When phrase ‘women of childbearing age’ trumps everything else
Local researcher to look at how those words have snuck their way into policies
Alana Cattapan is tired of institutions issuing blanket statements and policies for “women of childbearing age.”
Lots of women in their 20s, 30s and 40s can’t have kids, don’t want to have kids or aren’t trying to have kids, yet they can sometimes be barred from participating in medical research trials or can be subject to the same precautions imposed on women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, Cattapan says.
The University of Saskatchewan professor hopes to better understand the implications of this over the next three years as she conducts research that received $ 56,000 in funding this month.
It came from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation and the University of Saskatchewan.
Cattapan said her research will involve tracing the emergence and use of the phrase “women of childbearing age” in documents issued by Canadian organizations, including Health Canada and the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada.
She will interview people who put those documents together and also look at changes in federal guidelines for the ethical conduct of research over time.
She said she hopes her research will spark a change in public policy so that thinking about women’s health becomes separate from thinking about reproductive health.
Cattapan said the idea for her research was sparked in 2016 when international public health agen- cies were warning women of childbearing age to avoid travelling to countries that could be infected by the Zika virus, which has been found to cause deformities in infants born to women infected by the virus.
The warning was intended to protect children who were not yet conceived, rather than the women themselves, Cattapan said.
“By governing people who are
We’re focusing on their reproduction and not other aspects of their health.
women of childbearing age as people of childbearing age, we’re focusing on their reproduction and not other aspects of their health,” she said.
Cattapan said she hopes to begin her research early next month and plans to give a public lecture on the topic of “women of childbearing age” and its influences on public health policy and biomedical research this spring.