What I did this summer
I never got back to writing about my trip to Spain in July. Then came the SouthWest Writers monthly context in September, so I wrote this, and hung on to it until now. I was notified yesterday that I received an honorable mention for my submission, so I publish it here, now. Part 2, also submitted will follow in a separate post.
What I did this summer
In July, I traveled to Madrid, Spain for Women's Worlds 2008, an international, interdisciplinary conference that was held at the Universidad Complutense. The conference was divided into 13 themes or tracks and I spent much of my time attending presentations in the Human Rights theme. Among the most eye-opening were several panels on the "Coerced Sterilisation of Romani (Gypsy) Women." Lawyers and women victims of this policy in Hungary and the Czech Republic reported on the social exclusion and discrimination against Romani women and on coercive sterilization as a violation of basic human rights.
The personal stories of the women who were coerced or deceived into signing consent forms were heart-wrenching. I remembered similar abuses that had gone on in the United States in the 1970's directed against Native American and other poor and minority women, and the efforts of reproductive rights groups to prohibit such practices. It was like time-travel, taking a step back into the past. In one example discussed on the panel, a woman was taken by ambulance to a hospital following a miscarriage and sterilized during the caesarian section which followed. On the operating table in a state of shock due to the loss of her child, she was given a consent form to sign for the caesarian, to which the doctor had added by hand a statement that the patient requested the sterilization. It was all accomplished in 17 minutes. Ms. A.S. didn't even know the meaning of the word, and didn't know what had been done to her until she asked the doctor when she could try to have another baby.
In another example, a 22-year-old pregnant woman continually resisted signing the consent form, in spite of being threatened by a social worker that her child would be taken away from her, and that she would have to pay for all of her medical treatment for the pregnancy. Finally, the authorities called in her mother to sign the papers, disregarding the fact the woman was an adult.
The conference happens every three years in a different country and on different continents, and draws women from a wide variety of countries. Papers, panels and workshops were presented under the themes of Economics, Feminisms and Social Movements, History, Political and Legal Action, Sexuality, Human Rights, Territories and Environment, Communication and the Media, Science and Technology, and Culture, Creativity and Art. Dislocations and Frontiers included Trafficking of People, Inter-culturality, and War/ Conflict. In addition, cultural events such as movies and concerts are presented.
The most interesting and exciting part of the conference is meeting women from different countries around the world, and hearing about the program and projects that they work in, to improve the lives of women. This year, I befriended two women from Brasilia, and later spent time with them in Barcelona.
At the end of the conference, I took off for an adventure with two friends, touring the north of Spain by car.
What I did this summer
In July, I traveled to Madrid, Spain for Women's Worlds 2008, an international, interdisciplinary conference that was held at the Universidad Complutense. The conference was divided into 13 themes or tracks and I spent much of my time attending presentations in the Human Rights theme. Among the most eye-opening were several panels on the "Coerced Sterilisation of Romani (Gypsy) Women." Lawyers and women victims of this policy in Hungary and the Czech Republic reported on the social exclusion and discrimination against Romani women and on coercive sterilization as a violation of basic human rights.
The personal stories of the women who were coerced or deceived into signing consent forms were heart-wrenching. I remembered similar abuses that had gone on in the United States in the 1970's directed against Native American and other poor and minority women, and the efforts of reproductive rights groups to prohibit such practices. It was like time-travel, taking a step back into the past. In one example discussed on the panel, a woman was taken by ambulance to a hospital following a miscarriage and sterilized during the caesarian section which followed. On the operating table in a state of shock due to the loss of her child, she was given a consent form to sign for the caesarian, to which the doctor had added by hand a statement that the patient requested the sterilization. It was all accomplished in 17 minutes. Ms. A.S. didn't even know the meaning of the word, and didn't know what had been done to her until she asked the doctor when she could try to have another baby.
In another example, a 22-year-old pregnant woman continually resisted signing the consent form, in spite of being threatened by a social worker that her child would be taken away from her, and that she would have to pay for all of her medical treatment for the pregnancy. Finally, the authorities called in her mother to sign the papers, disregarding the fact the woman was an adult.
The conference happens every three years in a different country and on different continents, and draws women from a wide variety of countries. Papers, panels and workshops were presented under the themes of Economics, Feminisms and Social Movements, History, Political and Legal Action, Sexuality, Human Rights, Territories and Environment, Communication and the Media, Science and Technology, and Culture, Creativity and Art. Dislocations and Frontiers included Trafficking of People, Inter-culturality, and War/ Conflict. In addition, cultural events such as movies and concerts are presented.
The most interesting and exciting part of the conference is meeting women from different countries around the world, and hearing about the program and projects that they work in, to improve the lives of women. This year, I befriended two women from Brasilia, and later spent time with them in Barcelona.
At the end of the conference, I took off for an adventure with two friends, touring the north of Spain by car.
Labels: forced sterilization, Spain, summer, vacation, Women's Worlds
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