Sexual and reproductive rights: the conceptions of black and white women regarding freedom

Abstract

Reproductive health is related to the enjoyment of freedom that is intrinsic to sexual and reproductive rights. The core issue, in this article, is how the notion of freedom articulates itself to the social condition of gender, race and ethnicity. To investigate gender and race differences in reproductive issues of black and white women regarding the conception of freedom. The research is of a qualitative nature and approaches reproductive issues of women based on an outline of gender and race. Thirty-six women were interviewed, self-classified as white and black (black and mulatto), in conjugal union for, at least, one year. The discourses were analyzed articulating race/ethnicity and different levels of schooling. Overall, one can observe that the life conditions and reproductive health of black and white women differ due to socio-economic and cultural conditions. Comparatively, the discourses of the two groups can be interpreted in two characteristic levels, those of private life and public space: while white women focus on the delay of women in the equitable exercise of freedom compared to men, but highlight achievements in the world of labor, black women view freedom as concerning the possibility of a democratic experience of conjugality. The differences in discourses as to freedom can be related as much to the issue of racism in Brazil suffered daily by black women throughout history, as to the specifically cultural issues of the two groups that were studied.