Changing women and avoiding men - Gender stereotypes and reproductive health programmes

Health care researchers have documented that in many settings male social p rerogatives powerfully condition women's relationship to health care system s. Particularly in the area of reproductive health care, the decision-makin g privileges enjoyed by men fundamentally affect women's health status. Yet population policy and reproductive health programming has been slow to res pond to this insight. Unrecognized or unacknowledged assumptions about wome n's 'natural' responsibility for childbearing and child-rearing, coupled wi th an acceptance of the rights of men to make family health care decisions have impeded policy responses to these research findings. By accepting thes e static characterisations of men rather than assuming that gender relation s are dynamic and that men are as capable of change as women, research and programmes have often implicitly accepted men's power and women's subordina tion. Effective reproductive health care programming needs to recruit men's support and participation in creative ways.