Suchergebnisse

Adolescent pregnancy has been associated with adverse health and social outcomes, but it has also been favorably viewed as a pathway to adulthood. In Ecuador, where 20% of girls aged between 15-19 years get pregnant, the adolescent fertility rate has increased and inequalities between adolescent girls from different educational, socio-economic levels and geographical regions are prominent: 43% of illiterate adolescents become pregnant compared to 11% with secondary education. The highest adolescent fertility rates are found in the Amazon Basin. The overall aim of this study was to explore adolescent pregnancy in the Amazon Basin of Ecuador (Orellana province) from a rights and gender approach. Specific aims and methodologies included: to explore women"s reproductive health situation, focusing on government"s obligations, utilization of services, inequities and implementation challenges, assessed through a community-based cross-sectional survey and a policy analysis (Paper I); to examine risk factors associated with adolescent pregnancy, through a case-control study (Paper II); to explore experiences and emotions around pregnancy and motherhood among adolescent girls, using content analysis (Paper III); and to analyze providers" and policy makers" discourses on adolescent pregnancies (Paper IV). Reproductive health status findings for women in Orellana indicated a reality more dismal than that depicted in official national health data and policies. Inequities existed within the province, with rural indigenous women having reduced access to reproductive health services. In Orellana, 37.4% of girls aged 15-19 had experienced pregnancy, almost double the national average. Risk factors associated with adolescent pregnancy at the behavioral level included early sexual debut and non-use of contraception, and at the structural level poverty, having suffered from sexual abuse, and family disruption. Gender inequity played a key role through the machismo-marianismo system. Girls were raised to be fearful and ignorant regarding sexuality and reproduction, to be submissive and obedient, to be fatalistic, and to accept the established order of the male and adult dominance. Sexuality was conceptualized as negative, while motherhood was idealized. Those gender structures constrained girls" agency, making them less able to make choices regarding their sexual and reproductive lives. Providers" discourses and practices were also strongly influenced by gender structures. Adolescent sexuality was not sanctioned, girls" access to contraceptives still faced opposition, adolescent autonomy was regarded as dangerous, and pregnancy and reproductive health issues were conceptualized as girls" responsibility. However, mechanisms of resistance and challenge were also found both among adolescent girls and providers. Programs addressing adolescent pregnancies in the area need to look at the general situation of women"s reproductive health and address the gaps regarding access and accountability. Adolescent pregnancy prevention programs should acknowledge the key role of structural factors and put emphasis on gender issues. Gender inequity affects many of the factors that influence adolescent pregnancies; sexual abuse, girls" limited access to use contraceptives, and girls" curtailed capability to decide regarding marriage or sexual intercourse, are strongly linked with young women"s subordination. By challenging negative attitudes towards adolescents" sexuality, the encounter between providers and adolescents could become an opportunity for strengthening girls" reproductive and sexual agency.

Women's sexual and reproductive health is a public health concern globally, yet in the Caribbean region academic publications exploring this topic from a rights approach are uncommon. A document review was conducted based on the application of the Health Rights of Women Assessment Instrument to the strategic health plans of three Anglo-Caribbean countries. Gender was the underlying theme used to conduct a comparative analysis focusing on intimate partner violence, access to legal abortion and government commitment. The results reveal that important steps have been taken by all countries to address intimate partner violence and abortion, yet effective implementation is threatened by ambiguity in the states' approach to those issues as well as financial, social and infrastructural challenges. Accountability mechanisms are either lacking or underutilized and much remains to be done to effectively demonstrate governments' commitment to women's sexual and reproductive health and rights. ; La salud sexual y reproductiva de las mujeres es un tema clave de salud pública, sin embargo en la región del Caribe son escasas las publicaciones que exploran este tema desde un enfoque de derechos. En este artículo utilizamos el Instrumento de Health Rights of Women Assessment Instrument [Evaluación de Derecho a la Salud de las Mujeres] para analizar los planes estratégicos de salud de tres países del Caribe anglófono. Utilizando el género como eje transversal, realizamos un análisis comparativo de estos planes, poniendo énfasis en tres aspectos: la violencia de compañero íntimo, el aborto seguro y los compromisos estatales. Los resultados revelan que los tres países han tomado medidas importantes contra la violencia de compañero íntimo y para mejorar el acceso a aborto seguro; sin embargo la implementación efectiva de estas medidas queda amenazada por el enfoque ambiguo que los estados adoptan en estos temas, por factores socio-culturales, así como por limitaciones presupuestarias y de infraestructura. Los mecanismos de veeduría ...

Women's sexual and reproductive health is a public health concern globally, yet in the Caribbean region academic publications exploring this topic from a rights approach are uncommon. A document review was conducted based on the application of the Health Rights of Women Assessment Instrument to the strategic health plans of three Anglo-Caribbean countries. Gender was the underlying theme used to conduct a comparative analysis focusing on intimate partner violence, access to legal abortion and government commitment. The results reveal that important steps have been taken by all countries to address intimate partner violence and abortion, yet effective implementation is threatened by ambiguity in the states' approach to those issues as well as financial, social and infrastructural challenges. Accountability mechanisms are either lacking or underutilized and much remains to be done to effectively demonstrate governments' commitment to women's sexual and reproductive health and rights. ; La salud sexual y reproductiva de las mujeres es un tema clave de salud pública, sin embargo en la región del Caribe son escasas las publicaciones que exploran este tema desde un enfoque de derechos. En este artículo utilizamos el Instrumento de Health Rights of Women Assessment Instrument [Evaluación de Derecho a la Salud de las Mujeres] para analizar los planes estratégicos de salud de tres países del Caribe anglófono. Utilizando el género como eje transversal, realizamos un análisis comparativo de estos planes, poniendo énfasis en tres aspectos: la violencia de compañero íntimo, el aborto seguro y los compromisos estatales. Los resultados revelan que los tres países han tomado medidas importantes contra la violencia de compañero íntimo y para mejorar el acceso a aborto seguro; sin embargo la implementación efectiva de estas medidas queda amenazada por el enfoque ambiguo que los estados adoptan en estos temas, por factores socio-culturales, así como por limitaciones presupuestarias y de infraestructura. Los mecanismos de veeduría son escasos e infrautilizados, y queda mucho por hacer para que los gobiernos de estos tres países demuestren un compromiso real con los derechos sexuales y reproductivos de las mujeres.

The aim of this study is to analyze the characteristics of feminist peer support in the context of online chat counseling. Based on 15 interviews with female lay supporters associated with a branch of the Swedish women's shelter movement targeting young women, we explore how the digital setting—characterized by distance and anonymity—affects the meaning and doing of feminist support. Our results show that core principles of feminist support—striving for equality and trust, the crafting of safe spaces, and sharing experiences—are all renegotiated and/or accentuated by the digital setting. The chat is experienced as enabling a more equal relationship and a high level of safety. The meaning of safety has largely shifted, however, from being associated with a feminist community to safety associated with solitude and distance. We further show a tension in the respondents' understanding of shared experiences, stressing both the importance of situated knowledges and the value of not knowing who is seeking or offering support. By combining research and material on feminist support and online youth counseling, the article offers novel perspectives on feminist counseling and social work, the power dimensions of online counseling, and the virtual space as an arena for feminist activism.

Although Tunisia is regarded as a pioneer in the Middle East and North Africa in terms of women's status and rights, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, evidence points to a number of persisting challenges. This article uses the Health Rights of Women Assessment Instrument (HeRWAI) to analyze Tunisia's reproductive health policy between 1994 and 2014. It explores the extent to which reproductive rights have been incorporated into the country's reproductive health policy, the gaps in the implementation of this policy, and the influence of this policy on gender empowerment. Our results reveal that progress has been slow in terms of incorporating reproductive rights into the national reproductive health policy. Furthermore, the implementation of this policy has fallen short, as demonstrated by regional inequities in the accessibility and availability of reproductive health services, the low quality of maternal health care services, and discriminatory practices. Finally, the government's lack of meaningful engagement in advancing gender empowerment stands in the way as the main challenge to gender equality in Tunisia.

Debates are ongoing on whether man can engage in gender change and challenge hegemonic masculinities. The study aimed to analyze in what ways young Ecuadorian men—currently or recently involved in activism to advance gender equality and reproductive rights—defined different masculinities, hegemonic and alternative. We used Grounded Theory to collect and analyze three focus group discussions and 15 individual interviews with 30 young activist men in Ecuador. A core category captured the process of defining masculinities: 'Moving from passive acceptance of machismo to critical reflection and action' that in turn linked to three theoretical categories: 'Opposing machismo', 'From machos to men', and 'Inspiring opposition to machismo'. We drew upon framing theory in social movement studies to interpret the findings and thereby enhance the theory of hegemonic masculinity. Young activist men successfully framed the problem and motives for collective mobilization, but they wavered when it came to framing solutions.

Despite advances made by Ecuador in developing policies on reproductive and sexual rights, implementation, and oversight remain a challenge, affecting in particular those living in the Amazon basin. This paper reports on an evaluation of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in Orellana, Ecuador, the basis of which was the Health Rights of Women Assessment Instrument, which was altered to focus on government obligations, the reality of access and utilization of services, and the inequities and implementation challenges between the two. A community-based cross-sectional survey conducted in 2006 served to document the current status of SRHR. Local female field workers interviewed 2,025 women on three areas of women's reproductive health: delivery care, family planning, and pregnancy among adolescent girls age 10-19. The results suggest a reality more dismal than that of the official information for the area. Skilled delivery care, modern contraceptive use, and wanted pregnancies were conspicuously lower among indigenous women living in rural areas. Access to reproductive health services varied between rural and urban women. These significant differences in care -- amongst others documented -- raise concerns over the utility of national-level data for addressing inequities. The gaps evident in the validity of available information for monitoring policies and programs, and between national policy and action reveal that much still needs to be done to realize SRHR for women in the Amazon basin, and that current accountability mechanisms are inadequate. Adapted from the source document.

Despite advances made by Ecuador in developing policies on reproductive and sexual rights, implementation, and oversight remain a challenge, affecting in particular those living in the Amazon basin. This paper reports on an evaluation of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in Orellana, Ecuador, the basis of which was the Health Rights of Women Assessment Instrument, which was altered to focus on government obligations, the reality of access and utilization of services, and the inequities and implementation challenges between the two. A community-based cross-sectional survey conducted in 2006 served to document the current status of SRHR. Local female field workers interviewed 2,025 women on three areas of women's reproductive health: delivery care, family planning, and pregnancy among adolescent girls age 10-19. The results suggest a reality more dismal than that of the official information for the area. Skilled delivery care, modern contraceptive use, and wanted pregnancies were conspicuously lower among indigenous women living in rural areas. Access to reproductive health services varied between rural and urban women. These significant differences in care -- amongst others documented -- raise concerns over the utility of national-level data for addressing inequities. The gaps evident in the validity of available information for monitoring policies and programs, and between national policy and action reveal that much still needs to be done to realize SRHR for women in the Amazon basin, and that current accountability mechanisms are inadequate. Adapted from the source document.

The situation of young people who are neither in employment, education nor training (referred to in political, scientific and public discourses as 'NEETs') has received widespread attention during the last decade. However, while policy responses to young people's work- and school-related marginalisation have been analysed by international scholars in a variety of contexts, to the best of our knowledge, no study to date has scrutinised problem representations of 'NEET' young people in youth policies in Sweden. To bridge the current knowledge gap and uncover taken-for-granted assumptions about the otherwise largely unchallenged Nordic welfare model, the aim of this research was to explore how the 'problem' of 'NEET' young people is represented in Swedish policies and policy proposals. To facilitate this, a discursive approach to policy analysis was adopted, following Bacchi's 'What's the Problem Represented to be?' (WPR) methodology. By focusing on the solutions that have been proposed to reduce the size of the 'NEET' group in two selected policies, four problem representations were developed. These connect the 'NEET' problem in Sweden, at the general level, to the 'vulnerability' of young people on the margins of education and employment (especially certain sub-groups) and, more specifically, to the failure of a fading welfare system to provide services and support for these 'vulnerable' subjects. Beyond representing the 'problem' along these lines, the identified problem representations may contribute to silencing young people's agency and ignoring the consequences of a growing labour-market precarisation in Sweden, while failing to provide a basis for equity and social justice. ; 2020–01339 - Hur kan vi stödja unga som varken arbetar eller studerar?

This article analyses how youth subject positions of the 'racialized other' are produced, and how these positions interconnect with the concept of belonging to the rural community. We do this by analysing 15 group discussions with 63 young people living in rural areas in northern Sweden taking a discursive psychology approach, and focusing on how discourses produce certain subject positions of 'the racialized other'. Drawing on the concepts of the politics of belonging and the 'stranger', we argue that discourses on belonging to the (rural) community create boundaries that exclude 'other' youth, as well as resistance and contestation. The subject positions that such discourses produce represent racialized youth in stereotypical ways and imply a promise of belonging for certain 'others' based on their fulfilment of particular norms. However, such a depoliticized promise of belonging that places the responsibility for becoming integrated on the 'others' was also challenged. Firstly, in relation to criticisms of the welfare system, and secondly, in relation to racism as an unwelcome threat in rural communities.

In this qualitative study we explored how gender shapes the women´s experiences of living with Fibromyalgia and how it affects their private lives. Through thematic analysis of data from 13 in-depth interviews in Spain, we identified 7 themes which reflect that these women feel remorse and frustration for not being able to continue to fulfil the gender expectation of caring for others and for the home. This research contributes to a better understanding into what suffering from fibromyalgia implies for women and provides insights into how family and providers can support women with fibromyalgia in order to achieve a beneficial lifestyle. ; This study is part of a wider research project financed by the Regional Valencian Government's Joan Gil-Albert Cultural Institute in Alicante (Spain) and the Women´s Studies Center of the University of Alicante.

Objective: Parents have a key role regarding young people's access to sexual and reproductive health services, thus their perceptions go a long way towards promoting or discouraging young people from using such services. Research has revealed that immigrant young people in Sweden access these essential services to a lesser extent than their native peers, and that they perceive their parents as unsupportive of such visits. This pilot study's objective was to explore immigrant parents' perceptions and experiences of the sexual and reproductive health services provided by Swedish youth clinics. Results: Two categories were developed from the data analysis: (i) Youth clinics are well-known (to some) and appreciated (to a certain extent), and (ii) Parents feel left out from youth clinics and that the clinics have taken over parental responsibility. This study presents an ambivalent scenario connected to immigrant parents' experiences and perceptions of having neither a space nor a voice within the existing youth clinic model. Parents expressed the desire for the youth clinics to recognise their cultural backgrounds, norms, and beliefs while providing sexual and reproductive health services to their children.

In this qualitative study we explored how gender shapes the women´s experiences of living with Fibromyalgia and how it affects their private lives. Through thematic analysis of data from 13 in-depth interviews in Spain, we identified 7 themes which reflect that these women feel remorse and frustration for not being able to continue to fulfil the gender expectation of caring for others and for the home. This research contributes to a better understanding into what suffering from fibromyalgia implies for women and provides insights into how family and providers can support women with fibromyalgia in order to achieve a beneficial lifestyle. ; This study is part of a wider research project financed by the Regional Valencian Government's Joan Gil-Albert Cultural Institute in Alicante (Spain) and the Women´s Studies Center of the University of Alicante.