Male Domination & Reproductive Health

This paper is a review of research conducted by the present author in five villages on Iran. Each village is located in a province where UNFPA has been active for sometime. The main aim was to study the role of male domination upon reproductive health seeking behaviors of women in those selected sites. Before presenting the research findings both key concepts of the research are introduced and main approaches to feminism are reviewed. In this regard Marxist Feminism, Radical Feminism, Socialist Feminism, Liberal Feminism and finally Black Feminism however very briefly, are discussed. The findings clearly show that Bio-medical approach which was the dominant approach in studying reproductive health for a very long period, has major shortcomings and is not able to arrive at a realistic understanding of the women condition especially in non-western societies. Moreover the research has revealed both the merits and the need for conducting socio-cultural research for a reliable knowledge concerning the women conduction in general and reproductive health in particular. It is now clear that hardware approach toward development an approach which limits development to buildings, health facilities, equipment and alike ignores the most important factors needed for a genuine societal transformation namely cultural change which seems vital to transform societies. The main findings of the research also are presented.