Clarke, Jan

English

Canadian Woman Studies / les cahiers de la femme (E-Journal, York University)

category which excludes the history of a particular society and the forces affecting the women. The articles by Burnham, Allen, Kaplan, and Horn, although they look at philosophical and historical issues from different perspectives, are quite revealing. It is argued that while racism and sexism characterized the society, researchers in biology, espe- cially in eugenics, formulated theo- ries which contributed to repressive social policies. Evidence of this comes from I Q  studies which have been used to classify races and sexes, Hit- ler's racialized anti-semitism, Nazi ideology which applied racist poli- cies even to women in the name of maintaining racial purity, and other such oppressive measures. The stud- ies included in this section of the book demonstrate how the people and communities in power abused genetic information to maintain their vested interests. Therefore it was not genetic differentials which created inequalities but the abuse of this in- formation. Historically continuing policies even affected the legal proc- esses and systems. Skin colour be- came the criterion for determining the nature and quantum of treat- ment of offenders including women belonging to different racial groups. In totality, the articles included in this section expose the pseudo-scien- tific theories, including genetic de- terminism, used by the people in power to exploit the weak in society. The third part ofthis volume, d d -  ing with contemporary racism and sexism in different ethnic groups, contains sixartides, one each by Daly, Blustein, Valacarcel, Yatani, Sharoni and Sanders. The contributors focus on the American native woman; sci- ence, ideology and political action; blacks in Puerto Rico; Asian Arneri- cans and Asian children; and the interplay of racism and sexism in Israel. Racist and sexist policies in America destroyed the nativeheri- can women. They were not only ousted from their lands and made to suffer economic deprivations, but were entrenched in such a vicious circle that they could never come out. Thus they remain poverty- stricken and abused by their men. Genetic determinism has even been applied in educational and economic systems in such a way that certain groups are projected as incapable of learning skills and unable to carry on specialized economicactivities. In this way the policies followed in America and even in South America have been perpetuating racial and gender in- equalities. The case ofblacks in Puerto Rico is a living example. It is argued that it is not merely the genetic structure of different populations that determines the level of intelligence but that other factors, such as family organization and prac- tices, value structure, and cultural goals, determine different levels of scholastic achievements. Thus the specifidty and generality of the prob- lems in question need to be analyti- cally understood in their respective socio-cultural context. The reason obviously is, as Max Weber puts it, that it is not just one hctor but many which account for the development of a phenomenon. There is historical and sociological causality determin- ing differences between individuals and groups. The genetic explanation therefore remains a partial view. In my personal understanding, racism and sexism are the products not of biology but of social structure of a society. Therefore any alternative ex- planation must originate from the social structure and the societal proc- esses. THE STORK AND THE SYRINGE: A POLITICAL HISTORY OF REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE Naomi Pfeffer. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1993. by Jan Clarke Naomi Pfeffer's The Stork and the Syringe focuses on an area of the sociology and history of reproduc- tion that usually remains hidden; in- fertility and involuntary childlessness (both disturbing terms in need of feminist critique). This study of re- productive medicine links personal struggles, clinical practices, state poli- cies, and commercial interests to pro- vide a rich political historyofinfertil- ity and involuntary childlessness. While many of the myths exposed and insights identified have wide- spread relevance, Pfeffer locates her analysis in the recent response ofBrit- ish medicine to infertility during the - twentieth century. The explanations in this book are clearly informed by a political economy perspective, which is often missing from feminist critiques of reproductive medicine. For Pfeffer, understanding involuntary childless- ness requires an appreciation of the political economy in which repro- ductive medicine is situated. Issues which other contributors may side- step are given political importance in the context of both medicine and the lives ofwomen and men. While free- dom from unwanted pregnancy has gained political significance, Pfeffer questions why desire to have a child has not earned a similar position. While women's roles and obligations in reproduction are obviously impor- tant, why male fertility is excluded from both medical and politid dii- course is questioned. In the context of Britain, the refusal of successive governments to provide services for research and treatment of involun- tary childlessness is also investigated. Pfeffer never loses sight of the im- portance of separating moralism and materialism in an analysis of infertil- ity and reproductive medicine. The persistent view that childless women are either abnormal or inadequate is explored in terms of embedded cul- tural norms, conventions of medical practice and the development of re- productive technologies. Ideology and politics that influence views ofwomen and reproduction demonstrate that "ideas about a nation's fertility and women's procreative bodies and be- haviour" inform both politics and medicine, and structure women's m- perience of infertility. VOLUME 15, NUMBERS 2 & 3 By unravelling the political and economic history of numerous clini- cal techniques and tests in use in the early nineteenth century, Pfeffer shows the sexism of gynaecological science, medical practice and state policy. For instance, whether the tests for fertilitylinfertility were based on physical characteristics like pitch of voice and G a l  hair, or physiological characteristics based on x-rays, or bioassays of semen and vaginal mu- cus, a view of women's bodies as passive and men's as active is con- tinually reinforced. While it may ap- pear that involuntary childlessness is principally a concern for women, many tests which have been used to assess men's fertility are also discussed in considerable detail. The evidence that is cited makes it obvious that the scientific and social basis of fertility and infertility is still poorly under- stood. In the context of British reproduc- tive medicine, the implementation of the National Health Service in the late 1940s, its gradual erosion since the 1980s, and increasingly evident private medicine in the 1990s, have had striking effects on the services and treatment of infertility and in- voluntary childlessness. Pfeffer iden- tifies th; links between the doctors, the National Health Service and the pharmaceutical industry, with the increased interest in and market for hormonal and technological treat- ment for both contraception and con- ception. While Pfeffer generally lim- its her critique to Britain, the analysis of the effect of privatization of the health care system is particularly rel- evant to the current Canadian con- text, where privatization of parts of the health care system is under con- sideration. On the one hand, in the 1970s and 1980s state policies regulated the use of hormones for contraception, and the use of artificial insemination for infertile heterosexual couples. On the other hand, since the 1980s the use of assisted conception technologies, or new reproductive technologies, to provide service for childless couples has been a key element of the privati- zation of medicine in Britain. These From a feminist perspective, we services are, therefore, largely outside the limits of state policy which can protect women and men from being un)iirly exploited by unethical doc- tors and the commercial interests of pharmaceutical companies. In this political and economic history, Pfkffer also makes it dear that assisted con- ception technologies once again place the responsibility for infertility on women; whereas, in the 1970s and 1980s interventions like artificial in- semination had more explicitly in- duded men as contributors to the issue of infertility. The Stork and the Syringe is an important contribution to the socio- logical and historical literature on women and reproduction which ef- fcaively accounts for gender and dass, even though analysis of 'race' and ethnicity are less explicit. Pfeffer pro- vides a complex analysis of the politi- cal economy of reproductive medi- cine in Britain that links science and technology, medical practice, state policies and commercial interests, with women's and men's experiences of infertility and involuntary child- lessness. THE STRATEGIC SILENCE: GENDER AND ECONOMIC POLICY Isabella Bakker, editor. Published by Zed Books Ldt. with the North and South Institute, 1994. &y Ana Zska We are at the stage where we must reconstruct our notion of progress on a just and ecologically sound basis in concert with new forms of political and social relations or face the con- tinuing destitution of the majority of women and the world's people and inevitable environmental catastrophe. To overcome the present economic and social inequalities that serve as a pretext to maintain the dominant patriarchal structures, women need to achieve an equitable and autono- mous co-existence. - .  have no choice but to resist Neodas- sical General Equilibrium Econom- ics (NGEE) and its neoclassical eco- nomic theory, the inspiration of the policy-makers, for the following rea- sons: it is profit centred, not life a n -  tred; it masks the fact the workers in the labour market reproduce their own value and produce a surplus- value; it suffers from gender blind- ness because it obscures the link be- tween production and reproduction and mystifies the link between house- hold production and the so-called formal sector production; it ignores the exclusion of large segments of the population based on race and the discrimination within the labour market; it fails to acknowledge the value of nature and the goods and services produced, mainly by women, outside the market; it downplays eco- logical stress, which can not be rneas- ured in a system which accords no value to nature, laying too much emphasis on the role of individuals while ignoring institutional factors, such as the treadmill of production *It ignores power in gender relations, based on a hierarchy of access to resources and unequal terms of cx- change between women and men *It legitimizes the coercive power that is used to protect the dominant struc- ture, especially power relations among nations and the domestic and inter- national interest of corporations. Even if we condude that NGEE, is solid as an exercise in logic but inad- equate for resolving social questions such as gender inequity, the best way to empower women is by refuting its presumptions, and supporting the search for economic alternatives. Although not written specifically to counter prevailing economic theory, this book helps to explain feminist concerns regarding Struc- tural Adjustment Programs (SAPS) and Restructuring and why they need to be reformed or challenged. Articles in Part I1 document the outcomes of MS in the North and the South. Empirical research and case studies show the effects on women, Barbara Evers explains that CANADIAN W O W  STUDIESILES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME 

The Stork and the Syringe: A Political History of Reproductive Medicine

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The Stork and the Syringe: A Political History of Reproductive Medicine

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Canadian Woman Studies / les cahiers de la femme (E-Journal, York University)