Jornal de Pesquisa Clínica e Bioética

Abstrato

African Women’s Diminished Reproductive Autonomy as an Issue of Public Health Ethics

Chitu Womehoma Princewill*

Autonomy is a key in the life of every woman. A woman whose autonomy is eroded tends to feel inferior, and this is made worse by the discrimination of her gender. Over twenty-one years after the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo, Egypt in 1994, women’s autonomy still remains a public health issue, especially in most African countries. Although Gender discrimination is a global issue, it appears to be more in African countries where their belief is deeply rooted in their culture and tradition where the respect for men is ultimate. One way to deal with the issue of gender discrimination and diminished women’s autonomy is to abolish cultures and traditions that promote gender discrimination and the eroding of women’s autonomy.