Abstract

ORTIZ ORTEGA, ADRIANA et al. El papel de los hombres en el ejercício y apropiación de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos de las mujeres. Perinatol. Reprod. Hum. [online]. 2004, vol.18, n.1, pp.23-33. ISSN 2524-1710.

Objective: To identify women's needs regarding how to engage men in the transformation of social inequality of their sexual and reproductive rights. Material and methods: This is a qualitative and interdisciplinary study, divided in two phases: a) women were interviewed to find out what kind of involvement in their sexual and reproductive-health responsibilities they want from the men in their lives, b) men were interviewed, individually and in groups, to understand their own perceptions on the same concerns and also in response to the perceptions women articulated. The research was carried out in three locations in Mexico, in Sonora, Puebla and the Federal District. A total of 11 collective interviews with women took place, 30 individual with men and 5 collective with men. Results: Women are in increasingly constructed a social leadership that does not necessarily translate in collective organizing, and assume the role of educators and moderators as means to act as buffers of the transformation experienced at the family, parental and community levels. Men interviewed hold a reactive position to change that expressed in their resistance to become agents of change, men assume that change should occur first at institutional levels before it carries on at domestic sphere. Conclusions: New insights can be gained in the study and interventions designed in the field of male involvement by taking women's needs as a point of departure. These findings raise awareness of the need to deepen the dialogue between men and women in order to produce better understanding and successful decision-making for both parties in the arena of sexuality and reproduction.

Keywords : Gender; masculinity; sexual rights; reproductive rights.