Ma. Patricia T.

Cañalita Gender, Development, and Peace

AB Political Science 4

The Place of Women’s Reproductive Choice in an Elitist Society

Shirley, 23, a mother of three, had undergone abortion when she knew that she was
pregnant again. She and her boyfriend were so afraid thinking that they could not anymore afford
to have another child because of their low income and generally because of their simple lifestyle
(Personal Stories, n.d.). Contrary to Shirley’s story, some parents especially prefer more children
believing that they can help in bringing income to the family (Freedman, 2002).
From these situations, it can be regarded that economic status is one factor that
contributes in the reproductive choice of women. Of course most people want to have better lives.
According to Freedman (2002), fertility control came into popularity as the economy shifted from
agricultural to industrial. With this, it is said that more women, as they enter in the paid-labor
market, choose to have fewer children because they consider children as relatively high costs in
the family. Unlike in the agricultural set-up that considers children as assets because they
contribute in the work, children in the industrial economy do not contribute in productive work.
Parents must wait for their children to finish their education to become productive. As a result,
most women, as they think of the future of their family, want to control their fertility to be able to
have a life they wish to have.
Whatever the economic set-up of the society is, reproductive choice of women depends
on where they can achieve better lives. A better life may have three meanings. This may mean
being able to sustain the needs of the family, being able to acquire more income than what is
expected for the family and much more, being able to have a life lived with elite practices
(luxurious life). But these definitions may vary in the relationship status of women with their life
partners. For divorced or single mothers, entering into the work force is for family survival, far
from luxury or indulgence (Gender and Gender Issues, n.d.). Some women even hide their identity
as mothers because most corporations would prefer to hire women who do not have children.
This may fall into the first definition of better life. On the contrary, those married women, in the
present generation, would prefer the last meaning of better life. Many women prefer to be
separated from their husbands and children to work abroad so as to acquire income to live a life
they want, sometimes, bragging to their neighbors about their achieved lifestyle. This is common
in the Philippines. A story from Jerick Aguilar illustrated that Filipino workers in Hongkong
assemble during weekends and sit on the floor bringing with them pictures of their properties in
the Philippines. These pictures are laid in the floor to let everyone see them (Aguilar, 2009). With
these cases, it can be said that the reproductive choice of women is greatly affected by the elite
class and elite practices.
The first part of the study tackles on how single women view reproduction in relation to
their economic status. Under this, the cases of single women belonging to the lower, middle and
upper classes are discussed one by one. On this part of the study, it is seen how single mothers
see advantages and disadvantages of their reproductive choices and how the elite society
influences them. On the other hand, the second part of the study discusses about married women
in the lower, middle and upper classes and how they view reproductive choices in a society where
the elite class have economic power as well as in a society where luxurious lifestyle is a trend.
 This study is formulated under the idea of Marxist feminism. This may be connected on
how the domestic economy as it shifts to industrial coincides with the capitalist society and how it
works through oppression of women. Randall (2002), in (Marsh & Stoker, eds., 2002) claims that
Marxist feminism talks about life experiences of women in a capitalist society where division of
labor depends on their child-rearing role. From here, the case of single mothers will be looked at
first.
In the Philippines, 186,000 infants are born to teenage mothers (statistics taken in 2008).
This is an increase of 7.64% from the statistics taken in 2007. What is more interesting is the 5:1
ratio of teenage mothers to teenage fathers. According to Mr. Cid Terosa, an economist in the
University of Asia and the Pacific, this is the result of young men who are not ready to take the
responsibility of parenthood. He further claimed that based on these findings, there will be a
growing number of single-parent households and more women will continue to become the heads
of these households (Barrameda, 2011).
In the United States, lower class single mothers are said to be blamed because of the
lives they chose to have. They are discriminated in a way that they are only assisted through their
federal governments by giving them $800 per month mostly not enough to sustain their basic
needs. In the 1990s, President Clinton limited this assistance claiming that if a single mother
already acquired this program for five years, the assistance must be cut. It is up to her whether to
let this assistance expire or improve her life through education. However, if she let herself be
educated, the entire assistance will be cut (Rowan, 2011). With this given situation, poor single
mothers are left with no choice but to depend on the assistance given to them by an elitist state.
The fear of being in this situation causes single women to have unwanted pregnancy. This often
results to their choice of abortion and other withdrawal processes. These processes may also be
risky to their health. According to Freedman (2002), in most cases wealthier women are the ones
who can afford safe abortions compared to the underprivileged ones.
Moreover, as women become economically dependent on their husbands, they are more
likely to experience poverty when they get into divorce. On this event, women are left to take care
of their children and experience the “double burden”. And it was said that women who devote their
lives on raising their children have lower job qualifications (Satz, 2010). In the Philippines, most
single mothers rely on purchase discounts on their needs and the needs of their children. As for
women who belong in the middle class, having children especially when they are single becomes
a major problem primarily because of their future in looking for jobs in the corporate world.
Most corporations are run by profit-oriented elite class. Most of these businesses view
women employees as liabilities because of their inability to do their job well for the reason that
they need to attend to their children at the same time. It is claimed that in some Export Processing
Zones like Central America, Taiwan and the Philippines, most women even have to undergo
pregnancy test before they are hired (Horgan, 2001). In the United States, if single mothers were
able to get a job, government assistance will be cut (Rowan, 2011).
Furthermore, middle class women are more likely to dream of having a luxurious life. While
some people regard women who do not want to have children as selfish, these women are
considered afraid of losing their beauty, achievements and lifestyle (Radwan, n.d.). Some women
even are afraid to get pregnant because they are too focused on their careers and their goals of
having better lives.
In the case of upper class women, the situation is quite different. These are educated
women. And it is said that the higher educational attainment a woman has, the more she will not
want to have children. This is for the reason that an upper class woman has access to learning
family planning and fertility control. Likewise, these women prefer to delay marriage because they
have wider perspective outside the roles of being a wife and a mother (Bronson, n.d.).
 Furthermore, the situation changes when talking about the reproductive choice of married
women in the lower class. In the preceding paragraph, it has been said that married women would
prefer having more children to bring income to the family in the agricultural set-up. Additionally,
as what is claimed by Freedman (2002), some less educated women do not support pro-abortion
movements because they, being economically dependent to their husbands, believe that
motherhood is their most important life role. They believe that it is the only role left to them. With
this, it could be said that most married women see reproductive choice as connected to their
economic status. In support to this, it is claimed that men have more access to better-paying jobs
compared to women because of the costs believed to have been attached to women workers.
This form of dependency often results to violence against women since husbands acquire more
power, and wives are left with no choice but to stay in the marriage (Satz, 2010).
On the contrary, some lower class married women choose to limit reproduction especially
when they realize that they already have several children. These women cannot anymore sustain
the basic needs of the family. Freedman (2002) indicates that poor women who undergo abortion
have greater health risk compared to wealthy women. This is for the reason that wealthy women
have access to safer abortion process. With this, can it be supposed that the upper class women
are the only ones who have the freedom to have reproductive choice without worrying for their
health?
Another impact of an elitist society on the reproductive choice of poor women can be
clearly illustrated in the 1900s. Freedman (2002) revealed that “elite classes worried that country
would come to be dominated by voters from the masses, whom they considered of inferior genetic
stock”. As a result, poor women were being sterilized after giving birth without them knowing about
the process they had just undergone.
Middle class married women have a quite different situation. Similar to the single middle
class women, they are more vulnerable to corporate discriminations. They are likewise considered
as liabilities to business firms. In maquiladoras, a Mexican company, pregnant women are not
sure if they can still keep their job. Women who have heavier tasks or jobs that require longer
hours of standing often resign (Horgan, 2001). This situation, in addition to abortion ban in Mexico
in the past, would definitely put women in a confusing state.
In the Philippines, Filipinas would work abroad separated to their husbands and children
to earn more money so as to ensure better future for their family. In some cases, Filipina Overseas
Workers are not advised to have sexual activities with their husbands at least two months before
they leave going to their destination of work in the Middle East. It is said that if these OFW women
were found pregnant, they will be deported (Jimenez, 2009). These women often have no choice
but to control their fertility.
Additionally, upper class married women have their reproductive choices that vary. Some
upper class couples are thinking twice in having another child after having one child because they
overestimate the costs of having another one (Wilkinson, 2011). According to Bronson (n.d.), the
trend of being childless by choice often talks about upper class, educated, professional women
who can actually afford to have children but chose not to because of their other interests. In India,
upper class women prefer to have fewer children. These women have access to ultrasounds that
reveals the sex of the baby. In this culture, baby boys are preferred than baby girls because of
the belief that girls are more of liabilities because they require protection and dowries in marriage.
As a result, abortion of baby girls continues to rise in India (Ridge, 2010).
These reproductive choices of women are seen in elitist societies. In relation to this,
Marxist Feminism sees women as oppressed in a growing capitalist society.
 “For some women, joining the global workforce threatens their right
ever to have children. For others, it means neglecting the children they
are working to feed. But everywhere, when asked, the overwhelming
majority of women going out to work say they would not dream of going
back to the home” (Horgan, 2001).
The discussion on the cases of the single mothers illustrates how the capitalist society highlights
the dependency of women to men economically. As women are deprived to have better jobs,
single mothers who got divorced often face poverty. As for the poor single mothers, they often
rely to government assistance which likewise results to certain discriminations. This involved the
Feminization of poverty. In the United States, one-sixth of all family households are made up of
female-headed families. These households are considered to be one half of all poor households.
It has been claimed that the number of children under age 18 who live with a single parent doubled
and 90 percent of these children live with their mothers (Gender and Gender Issues, n.d.).
With regard to the upper class single women, most of them do not want to enter
marriage and have children because they do not want to lose their achievements in life. Some of
these women would not even consider entering in marriage because they are too focused on their
careers. With regard to married women belonging to the same class, most of them choose to
have fewer children because they do believe that more children means more liabilities.
Married women in the middle and even in the lower classes who rely economically to
their husbands are more vulnerable to experience violence from their husbands because they are
being overpowered. These women have no choice but to stay in their marriages. Some middle
class married women could not even retain their jobs the moment their employer knew that they
were pregnant. This explains how capitalism views women as liabilities than assets in the work
force. They remain in the mercy of their employers. Companies would even use pregnancy test
before hiring a woman in the company. The upper class married women seem to have more
reproductive choice than the middle and the lower classes. Most of them remain childless
because of their choice.
As capitalism enters the picture, elite society becomes more and more visible in the
everyday lives of women. Some women do not want to have children because they believe that
having children is a hindrance to their economic ambitions. Some would want to have children
but would decide otherwise as they feel the need to continue their jobs. Even in non-capitalist set
up, as long as a society is headed by the elite class, reproductive choice remains to be limited for
women. With this, it can be argued that the elite society with elite practices brings great impact
on the reproductive choice of women.

References:
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http://www.christiananswers.net/life/stories.html

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