Generally, my primary research interest is looking into the ways access to health care affects women politically, socially, and economically. Lately, I’ve been leaning towards looking at the debates around reproductive health care and potentially doing some sort of discourse analysis in that area since the debate is so heated.
This topic area is very important to me personally, but is also something that is at the forefront of a lot of political discussions happening in the US and around the world right now. It is also amenable to further research since there are women across the globe with varying levels of access to healthcare, cultural norms, and laws governing access. The broad significance of this topic is inherent, women should have the same rights and opportunities as men but these may be limited if they are not able to access the crucial health care they need.
I don’t have a specific puzzle in mind just yet, but I think that something that may come up as I continue my research journey is the challenge of promoting better reproductive health care in countries with more conservative or theocratic governments. I believe the cultural aspects of this debate will prove to be crucial. The cultural nuances will be important to note so as to properly analyze the factors that attribute to healthcare access or the lack thereof.
Something I’ve read that has peaked my interest in this topic is an article, written by Suman Saurabh, Sonali Sarkar, and Dhruv K. Pandey in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, about the impact of female literacy rates on birth and infant mortality rates in India [1]. The article proposes that educated women make more informed reproductive and healthcare decisions and that “female literacy is relatively highly important for both population stabilization and better infant health [2]. After reading this article, I became curious about how the reverse of this phenomenon might act. Would access to reproductive health care improve women’s education and other parts of her life? I am interested to see how the debate about reproductive health care impacts this and I am curious to explore this phenomenon more as I continue on the research process.
Notes
[1] Suman Saurabh, Sonali Sarkar, and Dhruv K. Pandey. “Female Literacry Rate is a Better Predictor of Birth Rate and Infant Mortality Rate in India,” Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care 2, 4 (Oct-Dec 2013), 349-353.
[2] Ibid
Bibliography
Saurabh, Suman, Sonali Sarkar, and Dhruv K. Pandey. “Female Literacy Rate is a Better Predictor of Birth Rate and Infant Mortality Rate in India” in The Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 349-353. 2013.
September 3, 2018 at 12:53 am
Megan,
This is a very interesting topic, and one that I feel very passionate about as well. I found your “puzzle” very interesting. You mentioned that you might be stumped by women in more controlling and conservative governments having access to women’s healthcare. I think it’d be interesting for you to compare women’s access to healthcare in the United States to other countries. Many women in the United States remain unsure of their healthcare options/reproductive rights. It’s a sad truth, but even in a nation as developed and seemingly forward thinking as the United States there are still parts of this country that struggle with this issue.
September 3, 2018 at 9:10 pm
Hi Megan, I feel that choosing a research project that you feel strongly about is the most important first step — and you have definitely got that covered! After reading your proposal, it seems like you are leaning more towards the “culturalism” side, rather than the “behavioralism” side, of the ontological debate we read about Abbott’s book. I think this is a critical dimension to your research. It is vital (in my opinion) to elucidate on the symbolic social structures in place because they imbue certain meanings. Would you agree that your research project lends itself more towards a small-n analysis, comparing a few comparative cases around the world? I think that an ethnographical method of data gathering would be really fascinating for this project, including interviews with women from those regions. That said, I realize that that is incredibly ambitious and we, as undergrads, may not have the resources necessary to conduct such research. It is still an interesting point to ponder — maybe for future research! I am also very interested in the point you brought up towards the end of your proposal. My prediction would be that higher levels of access to reproductive health-care would correlate with higher levels of education. It might prove very difficult to show causality but its a puzzle worth exploring. I found this research article that I think you might be interested in. Researchers Katerini T. Storeng and Fatoumata Ouattara conducted an ethnographical study in Burkina Faso on unsafe abortion practices [1]. I hope it helps!
[1] Storeng, Katerini T., and Fatoumata Ouattara. “The Politics of Unsafe Abortion in Burkina Faso: The Interface of Local Norms and Global Public Health Practice.” Global Public Health 9, no. 8 (September 14, 2014): 946-59. Accessed September 3, 2018. doi:10.1080/17441692.2014.937828.
September 3, 2018 at 11:43 pm
Although you don’t have a specific puzzle in mind yet, you’re definitely on the right track. Cultural norms are necessary in understanding women’s issues. Local culture plays a role not only in a woman’s access to healthcare, but in the mindset of those in power along with the women themselves. When culture stigmatizes women on the basis of healthcare, it is near impossible for there to be access to the appropriate care they need.
I too am having difficulty intertwining the cultural nuances of women’s issues with my project due to the fact that culture is difficult to “measure.” I believe we both have to find a way to use culture in combination with a main research question. I especially liked your question about reproductive healthcare and its impact on other aspects of a woman’s life. This specific problem would be great to focus on. Good luck in your research!
September 4, 2018 at 1:06 am
You are off to a good start here, Megan, with some good thoughts on the potential directions that your research could take. You’ve also received some good suggestions from some classmates! As you continue thinking about your topic area I would encourage you to keep investigating scholarship on the broad/general topic. This is important since identifying the debates among scholars (debates about what we understand / what we don’t understand) is one important part of identifying your own specific research puzzle. Cultural factors are probably quite important, as you note, but remember that you’ll have to consider a wide range of potential explanations for your puzzle. Don’t forget about the role of institutions and governments, for example, or the role that basic interests play in designing the policies and institutions about which you are curious. I look forward to seeing how the research develops!