International Reproductive Rights Research Action Group II (IRRRAG II)

Research & Action Towards Women's Reproductive & Sexual Health-Investigating Male Involvement

Introduction

The International Reproductive Rights Research Action Group (IRRRAG) is an international consortium of women researchers, activists and health providers. In 1992, IRRRAG teams were formed in Brazil, Egypt, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines and the United States to conduct a four-year study on women's reproductive and sexual rights. This was published as Petchesky, R; Judd, K. (eds.) 1989. Negotiating Reproductive Rights: Women's Perspectives Across Countries and Cultures. London: Zed Books. 358p. In 1999, ARROW became the International Coordinating Office (ICO) when IRRRAG decided to work together on the second research and action project titled "Women's Reproductive and Sexual Health: Investigating Male Involvement". Out of the seven original IRRRAG country teams, only Brazil, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria and the Philippines were involved in the second project.

Project Partners

Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW), Kuala Lumpur
International Coordinator: Rashidah Abdullah
Research Consultant: Dr Radhika Ramasubban
Project Advisor: Professor Rosalind Petchesky

Objectives of IRRRAG II

• To clarify the meaning of 'reproductive rights' for women and for men in diverse cultural, national and social contexts, and to translate those meanings into a locally relevant analysis able to inform larger, quantitative studies and international policy, programmes, and projects on male involvement in reproductive and sexual health
  
• To improve sexual and reproductive health worldwide, and to advance gender equality and broad recognition and respect for women's reproductive rights
  
• To provide programmatic guidelines to help the UNFPA and other donor and policymaking agencies develop reproductive and sexual health research and interventions geared toward male involvement and responsibility that will promote women's equality and freedom from inequitable burdens and not diminish their resources or control

The second project would also build on the previous research work done in the five countries to understand gender relations, power relations and gender roles that influence decision-making related to reproductive health.

Activities

The project has been well received by international and local researchers when it was presented at different meetings and conferences internationally and locally. Among the highlights:

• An international seminar on Choice and Power - Reproductive Rights for Women and Men organised by QWEB, Sweden in November in Stockholm in 2000 where by the elements of the IRRRAG II research were discussed in an open forum for the first time. Dr Radhika Ramasubban, the Research Consultant, presented a paper entitled "Men: Sexuality, Rights and the Construction of Personhood" at that seminar
  
• A panel session on Sexuality at the Asia-Pacific Reproductive Health Conference in Manila in February, 2001 where the conceptual framework, methodology and issues were presented and discussed. Also the preliminary findings of the Philippine research were presented
  
• An article titled "Feminist Project Seeks to Understand Men" in the No.1 2001 issue of Women in Action, a magazine published by Isis International-Manila. The article was written by the Project Director, Rashidah Abdullah. (This article is available at www.isiswomen.org/pub/wia/wia101/projects.html)
  
• A panel discussion entitled "International Action: Panel on Investigating Men's Involvement in Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health" at the 9th International Women and Health Meeting in August 2003 in Toronto, Canada where ARROW, the Nigerian team and the Brazilian team presented the conceptual framework, methodology and findings from the two countries
  
• A seminar on men as partners in sexual and reproductive health organized by the Malaysian NGO Coordinating Committee for Reproductive Health (MNCCRH) in September 2003. Rashidah presented a paper that focused on the conceptual clarity of men's responsibility and equal partnership in improving women's SRHR entitled "Gender Perspectives and Men's Responsibility and Participation". This paper was subsequently used as input for the editorial on the ARROWs for Change on the issue of Understanding Men's Responsibilities in Addressing Gender Inequality Vol 9 No 2, 2003 (Page 1 and Page2 ). Dr. Wong Yut Lin presented the Malaysian research study of IRRRAG at this seminar entitled "Implications of Research Findings on Men's Sexual and Reproductive Health and Involvement ".

All Published Papers

All papers are available online. Please click on links below.

Men: Sexuality, Rights and the Construction of Personhood by Dr Radhika Ramasubban

Feminist Project Seeks to Understand Men by Rashidah Abdullah

Gender Perspectives and Men's Responsibility and Participation by RashidahAbdullah

Understanding Men's Responsibilities in Addressing Gender Inequality,ARROWs for Change Vol 9 No 2, 2003 (editorial) Page 1 and Page2 by Rashidah Abdullah

IRRRAG Investigates Men, ARROWs for Change Vol 9 No 2, 2003 Page 1 andPage 2 byDr Radhika Ramasubban

Implications of Research Findings on Men's Sexual and Reproductive Healthand Involvement by Dr. Wong Yut Lin

Outputs

The international output of the project is a short policy oriented publication based on the five research reports prepared by the Research Consultant, Dr. Radhika Ramasubban of the Centre for Social and Technological Change, Mumbai, India and Rashidah Abdullah, the International Project Coordinator with inputs from the Project Advisor, Ros Petchesky and the research team, which is expected to be completed in the near future.