Introduction:
Sexual and reproductive health and rights are a concept of human rights, it focuses on the sexuality of an individual, reproduction, and the rights associated with it. It’s a combination of four fields which are sexual health, sexual rights, reproductive health, and reproductive rights. Sexual and reproductive health is an important component of the universal right to the highest attainable standard of mental and physical health. The needs of sexual health must be met for both men and women. The human rights standards require the state to protect, respect and fulfill the right to sexual and reproductive health. The state must ensure that an individual is aware of their rights and be entitled to a safer neighborhood so that their children can get a healthy and positive environment when they grow up.
It’s very important to educate parents about the family planning and its importance, to educate about the safer sex, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, abortions laws, sexual harassment laws, female genital mutilation is also a big problem, one should embrace their sexuality and should not be intimidated by the society’s judgments, Its nothing to be afraid of, its completely normal, most of the times the people who are not able to accept the fact that they are homosexual or pansexual they tend to become homophobic so one should understand, accept and come out of the closet and try to quit all these negative thoughts and feeling of being in denial also Sexuality is a natural and valuable aspect of life, it’s like a fluid, its changes from time to time it’s an essential and fundamental part of our humanity.
For people to achieve the highest standards of health, first they should have a right to make a choice in their sexual and Reproductive life they must feel confident and secure while Expressing their own sexual identity. Discrimination, stigma, fear, and violence are becoming threats to many people. These threats and their actions Triggers from discouragement to life-threatening in nature and prevent many people from achieving the basic Sexual and reproductive rights.
What are Sexual Rights?
Sexual rights are the universal human rights based on the equality, freedom, and dignity of all human beings, sometimes they overlap with reproductive rights, sexual rights is a border concept, sexual rights includes the right to choose their own partner, the right to be with the person according to their sexuality and not what the prejudices say, to have control over one’s own body, to have sexual pleasure either by themselves or others, to not to be suppressed or abused by anyone, to freely choose contraceptive methods, to have access of the information about the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and to gain sex education.
Sexual rights are important to everyone irrespective of gender, age, ethnicity, or sexual identity. They contain positive Aspects of love, free choice, pleasure, physical integrity, and sexual identity. However, this aspect of sexual rights can be threatening to Traditional, religious and political institutions, and even some individuals. Therefore It is important to understand what it means to fulfill your sexual rights through information and advocacy. The possibility of having an enjoyable and safe sexual experience free from coercion, discrimination, and violence is an Aim itself for women and men, girls and boys, Disabled people, homosexuals, transgender people, and a person who has HIV and other groups who faces discrimination.
“The fulfillment of sexual health is tied to the extent to which human rights are respected, protected and fulfilled. Sexual rights embrace certain human rights that are already recognized in international and regional human rights documents and other consensus documents and in national laws.
Rights critical to the realization of sexual health include:
- the rights to equality and non-discrimination;
- the right to be free from torture or to cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment;
- the right to privacy;
- the rights to the highest attainable standard of health (including sexual health) and social security;
- the right to marry and to found a family and enter into marriage with the free and full consent of the intending spouses, and to equality in and at the dissolution of marriage;
- the right to decide the number and spacing of one’s children;
- the rights to information, as well as education;
- the rights to freedom of opinion and expression; and
- the right to an effective remedy for violations of fundamental rights.
The responsible exercise of human rights requires that all persons respect the rights of others.
The application of existing human rights to sexuality and sexual health constitutes sexual rights. Sexual rights protect all people’s rights to fulfill and express their sexuality and enjoy sexual health, with due regard for the rights of others and within a framework of protection against discrimination.” [1]
Issues regarding Sexual Rights of women in India
As India has always been a patriarchal society, the rights, interest, choices, dreams, passions, talent, the potential of women were always being suppressed, they are just treated as an object or just someone whose work is to reproduce and nurture their family and children, to make all the sacrifices for the sake of their family and spend their whole life enclosed within four walls, to serve their husband and treat them like god, that’s really unfair and condone. Patriarchy subjugates women at various levels – political, social, economical, and cultural.
Feminism is an alertness of patriarchal control. The exploitation and oppression of women’s labor, fertility, sexuality, at the workplace, family, and society in general and Conscious actions of women and men to bring a transformation in the current scenario, Overcoming patriarchal beliefs and unjustified practices is called women empowerment.
The discrimination begins from the birth itself, people generally poses a very narrow-minded and disgusting mentality that a girl child is a liability, many die due to female feticide and parents don’t like to spend money on their education, clothes, etc the girls are forced to marry at a very early age when they are vulnerable and immature, all of a sudden these girls are burdened with lots of responsibilities, goes through a lot of pain like domestic violence, marital rape, dowry death, etc. In every step of a women’s life she has to face discrimination because of their gender be it in workplace , home , school etc.
There are lakhs of opportunities and there’s no equal pay for equal work , even after working so hard and putting all the efforts , they don’t get the credit they deserve , unfortunately the women are perceived to be weak hearted , fickle minded , over emotional and sensitive and not a leader so there is always a glass ceiling in the workplace , we can that in many of the big MNCs The CEO of the company or in the board of directors its often a male because its assumed that a men are born leaders and are superior to the women and they can handle the situation in a better way but this theory is completely baseless, absurd, and disturbing in fact women are exceptional leaders with their emotional skills and better understanding capabilities they can normalize the situation very well as we have seen recently in the case of the New Zealand Prime Minister “Mrs Jacinda Ardern” has handled the covid situation with utmost brilliance same goes for germany chancellor “Anjela Merkel”.
“Indira Gandhi” The ex PM of India was also a very strong and bold leader also the ex CEO of pepsi –co “Indira Nooyi” was a great business women , so women has proved their caliber in every sector still today there is no equal pay , respect , opportunity and everyday is a struggle , a women has to go through a lot during their life span and their sexual rights , reproductive health and rights are always being infringed .
Reproductive Health and Rights
Reproductive Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and its functions and processes. Reproductive health, therefore, implies that people can have a satisfying and safe sex life and that they can reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when, and how often to do so. Implicit in this last condition are: the rights of men and women to be informed, have access to safe, effective, affordable, and acceptable methods of family planning including methods for regulation of fertility, which are not against the law; and the right of access to appropriate health care services to enable women to have a safe pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples with the best chance of having a healthy infant. Reproductive health is a component of reproductive rights.[2]
“Reproductive rights” are the rights of individuals to decide whether to reproduce and have reproductive health. This may include an individual’s right to plan a family, terminate a pregnancy, use contraceptives, learn about sex education in public schools, and gain access to reproductive health services. Different life stages are associated with specific women’s sexual and reproductive health issues, including menstruation, fertility, cervical screening, contraception, pregnancy, sexually transmissible infections, chronic health problems (such as endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome), and menopause.
Reproductive and Sexual Rights of Women in India
Recognition of sexual and reproductive rights of women in the country remains negligible. Reproductive rights in India are understood only in the context of selective issues like child marriage, female foeticide, sex selection, and menstrual health and hygiene issues.
- This is reflected in election manifestos of various parties where political parties have promised to make registration of marriages compulsory, implement the laws prohibiting child marriages, provide reproductive and menstrual health services to all women across India, make marital rape an offense, and to ensure strict implementation of the Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act (PCPNDT) Act.
- According to UNICEF India and World Bank data, India counts among the highest number of maternal deaths worldwide. India witnesses 45,000 maternal deaths every year, coming to an average of one maternal death every 12 minutes.
- Unsafe abortions are the third leading cause of maternal deaths in India. Researchers have shown that half the pregnancies in India are unintended and about a third result in abortion. Only 22% of abortions are done through public or private health facilities.
- Lack of access to safe abortion clinics, particularly public hospitals, and stigma and attitudes toward women, especially young, unmarried women seeking abortion, contribute to this.[3]
Judicial Rescue
The supreme court has given a progressive judgment on women’s sexual and reproductive rights like decriminalizing adultery section 497 and homosexuality section 377 (Navtej Johar judgment), the court has declared that the woman has the freedom to have sexual autonomy also In the case of The Puttaswamy, the court recognizes the constitutional rights of women to make reproductive choices as a part of personal liberty under article 21 of the constitution.
In the case of the Independent thought vs. the Union of India, in the context of the reproductive rights of girls, SC argued that “the human rights of a girl child are very much alive and kicking whether she is married or not and deserve recognition and acceptance”.
Conclusion
So we can say that sexual and reproductive health and rights play an important role in an individual’s life and one should be well versed with their rights, also one must acknowledge the importance of it and embrace it so When the maternity benefits or leave is not given at the workplace or when an LGBT community faces discrimination, hatred, abuse they shouldn’t be afraid to take stand and must fight for their rights and various other issues as such so The state must ensure that all the necessary steps are being followed to safeguard the sexual and reproductive rights of an individual.
References:
[2] International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Program of Action, UN Doc. A/CONF.171/13 1994, chap. 7.A
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