually transmitted diseases as well as other damage.

 

Not all these rights are equally recognized worldwide, particularly for women. It is also obvious that they sit within the wider context of general human rights. Difficulties in according these rights to women are often related to the overall status of women. Where the status of women is low, they are most likely to be viewed primarily in a sexual or reproductive capacity.

 

Who are the enemies of women’s sexual and reproductive rights?

Conservative people in most societies feel uneasy about growing freedoms. With greater freedom, some abuse and irresponsible behaviour is likely, after all. Reasonable people can often be led to question their initial assumptions. If, however, their conservatism is backed up by religion, then we have a bigger problem: the conservatives can hide behind a god or gods. Religion seems always to be opposed to the human rights of women and is usually interested in controlling their sexual and reproductive capabilities.

 

On the international stage, the biggest enemies are the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, many conservative Muslim religious leaders, and fundamentalist

Protestants, particularly those in America, because of their influence in the world’s only superpower.

 

For centuries, the Catholic Church has had big problems with sexuality. It is a patriarchal organization that views sexuality with disgust and prefers to see women in a subordinate position. It is run by a totally male priesthood that is celibate, at least in theory. It limits sex to married couples, regards its primary purpose as procreation, and is of course strongly opposed to contraception and abortion. The Catholic Church has wielded its enormous power and international influence to deny access to contraception and abortion, even in cases where one partner is HIV- positive, and spread the dangerous myth that condoms are ineffective at preventing the spread of HIV.

 

The problem with much of Islam is not so much a specific attack on women’s reproductive rights as a general attack on most of the human rights of women. Many Muslim women suffer from the basic problem of not really owning their own bodies. Some Muslim countries allow child marriage from as young as nine, and permit polygyny. Sex education is not usually allowed. Men may be able to beat their wives and rape may be impossible to prove under the conditions demanded by Sharia law. Women’s entitlement to divorce and custody of children is limited. Abortion is usually frowned upon, but contraception is often allowed within marriage.

 

Fundamentalist Protestants are totally opposed to abortion and, together with the Catholic Church in the USA, are mainly responsible for the de-funding of the UN Population Fund on the totally spurious grounds that UNFPA uses the money to support forced abortions in China. They also oppose sex education and believe that unmarried teenagers should not have access to contraceptives either to prevent pregnancy or to protect against infection. It seems that some of President Bush’s promised money for fighting HIV/AIDS in developing countries is to go to programmes that provide no condoms but simply advocate sexual abstinence.

 

We must challenge the human rights abuses and the misinformation spread by the enemies of sexual and reproductive freedoms. We need to work for a world where girls and women understand and enjoy their sexuality, own their own bodies and make reproductive decisions freely and responsibly.

 

Diana Brown has written widely on issues surrounding reproductive health, population, and development. She was a board member and chair of the UK organization Population Concern (now Interact Worldwide), and a co-founder of the Dutch organization World Population Foundation.