Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women in Africa and the Caribbean: Linking the Two Regions (African Histories and Modernities) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3031960289 ISBN 13: 9783031960284

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025

Synopsis

In a time of global backlash against women's rights and gender issues, this book echoes the importance of protecting the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women by conceptualising and analysing relevant sexual and reproductive health rights issues (SRHR) in Africa and the Caribbean. It examines the linkages that exist around SRHR issues between the two regions and how this understanding can help to support the protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights both in Africa and the Caribbean. It focuses on providing historical, conceptual and contxtual understandings of SRHR issues in the African continent and the Caribbean region. The main topics engage theoretical and contemporary issues, e.g., limitations to the single use of courts as avenues for reducing obstetric violence, abortion rights, maternal mortality, gender-based violence, and adolescent sexuality. The book presents diverse perspectives in the examination of SRHR issues by offering legal, socio-political, and medical frameworks for analysing and understanding sexual and reproductive health and rights. It further contributes to the discourse and strategies to protect the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and men to improve both women’s and men’s quality of life/well-being and to also achieve gender equality.

About this title

About the Author

Zainab Monisola Olaitan, PhD, is a political scientist with expertise in gender and representation, African politics, feminist thought, and peace and conflict studies. She is a Post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for International and Defence Policy (CIDP) at Queen’s University. She is also a research associate at the Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation (IPATC) and the Centre for the Study of Race, Gender, and Class (CSRGC), both at the University of Johannesburg. She has published widely in journals, book projects, and policy briefs on themes bordering on feminist thought, African politics, gender and representation, African indigenous knowledge systems, and peace and conflict studies.

Tinuade Adekunbi Ojo, PhD, is the director of the Centre for the Study of Race, Gender, and Class and an Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Johannesburg. Her interdisciplinary work bridges multiple fields to address complex issues related to women and gender in Africa. As a feminist political economist, Prof. Ojo integrates political science, economics, sociology, and environmental studies perspectives in her research. Her extensive publications on gender and development policy and the political economy of trade and aid in Africa and the Diaspora underscore her commitment to advancing knowledge and policy in these critical areas.

Shakira Maxwell, PhD, is a reproductive health and women's rights activist. She is currently the senior programme officer in the Office of Global Affairs at The UWI. Dr Maxwell is also the current president of the Board of Directors of the Jamaica Family Planning Association, one of the longest-serving non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on the island, which provides safe sexual and reproductive health services to some of the most vulnerable in society. She has published in the areas of gender and development studies, female criminality, and sexual and reproductive health and rights.

From the Back Cover

In a time of global backlash against women's rights and gender issues, this book echoes the importance of protecting the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women in Africa and the Caribbean. It examines diverse SRHR issues and the linkages that exist between/across the two regions. The book presents socio-political, legal, medical, and other relevant perspectives for analysing and understanding sexual and reproductive health and rights. The main topics engage theoretical and contemporary issues on obstetric violence, abortion rights, gender-based violence, menstrual health, family planning, adolescent sexuality, etc.

 Zainab Monisola Olaitan, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for International and Defence Policy (CIDP) at Queen’s University, Canada.  She has published widely on African politics, gender and representation, and peace and conflict studies.

Tinuade Adekunbi Ojo, PhD, is the Director of the Centre for the Study of Race, Gender, and Class and an Associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Shakira Maxwell, PhD, is the Senior Programme Officer in the Office of Global Affairs at The University of West Indies, Jamaica. She is also the current president of the Board of Directors of the Jamaica Family Planning Association.

A timely and important book offering expansive insights on sexual and reproductive health and rights in both regions… This interdisciplinary work effectively demonstrates the interconnected yet distinct manifestations of these challenges across different contexts. I highly recommend this rich and insightful book. – Dr. Satang Nabaneh, Assistant Professor of Practice, University of Dayton Center for Human Rights.

This book makes a significant contribution to knowledge by addressing critical issues in relation to sexual and reproductive health and rights in Africa and the Caribbean… It provides nuanced discussion of SRHR issues in a captivating and rigorous manner. – Professor Ebenezer Durojaye, Acting Director, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria.

Edition details

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3031960289
• ISBN 13: 9783031960284
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 453
• Editor: Olaitan Zainab Monisola, Ojo Tinuade Adekunbi, Maxwell Shakira