Constructions of United States government development funding in response to the global gag rule
- Molobela, Reabetswe Lee-Anne
- Authors: Molobela, Reabetswe Lee-Anne
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Pro-choice movement -- South Africa , Abortion -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Abortion -- Moral and ethical aspects -- South Africa , Abortion -- Psychological aspects , Reproductive rights -- South Africa , Economic assistance, American -- South Africa , Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa , Discourse analysis , Social constructionism , Global Gag Rule
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148295 , vital:38727
- Description: Despite South Africa’s progressive abortion law, barriers to safe abortion are numerous and exist at both the macro and micro level. Barriers include abortion stigma, discrimination, strong moral judgements against abortion within society and conscientious objection among health care workers. Furthermore, women’s lack of knowledge regarding the legal status of abortion and the voluminous illegal advertisements of back street abortions undermines the legislation and promotes unsafe abortions. Sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have served as a link between service and people by providing information about safe abortion to women, especially in rural areas and have received funding from various platforms including United States government. However, the United States government has established the global gag rule which forbids foreign non-governmental organizations receiving United States government funding from using United States government and non-United States funds for abortion related activities. The global gag rule has been reinstated and extended by the current United States president. As such the global gag rule is expected to have an adverse effect on sexual and reproductive health rights in South Africa and on Sexual and reproductive health rights non-governmental organizations. The aim of the study is to highlight the constructions and responses to the global gag rule by sexual and reproductive health rights non-government organization workers in the South African context. This study used semi-structured individual interviews to collect data through purposive and snowball sampling of 10 South African Sexual and reproductive health rights non-governmental organizations workers. The study is situated within the social constructionist framework with emphasis on Fairclough’s three aspects of the constructive effects of discourse as an analytic tool in conjunction with Braun and Clarke’s social constructionist thematic analysis. The results of the study reflect on participants’ construction of United States government as imposing conservative agendas and taking regressive steps towards Sexual and reproductive health rights, which have in turn invoked indirect and direct resistance from non-governmental organizations. Additionally, NGO workers have constructed subject positions that highlight the vulnerability of non-governmental organizations dependency on United States government 1funding as it destabilizes and fragments civil society organization while it compromises the effectiveness of non-governmental organizations in serving the needs of intended communities. United States government is also constructed as strengthening abortion stigma and strengthening barriers to safe abortion that already exist in the country.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Molobela, Reabetswe Lee-Anne
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Pro-choice movement -- South Africa , Abortion -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Abortion -- Moral and ethical aspects -- South Africa , Abortion -- Psychological aspects , Reproductive rights -- South Africa , Economic assistance, American -- South Africa , Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa , Discourse analysis , Social constructionism , Global Gag Rule
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148295 , vital:38727
- Description: Despite South Africa’s progressive abortion law, barriers to safe abortion are numerous and exist at both the macro and micro level. Barriers include abortion stigma, discrimination, strong moral judgements against abortion within society and conscientious objection among health care workers. Furthermore, women’s lack of knowledge regarding the legal status of abortion and the voluminous illegal advertisements of back street abortions undermines the legislation and promotes unsafe abortions. Sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have served as a link between service and people by providing information about safe abortion to women, especially in rural areas and have received funding from various platforms including United States government. However, the United States government has established the global gag rule which forbids foreign non-governmental organizations receiving United States government funding from using United States government and non-United States funds for abortion related activities. The global gag rule has been reinstated and extended by the current United States president. As such the global gag rule is expected to have an adverse effect on sexual and reproductive health rights in South Africa and on Sexual and reproductive health rights non-governmental organizations. The aim of the study is to highlight the constructions and responses to the global gag rule by sexual and reproductive health rights non-government organization workers in the South African context. This study used semi-structured individual interviews to collect data through purposive and snowball sampling of 10 South African Sexual and reproductive health rights non-governmental organizations workers. The study is situated within the social constructionist framework with emphasis on Fairclough’s three aspects of the constructive effects of discourse as an analytic tool in conjunction with Braun and Clarke’s social constructionist thematic analysis. The results of the study reflect on participants’ construction of United States government as imposing conservative agendas and taking regressive steps towards Sexual and reproductive health rights, which have in turn invoked indirect and direct resistance from non-governmental organizations. Additionally, NGO workers have constructed subject positions that highlight the vulnerability of non-governmental organizations dependency on United States government 1funding as it destabilizes and fragments civil society organization while it compromises the effectiveness of non-governmental organizations in serving the needs of intended communities. United States government is also constructed as strengthening abortion stigma and strengthening barriers to safe abortion that already exist in the country.
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Discursive constructions of alcohol use and pregnancy among participants in intervention aimed at reducing Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
- Authors: Msomi, Nqobile Nomonde
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders -- South Africa , Pregnancy -- Psychological aspects , Reproductive rights -- South Africa , Reproductive health -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140374 , vital:37883
- Description: South Africa’s socio-cultural and political history has had significant effects on maternal and reproductive health. The hazardous alcohol use patterns in the country have affected alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Antenatal exposure to alcohol may result in Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). The levels of FASD in particular areas of the country are the highest recorded in the world. Epidemiological studies have dominated pregnancy and FASD research in South Africa; however, recently critical scholarship seeking to contextualise the issue of drinking alcohol during pregnancy is emerging. This study forms part of a developmental/formative assessment of an alcohol and pregnancy intervention. Assessment is an important part of pilot interventions, and discourse is a key area of focus due to its constitutive role for the subjectivity of human beings and legitimation of institutional practices. Using a reproductive justice perspective and a Foucauldian approach to analysis, I identified five prominent discursive constructions of alcohol use during pregnancy produced during interviews with community educators. These interviews were conducted following training workshops with the community educators. Participants constructed their living environments as ‘wholly bad’ and ‘issue-ridden’ and positioned alcohol consumption as ‘a destroyer!’, ‘king’ and a social lubricant. They interpellated the foetus, the ‘FASD child’ and pregnant women into this context. They positioned themselves as transformed subjects able to effect change. The foetus was constructed as ‘vulnerable and important’, as opposed to the ‘defiled FASD child’. Pregnant women were constructed as ‘ignorant, preoccupied and unreceptive to knowledge’. These constructions hinged on so-called ‘scientific knowledge’ of biological processes in utero, demonstrating Foucault’s conception of the power/knowledge nexus and how its dynamics transforms knowledge of human beings. Whereas this ‘knowledge’ transformed alcohol consumption and the foetus into powerful and vulnerable subjects respectively, the circulating discourses had objectivising effects on pregnant women. The discourses of responsibilisation, the personification of the foetus, ‘the problem’ category of FASD, the discourse of difference, and the discourse of alcohol consumption as an entrenched practice were circulating around pregnant women. I suggest alterations to the identified constructions using principles of community psychology, the harm reduction model, a social model of disability and the reproductive justice perspective
- Full Text:
- Authors: Msomi, Nqobile Nomonde
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders -- South Africa , Pregnancy -- Psychological aspects , Reproductive rights -- South Africa , Reproductive health -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140374 , vital:37883
- Description: South Africa’s socio-cultural and political history has had significant effects on maternal and reproductive health. The hazardous alcohol use patterns in the country have affected alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Antenatal exposure to alcohol may result in Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). The levels of FASD in particular areas of the country are the highest recorded in the world. Epidemiological studies have dominated pregnancy and FASD research in South Africa; however, recently critical scholarship seeking to contextualise the issue of drinking alcohol during pregnancy is emerging. This study forms part of a developmental/formative assessment of an alcohol and pregnancy intervention. Assessment is an important part of pilot interventions, and discourse is a key area of focus due to its constitutive role for the subjectivity of human beings and legitimation of institutional practices. Using a reproductive justice perspective and a Foucauldian approach to analysis, I identified five prominent discursive constructions of alcohol use during pregnancy produced during interviews with community educators. These interviews were conducted following training workshops with the community educators. Participants constructed their living environments as ‘wholly bad’ and ‘issue-ridden’ and positioned alcohol consumption as ‘a destroyer!’, ‘king’ and a social lubricant. They interpellated the foetus, the ‘FASD child’ and pregnant women into this context. They positioned themselves as transformed subjects able to effect change. The foetus was constructed as ‘vulnerable and important’, as opposed to the ‘defiled FASD child’. Pregnant women were constructed as ‘ignorant, preoccupied and unreceptive to knowledge’. These constructions hinged on so-called ‘scientific knowledge’ of biological processes in utero, demonstrating Foucault’s conception of the power/knowledge nexus and how its dynamics transforms knowledge of human beings. Whereas this ‘knowledge’ transformed alcohol consumption and the foetus into powerful and vulnerable subjects respectively, the circulating discourses had objectivising effects on pregnant women. The discourses of responsibilisation, the personification of the foetus, ‘the problem’ category of FASD, the discourse of difference, and the discourse of alcohol consumption as an entrenched practice were circulating around pregnant women. I suggest alterations to the identified constructions using principles of community psychology, the harm reduction model, a social model of disability and the reproductive justice perspective
- Full Text:
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