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Sexual rights and gender roles in a religious context
Author(s) -
Zaidi Shahida,
Ramarajan Arulmozhi,
Qiu Renzong,
Raucher Michal,
Chadwick Ruth,
Nossier Amna
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijgo.2009.03.029
Subject(s) - islam , hinduism , population , legislation , reproductive technology , obligation , human rights , medicine , law , gender studies , reproductive rights , opposition (politics) , honor , china , abortion , sociology , religious studies , reproductive health , demography , politics , political science , theology , pregnancy , philosophy , operating system , lactation , genetics , biology , computer science
A common feature of the five faiths discussed in this article is change over time. This allowed diversity within the religions, and generally led to a degree of liberalization, but in some faiths or their sects, resulted in a narrow or rigid interpretation. For example, the golden Vedic Period of Hinduism in India when “women were worshipped” gradually faded, ushering in the social evils of female feticide, child marriage, and “sati.” The advent of Islam in the seventh century banned female infanticide, but has been unable to abolish many tribal pre‐Islamic customs such as female genital mutilation in Africa and “honor killings” in parts of Asia. On the other hand, in China, the inferior status of women accorded by Confucianism has been rectified to a large extent by legislation; this has, however, been offset by a restrictive population policy allowing only one child or two children per couple in some areas of the country (with no limit in Tibet), which has led millions of women to resort to prenatal sex diagnosis and abortion if the fetus is female. In the West, the debate over the use of biomedical technology continues, with various rabbinic rulings permitting the use of assisted reproductive technologies by Jews to fulfill the obligation to procreate, and the Vatican reinforcing its opposition to these and to genetic testing on embryos and embryonic stem cell research.