Progress needed to ensure women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights in Europe! Despite considerable progress, women in Europe continue to face widespread denials and infringements of their sexual and reproductive health and rights. Laws, policies and practices still curtail and undermine women’s sexual and reproductive health, autonomy, dignity, and decision-making and pervasive gender inequality continues to have profound effects on their sexual and reproductive health and rights. Moreover, in recent years, resurgent threats to these rights have emerged jeopardising longstanding commitments to gender equality and women’s rights. This Issue Paper addresses these concerns against the backdrop of the human rights obligations of Council of Europe member states as enshrined in international and European human rights instruments and as elaborated and interpreted by human rights mechanisms. It provides an overview of states’ obligations in the field of women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights with a particular focus on comprehensive sexuality education; modern contraception; safe and legal abortion care and quality maternal health care.

"This practical, evidence-based handbook will meet the needs of those working in the field of SRH care and will also help those preparing for the joint EBCOG and ESCRH Certificate and Diploma examination in Sexual and Reproductive Health and is designed to closely follow the examination's curriculum"--

Recent years have seen significant changes in the social policies of many liberal welfare-states; this is especially true of social programs for families with children. Increasingly, governments are making family policy trade-offs, reducing support for some families but improving it for others. Why are such trade-offs occurring, and how do governments differ in their approach to family social policy? This study addresses these questions by examining the political, demographic, and socio-economic factors influencing the restructuring of family-related programs in OECD countries. Adopting a feminist political economy approach, Maureen Baker shows that while some governments encourage their citizens to see children as 'future resources,' and promote strong support for reproductive health programs, child welfare services, women's refuges, subsidized childcare, and pay equity, others make these claims while simultaneously reducing family incomes through the deregulation of labour markets and restrictions on income support. Ultimately, Baker demonstrates that nation states with the best outcomes for families offer a variety of social supports, which are increasingly important as global markets reduce economic security for some families while improving the financial situation of others. This study also explores strategies employed by states to incorporate or resist international pressures, and the reasons why some states tenaciously defend their family policy traditions while others restructure according to international guidelines. Drawing from nation-based research, cross-national studies, and international data bases, Restructuring Family Policies successfully integrates mainstream academic debates about restructuring welfare states with feminist research findings and current policy concerns.

Based on country reports and practical input from researchers and activists in the field, this book is an up-to-date account of the issues surrounding women's reproductive rights across Europe. The contributions provide astute theoretical analysis of existing problems and suggest innovative alternatives. The book brings together authors from academia, policy-making and international institutions to ensure comprehensive representation and thorough commentary of the issues.

This volume is the first of its kind to discuss social welfare issues using case studies from a broad range of Southern European countries, both large and small, a decade after the financial crisis. It identifies similarities and differences in the ways in which Southern European countries engage with specific welfare issues and examines whether Southern European welfare is distinct from that of the rest of the continent. The book also engages with the impact of COVID-19 on the social welfare issues under investigation. The volume is divided into four sections, each examining in detail issues including employment, education, health, sexuality, globalization, social movements and migration. With its contributions from experts in the field, the volume is recommended for academics, researchers and students of sociology, social policy, economics, education, politics and social movements.

In this book, leading academics and practitioners in the field of reproductive health address topics such as contraception, abortion, sexually transmitted infections, maternal and prenatal health, sexuality and reproductive rights by examining a number of critical issues in these areas. The authors describe new research, identify gaps and priorities in policy and practice, and illustrate innovative solutions. The book further addresses such current imperatives as understanding the social meanings of emergency contraception, measuring gender-based violence, improving reproductive health governance, strengthening health systems and services, and redressing institutional barriers. The book also assesses how reproductive health programs can be reconfigured to new challenges such as those posed by climate change, vulnerable youth in fragile states, and risks from new infertility treatments. Using a rich and varied set of cases, a broad public health and social science perspective, and novel methodological approaches, this book questions common assumptions, illustrates effective solutions and sets out research, policy, and programmatic agendas for the present and future. This is a comprehensive volume which provides a valuable resource to researchers, educators, practitioners, policymakers and students, as well as anyone studying or advocating for reproductive health.

This Commentary provides the first comprehensive analysis of the Council of Europe (CoE) Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention). It offers a complete article-by-article guide to the Convention with reference to the explanatory report, the findings of the monitoring body (GREVIO) and relevant State practice.

This volume brings together two areas of health that are among the foci of current development efforts, as articulated by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), namely sexual and reproductive health (MDG 5: improve maternal health, target 2: achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health); and Gender (MDG 3: promote gender equality and empower women). Few, if any, published books have dealt in a comprehensive way with public health aspects of these two strongly interrelated areas of health. Most published volumes devoted to sexual and reproductive health have a strong clinical focus, whereas books on gender tend to concentrate primarily on the socio-cultural and anthropological aspects of the subject. - Focuses on the relationship between sexual and reproductive behaviors and the resulting impact on populations and societies as a group - Provides a science-based approach to identifying appropriate response plans, adaptations, and mitigation steps for related behaviors - Explores the financial and societal impact of behavioral choices - Includes new preface specifically for this audience

This volume brings to the fore the interface of religion, women’s sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Zimbabwe. It emphasizes that empowering African women is a pivotal pillar for attaining sustainable development. Contributors discuss the need for implementing structural changes as a prerequisite for social progress and development to occur in Southern Africa. They interrogate the extent to which religious beliefs and practices either promote or impede women’s SRHR. The contributors also proffer several ways in which addressing the themes of health for all and equality for all women and girls can make a meaningful contribution towards the fulfillment of the goals set for Agenda 2030.