Reproductive Health and Gender Equality: Method, Measurement, and Implications

The right of women to control their own reproductive health is one that has engendered fierce political and social debate. Wang, of the University of Texas-Pan American, strips away the emotional verbiage to lay out statistically the areas of maternal and child care that are still not provided for across the earth and also the political and social impediments to gender equality. She gives solid evidence for the connections between economic development, political autonomy and gender equality. While many Western governments see the problem as being over population and birth control, Wang points out that infant mortality and death or disability due to childbirth is a serious problem in developing countries. Using data from 137 countries, Wang draws correlations between death in childbirth and literacy, average lifespan and yearly income. Her conclusions are that of all the areas studied, the situation for women's reproductive health is most dire in Sub-Saharan Africa and that economic development and gender-based equality are the best paths to ameliorating the situation. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Guang-zhen Wang is a Professor and Departmental Chair of the Sociology department at the University of Texas - Pan American. She is the co-author of 'Women's Reproductive Rights in Developing Countries' (Ashgate, 1999)