Women's Global Health

Norms and State Policies

For many women around the globe, health has become the central intersection of the personal and the political; women's bodies are the arena for policy debates about population, poverty, reproduction, and morality. Women's Global Health: Norms and State Policies is a comprehensive assessment of health for women around the globe that will inform debates underway in a wide range of disciplines. These fields include public health, most obviously, but also sociology, anthropology and other disciplines. This book will advance the interdisciplinary fields of ethics, women’s studies, and international studies. It answers several questions with implications for knowledge in the preceding fields, along with relevance to policy. Some of these complex questions include: How do the laws and policies of a nation-state affect women's health? Is the state invested in these issues because women are seen to be bearers and nurturers of future citizens? Or are there other concerns such as economic development, human welfare, or religious ideology that shape this engagement? This book also examines the current and historical responsibilities of the state in addressing women’s health issues, and how these responsibilities can they be measured and improved upon. Finally, the book looks at how to best approach the underlying ethical issues in practical and useful ways for women around the globe.