Teaching Gender in Social Work - MailChimp

Human Reproduction Issues in Social Work
Jurate Gudliauskaite-Godvade
Abstract
In this article the concept of human reproduction is presented as socially
constructed and politically contested. Two different approaches to human reproduction
population control and reproductive health are discussed. Much of
the discussion employs a gender lens. Although social work is not the principal
professional interest group in matters of human reproduction, this article
advocates for social work interest in the promotion of reproductive health
through core ethical principles to which social workers subscribe. The issues
concerning reproductive justice covered in this article include forced sterilisation
and the use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART).
The goal of this article is to provide teachers of social work with some ideas
on teaching human reproduction issues to social work students. Despite the
fact that social work is not the principal professional interest group in matters
of human reproduction, Lena Dominelli 1 remarks that traditionally social workers
held key roles in working with children and families, where questions
about fertility, pregnancy, childbirth, childlessness and family networks have
been discussed in the context of social problems that they seek to address. Eric
Blyth 2 notes that most reported social work activity in human reproduction
has focused on HIV/AIDS, infertility and assisted conception, adolescent and
teen pregnancy, “high risk” pregnancy, and sex selection. Eric Blyth 3 points out
that the general notion that social workers frequently act as “the conscience of
the community” according to the International Federation of Social Workers,
is the case which can be made for social work to be concerned about reproductive
health – and, more specifically, to advocate for social work interest in
the promotion of reproductive health through core ethical principles to which
social workers subscribe as elucidated in the Ethics of Social Work, Statement
of Principles approved by the International Federation of Social Workers and
1
Lena Dominelli, “’Glassed-in’: problematising women’s reproductive rights under the new reproductive technologies,”
in Critical practice in social work, eds. Robert Adams, Lena Dominelli and Malcolm Payne, 72-80. (London:
Palgrave, 2002).
2
Eric Blyth, “Inequalities in reproductive health: what is the challenge for social work and how can it respond?”
Journal of Social Work 8 (2008): 213–232.
3
Ibid.
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