Birthing Justice: Towards a Feminist Liberation Theo-ethical Analysis of Economic Justice and Maternal Mortality by Eileen Kerwin Jones A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Theology, Saint Paul University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Theology Ottawa, Canada January 8, 2007 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-49407-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-49407-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada u Ottawa l.'Univcrsile cnnadiciinc Cnnadn's linivcrsily FACULTE DES ETUDES SUPERIEURES 1=1 FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND ET POSTOCTORALES U Ottawa POSDOCTORAL STUDIES VUniversity eanadienne Canada's university Eileen Kerwin Jones TuTEWDlTAlHlWrAFfHOR'oFfHESTs" Ph.D. (Theology) GRADE/DEGREE Faculty of Theology 7«;ulT§;E(r6L17Dlpm^ Birthing Justice: Towards a Feminist Liberation Theo-ethical Analysis of Economic Justice and Maternal Mortality TITRE DE LA THESE / TITLE OF THESIS Heather Eaton 'DIRllnlU^iRECtM^ C6VDIR!"CTEUR1C^ EXAMINATEURS (EXAMINATRICES) DE LA THESE / THESIS EXAMINERS Pynthia Moe-Lobeda Kenneth Melchin Miriam Martin Gregory Walters Gary W. Slater Le Doyen de la Faculte des etudes superieures et postdoctorales / Dean of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies ABSTRACT Birthing Justice: Towards a Feminist Liberation Theo-ethical Analysis of Economic Justice and Maternal Mortality Pregnancy is neither a disease nor an illness. Yet every minute of every day, a woman dies as an indirect result of being pregnant. What should be a positive, defining moment in a woman's life is often a time of profound fear, intense suffering and untimely death. Maternal mortality is a complex issue. However, it is predominately the plight of economically vulnerable women. Globally, it is estimated that at least 600,000 maternal deaths occur annually. In addition, the quality of life for many women who survive pregnancy is severely compromised: at least 50 million women also suffer chronic complications. The death and disability of women in pregnancy continue despite the fact that maternal complications are largely preventable. Maternal mortality is not simply a health issue or an unfortunate risk in the lives of women. It is a global injustice whose roots lie within the economic, social, cultural and religious inequities of women's lives, of which their poverty is a recurring dynamic. My dissertation is a response to the lack of theological reflection on the qualitatively different poverty endured by women, a concrete manifestation of which is maternal mortality. I claim that the lack of theological reflection on women's poverty is not a benign phenomenon. It reinforces a world in which women's disenfranchized status perpetuates the injustice of maternal mortality. I also claim that the failure of liberation theology to attend adequately to the particular poverty of women compromises its commitment to solidarity with the oppressed. Using a feminist liberation methodology, my dissertation is divided into a hermeneutical circle animated by "see-judge-act" dimensions. Within a liberation paradigm, the tasks of solidarity and theo- praxis are a multi-differentiated unity: all three dimensions of "see-judge-act" are theologically interdependent and critical to the goal of liberation. Feminist liberation theological ethics begins by attending to the concrete injustices of women's lives. Chapter 1 corresponds to the initial "see-judge" dimension of the hermeneutical circle. I provide a historically conscious analysis of maternal mortality. I draw on the feminist interpretive framework of multiple jeopardy and the "traffic" of women's everyday lives to reveal the causal dynamics implicated in maternal mortality. I explore maternal mortality from a gender-sensitive economic lens, thereby substantiating my claim that maternal mortality is a sensitive indicator of economic justice for women. In Chapter 2,1 continue to develop the "see-judge" dimension of the hermeneutical circle. I situate maternal mortality within the structural jeopardy of inadequate health care. I then demonstrate how women's marginal economic status is reflected in and reinforced by the minimal value placed on their health and well-being within global and national economic policies. I examine the implications for impoverished women of two specific economic policies: the global funding of reproductive health and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers implemented by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. To ensure that my insights into maternal mortality are consistent with a gender-sensitive and informed economic analysis, I introduce the discourse of feminist economics. I ascertain the methodological base points and central themes of feminist economics. I underline the relevance of this discourse for a feminist liberation analysis of maternal mortality. In addition to the discourse of feminist economists, the sources for both Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 are drawn from the discourse of trans-national feminism, as well as from social scientific, medical and health related studies. Chapter 3 corresponds to the "judge-act" dimension of the hermeneutical circle: I evaluate maternal mortality through the eyes of faith. I introduce the work of the Christian social feminist liberation ethicist Beverly Wildung Harrison. I submit that within Harrison's corpus are resources that correlate well with the needs of a feminist liberation analysis of maternal mortality. However, I note that while the theme of emancipatory praxis animates Harrison's liberation social ethics, it is not explicit. I therefore make explicit Harrison's pastoral, theological and theoretical commitments to emancipatory praxis. I then synthesize categories that I use to illumine and judge maternal mortality as a theo-ethical issue of injustice. I conclude the chapter by developing a praxis of resistance in solidarity with economically marginalized pregnant women. I deepen my analysis and judgement of maternal mortality in Chapter 4 by integrating Harrison's approach to justice and her social theory. I claim that Harrison's understanding of justice as right relation is the fruit of emancipatory praxis. I also claim that her social theory is a logical extension of her concept of justice and is, therefore, an important theo-ethical tool for appropriating the geo-political economy from the perspectives of economically marginalized women. Harrison's approach to justice and her social theory further clarify maternal mortality as an injustice experienced by impoverished women. These resources are necessary for an adequate theo-ethical understanding of the oppression of women. In conclusion, I underline that the reality of maternal mortality presents both crisis and opportunity. The crisis presented is that as a global community, we continue to do little to counter the preventable deaths and disabilities of economically marginalized pregnant women. I indicate that this crisis not only denies pregnant women their dignity, well being, and often their lives, but is a dynamic that erodes our common humanity and reinforces a world of immense and unsustainable disparities. Alternatively, maternal mortality is an impetus for justice making: it can foster a world of right relation in which the structured jeopardies and the "traffic" of impoverished women's lives are concrete collective sites of resistance. Maternal mortality is a profound locus theologicus in which a God of life needs to be proclaimed and embodied in ways life-giving to impoverished women. This embodied proclamation is critical not only to ensuring the fullness of humanity granted in God to all women, but also to the eradication of poverty and progress toward a more just and sustainable world. It is also pivotal