research paper

Alexa Battisti

Project 2

Kat Robinson

Analytic and Persuasive Writing

4/25/08

Since the dawn of time, women around the world have struggled to attain the freedoms and equal treatment from men that modern women enjoy today. Women have had to battle against oppressive minds for the rights to vote and to own property and are still fighting for equal work opportunities and equal pay as men. In today's societies across the globe, women are in a constant struggle with their respected governments in matters such as health care and availability or access to abortions. A noticeable difference in the nature of difficulties that women face will come about between developed and undeveloped nations further on in this paper.  Access to women’s healthcare is significantly lower in less-developed nations.  Even the most affluent and well-developed countries in the world still have major flaws in their health systems for women, and it is important that they are recognized so the discrepancies can be prevented.

According to Kaiser's Women's Health Survey, the most difficult problems American women face in receiving the medical attention they need are sky-high insurance rates, costly prescriptions, sub-par preventive care, and trouble accessing medical care in the first place (1).  Kaiser's Survey estimates that over one in four non-elderly, American women delayed or went without the medical assistance that they thought they needed because of high expenses (2). In the complex realm of medical insurance, many women do not get equal opportunities in attaining it.  This shows that in America, the main problem is cost, rather than access, of healthcare.

Since many women with families are expected to take on the responsibility of rearing the children, they choose to remain stay-at-home mothers or work from home and therefore pass up the insurance that most men enjoy from big companies and corporations.  This causes them to rely on men for healthcare benefits.  Despite putting in just as much effort as any other person with a career, these women are unjustly unrecognized and ignored by health care professionals. The Kaiser Survey affirms these facts with a study that states “eight in ten mothers/guardians say they have lead responsibility for choosing their children's doctors (79%), taking them to appointments (84%), and ensuring they receive follow-up care (78%)” (Graham 2).  Women are still struggling to get the medical attention they require in one of the most powerful and culturally evolved nations in the world today, not just in under developed nations.

In contrast, India, with a population of over a billion, is one of the largest countries in the world as well as one of the least sophisticated. The prejudice against the female population is both shocking and extreme. Because women occupy such a low status and often go through life uneducated, their health care and medical treatment run parallel. According to Velkoff and Adlakha's article “Women's Health in India,” there is such a strong preference for sons in India that there are over 35 million “missing women” who should be a part of the population, but are unaccounted for (3). “This deficit of females is due to higher female than male mortality rates for every age group up to 30.” (Velkoff and Adlakha 7).  The fertility rate is at a dangerous number for poorer women in India, due to their poor levels of healthcare.  For example, “Utter Pradesh, the most populous state in India, has a total fertility rate of over 5 children per woman. On the other hand, Kerala, which has relatively high levels of female education and autonomy, has a total fertility rate under 2” (Velkoff and Adlakha 2).  The reason the fertility rate in poorer cities is much high is the desperate desire to have a strong son who can do the necessary work for survival and who can help his family.  As a result, many women in these countries, such as Ghana, Chad, and Iraq, try many times to get pregnant in hopes that they will have a boy.  Multiple pregnancies can deteriorate a woman's nutritional status and can lead to problems such as premature births and low birth-weight babies (Velkoff and Adlakha 2).  These health risks are often exacerbated in the poverty-stricken areas because these women do not have any access to medical treatment, and even in places where they might find it, they lack the financial means to fund their healthcare, drawing a similarity to the United States.  Because the fertility rate in India is such an important issue, Velkoff and Adlakha suggest delivering information mainly to uneducated women about contraceptives (4). India's current growth rate, which is in exponential form, is dangerous to the health of its women as well as the welfare of the rest of the world.  Access to better healthcare and the equal treatment of men and women could help to alleviate these problems.

The healthcare issues in places such as India and Saudi Arabia draw many local women to abortion.  Abortion is one of the most hotly debated topics around the globe, often causing a division in communities between those who believe that a woman has the right to choose and those who believe that the baby has a right to live.  There are various political groups supporting each stance, and it’s impact on American life is evident in everything from bumper stickers to it being one of the main topics in the upcoming presidential race.  The American organization Planned Parenthood, which is a nonprofit association that assists Americans in pregnancy and STD prevention and control, states that President Bush signed the federal abortion ban in 2003 (1). This ban made all abortions in the second trimester of pregnancy illegal, which outraged many feminists and women's right activists because many doctors say that these abortions are the most safe and effective in protecting women's health.  In rebuttal, religious groups, such as the Roman-Catholic church, argue that the fetus is a person at this point.  Although this ban does not make all abortions illegal, it forces women to make hastier and riskier decisions that will affect their lives forever.  By not having the option of waiting until the second trimester, most American women do not have the time to make an educated decision.

In contrast, China, another extremely developed country, actively encourages abortion, according to the article “Gender and Women’s Health” (2). The New York Times recently reported that the Chinese government has decided that after twenty-five years of their “One Child Policy” (which basically means that each married couple can only have one child) that they will continue to enforce this law for an additional decade (1).  This policy has caused mixed reactions from other countries throughout the world, ranging from admiration for their efforts in population control, to scorn for their brutally high numbers of purposefully induced abortions. Because China is such a male-dominated society, many women are often forced to have abortions if they discover that they are pregnant with a daughter, as opposed to a son. This cruel practice has produced a staggering “gender imbalance that has raised concerns that there may be too few women in the future” (Yardley 1). 

Abortion in under-developed countries often goes unchecked and is rarely illegal, but the people who perform the procedures may not hold the proper credentials.  In one sense, this gives people in less-developed countries an advantage for the access to abortions, but in another aspect they lack the proper education, tools and preparedness for a safe and healthy procedure.  These abortions, although often cheap and afford the woman the right to choose to give birth or not, are extremely dangerous and run a high-risk mortality rate. Considering all of this, abortion is a very complex and pressing issue on current female populations, but there is definitely potential to find a fair resolution in the future.  Many argue that abortion is wrong, both morally and physically.  Some say abortions physically harm the woman, causing complications ranging from problems in future pregnancies to even death.  Others are opposed to the killing of an innocent child, although there is even more debate as to when a fetus is considered human.  Another point of view against abortion cites the mental state of the woman afterward, who many times expresses regret and guilt.  The Christian organization Pro Life’s slogan is “helping mom’s, saving babies, and ending abortion!” and their website features numerous testimonials of women that have had traumatic experiences regarding abortion.  One woman claims she was “made to believe that I was doing something that was as natural as going to the dentist for a teeth cleaning” (Pro Life).

Women's health is a big issue throughout the world. Women living in different parts of the world experience different health problems and difficulties with their governments, ranging from access to funding, from religion to laws.  It is usually the case that the women living in poorer conditions have the highest health risk and many efforts are being made to calm down the critics.  However, it should not be assumed that only women in poorer countries experience difficulties and health risks.  Many women in the United States experience problems with access to healthcare and the lack of financial wealth to fund it.  They also experience the same problems as women do abroad with the lack of access to abortion, because some women need abortions because of things like ectopic pregnancies and unhealthy blood pressure, but are unable to receive them due to laws put in place by their government to protect their baby, even if it means killing them.  Works Cited

Farr, Kathryn. Sex Trafficking: The Global Market of Women and Children. 2nd ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 2005. 

Planned Parenthood. 2005. Planned Parenthood Organization. 4 Apr. 2008 . 

Annotated Bibliography on Women's Issues in Pakistan. 2007. United Nations Common Library. 4 Apr. 2008 .

Gender and Sexual Health. 2005. RHO Cervical Cancer. 4 Apr. 2008 .

Women's and Gender Studies. 2003. Sonoma University. 4 Apr. 2008 . 

Women and Health Care: A National Profile. 7 July 2005. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 4 Apr. 2008 . 

"U.S. Census Bureau." 14 OCT 2004 21 MAY 2008 .