Page 284 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

women’s suffrage movements 2061

Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their
reputation and social standing, never can bring about
reform. • Susan Brownell Anthony (1820–1906)

against sexually transmitted diseases. Hormonal meth- tion growth is an example of coercive anti-natalism. In
ods consist of birth control pills, Norplant, and Depo- such cases the government’s desire to control population
Provera. The interuterine device (IUD) is a mechanical growth often comes at the expense of women’s health.
method of birth control that is believed to work by pre- The United States was guilty of anti-natalism in the early
venting an egg from implanting in the uterine wall. 1950s and 1960s, when federal funds were used to per-
There are also interuterine systems, which are essen- form forced sterilization on Chicano, black, Native Amer-
tially IUDs that dispense the hormones that prevent ican, and Puerto Rican women.
pregnancy. Sterilization involves a procedure called It is paradoxical that while women are responsible for
tubal ligation, in which the fallopian tubes are tied, producing the future generations, their right to control
thereby preventing eggs and sperm from meeting, and, their own bodies is limited by public and private forces.
consequently, pregnancy. Many governments use tubal Reproductive rights, with all their ramifications, are a
ligations to forcibly restrict population growth among reflection and determinant of women’s equality in society.
certain groups.
Chandrika Paul

Population Control See also Contraception and Birth Control
Programs
In the past decade, the reproductive-rights movement has
focused on population control programs. Despite the Further Reading
existence of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Dixon-Mueller, R. (1993). Population policy and women’s rights: Trans-
forming reproductive choice. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Forums of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Hartmann, B. (1987). Reproductive rights and reproductive wrongs.
which admonishes governments against implementing New York: Harper & Row.
Hartmann, B. (1995). Reproductive rights and wrongs:The global politics
aggressive population control programs to promote
of population control. Boston: South End Press.
national interests, most countries in the developing world Jacobson, J. L. ( 1992). Women’s reproductive health: The silent emer-
have such programs, often at the expense of women’s gency. New Frontiers in Education, 22, 1–54.
health. Governments may be either pro-natalist or anti-
natalist. Feminists are critical of both groups, as both
restrict women’s choices, though with opposite goals.
Pro-natalist governments want to increase their nations Women’s Suffrage
population; they typically outlaw abortion and contra-
ception and seek to gain complete control over women’s Movements
fertility. Prolonged warfare, loss in productivity, or even,
in some instances, increasing numbers of people of racial, omen around the world have fought for the right
ethnic, or religious groups that the government considers Wto vote (suffrage) for centuries. Women have
undesirable have all been known to provoke a pro- sought to participate actively in political life and to have
natalist reaction. For example, in 1966 the former a voice in shaping the contours of their societies. By the
Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausecu banned abortion 1990s the majority of women throughout the world had
and encouraged women to produce as many children as gained the right to vote in local and national elections,
possible because he wanted to increase the national and in many countries have achieved high office as
productivity. elected politicians. In 1995, among the few countries in
Women activists also criticize anti-natalist govern- which women still did not have the right to vote were
ments that implement coercive and selective policies. Bahrain, Brunei, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and
Communist China’s one-child policy to restrict popula- the United Arab Emirates.