REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND
ROMA WOMEN IN ROMANIA
Initial work and advocacy
plan
Enikő Magyari-Vincze
The issue
The
policy research proposal on Reproductive
Health and Roma Women in Romania is integrated into the broader
issue of Public Health and Roma, one of the
priority domains of the 2005-2006 International Policy Fellowship
program. It
aims to identify the multiple barriers of the real access of Roma women
to
reproductive health services, including the ethnic-blindness of
reproductive
policy, the gender-blindness of Roma policy, the malfunctioning of the
local
medical system (including racist discrimination), and the precarious
life
conditions of the underserved women.
Objectives
- to present
recommendations for action, based on the study of Romanian policy on
reproductive health;
- to examine
local medical practice and the gender- and Roma-specific conditions and
cultural conceptions that affect Roma women’s access to reproductive
health services;
- to write a
research paper and 20-page policy study with recommendations for the
Society for Sexual and Contraceptive Education, the Resource Centre for
Roma Communities, several Roma women’s organizations, and the Ministry
of Health.
Organizations
that may
serve as partners
Because the
principle of
participation should underpin all public policy-making process, I
intend to
design my policy recommendations with the active participation of those
most
affected. That is why I will contact some Roma women’s organizations
from which
to learn about their activities and views on Romani women’s
reproductive
health, whom to consult while designing my policy recommendations and
to
communicate my recommendations. I am going to approach the following
organizations:
- the
Association of Roma Women in Romania (Bucharest),
- the
Association for the Emancipation of Roma Women (Cluj),
- the
Association of Roma Women for their Children (Timisoara), and
- the related
department of Romani Criss (Bucharest).
Moreover,
through:
- the Society
of Contraceptive and Sexual Education, and
- the Resource
Centre for Roma Communities from Cluj,
I will
communicate my
policy recommendations to the:
- Ministry of
Health,
- County Health
Directorates, and
- local
reproductive health care providers.
Expected
benefits for the
potential partners
These
benefits include
analysis and recommendations for action, like:
- analysis of
governmental policy on the improvement of Roma’s condition;
- analysis of
the reports and existing research regarding the condition of Romani
communities from Romania;
- analysis of
the legislation and of the governmental policy on the improvement of
reproductive health;
- analysis of
reports and existing research regarding reproductive health;
- ethnography
of Roma women living in the region of Orastie, Hunedoara county;
- recommendations
for the inclusion of the principle of equal opportunities for women and
men of different ethnicity into the (reproductive) health policy;
- suggestions
regarding the improvement of the (reproductive health) services
(theoretically) granted across the medical system and of the medical
training on providing accessible reproductive health care services for
the underserved Roma population.
Main
deliverables
- 20-page
policy study;
- policy
briefing paper;
- workshop for
Roma women activists;
- research
paper;
- publication
including the policy study, the research paper and the materials
resulted from the workshop.
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