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Reproductive Health Matters
An international journal on sexual and reproductive health and rights
Volume 24, 2016 - Issue 48: Sexuality, sexual and reproductive health in later life
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Gender norms as health harms: reclaiming a life course perspective on sexual and reproductive health and rights

& (Professor)
 

Abstract

Despite their demographic significance and the lifetime impact of gender disparities on their health and rights, women considered older than reproductive age are excluded from most investments in global public health. While development policies linking human rights with access to sexual and reproductive healthcare have yielded progress towards improving the status of women and girls, older women have not benefited from these initiatives. Yet as women grow older, they experience a range of health conditions rooted in their reproductive biology – from ageing with fistula, to cervical and breast cancers. Current approaches to global women’s health ignore these serious conditions, harming older women through the perpetuation of gender norms that construe women’s health through a narrow reproductive lens. Meanwhile, older women are generally absent from global ageing discourse, which lacks a gender perspective, creating a dual invisibility as the field of global women’s health presumes ageing women are accounted for. Reclaiming the sexual rights framework suggested by the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action, we call for the revision of global health policies to incorporate a life course approach to women’s health as a matter of human rights.

Resumé

En dépit de leur importance démographique et de l’impact des disparités sexuelles sur leur santé et leurs droits tout au long de leur vie, les femmes qui ne sont plus jugées en âge de procréer sont exclues de la plupart des investissements en santé publique dans le monde. Alors que les politiques de développement liant les droits de l’homme à l’accès aux soins de santé sexuelle et génésique ont permis de progresser vers une amélioration de la situation des femmes et des filles, les femmes âgées n’ont pas bénéficié de ces initiatives. Pourtant, à mesure que les femmes prennent de l’âge, elles connaissent une série de pathologies ancrées dans leur biologie procréative – depuis le vieillissement avec une fistule, jusqu’aux cancers du col de l’utérus et du sein. Actuellement, les approches internationales de la santé des femmes ignorent ces pathologies graves, ce qui lèse les femmes âgées par la perpétuation de normes sexuelles qui interprètent la santé féminine dans une optique génésique étroite. Dans le même temps, les femmes âgées sont en général absentes du discours international sur le vieillissement, auquel une perspective sexospécifique fait défaut, créant ainsi une double invisibilité, puisque le domaine de la santé des femmes dans le monde suppose que les femmes vieillissantes sont prises en compte. Revendiquant le cadre de droits sexuels proposé par la Conférence internationale sur la population et le développement et le Programme d’action de Beijing, nous demandons la révision des politiques internationales de santé pour y inclure une approche des droits fondamentaux des femmes axée sur le parcours de vie.

Resumen

A pesar de su importancia demográfica y el impacto de las disparidades de género en su salud y derechos a lo largo de su vida, las mujeres consideradas mayores que aquéllas en edad reproductiva son excluidas de la mayoría de las inversiones en salud pública mundial. Aunque las políticas de desarrollo que vinculan los derechos humanos con el acceso a los servicios de salud sexual y reproductiva han logrado avances hacia mejorar la condición jurídica y social de mujeres y niñas, las mujeres mayores no se han beneficiado de estas iniciativas. Sin embargo, a medida que las mujeres envejecen, experimentan una variedad de problemas de salud arraigados en su biología reproductiva: desde envejecimiento con fístula, hasta cáncer cervical y cáncer de mama. Los enfoques actuales en salud global de la mujer hacen caso omiso de estos graves problemas, lo cual perjudica a las mujeres mayores al perpetuar normas de género que interpretan la salud de la mujer desde una estrecha perspectiva de la salud reproductiva. Mientras tanto, las mujeres mayores generalmente están ausentes del discurso mundial sobre el envejecimiento, que carece de una perspectiva de género, lo cual crea doble invisibilidad ya que el campo de salud global de la mujer supone que las mujeres que envejecen son incluidas. Reclamando el marco de derechos sexuales sugerido por la Conferencia Internacional sobre la Población y el Desarrollo y la Plataforma de Acción de Beijing, hacemos un llamado a modificar las políticas de salud global para incorporar un enfoque de ciclo de vida con relación a los derechos humanos de las mujeres.

Notes

* (And/or choose to have sex with women).

† While the USAID Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) sample women ages 15-49, the World Health Organization defines reproductive age from 15-44.Citation 13,14

‡ Older populations have higher burdens of chronic disease; while all older adults experience similar rates of chronic disease, the greater longevity of women translates to their comprising highest overall rates of chronic disease globally.Citation 24

§ For example, the WHO definition of “reproductive age” – from 15-44, draws a somewhat arbitrary line, given that there are women and girls under the age of 15 and over the age of 44 with reproductive capabilities.Citation 14

For example, in Guinea, USAID “will build on an existing maternal health project to decrease domestic violence by creating linkages between maternal and child health services and referrals to mission-supported legal clinics.” In India, USAID “will expand the use of mobile technology to identify and address intimate partner violence among female patients receiving family planning and prenatal care.”Citation 30

†† In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, 15.5% of women seeking care for sexual violence in a South Kivu hospital between 2004 and 2008 were aged 55 and above.Citation 32

‡‡ In many low and middle-income countries, older persons are routinely excluded by HIV screening programmes while safe sex interventions are almost exclusively targeted to younger populations. As a result, older women, particularly those who are widowed or single, “may find it embarrassing or difficult” to procure condoms or to seek advice on safe sexual practices.”Citation 15

§§ Goal 5 indicators 5.1.1 and 5.1.2 measure prevalence of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence among women and girls aged 15 and older, respectively.Citation 3

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