Gender and Sexuality Commons^™

Kenia: Sensibilizar A Comunidades Para Que Realicen Ritos Alternativos De Iniciación Con Las Niños, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

La mutilación genital femenina (MGF) se practica como rito de transición en más de la mitad de los distritos de Kenia. Desde hace tiempo, la ONG Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (MYWO) ha sensibilizado a las comunidades de este país con el fin de promover el abandono de esta práctica. En 1996, la MYWO implementó una intervención para realizar un “Rito Alternativo” (RA) en las comunidades sensibilizadas. Las niñas que participan en estos RA reciben educación sobre la vida familiar durante un retiro y posteriormente participan en una ceremonia pública en la que se les reconoce como adultas. Lo más importante es …

Using Operations Research To Strengthen Programmes For Encouraging Abandonment Of Female Genital Cutting. Report Of A Consultative Meeting On Methodological Issues For Fgc Research, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

The Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health program, with funding from USAID, organized a consultative meeting on the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) in Nairobi, Kenya in April 2002. The meeting brought together a small group of researchers and program managers who are actively undertaking operations research and systematic program evaluations to review the state of the art concerning intervention research design and measurement issues. The deliberations at this workshop should stimulate interest both in undertaking operations research more routinely when programming anti-FGC activities and in furthering the development and application of research methods appropriate for this subject. Several …

Anti-Trafficking Programs In South Asia: Appropriate Activities, Indicators And Evaluation Methodologies, Dale Huntington

Reproductive Health

Throughout South Asia, men, women, boys, and girls are trafficked within their own countries and across international borders against their wills in what is essentially a clandestine slave trade. The Congressional Research Service and the U.S. State Department estimate that between 1 to 2 million people are trafficked each year worldwide with the majority originating in Asia. Root causes include extreme disparities of wealth, increased awareness of job opportunities far from home, pervasive inequality due to caste, class, and gender bias, lack of transparency in regulations governing labor migration, poor enforcement of internationally agreed-upon human rights standards, and the enormous …

From Patna To Paris: Providing Safe And Humane Abortion, Carmen Barroso, Martha Brady, Batya Elul, Shelley Clark, Sneh Vishwanath, Sunanda Rabindranathan

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

With access to safe, legal abortion under severe constraint or debate in many parts of the world, less attention has been paid to the issue of quality of abortion care. This issue of Quality/Calidad/Qualité explores two programs that operate in very different settings but with a shared commitment to providing high-quality abortion care in a context of broader reproductive health services: the Clinique d’Orthogénie of Broussais Hospital in France and Parivar Seva Sanstha in India. In both programs, each woman or girl who arrives for abortion receives crucial basic care, including: appropriate medical treatment to ensure complete abortion and safe …

An Assessment Of The Alternative Rites Approach For Encouraging Abandonment Of Female Genital Mutilation In Kenya, Jane Chege, Ian Askew, Jennifer Liku

Reproductive Health

Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (MYWO), with technical assistance from the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), has been implementing an Alternative Rite of passage programme as part of its efforts to eradicate the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in five districts in Kenya. This study addressed the factors that influence some families and individuals to adopt the Alternative Rite while others, exposed to the same messages discouraging FGM, decide not to. It also evaluated the effect of the training component of the Alternative Rite on the girls who participated.

Critical Analysis Of Interventions Against Fgc In Egypt, Nahla G. Abdel-Tawab, Sahar Hegazi

Reproductive Health

Community-based programs designed to discourage the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) in Egypt started as early as the 1920s, however, NGOs seldom document the implementation, strengths, and weaknesses of each approach; or difficulties faced in implementation or ways of overcoming those difficulties. The present meta-assessment was designed by the Population Council to address these issues. Recommendations proposed to increase the effectiveness of anti-FGC interventions in Egypt include: conducting formative research to assess the needs of individuals/communities; using more participatory learning techniques in awareness-raising seminars and training workshops; focusing messages not only on the health hazards of FGC, but also …

Women Street Vendors: The Road To Recognition, Monique Cohen

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This issue of SEEDS explores the experience of women working and organizing as urban street vendors at a time when both the volume of demand and the number of vendors are expected to grow. As municipalities seek to change laws that affect how street vendors ply their trade, it is clear that vendors must have a seat at the table. Local-level organizational efforts need to be consolidated at the national level to cement vendors’ hard-earned gains as rights in national laws and policy. A 1995 meeting in Bellagio conceived an international alliance of street vendors—StreetNet—which aims to promote the exchange …

Socialization To Gender Roles And Marriage Among Egyptian Adolescents, Barbara Mensch, Barbara L. Ibrahim, Susan M. Lee, Omaima El-Gibaly

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Using nationally representative survey data, this paper explores gender role socialization and attitudes toward marriage among unmarried Egyptian adolescents aged 16-19 years. We examine the daily activities of adolescent boys and girls, views about age at marriage and desirable qualities in a spouse, and various indicators of gender role attitudes including opinions about whether wives should defer to husbands, about sharing household decisionmaking, and about responsibility for domestic tasks. Our findings reflect strong gender differentiation: girls have much less free time than boys, are much less mobile, are much less likely to participate in paid work, and have heavier domestic …

Social Identity And Substance Abuse In The Lesbian Community, Molly Kerby

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of substance use (alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs) among members of the lesbian community. Additionally, the investigator attempted to determine if there was a relationship between negative social identity and low selfesteem that is reflected in higher rates of substance abuse. The data collection method employed in this study was a type of nonprobability sampling procedure referred to as a purposive sample. The questionnaire was derived from instruments used by other researchers and validated by an expert panel. In order to select respondents from the lesbian population to be included …

Premarital Sex And School Dropout In Kenya: Can Schools Make A Difference?, Barbara Mensch, Wesley H. Clark, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Annabel Erulkar

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Although an overall decline has occurred in adolescent fertility in Kenya, the proportion of births to teenagers that takes place prior to marriage is rising. At the same time that premarital sex and childbearing have increased, educational participation has expanded considerably, especially for girls. Using data from nearly 600 adolescents aged 12-19 in combination with data collected from 33 primary schools that the adolescents attended, this paper explores whether certain aspects of the school environment affect the likelihood of early and unprotected sex among adolescent girls and boys in three districts of Kenya. Because of the concern with “schoolgirl pregnancy” …

The Tostan Story: Breakthrough In Senegal Ending Female Genital Cutting, Population Council

Reproductive Health

In Senegal, elements of the Tostan education program were fundamental to the ending of the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) which has persisted for centuries, despite outside efforts to abolish such a dangerous and harmful operation. This paper is an attempt by those who lived through these events to share the experience with others. At a time when there has been little reduction in the numbers of women ending FGC in 28 African countries, when different programs and strategies have rarely succeeded in making an impact on the number of women still practicing FGC despite laws abolishing the tradition, …

The Tostan Story: Breakthrough In Senegal Ending Female Genital Cutting [Arabic], Population Council

Reproductive Health

In Senegal, elements of the Tostan education program were fundamental to the ending of the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) which has persisted for centuries, despite outside efforts to abolish such a dangerous and harmful operation. This paper is an attempt by those who lived through these events to share the experience with others. At a time when there has been little reduction in the numbers of women ending FGC in 28 African countries, when different programs and strategies have rarely succeeded in making an impact on the number of women still practicing FGC despite laws abolishing the tradition, …

The Uncharted Passage: Girls' Adolescence In The Developing World, Barbara Mensch, Judith Bruce, Margaret E. Greene

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Adolescence is a formative time of transition to adulthood. What happens between the ages of 10 and 19 shapes how girls and boys live out their lives as women and men—not only in the reproductive arena, but in the social and economic realm as well. Yet, despite its impact on human development, adolescence has been sidelined as a research and policy subject in developing countries. While all adolescents deserve our attention, the needs of adolescent girls in the developing world are particularly pressing. This monograph focuses on these girls, presenting statistics to examine the social and economic context of their …

Workshop On Youth Across Asia, John Townsend, Ann P. Mccauley, Kokila Agarwal

Reproductive Health

The issues facing youth across Asia are as diverse as the cultures they represent. Issues involving schooling, employment, sexuality, and marriage take on increased significance for young people aged 10–24 in every country. Decisions made by youth and their families will dramatically affect their individual welfare. Few programs outside of public education systems exist at a sufficiently large scale to assist youth. Decisions to stay in school, opportunities to learn skills and manage resources, the exercise of sexual responsibility, and the process of family formation all impact both personal welfare and community development. Gender-equality issues compound many of the problems. …

Rapport Du Seminaire National [Au Mali] Pour La Definition D'Une Strategie D'Eradication De L'Excision, Population Council

Reproductive Health

This is a report on a workshop for the eradication of female genital mutilation (FGM) held in Bamako, Mali. The workshop presented the results of a literature review on FGM and the actions taken to counter the practice in Mali; provided updates on the activities of six national NGOs working on issues surrounding FGM; and developed a Plan of Action for activities aimed at reducing the practice. The workshop brought together 85 participants, including policy- and decisionmakers from the government, NGOs, and religious groups. The workshop led to the finalization of a national Plan of Action to the Year 2000 …

Integrando La Sexualidad En La Planificación Familiar: La Experiencia De Tres Proyectos De Vih/Ets En América Latina Y El Caribe, Julie Becker, Elizabeth Leitman, Mahmoud F. Fathalla

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Esta edición de Quality/Calidad/Qualité relata la experiencia de tres asociaciones de planificación familiar afiliadas con la International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region que han tratado de incorporar una estrategia de prevención del VIH/SIDA en su esquema de trabajo cotidiano. Se examina cómo BEMFAM/Brasil, ASHONPLAFA/Honduras, y FAMPLAN/Jamaica han logrado una transición hacia una oferta de servicios de planificación familiar más enfocada en los clientes mismos y más explícita en el tratamiento de temas sexuales. En cada uno de los tres países, el personal recibió capacitación especial que no sólo los habilitó para proveer información sobre el VIH/SIDA, sino que también les …

Introducing Sexuality Within Family Planning: The Experience Of Three Hiv/Std Prevention Projects From Latin America And The Caribbean, Julie Becker, Elizabeth Leitman, Mahmoud F. Fathalla

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This edition of Quality/Calidad/Qualité relates the experience of three family planning associations affiliated with the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region that have tried to incorporate an HIV/AIDS prevention strategy into their existing family planning programs and services. It examines how BEMFAM/Brazil, ASHONPLAFA/ Honduras, and FAMPLAN/Jamaica have made a transition toward a range of family planning services more focused on the clients themselves and more explicit in the treatment of sexual themes. In each of the three countries, the staff received special training that not only enabled them to provide information on HIV/AIDS, but also helped them adopt a broader …

Gender Differences In The Schooling Experiences Of Adolescents In Low-Income Countries: The Case Of Kenya, Barbara Mensch, Cynthia B. Lloyd

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Little research on education in developing countries has focused on adolescent issues at the same time, despite the fact that a growing proportion of young people are spending some time in school during the phase of their lives between puberty and marriage, there is little research on schooling as a key dimension of the adolescent experience. This paper examines the school environment in Kenya and the potential ways it can help or hinder adolescents. We focus on gender differences with a view toward illuminating some of the factors that may present particular obstacles or opportunities for girls. The paper begins …

Sexual Violence Within Marriage: A Case Study Of Rural Uttar Pradesh, M.E. Khan, John Townsend, Ranjana Sinha, Seema Lakhanpal

Reproductive Health

Until recently the study of sexual behavior, despite being a very important area of human behavior, has remained an untouchable subject. The sensitivity of the subject and difficulties collecting required information discouraged social scientists from venturing into this area of human behavior. However, the advent of AIDS and its rapid spread in India has changed the scenario. Today the study of sexual behavior is an important subject and both national and international agencies, as part of the AIDS control program, are encouraging research on the subject. This paper addresses a totally neglected area, which is sexual coercion within marriage. The …

The Effects Of Sex Guilt And Communication On Condom Use, Renée M. Souva

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine whether sex guilt and communication were related to condom use. Past research has examined variables that affect condom use and has found that individuals who communicate more about sexual matters, and individuals who have low sex guilt, have been found to use condoms/contraceptives more consistently. This study examined sex guilt and communication and how they predict condom use. The participants were 80 female undergraduates recruited from psychology classes at Eastern Illinois University. Mosher's revised Sex Guilt Inventory and Catania's Health Protective Communication Scale were administered along with a question that assessed condom …

Behavior And Attitudes Related To The Prevention Of Sexually Transmitted Disease And Unplanned Pregnancy, J. Lee Hoover

Dissertations

A sample of 214 persons was tested to determine the impact of gender role orientation, neuroticism, extraversion, authoritarianism, race, gender, and sexual orientation on attitudes and behavior relevant to the prevention of sexually transmitted disease and unintended pregnancy. Specifically measured was the impact of these factors on attitudes toward the condom as contraceptive, attitudes toward the condom as prophylactic, and reported condom use.

Gender role orientation was measured using the short form of the Bern Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) (Bern, 1978), neuroticism and extraversion were measured using the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) (Costa & McCrae, 1992), and authoritarianism was measured …

Cattle, Co-Wives, Children, And Calabashes: Material Context For Symbol Use Among The Il Chamus Of West-Central Kenya, Alan J. Osborn

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

This paper examines systemic contexts for symbol use among the Maa-speaking Il Chamus in the Lake Baringo region of west-central Kenya. The systemic context for symbols and material culture consists of the environmental constraints and behavioral responses that characterize pastoralist life in East Africa. The author's interest in this problem developed in response to Ian Hodder’s work among the Il Chamus, Pokot, and Tugen in the Baringo District. Unlike Hodder, however, the author argues that symbols and their use in East Africa can be more productively explained from a materialist perspective. Specifically, it is proposed that symbols affixed to certain …

Clinic-Based Investigation Of The Typology And Self-Reporting Of Fgm In Egypt, Population Council

Reproductive Health

This clinic-based study of female genital mutilation (FGM) was designed and carried out by the Egypt Fertility Care Society to gather detailed information on the types of FGM practiced in Egypt. The study involved interviews with clinic clients to elicit information about their experience and attitudes concerning FGM, and gynecological examinations by specially trained OB/GYN physicians. In all, 93% of the women in this study were found to have some type of FGM. The study's findings were incorporated in the final report of the 1995 Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey, with the aim of contributing to the scientific understanding of …

Living On A Fault Line: Political Violence Against Women In Algeria, Leila Hessini

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This study raises three questions to better comprehend the crisis women face in Algeria today: how are the state and the opposition groups addressing and defining women’s contemporary status, what is the link between women’s status and violence against them, and what are the tactics both of resistance and accommodation that Algerian women are using to survive in such a context? Throughout this study, the term “Islamic Fundamentalists” refers to movements and people in Algeria who use the “recovery” of early principles of the Ideal Muslim Community to develop their idea of a future Islamic “social order,” with the ultimate …

Out Of The Shadows: Homebased Workers Organize For International Recognition, Renana Jhabvala, Jane Tate

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Home-based work is a vital and growing part of economic modernization, exponentially linked to the globalization of industry and the never-ending search for less costly sources of labor and more efficient means of production. As governments seek to attract industrial development, the availability of low-cost labor and labor stability is a valuable bargaining commodity. Furthermore, the income it produces is not supplementary but rather increasingly vital to families and nations alike. The women who embroider on the island of Madeira, Portugal, the home-based workers assembling electronic devices in Brazil, the Chinese women machine stitching garments at home in major cities …

Women's Perceptions Of Sexuality In Rural Giza, Hind Khattab

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This study on sexuality among women in rural Giza, Egypt, is part of a broader project on women's health and reproductive morbidity conducted by the Population Council’s Reproductive Health Working Group. Reproductive tract infections (RTIs) and other ailments associated with reproduction among women in the rural community surveyed suggest that a heavy burden of disease is being borne by women living in underprivileged areas in this region. This research on sexuality has been conducted within a conceptual framework that uses a socio-cultural approach to health and illness. The investigation is an assessment of women's perception of and knowledge about sexuality …

Gente Joven: Un Diálogo Sobre La Sexualidad Con Adolescentes Mexicanos, Magaly Marques, John M. Paxman, Judith Bruce

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Este número de Quality/Calidad/Qualité relata la experiencia de Gente Joven, un programa de educacion sexual para adolescentes en Mexico. Gente Joven comenzó reconociendo una realidad: que los problemas relativos a la sexualidad no desaparecen por mucho que tratemos de negar su existencia. A través de los años los dirigentes de Gente Joven han aprendido, y siguen aprendiendo, muchas lecciones sobre como diseñar un programa eficaz para adolescentes. En estas páginas ellos comparten algunas de esas experiencias y el epilogo explora con mayor detalle un tema que Gente Joven ha identificado como su próximo gran desafío: una reconsideración del programa desde …

Supporting Women Farmers In The Green Zones Of Mozambique, Ruth Ansah Ayisi

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Women throughout much of the developing world are farmers, not only producing the food crops needed to feed their families, but seeking to generate the cash income necessary to gain access to education, health care, and a better way of life. However, in many countries—particularly in sub-Saharan Africa—women farmers must deal not only with the inherent difficulties of gender inequities, poverty, and the vagaries of nature, but with the consequences of war and civil strife as well. This issue of SEEDS reports on a case study of the efforts underway to help women farmers survive and prosper in the Green …

Doing More With Less: The Marie Stopes Clinics In Sierra Leone, Nahid Toubia, Grace Ebun Delano

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This edition of Quality/Calidad/Qualité reports on the Marie Stopes Sierra Leone (MSSL) organization which pursues its goals with compassion and ambition, despite seemingly insurmountable economic hardships. MSSL has established a service model that many programs in richer countries should try to imitate. Several particularly important lessons emerged, including: creative, skillful management, well-organized and flexible financial administration, and human motivation and perseverance can enable an organization to overcome financial difficulties; family planning is an integral part of people's reproductive and general health concerns and can dovetail with concern for development in useful and practical ways; men appreciate being involved in the …

Acceptability Of First Trimester Medical Abortion, Beverly Winikoff

Reproductive Health

Unwanted pregnancy is a serious and stressful problem for women. As stated in this paper, technologies that afford safe and effective abortion are well accepted and provide relief from a great difficulty. Many women fear surgery and will go far to avoid it. There is substantial apprehension about general anesthesia during surgery and also fear that local anesthesia may not prevent pain. This leads to a high demand for a medical abortion alternative. Some women consider that the quick and definitive surgical alternative is easier; some find that swallowing a pill is easier. Privacy is greatly valued. Medical abortion technology …