Situating women's reproductive activities

In her pathbreaking book, Abortion and Woman's Choice, Rosalind Pollack Pet chesky astutely observed that, in many societies, control over the methods and goals of reproduction is a critical site of contest, particularly betwe en women and men. Yet the circumstances under which reproductive relations will be characterized by conflict, consensus, or some of both have seldom b een systematically explored. In this paper, I therefore offer three example s of different structural contexts in which either women or men had the pre ponderance of power to influence key aspects of women's reproductive activi ties. I argue that while structural factors, notably the distribution of ec onomic, political, and institutional resources, are fundamental, they do no t only act directly but are experienced, interpreted, and made meaningful t hrough specific cultural processes, particularly gender ideologies, norms a bout morality, and beliefs about how women should behave. It is together th at these structural factors and cultural processes shape the climates and c ontexts within which women's reproductive activities are situated and take place.