Negotiating Reproductive Rights

This book grows out of IRRRAG’s four years of collaborative research and analysis in seven countries: Brazil, Egypt, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, and the United States. Based on in-depth group and individual interviews with hundreds of women in diverse settings, the book asks when, whether and how grassroots women express a sense of entitlement or self-determination in everyday decisions about childbearing, work, marriage, fertility control and sexual relations. What strategies do women employ in their negotiations with parents, husbands or partners, health providers, and the larger community over reproductive and sexual matters? What role do economic constraints, religion, tradition, motherhood and group participation play in shaping their decisions?