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Participation of young women in sexual and reproductive health decision-making in Malawi: Local realities versus global rhetoric

Despite the global prioritization of addressing adolescent girls’ and young women’s sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and participatory rights, little research has examined their lived experiences in shaping their engagement in SRH decision-making processes in the global South. Further, few studi...

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Autores principales: Wigle, Jannah M., Paul, Stewart, Birn, Anne-Emanuelle, Gladstone, Brenda, Kalolo, Monica, Banda, Lumbani, Braitstein, Paula
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10022123/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36962663
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001297
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author Wigle, Jannah M.
Paul, Stewart
Birn, Anne-Emanuelle
Gladstone, Brenda
Kalolo, Monica
Banda, Lumbani
Braitstein, Paula
author_facet Wigle, Jannah M.
Paul, Stewart
Birn, Anne-Emanuelle
Gladstone, Brenda
Kalolo, Monica
Banda, Lumbani
Braitstein, Paula
author_sort Wigle, Jannah M.
collection PubMed
description Despite the global prioritization of addressing adolescent girls’ and young women’s sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and participatory rights, little research has examined their lived experiences in shaping their engagement in SRH decision-making processes in the global South. Further, few studies have explored how structural and societal factors influence their agency and participation. This critical and focused ethnography, informed by postcolonial feminist and difference-centred citizenship theories, conducted in Malawi (2017–2018) elicited perspectives of youth and key informants to help address these knowledge gaps. Our findings show that the effective implementation and uptake of global discourse on participation and gender equity is hindered by inadequate consideration of girls’ and young women’s local political, cultural and social realities. Many girls and young women demonstrate passion to participate in SRH policymaking as agents of change. However, patriarchal and gerontocratic political and social structures/institutions, and gendered and adultist norms and practices limit their active and meaningful participation in SRH decision-making. In addition, donors’ roles in SRH policymaking and their prioritization of the “girl child” highlight an enduring postcolonial power over agenda-setting processes. Understanding young people’s experiences of gendered participation and scrutinizing underlying systemic forces are critical steps toward realizing young women’s SRH and participatory rights.
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spelling pubmed-100221232023-03-17 Participation of young women in sexual and reproductive health decision-making in Malawi: Local realities versus global rhetoric Wigle, Jannah M. Paul, Stewart Birn, Anne-Emanuelle Gladstone, Brenda Kalolo, Monica Banda, Lumbani Braitstein, Paula PLOS Glob Public Health Research Article Despite the global prioritization of addressing adolescent girls’ and young women’s sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and participatory rights, little research has examined their lived experiences in shaping their engagement in SRH decision-making processes in the global South. Further, few studies have explored how structural and societal factors influence their agency and participation. This critical and focused ethnography, informed by postcolonial feminist and difference-centred citizenship theories, conducted in Malawi (2017–2018) elicited perspectives of youth and key informants to help address these knowledge gaps. Our findings show that the effective implementation and uptake of global discourse on participation and gender equity is hindered by inadequate consideration of girls’ and young women’s local political, cultural and social realities. Many girls and young women demonstrate passion to participate in SRH policymaking as agents of change. However, patriarchal and gerontocratic political and social structures/institutions, and gendered and adultist norms and practices limit their active and meaningful participation in SRH decision-making. In addition, donors’ roles in SRH policymaking and their prioritization of the “girl child” highlight an enduring postcolonial power over agenda-setting processes. Understanding young people’s experiences of gendered participation and scrutinizing underlying systemic forces are critical steps toward realizing young women’s SRH and participatory rights. Public Library of Science 2022-11-23 /pmc/articles/PMC10022123/ /pubmed/36962663 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001297 Text en © 2022 Wigle et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Wigle, Jannah M.
Paul, Stewart
Birn, Anne-Emanuelle
Gladstone, Brenda
Kalolo, Monica
Banda, Lumbani
Braitstein, Paula
Participation of young women in sexual and reproductive health decision-making in Malawi: Local realities versus global rhetoric
title Participation of young women in sexual and reproductive health decision-making in Malawi: Local realities versus global rhetoric
title_full Participation of young women in sexual and reproductive health decision-making in Malawi: Local realities versus global rhetoric
title_fullStr Participation of young women in sexual and reproductive health decision-making in Malawi: Local realities versus global rhetoric
title_full_unstemmed Participation of young women in sexual and reproductive health decision-making in Malawi: Local realities versus global rhetoric
title_short Participation of young women in sexual and reproductive health decision-making in Malawi: Local realities versus global rhetoric
title_sort participation of young women in sexual and reproductive health decision-making in malawi: local realities versus global rhetoric
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10022123/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36962663
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001297
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