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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articleid=526656&publicationsubcategoryid=471
Barrameda, A.E. (2011). More live births, teenage mothers and illegitimate children recorded in
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http://www.christiananswers.net/life/stories.html

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Randall, V. (2002). ‘Feminism’ in Theory and Methods in Political Science, 2 nd edn, eds D Marsh
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Ridge, M. (2010). Gender Selection: In India, abortion of girls on the rise. Retrieved from
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Wilkinson, W. (2011). Selfish reason to have more kids that probably don’t apply to you.
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