Teaching Gender in Social Work - MailChimp

are still taking place: for example, the case of the reproduction rights violation
of Roma women in Slovakia. In late 2002, a research project conducted by the
Centre for Reproductive Rights (New York) in collaboration with the Centre
for Civil and Human Rights, or Poradna, a Slovak human rights organisation,
and Ina Zoon, an expert consultant on minority rights issues, uncovered widespread
violations of Roma women’s human rights, specifically reproductive
rights, in eastern Slovakia. The violations included the following: coerced and
forced sterilisation, misinformation on reproductive health matters, racially
discriminatory access to health-care resources and treatment, physical and verbal
abuse by medical providers and the denial of access to medical records. 26
Social workers should show their willingness to confront the embedded
racism and elitism that bar low-income and minority women from exercising
their reproductive rights. There should be more awareness of the ways minority
women and white women can differ in their definition of reproductive
justice.
Social Aspects of Assisted Reproductive Technologies
It is crucial to incorporate into social work education discussions on the impact
of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) on conceptions of motherhood
and parenthood. Women and men need to be involved in the advocacy groups
that best represent their positions in these debates because with knowledge
women and men can be empowered to act consciously concerning the motherhood
and parenthood that they deem most appropriate.
Lena Dominelli 27 points out that social work expertise must be accessible
to women and men undergoing fertility treatments or engaging in surrogacy
arrangements. Stacy A. Hammons 28 remarks that reproductive assistance has
a long history: for example, surrogacy has been used for centuries. The use of
ART became more common after 1978 when the first baby was born as a result
of in vitro fertilisation. Later on, there was an explosion of research and clinical
practice in the area of ART. These technologies include practices in which
some part of conception occurs outside the woman’s body (the production
26
CRR/Poradna, 2003: 13
27
Dominelli, 2002.
28
Stacy A. Hammons, “Assisted reproductive technologies: changing conceptions of motherhood?” Affilia 23,
(2008) 270–280.
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