Women's health and their sexual and reproductive rights in a "circle of citizenship"

RESUMOS

Women's health and their sexual and reproductive rights in a "circle of citizenship"

This study is a research-action whose object of study − Facts & Acts that influence the conquest of the sexual and reproductive rights of popular class women − was developed according to the theoretical referential of the educator Paulo Freire. The objectives of this study are to describe the facts and acts that have influenced the conquest of the sexual and reproductive rights of women, and to discuss the popular education as a strategy for the extension of the perspectives in order to conquer these rights. A group of 16 women who lived or frequented a communitarian association located in Vila das Torres, a poor neighborhood in the central area in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil, took part in this research. The research was held from November, 2003 to June, 2005, and it was made up of four phases: 1^st phase – exploratory – field discovery and initial problem identification; 2^nd - the research process implementation –making the "Circle of Citizenship" constituted of 15 meetings, where two generated themes defined by the group were discussed: "The body" and "the right to have rights"; 3^rd - the investigation and data analysis over refinement; and the 4^th phase – external announcement – thesis presentation. In order to collect the data, procedures such as intensive direct observation, standard interviews, and notes in a field diary were used. The data was analyzed as based on content analysis, given its thematic condition. Thus, the situation-problem and the challenge/interests were delimited, which served to filter the nuclei of feeling (facts & acts). A list of 104 situations– the facts – was reached with another 86 – the acts –grouped into thematic axes which gave origin to two thematic units: a) social, economic, and cultural inequality – reinforcing the condition of popular class women’s subordination; b) the condition of being a woman and the (difficult) exercise of sexual and reproductive rights: dilemmas and challenges. As a result of the meetings, the participants identified gaps in the sexual and reproductive health fields, such as: the incorporation of gender and sexuality perspectives; the necessity of attention to emerging demands – the HIV/AIDS epidemic, gender and the sexual violence; insecure abortions, and still the attendance to particular groups of health service users – men and teenagers. This research resulted in the elaboration of a roll of propositions, introduced and approved at the Local Health Conference. The theoretical-methodological referential demonstrated to be an instrument for the socialization of ideas and the problems of the women participants, and thus the critical apprehension of the contradictions and challenges that surround their everyday life. For this reason, we defend the thesis that popular education is an important foundation for political-educational work with women in the health field, toward their conquest and exercise of the sexual and reproductive rights and therefore, their citizenship.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  13 Sept 2007
• Date of issue
  June 2007