Physically Disabled Women: The Attypical Role Of Women In Society

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The stereotypical role of women in society is clear-cut— they are expected to procreate, and thus accept their primary role as mothers and caretakers.This expectation speaks directly to the significance of the reproductive rights movement within American society. With the progress of this movement, women across the nation have been able to embrace their fundamental right to body autonomy, and the choice of whether or not they wanted to have children. Notably, however, this reproductive freedom is limited by social constraints, and is not generally readily available to minority groups. Ergo, it is evident that physically disabled women are systematically oppressed in terms of their reproductive rights and desire to become mothers. Consequently, …show more content…

These attitudinal barriers serve two purposes: to one, question a physically disabled women’s ability to parent, and two, shame them for presumed inadequacy. Most significantly, the stigmatization of physically disabled pregnant mothers within American society, allows for the perpetration of unfounded negative stereotypes for women with disabilities; namely, that they women with physical disabilities are branded as inadequate mothers explicitly due to their …show more content…

Society’s disdain for physically disabled pregnant women and presumption of inadequacy, is a serious supposition, with potential legal implications (Parchomiuk, 2014). The probability of a physically disabled woman having her child taken away at any given time in life, is significantly higher than the probability of an able-bodied woman having her child taken away from her. (Parchomiuk, 2014). The healthcare and legal systems alike are meant to help people, but physically disabled mothers are constantly put down and traumatized by it. In this, the reproductive rights of physically disabled women have all but been lost. The broader implications for this in regards to women’s health would be the necessity of advocation for healthcare minority groups of women. While feminist movement has shifted towards helping minority women, it is time that minority women are given back their fully

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