While we are privileged to have the reproductive rights in America, we should not take it for granted. After viewing different countries views on these laws it is apparent how different they are. In Rwanda for example the government feels they should have the power to decide who can and cant have children. Unlike America, Mexico does not educate women on their legal rights and accessibility to contraception. While they do allow abortions, this should not be the sole form of birth control. France on the other hand is very family focused and provides lots of support for women and children. Birth control is free and women are given an annual income from the government to help support their family. Iraq is well known for the strict rules they place on women, knowing this it would be a correct guess to say that they do not allow abortions or much education on birth control. Because of this, women have been forced to sneak around these rules and practice home abortions, not only is this harmful to the women but it puts them under great stress of being ridiculed if people were to find out.
Looking cross culturally from a feminist perspective allows us to see the differences between each country. While the US does not have the best health care system, they are clearly giving more rights to woman than others. Seeing how countries like France treat women’s rights shows us ways that we could improve to better our own. We can also learn from places like Mexico, Iraq, and Rwanda’s lack of education and rights to further educate the woman and children in the United States. We hope that by expanding peoples perspective on this issue we can empower ourselves to make change on a national lever as well as a personal level.
Questions:
How do you feel about this topic?
Has reading about different countries expanded your view?
Is there another country you would be interested in learning about?
What are some changes that could be made on a national level?
posted by: Rory, Alicia, Justi, Kayla and Bri
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I found this topic very interesting. You guys did a great job comparing the different countries and it definitely expanded my view.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Europe has the highest abortion rates in the world was interesting to me. It raises the idea that making easier to get an abortion leads to people being less careful in their sexual practices and the debate over whether or not that should be taken into consideration when policy making.
I would like to learn more about China's reproductive rights, especially now that changes are beginning to be made. (see below link for more information)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/world/asia/25shanghai.html