INFERTILTY
What it Means to Be a Woman
In developing countries, where infertility is seen as a personal failing, or even a curse, a woman who can't conceive may face devastating ostracism. But there's hope for more affordable treatment.
By Karen Springen | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Sep 15, 2008 | Updated: 10:20 a.m. ET Sep 14, 2008
Mamta Jhunjhun Wala, 42, of Mumbai still remembers the stigma of being unable to bear children for the first 13 years of her marriage. People ask a woman's name—and then, "How many children do you have?" When the woman answers "none," she says, "they don't know what they can talk to you about." Thanks to treatments at Mumbai's Malpani Infertility Clinic, Wala finally conceived a daughter, now 10, and twin boys, now 8. With her doctor, she started a support group to help give other infertile couples the help she wishes she had had, she says. "There were a lot of emotional questions, and support I needed, and there was nobody for me."
Wala is lucky. "It is very, very difficult for people in the United States to deal with [infertility], and yet, when you go to other cultures, it's even more devastating to people," says Dr. David Adamson, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and a board member of the International Federation of Fertility Societies. Worldwide, the World Health Organization says about one in 10 couples experiences difficulty conceiving a child at some point in their lives.
In some developing countries, the consequences of infertility—which can include ostracism, physical abuse and even suicide—are heartbreaking. "If you are infertile in some cultures, you are less than a dog," says Willem Ombelet of the Genk Institute for Fertility Technology in Belgium. Women are often uneducated, so their only identity comes from being moms. "It [infertility] is an issue of profound human suffering, particularly for women," says Marcia Inhorn, professor of anthropology and international affairs at Yale University. "It's a human-rights issue."
The stigma that infertile women face can infiltrate every aspect of life. They may not even be invited to weddings or other important gatherings. "People see them as having a "bad eye" that will make you infertile, too. Infertile women are considered inauspicious," says Inhorn. Other people simply "don't want to have them around at joyous occasions," says Frank van Balen, coauthor (with Inhorn) of "Infertility Around the Globe" and a professor in the department of social and behavioral sciences at the University of Amsterdam. Their reasoning: "they could spoil it," he says.
Often the female takes the blame even when the problem lies with the man, says Inhorn. The women often keep their husband's secret and bear the insults. In Chad, a proverb says, "A woman without children is like a tree without leaves." If a woman doesn't bear children, their husbands may leave them or take new wives with society's blessing. In some Muslim places, women can't go on the street on their own. "If they have a child with them, they can do their errands," says van Balen.
Childlessness can also be an enormous economic problem in developing countries where Social Security, pensions and retirement-savings plans are not the norm. "If you don't have your children, no one looks after you," says Guido Pennings, professor of philosophy and moral science at Belgium's Ghent University. Religion shapes attitudes, too. "People are supposed to go out and populate the earth," says Ian Cooke, director of education for the International Federation of Fertility Societies and cofounder of the Low-Cost IVF Foundation. In the Hindu religion, a woman without a child, particularly a son, can't go to heaven. Sons perform death rituals. Infertile couples worry that without a child, who will mourn for them and bury them? In China and Vietnam, the traditional belief is that the souls of childless people can't easily rest. In India, the eldest son traditionally lights the funeral pyre. In Muslim cultures, the stigma follows childless women even after death: women without children aren't always allowed to be buried in graveyards or sacred grounds.
In Western countries, it has become much more socially acceptable to be childless, and more American women are hitting their 40s without kids, according to the latest census data. By contrast, in many developing countries, women have no careers—just motherhood—to give them their identity. "The notion of child-free living is not considered an acceptable thing for a married couple," says Inhorn. And particularly in Muslim and Hindu areas, she says, adoption "is not an immediate second path."
Legal adoption is "bureaucratically onerous" and often not socially acceptable, says Elizabeth Roberts, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan, who studied the people of Ecuador. So it's not surprising that even extremely poor people may go into debt trying to conceive. "A family is only a family if there are children, basically," says Roberts. "The biggest stumbling block is money."
Many couples may waste valuable years resorting to "black magic," says Aravinda Guntupalli, a professor at the University of Tübingen in Germany who studied infertility in India. The couples ask so-called sacred people what days they should fast, and they journey to spiritual places. In the tribal area of India where Guntupalli worked, women dry up umbilical cords and sneak them into infertile women's food to try to help them. "They think it creates some fertility juice in the body," she says.
Not surprisingly, infertility treatments are rarely covered by insurance or by government aid. "How do you provide what is clearly a highly technological, sophisticated procedure in a place that doesn't have a lot of money?" says Adamson, a member of the not-for-profit International Committee Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technologies, a technical adviser to the World Health Organization. Leaders of countries struggling with dirty drinking water, tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS may find IVF expenditures hard to justify.
Infertile couples in developing countries don't publicize the fact that they need help even if they can afford treatment. Children are seen as a gift of the gods, so failure to conceive may be perceived as an indication that someone has sinned or is unworthy. "People aren't willing to go up on [the equivalent of] Oprah Winfrey and say, 'Yes, I'm infertile, and I'm getting treatment'," says Dr. Aniruddha Malpani, an Ob-Gyn who runs the Malpani Infertility Clinic in Mumbai with his wife. "People have actually traveled [for treatment], telling people they're going on holiday," says Inhorn.
Even for couples who do have access to fertility clinics, there are challenges. For example, some cultures consider masturbation evil. Yet it's traditionally the way doctors get semen samples to check a man's sperm count and then to perform IVF. In some cases, doctors can offer condoms that allow a couple to have intercourse and save the sperm. Another cultural hurdle: the Muslim world does not accept egg or sperm donation. "Each child should have a known father and a known mother," explains Inhorn. "Every child must know his own heritage." Adds Adamson: "It's very important to honor and respect the fact that people have these values."
One important approach is to focus on preventing, rather than curing, infertility. A major cause of infertility is untreated reproductive tract infections such as chlamydia and gonorrhea. In places like Africa, the cost of condoms, and taboos against them, contribute to the STD problem. Infection from female genital mutilation adds to the problem. And in some countries, 90 percent of women do not deliver in hospitals, which can also cause complications. And the hospitals they use for birth or abortions aren't always sanitary. Some doctors also believe sperm quality has suffered from toxins like lead, high in Mexico City and Cairo, and dioxin sprayed on crops.
In the developed world, there's sometimes little sympathy for the problem, since the common view is that developing countries are suffering from overpopulation and don't need any more babies. The United Nations projects that the world population will balloon from its current 6.7 billion to 9.1 billion by 2050. But the picture is more complicated than it seems. "We have a fertility paradox in Africa—high fertility rates, and high infertility rates," says Dr. Silke Dyer, an Ob-Gyn in Cape Town and a member of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology task force on developing countries and infertility. (Infertility treatment proponents note that IVF doesn't contribute to overpopulation any more than saving lives with vaccinations does. And both alleviate suffering.)
The good news is that interest in treating infertility around the globe is growing. In 2004, the World Health Organization said people should have access to high-quality services for family planning, including infertility services. Doctors hope to provide $200 to $500 IVF cycles, with cheaper drugs and simplified laboratories, by the end of the year in places like Cape Town and Cairo. Their goal: more happy birth stories, like Wala's.
Find this article at
http://www.newsweek.com/id/158625
© 2008
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Modern Maternity
PREGNANCY
Modern Maternity
More women are having kids after 40, but whether they did it with medical help or not, the road to motherhood can be rough.
By Joan Raymond | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Sep 15, 2008 | Updated: 10:20 a.m. ET Sep 14, 2008
Jennie Villa wanted to have it all. A great education and career. Financial security. A loving husband. And kids. For Villa, the dream came true, albeit a little later than she would have liked. At age 37, she met that man of her dreams. Three years later they got married. This past August, at age 41, Villa, of Cleveland, gave birth to fraternal twins: a son, Quinn, and daughter Kendall. Her life, she says, is "pretty perfect." And when it comes to her kids, she is over the moon. "I think they're a miracle," says Villa, who got pregnant the old-fashioned way, without the use of assisted reproductive technologies.
Any woman who has had a child after age 40 can understand Villa's hyperbole. That's because, statistically speaking, the chances of having a successful pregnancy at what doctors call an "advanced maternal age" are fairly dismal. By about age 40, a woman's chance of getting pregnant naturally is only about 5 percent in any given month (down from about 20 percent at age 30). The use of assisted reproductive technologies ups the odds—but not as much as it could if a woman were younger. By age 45, a woman's chance of getting pregnant with her own eggs is virtually zero.
Still, some women are defying those odds. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the number of mothers giving birth at age 40 or older has doubled in the last several decades, partly due to medical assists like in vitro fertilization or the use of donor eggs.
The reasons women become first-time moms or add to the brood later in life are as varied as the women themselves. There are career goals to meet. And bank accounts to grow. Some women waited for marriage. Some never married at all. There are second marriages. And even surprise births.
For those who wait, getting pregnant is a roll of the dice even with the help of science. "Not every egg over age 40 is created the same," says Dr. Karen Ashby, assistant professor of reproductive biology at University Hospitals Case Medical Center. "Some healthy women will get pregnant without a problem, other women simply won't."
It's clear that even as medical interventions are helping more older women get pregnant, science can't keep up with the increase in the number of women who delay childbearing and then find themselves battling the clock. For every high-profile midlife mom like actress Marcia Cross or Nicole Kidman, there are lots of women who can't get pregnant. The total number of women age 40 to 44 who don't have kids at all is about 20 percent—double what it was 30 years ago, according to a census report released in August.
There's no breakdown of how many of the childless women in that age group chose not to have kids and how many didn't have them because of fertility issues or other circumstances. But choice seems to be the operative word when it comes to how women feel about the lack of children. Women without children who believed it was better to have a child were more likely to report being lonely and depressed in their later years than women who said it didn't make a difference, says Tanya Koropeckyj-Cox, associate professor of sociology at the University of Florida, author of a 2003 study that analyzed data from a survey of more than 3,800 men and women about relationships and family life.
Those women who do get pregnant after 40 may face a laundry list of age-related medical issues. "When you're older you tend to acquire diseases" such as high blood pressure and diabetes, both of which can affect pregnancies, says Dr. Alan Peaceman, chief of the division of maternal fetal medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and professor of obstetrics-gynecology at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine.
And simply being older and pregnant carries a much greater risk of miscarriage. Babies of older moms aren't immune to problems, either. They may be born too small or have underdeveloped lungs. And there is the risk for Down syndrome, which increases with maternal age, a problem that was in the spotlight recently when 44-year-old Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose 5-month-old son Trig has the disorder, became the Republican nominee for vice president.
But "assuming they can get out of the first trimester without a miscarriage, most women can do fine," says Peaceman, who stresses that if women want to get pregnant later in life, it's important to protect fertility. That means quitting smoking, staying at a normal weight and avoiding sexually transmitted diseases.
The problems with later-in-life pregnancies are all too familiar to Terry Runyon, a 41-year-old banking executive from Chicago. Diagnosed with unexplained infertility in her mid-30s, Runyon underwent a series of assisted reproductive treatments. She got pregnant, but miscarried. Then she got pregnant again, and 17 weeks into the pregnancy, she lost one of the twins she was carrying. The surviving twin, Brandon, now 3, is healthy, happy and "completely the love of our lives," says Runyon.
And earlier this year, Runyon got a surprise. She's pregnant and due this October. "Everyone said I was infertile—and then I get pregnant just by having sex with my husband," she says. "I'm astounded."
She admits that the fears of the pregnancy problems like those she experienced in the past made her first trimester difficult. "I know what can go wrong, and I was petrified," she says. "But at the end of the day, I can only change certain things. I can't change the fact that I'm older, but I can take the best care of myself as possible."
That's what Sandy Robertson did. When she was in her late 30s, Robertson, a part-time teacher, went through numerous medical treatments, including fertility drugs, insemination and in vitro fertilization. She did get pregnant with IVF, but miscarried due to an ectopic pregnancy that resulted in the loss of one of her fallopian tubes. Robertson quit using medical assists. Her doctors told her she would probably never get pregnant again.
She refused to accept what they said. She started taking better care of herself by improving her diet and reducing stress with meditation and visualization. Despite the odds, she did get pregnant several times in her early 40s. But the pregnancies ended in miscarriage. At age 44, Robertson got pregnant again. This time she carried to term, and she is now the proud mom of 5-year-old Patricia.
But the pregnancy wasn't easy. "Every doctor I saw put me through every test possible," she says. "But all the doctors could find was that I was a 44-year-old woman with one fallopian tube who just happened to be healthy and pregnant."
With celebrity magazines chock full of photos of famous over-40 moms, it's easy to forget that women like Robertson are the exception, not the rule. Reproduction has its own timetable, doctors caution. "It's not our place to tell women forget your education and career and go have babies," says Dr. Tommaso Falcone, professor and chairman of the Department of Obstetrics-Gynecology at the Cleveland Clinic. "But it's irresponsible to not share information. And it's clear that it's harder to have a child at 40. No one should get pregnant until they are ready to be pregnant, but women need to make reproductive decisions based on facts."
Those facts can't take the glow off successful late-in-life moms. "I said numerous times that I should have had kids earlier," says Villa, who was monitored closely during her pregnancy and was on bedrest for several weeks due to complications. "It can be a rough ride when you're older. I am probably in the worst shape of my life. But I'm also the happiest. I was ready to be a mom." Which is the best reason to get pregnant—regardless of age.
Find this article at
http://www.newsweek.com/id/158410
© 2008
Modern Maternity
More women are having kids after 40, but whether they did it with medical help or not, the road to motherhood can be rough.
By Joan Raymond | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Sep 15, 2008 | Updated: 10:20 a.m. ET Sep 14, 2008
Jennie Villa wanted to have it all. A great education and career. Financial security. A loving husband. And kids. For Villa, the dream came true, albeit a little later than she would have liked. At age 37, she met that man of her dreams. Three years later they got married. This past August, at age 41, Villa, of Cleveland, gave birth to fraternal twins: a son, Quinn, and daughter Kendall. Her life, she says, is "pretty perfect." And when it comes to her kids, she is over the moon. "I think they're a miracle," says Villa, who got pregnant the old-fashioned way, without the use of assisted reproductive technologies.
Any woman who has had a child after age 40 can understand Villa's hyperbole. That's because, statistically speaking, the chances of having a successful pregnancy at what doctors call an "advanced maternal age" are fairly dismal. By about age 40, a woman's chance of getting pregnant naturally is only about 5 percent in any given month (down from about 20 percent at age 30). The use of assisted reproductive technologies ups the odds—but not as much as it could if a woman were younger. By age 45, a woman's chance of getting pregnant with her own eggs is virtually zero.
Still, some women are defying those odds. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the number of mothers giving birth at age 40 or older has doubled in the last several decades, partly due to medical assists like in vitro fertilization or the use of donor eggs.
The reasons women become first-time moms or add to the brood later in life are as varied as the women themselves. There are career goals to meet. And bank accounts to grow. Some women waited for marriage. Some never married at all. There are second marriages. And even surprise births.
For those who wait, getting pregnant is a roll of the dice even with the help of science. "Not every egg over age 40 is created the same," says Dr. Karen Ashby, assistant professor of reproductive biology at University Hospitals Case Medical Center. "Some healthy women will get pregnant without a problem, other women simply won't."
It's clear that even as medical interventions are helping more older women get pregnant, science can't keep up with the increase in the number of women who delay childbearing and then find themselves battling the clock. For every high-profile midlife mom like actress Marcia Cross or Nicole Kidman, there are lots of women who can't get pregnant. The total number of women age 40 to 44 who don't have kids at all is about 20 percent—double what it was 30 years ago, according to a census report released in August.
There's no breakdown of how many of the childless women in that age group chose not to have kids and how many didn't have them because of fertility issues or other circumstances. But choice seems to be the operative word when it comes to how women feel about the lack of children. Women without children who believed it was better to have a child were more likely to report being lonely and depressed in their later years than women who said it didn't make a difference, says Tanya Koropeckyj-Cox, associate professor of sociology at the University of Florida, author of a 2003 study that analyzed data from a survey of more than 3,800 men and women about relationships and family life.
Those women who do get pregnant after 40 may face a laundry list of age-related medical issues. "When you're older you tend to acquire diseases" such as high blood pressure and diabetes, both of which can affect pregnancies, says Dr. Alan Peaceman, chief of the division of maternal fetal medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and professor of obstetrics-gynecology at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine.
And simply being older and pregnant carries a much greater risk of miscarriage. Babies of older moms aren't immune to problems, either. They may be born too small or have underdeveloped lungs. And there is the risk for Down syndrome, which increases with maternal age, a problem that was in the spotlight recently when 44-year-old Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose 5-month-old son Trig has the disorder, became the Republican nominee for vice president.
But "assuming they can get out of the first trimester without a miscarriage, most women can do fine," says Peaceman, who stresses that if women want to get pregnant later in life, it's important to protect fertility. That means quitting smoking, staying at a normal weight and avoiding sexually transmitted diseases.
The problems with later-in-life pregnancies are all too familiar to Terry Runyon, a 41-year-old banking executive from Chicago. Diagnosed with unexplained infertility in her mid-30s, Runyon underwent a series of assisted reproductive treatments. She got pregnant, but miscarried. Then she got pregnant again, and 17 weeks into the pregnancy, she lost one of the twins she was carrying. The surviving twin, Brandon, now 3, is healthy, happy and "completely the love of our lives," says Runyon.
And earlier this year, Runyon got a surprise. She's pregnant and due this October. "Everyone said I was infertile—and then I get pregnant just by having sex with my husband," she says. "I'm astounded."
She admits that the fears of the pregnancy problems like those she experienced in the past made her first trimester difficult. "I know what can go wrong, and I was petrified," she says. "But at the end of the day, I can only change certain things. I can't change the fact that I'm older, but I can take the best care of myself as possible."
That's what Sandy Robertson did. When she was in her late 30s, Robertson, a part-time teacher, went through numerous medical treatments, including fertility drugs, insemination and in vitro fertilization. She did get pregnant with IVF, but miscarried due to an ectopic pregnancy that resulted in the loss of one of her fallopian tubes. Robertson quit using medical assists. Her doctors told her she would probably never get pregnant again.
She refused to accept what they said. She started taking better care of herself by improving her diet and reducing stress with meditation and visualization. Despite the odds, she did get pregnant several times in her early 40s. But the pregnancies ended in miscarriage. At age 44, Robertson got pregnant again. This time she carried to term, and she is now the proud mom of 5-year-old Patricia.
But the pregnancy wasn't easy. "Every doctor I saw put me through every test possible," she says. "But all the doctors could find was that I was a 44-year-old woman with one fallopian tube who just happened to be healthy and pregnant."
With celebrity magazines chock full of photos of famous over-40 moms, it's easy to forget that women like Robertson are the exception, not the rule. Reproduction has its own timetable, doctors caution. "It's not our place to tell women forget your education and career and go have babies," says Dr. Tommaso Falcone, professor and chairman of the Department of Obstetrics-Gynecology at the Cleveland Clinic. "But it's irresponsible to not share information. And it's clear that it's harder to have a child at 40. No one should get pregnant until they are ready to be pregnant, but women need to make reproductive decisions based on facts."
Those facts can't take the glow off successful late-in-life moms. "I said numerous times that I should have had kids earlier," says Villa, who was monitored closely during her pregnancy and was on bedrest for several weeks due to complications. "It can be a rough ride when you're older. I am probably in the worst shape of my life. But I'm also the happiest. I was ready to be a mom." Which is the best reason to get pregnant—regardless of age.
Find this article at
http://www.newsweek.com/id/158410
© 2008
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Should dads be in the delivery room?
By Clare Murphy
Health reporter, BBC News
It was once imparted to the father over the phone, yet now it's men themselves who often tell their exhausted partner the sex of the child she has just delivered. But could men be more of a hindrance than a help in the delivery room?
French obstetrician Michel Odent says yes, and even blames fathers for an increasing rate of births by Caesarean section.
At a debate hosted this week by the Royal College of Midwives, Mr Odent will argue against what he dubs "the masculinisation of the birth environment".
The presence of an anxious male partner in the labour room makes the woman tense and slows her production of the hormone oxytocin, which aids the process of labour, so the French doctor contends.
This, he says, makes her much more likely to end up on the operating table having an emergency Caesarean section.
"Having been involved for more than 50 years in childbirths in homes and hospitals in France, England and Africa, the best environment I know for an easy birth is when there is nobody around the woman in labour apart from a silent, low-profile and experienced midwife," he says.
"Oxytocin is the love drug which helps the woman give birth and bond with her baby. But it is also a shy hormone and it does not come out when she is surrounded by people and technology. This is what we need to start understanding."
He will be debated by Duncan Fisher, a leading advocate for fathers, who, while pressing for more preparation for fathers, argues they are there because women want them to be - "and we should trust mothers' instincts".
Here we come
Certainly men's appearance on the labour ward does co-incide with a rising number of caesarean births - although ironically their arrival was in part a backlash against doctor-led, highly-medicalised care in favour of a more woman-centred approach.
In the 1960s only about a quarter of men in the UK attended the birth of an infant, today it is well over 90%.
“ There are many reasons why the number of emergency Caesarean sections has risen ...none of which have anything to do with the presence of dads ”
Patrick O'Brien Consultant obstetrician
It is seen as an important rite of passage for any involved father, as well as a marker of social progress - the less developed a country, the more likely childbirth is to be seen as a woman's business best conducted behind closed doors.
"But I think the other issue is the lack of one-to-one care of women by midwives," says Winnie Rushby of Doula UK, an organisation which provides birthing support from experienced, but non-medically trained women. "Fathers have been called on to provide that help.
"Some of them are very attuned to the emotional and psychological needs of their partner. But if they are shocked by bodily fluids and very agitated by the pain they see her in, this could play on her mind and stop her psychologically entering the place she needs to be to deliver the baby - the birthing 'zone', if you like.
"We've gone from men not being there to virtually all men being there. We need to find a new medium, where there is no shame in discussing whether the father should be there or not. Women need to start asking if they really do want him there - and if so, is he prepared for what will go on."
Staying home
In fact, the greatest advocate of putting men in the mix was US doctor Robert Bradley, who in 1962 published Father's Presence in Delivery Rooms. This was a review of 4,000 cases when husbands were present.
“ Some partners will not feel comfortable themselves in providing physical and emotional support during labour ”
Elizabeth Duff National Childbirth Trust
He concluded, quite contrary to Dr Odent, that the husband's presence as a so-called "birth coach" actually helped the woman to relax. "With husbands coaching, we have more than 90% totally unmedicated births. No other approach comes near to that figure," he wrote.
Iran only recently allowed fathers into the delivery room after the health ministry in Tehran asked doctors to reduce the number of Caesarean births.
At 70% it has been among the highest in the world, and has been explained largely by women's fear of childbirth. Bringing in the men, it was hoped, would provide women with the reassurance they needed to deliver their baby without surgery.
Whether some men do in fact aid or irk in the delivery room is likely to remain a staple - and unresolved - debate, as any clinical trial would be almost impossible to conduct.
"But what we do know is that there are many reasons why the number of emergency caesarean sections has risen - including obesity, older mothers, and fear of litigation - none of which have anything to do with the presence of dads," says Patrick O'Brien, a consultant from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
"Having a baby together is an intense, life-changing experience that most couples want to experience together. The father can be an immensely reassuring presence for the mother.
"And as for the suggestion that men won't cope with the so-called gore - well, most of his role can be carried out at the head-end, talking, mopping her brow, offering sips of water. Of course a man shouldn't feel forced to be there, but I have yet to meet one who said after the birth of his baby - 'I wish I'd stayed at home'."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8377099.stm
Published: 2009/11/25 11:59:42 GMT
© BBC MMIX
Print Sponsor
Advertisement
Health reporter, BBC News
It was once imparted to the father over the phone, yet now it's men themselves who often tell their exhausted partner the sex of the child she has just delivered. But could men be more of a hindrance than a help in the delivery room?
French obstetrician Michel Odent says yes, and even blames fathers for an increasing rate of births by Caesarean section.
At a debate hosted this week by the Royal College of Midwives, Mr Odent will argue against what he dubs "the masculinisation of the birth environment".
The presence of an anxious male partner in the labour room makes the woman tense and slows her production of the hormone oxytocin, which aids the process of labour, so the French doctor contends.
This, he says, makes her much more likely to end up on the operating table having an emergency Caesarean section.
"Having been involved for more than 50 years in childbirths in homes and hospitals in France, England and Africa, the best environment I know for an easy birth is when there is nobody around the woman in labour apart from a silent, low-profile and experienced midwife," he says.
"Oxytocin is the love drug which helps the woman give birth and bond with her baby. But it is also a shy hormone and it does not come out when she is surrounded by people and technology. This is what we need to start understanding."
He will be debated by Duncan Fisher, a leading advocate for fathers, who, while pressing for more preparation for fathers, argues they are there because women want them to be - "and we should trust mothers' instincts".
Here we come
Certainly men's appearance on the labour ward does co-incide with a rising number of caesarean births - although ironically their arrival was in part a backlash against doctor-led, highly-medicalised care in favour of a more woman-centred approach.
In the 1960s only about a quarter of men in the UK attended the birth of an infant, today it is well over 90%.
“ There are many reasons why the number of emergency Caesarean sections has risen ...none of which have anything to do with the presence of dads ”
Patrick O'Brien Consultant obstetrician
It is seen as an important rite of passage for any involved father, as well as a marker of social progress - the less developed a country, the more likely childbirth is to be seen as a woman's business best conducted behind closed doors.
"But I think the other issue is the lack of one-to-one care of women by midwives," says Winnie Rushby of Doula UK, an organisation which provides birthing support from experienced, but non-medically trained women. "Fathers have been called on to provide that help.
"Some of them are very attuned to the emotional and psychological needs of their partner. But if they are shocked by bodily fluids and very agitated by the pain they see her in, this could play on her mind and stop her psychologically entering the place she needs to be to deliver the baby - the birthing 'zone', if you like.
"We've gone from men not being there to virtually all men being there. We need to find a new medium, where there is no shame in discussing whether the father should be there or not. Women need to start asking if they really do want him there - and if so, is he prepared for what will go on."
Staying home
In fact, the greatest advocate of putting men in the mix was US doctor Robert Bradley, who in 1962 published Father's Presence in Delivery Rooms. This was a review of 4,000 cases when husbands were present.
“ Some partners will not feel comfortable themselves in providing physical and emotional support during labour ”
Elizabeth Duff National Childbirth Trust
He concluded, quite contrary to Dr Odent, that the husband's presence as a so-called "birth coach" actually helped the woman to relax. "With husbands coaching, we have more than 90% totally unmedicated births. No other approach comes near to that figure," he wrote.
Iran only recently allowed fathers into the delivery room after the health ministry in Tehran asked doctors to reduce the number of Caesarean births.
At 70% it has been among the highest in the world, and has been explained largely by women's fear of childbirth. Bringing in the men, it was hoped, would provide women with the reassurance they needed to deliver their baby without surgery.
Whether some men do in fact aid or irk in the delivery room is likely to remain a staple - and unresolved - debate, as any clinical trial would be almost impossible to conduct.
"But what we do know is that there are many reasons why the number of emergency caesarean sections has risen - including obesity, older mothers, and fear of litigation - none of which have anything to do with the presence of dads," says Patrick O'Brien, a consultant from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
"Having a baby together is an intense, life-changing experience that most couples want to experience together. The father can be an immensely reassuring presence for the mother.
"And as for the suggestion that men won't cope with the so-called gore - well, most of his role can be carried out at the head-end, talking, mopping her brow, offering sips of water. Of course a man shouldn't feel forced to be there, but I have yet to meet one who said after the birth of his baby - 'I wish I'd stayed at home'."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8377099.stm
Published: 2009/11/25 11:59:42 GMT
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009
ኢትዮጵያ የዐጀሚ ሥነ ጽሑፍ ሀገር
Sunday, 08 November 2009
በሔኖክ ያሬድኢትዮጵያ፣ ሥነ ጽሑፋዊ ቅርሶቻቸውን በዐረብኛ ፊደላት እየጻፉ ያስተላለፉ 11 ቋንቋዎች ያሏትና በዚህም፣ በአፍሪካ በተጠቃሚ ቋንቋዎች ብዛት የመጀመሪያውን ደረጃ መያዟ አንድ ጥናት አመለከተ፡፡
ጥቅምት 26 ቀን 2002 ዓ.ም. በተጠናቀቀው 17ኛው የኢትዮጵያ ጥናት ዓለም አቀፍ ጉባኤ በሦስተኛው ቀን ውሎው፣ “ኢትዮጵያ አንጋፋዋ የአፍሪካ የዐጀሚ ሥነ ጽሑፍ ሀገር” በሚል ርእስ ጥናት ያቀረቡት፣ አቶ ሙሐመድ ሰዒድ አብደላ እንዳመለከቱት፣ ሀገር በቀል በሆኑት የኢስላም ሃይማኖት ተቋማት የተማሩና ከፍተኛ የዕውቀት ደረጃ ላይ የደረሱ ኢትዮጵያውያን፣ አንዳንዶቹ በዐረብኛ ቋንቋ፣ ከፊሎቹ ደግሞ በአማርኛና በሌሎች የሀገሪቱ ቋንቋዎች የዐረብኛ ፊደሎችን በመጠቀም ድርሳኖችን እየጻፉ፣ ሥነ ጽሑፋዊ ቅርሳቸውን ከትውልድ ወደ ትውልድ ሲያስተላልፉ ኑረዋል፡፡ ዐረብኛ ያልሆኑና በዐረብኛ ፊደላት ሲጻፉ የቆዩ ቋንቋዎች፣ ያፈሯቸው የጽሑፍ ቅርሶች፣ ዐጀሚ ተብለው እንደሚጠሩ የጠቀሱት አቶ ሙሐመድ፣ የአጻጻፍ ስልቱ የአፍሪካና የእስያ ሕዝቦች፣ ቋንቋቸውን በዐረብኛ ፊደል በመጠቀም የታሪካቸው፣ የባህላቸውና የሥነ ጽሑፋቸው መግለጫ መሣሪያ በመሆን አገልግሏል፡፡ በኢትዮጵያ የዐጀሚ ጽሑፍ ታሪካዊ መነሻን የሚገልጽ መረጃ ለጊዜው ባይገኝም፣ በእጅ የሚገኙት መዛግብት ከ18ኛው ክፍለ ዘመን ጀምሮ የተጻፉ መሆናቸው አጥኚው አመልክተዋል፡፡ በሀገሪቱ፣ በዐጀሚ የጽሑፍ ቅርስ በብዛት የተገኙት፣ በሴሜቲክና በኩሽቲክ ቋንቋዎች የተጻፉና ይዘታቸውም በአብዛኛው በሃይማኖታዊና መንፈሳዊ ጉዳዮች ላይ ያተኮሩ ናቸው፡፡ በአቶ ሙሐመድ ማብራሪያ፣ እስከ አሁን ድረስ በኅብረተሰቡ ውስጥ በብዛት የሚታወቀውና በተለያዩ ቋንቋዎች ለሕዝብ የሚደርሰው መንዙማ፣ ሥነ ጽሑፋዊ ይዘቱ በዐረብኛ ፊደል የተጻፈና በከፊልም ቢሆን በአማርኛና በሌሎች ሀገርኛ ቋንቋዎች የተደረሰ ነው፡፡ ብዙዎቹ የመንዙማ ጽሑፎች በኢትዮጵያውያን የእስልምና ሃይማኖት ሊቃውንት የተደረሱት ከምእት ዓመታት በፊት ነበር፡፡ አጥኚው ባቀረቧቸው የሰነድ መረጃዎች፣ በዐጀሚ ከተጻፉት የሴሜቲክ ቋንቋዎች አማርኛና ትግርኛ፣ ሐደርኛና አርጎብኛ፣ ስልጥኛና ወለንኛ፣ ከኩሽቲክ ቋንቋዎች ደግሞ አፋን ኦሮሞ፣ አፋርኛና አላባ፣ ቀቤንኛና ሶማልኛ ይገኙባቸዋል፡፡ የዐጀሚ ጽሑፍ የተጻፈባቸው አስራ አንድ ሀገር በቀል ቋንቋዎች መገኘታቸው ያመለከቱት አቶ ሙሐመድ፣ የሥነ ጽሑፉ ቅርስ ከሃይማኖታዊና መንፈሳዊ ጉዳዮች ጎን የተለያዩ ማኅበራዊ ጉዳዮችን፣ የንግድ ግንኙነትን፣ የጋብቻ ሥርዓትን፣ የሕዝብ አስተዳደርን፣ የንብረት ዝውውርንና የመሬት ይዞታን ወዘተ. በብዛት እንደሚዳስስ አስረድተዋል፡፡ የኢትዮጵያ የዐጀሚ ሥነ ጽሑፍ ቅርስ፣ ለረዥም ዘመናት አትኩሮት ሳያገኝ በመቅረቱ፣ ትውልዱም ስለሁኔታው ያለው ዕውቀት ውስን ቢሆንም፣ ያላት ቅርስ ከአፍሪካ ሀገሮች ቀደምት ቦታ የሚያሰጣት መሆኑን ከአፍሪካ ሀገሮች ቅርስ ጋር በማነፃፀርም አብራርተውታል፡፡ በሰሜን አፍሪካ የሚኖሩ ዐረብኛ ተናገሪ ሀገሮች፣ እስካሁን ድረስ የቅድመ ዐረብኛ የጽሑፍ ቅርስ በብዛት ስለመኖሩ የሚታወቅ ነገር የለም፡፡ በምዕራብ አፍሪካ ያለውን ሁኔታም ወደ አስር የሚሆኑ ቋንቋዎች በቡርኪናፋሶ፣ በጋምቢያና በጊኒ፣ በሴኔጋልና በማሊ፣ በኒጀርና ናይጄሪያ የሚነገሩ በዐጀሚ የተጻፉ መኖራቸው መረጃዎች ያሳያሉ፡፡ እስልምና ከነቢዩ ዘመን ጀምሮ በኢትዮጵያ የሚገኝ መሆኑ፣ ሃይማኖቱን የተቀበሉ ኢትዮጵያውያን ከሰሜን አፍሪካ ሕዝቦች በተለየ ሁኔታ ከቅድመ እስልምና ዘመን ጀምሮ ይዘዋቸው የቆዩትን ቋንቋዎች እስከ አሁን እንደያዙ ቀጥለዋል፡፡ ሃይማኖቱን ለመማርና ለማስተማር በስፋት የተገለገሉት ሀገር በቀል በሆኑት ቋንቋዎች ሲሆን፣ ለመጻፍም በዐረብኛ ፊደል ሲጠቀሙ ኖረዋል፡፡ ከቋንቋ ስርጭት አኳያም፣ ኢትዮጵያ ከስዋሂሊኛ በስተቀር በአፍሪካ ቀንድ የሚነገሩት ቋንቋዎች የሚነገሩባት በመሆኗ፣ አሁን ባለው መረጃም በሀገር በቀል ቋንቋዎች በዐጀሚ ተጽፈው መገኘታቸው ከአፍሪካ ጎልታ እንድትታይ አድርጓታል፡፡ በአቶ ሙሐመድ አገላለጽ፣ የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ዐረብኛ ተናጋሪ ከሆኑት የግብፅ የሃይማኖቱ ተከታዮችና ተቋሞቻቸው ጋር በነበራት ታሪካዊ ግንኙነት ጥንታዊ የክርስትና ሃይማኖት የጽሑፍ ቅርሶች ከዐረብኛ ወደ ግእዝ፣ አማርኛና ትግርኛ እየተተረጎሙ፣ ለሕዝብ አገልግሎት የመድረሳቸው ድምር ውጤት፣ ዛሬ በኩራት የምንጠቅሰውን ሰፊና ጥንታዊ የኢትዮጵያ ዐጀሚ ሥነ ጽሑፍ ቅርስ ለማፍራት አብቅቷል፡፡ ኢትዮጵያ፣ ከአፍሪካ አንጋፋዋ ዘርፈ ብዙ የዐጀሚ ሥነ ጽሑፍ ቅርስ ባለቤት በመሆኗ፣ ከመቶዎች ዓመታት በፊት የነበረውን የሕዝቦቿን ማኅበራዊና ኢኮኖሚያዊ፣ ባህላዊና ታሪካዊ ጉዳዮችን ለማጥናት ጽሑፉ እንደ መጀመሪያ ምንጭ ሊሆን ስለሚችል፣ የሀገሪቱ ትምህርትና የምርምር ተቋማት የሚገባውን ግምትና አትኩሮት እንዲሰጡበት አጥኚው ማሳሰቢያ ሰጥተዋል፡፡ “የኢትዮጵያ የዐጀሚ የጽሑፍ ቅርስን በምርምር እና በጥናት ታሪካዊ ዋጋው ግምት አግኝቶ ለማኅበረሰቡ ጥቅም የሚውልበት ሁኔታ ለማመልከት በኅብረተሰቡ ተጠብቆ የቆየውን ሀገር በቀል የሃይማኖትና የሥነ ምግባር የባህልና የሥነ ጽሑፍ ቅርስ በሚገባ ለማወቅ ይረዳል፡፡” የዐጀሚ ሥነ ጽሑፍ ቅርስ በተለይ የኅብረተሰቡን ባህላዊ ታሪክ ለሚያጠኑ ተመራማሪዎች ጥሩ መረጃ ሊሆን እንደሚችልም ተጠቁሟል፡፡
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Sunday, 08 November 2009
በሔኖክ ያሬድኢትዮጵያ፣ ሥነ ጽሑፋዊ ቅርሶቻቸውን በዐረብኛ ፊደላት እየጻፉ ያስተላለፉ 11 ቋንቋዎች ያሏትና በዚህም፣ በአፍሪካ በተጠቃሚ ቋንቋዎች ብዛት የመጀመሪያውን ደረጃ መያዟ አንድ ጥናት አመለከተ፡፡
ጥቅምት 26 ቀን 2002 ዓ.ም. በተጠናቀቀው 17ኛው የኢትዮጵያ ጥናት ዓለም አቀፍ ጉባኤ በሦስተኛው ቀን ውሎው፣ “ኢትዮጵያ አንጋፋዋ የአፍሪካ የዐጀሚ ሥነ ጽሑፍ ሀገር” በሚል ርእስ ጥናት ያቀረቡት፣ አቶ ሙሐመድ ሰዒድ አብደላ እንዳመለከቱት፣ ሀገር በቀል በሆኑት የኢስላም ሃይማኖት ተቋማት የተማሩና ከፍተኛ የዕውቀት ደረጃ ላይ የደረሱ ኢትዮጵያውያን፣ አንዳንዶቹ በዐረብኛ ቋንቋ፣ ከፊሎቹ ደግሞ በአማርኛና በሌሎች የሀገሪቱ ቋንቋዎች የዐረብኛ ፊደሎችን በመጠቀም ድርሳኖችን እየጻፉ፣ ሥነ ጽሑፋዊ ቅርሳቸውን ከትውልድ ወደ ትውልድ ሲያስተላልፉ ኑረዋል፡፡ ዐረብኛ ያልሆኑና በዐረብኛ ፊደላት ሲጻፉ የቆዩ ቋንቋዎች፣ ያፈሯቸው የጽሑፍ ቅርሶች፣ ዐጀሚ ተብለው እንደሚጠሩ የጠቀሱት አቶ ሙሐመድ፣ የአጻጻፍ ስልቱ የአፍሪካና የእስያ ሕዝቦች፣ ቋንቋቸውን በዐረብኛ ፊደል በመጠቀም የታሪካቸው፣ የባህላቸውና የሥነ ጽሑፋቸው መግለጫ መሣሪያ በመሆን አገልግሏል፡፡ በኢትዮጵያ የዐጀሚ ጽሑፍ ታሪካዊ መነሻን የሚገልጽ መረጃ ለጊዜው ባይገኝም፣ በእጅ የሚገኙት መዛግብት ከ18ኛው ክፍለ ዘመን ጀምሮ የተጻፉ መሆናቸው አጥኚው አመልክተዋል፡፡ በሀገሪቱ፣ በዐጀሚ የጽሑፍ ቅርስ በብዛት የተገኙት፣ በሴሜቲክና በኩሽቲክ ቋንቋዎች የተጻፉና ይዘታቸውም በአብዛኛው በሃይማኖታዊና መንፈሳዊ ጉዳዮች ላይ ያተኮሩ ናቸው፡፡ በአቶ ሙሐመድ ማብራሪያ፣ እስከ አሁን ድረስ በኅብረተሰቡ ውስጥ በብዛት የሚታወቀውና በተለያዩ ቋንቋዎች ለሕዝብ የሚደርሰው መንዙማ፣ ሥነ ጽሑፋዊ ይዘቱ በዐረብኛ ፊደል የተጻፈና በከፊልም ቢሆን በአማርኛና በሌሎች ሀገርኛ ቋንቋዎች የተደረሰ ነው፡፡ ብዙዎቹ የመንዙማ ጽሑፎች በኢትዮጵያውያን የእስልምና ሃይማኖት ሊቃውንት የተደረሱት ከምእት ዓመታት በፊት ነበር፡፡ አጥኚው ባቀረቧቸው የሰነድ መረጃዎች፣ በዐጀሚ ከተጻፉት የሴሜቲክ ቋንቋዎች አማርኛና ትግርኛ፣ ሐደርኛና አርጎብኛ፣ ስልጥኛና ወለንኛ፣ ከኩሽቲክ ቋንቋዎች ደግሞ አፋን ኦሮሞ፣ አፋርኛና አላባ፣ ቀቤንኛና ሶማልኛ ይገኙባቸዋል፡፡ የዐጀሚ ጽሑፍ የተጻፈባቸው አስራ አንድ ሀገር በቀል ቋንቋዎች መገኘታቸው ያመለከቱት አቶ ሙሐመድ፣ የሥነ ጽሑፉ ቅርስ ከሃይማኖታዊና መንፈሳዊ ጉዳዮች ጎን የተለያዩ ማኅበራዊ ጉዳዮችን፣ የንግድ ግንኙነትን፣ የጋብቻ ሥርዓትን፣ የሕዝብ አስተዳደርን፣ የንብረት ዝውውርንና የመሬት ይዞታን ወዘተ. በብዛት እንደሚዳስስ አስረድተዋል፡፡ የኢትዮጵያ የዐጀሚ ሥነ ጽሑፍ ቅርስ፣ ለረዥም ዘመናት አትኩሮት ሳያገኝ በመቅረቱ፣ ትውልዱም ስለሁኔታው ያለው ዕውቀት ውስን ቢሆንም፣ ያላት ቅርስ ከአፍሪካ ሀገሮች ቀደምት ቦታ የሚያሰጣት መሆኑን ከአፍሪካ ሀገሮች ቅርስ ጋር በማነፃፀርም አብራርተውታል፡፡ በሰሜን አፍሪካ የሚኖሩ ዐረብኛ ተናገሪ ሀገሮች፣ እስካሁን ድረስ የቅድመ ዐረብኛ የጽሑፍ ቅርስ በብዛት ስለመኖሩ የሚታወቅ ነገር የለም፡፡ በምዕራብ አፍሪካ ያለውን ሁኔታም ወደ አስር የሚሆኑ ቋንቋዎች በቡርኪናፋሶ፣ በጋምቢያና በጊኒ፣ በሴኔጋልና በማሊ፣ በኒጀርና ናይጄሪያ የሚነገሩ በዐጀሚ የተጻፉ መኖራቸው መረጃዎች ያሳያሉ፡፡ እስልምና ከነቢዩ ዘመን ጀምሮ በኢትዮጵያ የሚገኝ መሆኑ፣ ሃይማኖቱን የተቀበሉ ኢትዮጵያውያን ከሰሜን አፍሪካ ሕዝቦች በተለየ ሁኔታ ከቅድመ እስልምና ዘመን ጀምሮ ይዘዋቸው የቆዩትን ቋንቋዎች እስከ አሁን እንደያዙ ቀጥለዋል፡፡ ሃይማኖቱን ለመማርና ለማስተማር በስፋት የተገለገሉት ሀገር በቀል በሆኑት ቋንቋዎች ሲሆን፣ ለመጻፍም በዐረብኛ ፊደል ሲጠቀሙ ኖረዋል፡፡ ከቋንቋ ስርጭት አኳያም፣ ኢትዮጵያ ከስዋሂሊኛ በስተቀር በአፍሪካ ቀንድ የሚነገሩት ቋንቋዎች የሚነገሩባት በመሆኗ፣ አሁን ባለው መረጃም በሀገር በቀል ቋንቋዎች በዐጀሚ ተጽፈው መገኘታቸው ከአፍሪካ ጎልታ እንድትታይ አድርጓታል፡፡ በአቶ ሙሐመድ አገላለጽ፣ የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ዐረብኛ ተናጋሪ ከሆኑት የግብፅ የሃይማኖቱ ተከታዮችና ተቋሞቻቸው ጋር በነበራት ታሪካዊ ግንኙነት ጥንታዊ የክርስትና ሃይማኖት የጽሑፍ ቅርሶች ከዐረብኛ ወደ ግእዝ፣ አማርኛና ትግርኛ እየተተረጎሙ፣ ለሕዝብ አገልግሎት የመድረሳቸው ድምር ውጤት፣ ዛሬ በኩራት የምንጠቅሰውን ሰፊና ጥንታዊ የኢትዮጵያ ዐጀሚ ሥነ ጽሑፍ ቅርስ ለማፍራት አብቅቷል፡፡ ኢትዮጵያ፣ ከአፍሪካ አንጋፋዋ ዘርፈ ብዙ የዐጀሚ ሥነ ጽሑፍ ቅርስ ባለቤት በመሆኗ፣ ከመቶዎች ዓመታት በፊት የነበረውን የሕዝቦቿን ማኅበራዊና ኢኮኖሚያዊ፣ ባህላዊና ታሪካዊ ጉዳዮችን ለማጥናት ጽሑፉ እንደ መጀመሪያ ምንጭ ሊሆን ስለሚችል፣ የሀገሪቱ ትምህርትና የምርምር ተቋማት የሚገባውን ግምትና አትኩሮት እንዲሰጡበት አጥኚው ማሳሰቢያ ሰጥተዋል፡፡ “የኢትዮጵያ የዐጀሚ የጽሑፍ ቅርስን በምርምር እና በጥናት ታሪካዊ ዋጋው ግምት አግኝቶ ለማኅበረሰቡ ጥቅም የሚውልበት ሁኔታ ለማመልከት በኅብረተሰቡ ተጠብቆ የቆየውን ሀገር በቀል የሃይማኖትና የሥነ ምግባር የባህልና የሥነ ጽሑፍ ቅርስ በሚገባ ለማወቅ ይረዳል፡፡” የዐጀሚ ሥነ ጽሑፍ ቅርስ በተለይ የኅብረተሰቡን ባህላዊ ታሪክ ለሚያጠኑ ተመራማሪዎች ጥሩ መረጃ ሊሆን እንደሚችልም ተጠቁሟል፡፡
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
'Younger wife' for marital bliss
The secret to a happy marriage for men is choosing a wife who is smarter and at least five years younger than you, say UK experts.
These pairings are more likely to go the distance, particularly if neither has been divorced in the past, according to the Bath University team.
The findings predict a happy future for pop star Beyonce Knowles, 28, and rapper husband Jay-Z, 39.
The work is published in the European Journal of Operational Research.
The researchers studied interviews of more than 1,500 couples who were married or in a serious relationship.
Five years later, they followed up 1,000 of the couples to see which had lasted.
For better or worse
They found that if the wife was five or more years older than her husband, they were more than three times as likely to divorce than if they were the same age. HAVE YOUR SAY Not so long ago the husband had to be older than his wife in order to be able to support a family, but such criteria are not so relevant now women have been educated to be able to command good jobs, so I suggest the basis for a successful marriage should be tolerance Marion Monahan, Bristol
If the age gap is reversed, and the man is older than the woman, the odds of marital bliss are higher.
Add in a better education for the woman - Beyonce has her high school diploma, unlike husband Jay-Z - and the chances of lasting happiness improve further.
Those who have never divorced fare better too. But couples in which one member has been through a divorce in the past are less stable than those in which both members are divorcees.
Dr Emmanuel Fragniere and colleagues do say that men and women choose partners "on the basis of love, physical attraction, similarity of taste, beliefs and attitudes, and shared values."
But they say that using "objective factors" such as age, education and cultural origin "may help reduce divorce".
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8325579.stmPublished: 2009/10/26 10:09:07 GMT© BBC MMIX
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These pairings are more likely to go the distance, particularly if neither has been divorced in the past, according to the Bath University team.
The findings predict a happy future for pop star Beyonce Knowles, 28, and rapper husband Jay-Z, 39.
The work is published in the European Journal of Operational Research.
The researchers studied interviews of more than 1,500 couples who were married or in a serious relationship.
Five years later, they followed up 1,000 of the couples to see which had lasted.
For better or worse
They found that if the wife was five or more years older than her husband, they were more than three times as likely to divorce than if they were the same age. HAVE YOUR SAY Not so long ago the husband had to be older than his wife in order to be able to support a family, but such criteria are not so relevant now women have been educated to be able to command good jobs, so I suggest the basis for a successful marriage should be tolerance Marion Monahan, Bristol
If the age gap is reversed, and the man is older than the woman, the odds of marital bliss are higher.
Add in a better education for the woman - Beyonce has her high school diploma, unlike husband Jay-Z - and the chances of lasting happiness improve further.
Those who have never divorced fare better too. But couples in which one member has been through a divorce in the past are less stable than those in which both members are divorcees.
Dr Emmanuel Fragniere and colleagues do say that men and women choose partners "on the basis of love, physical attraction, similarity of taste, beliefs and attitudes, and shared values."
But they say that using "objective factors" such as age, education and cultural origin "may help reduce divorce".
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8325579.stmPublished: 2009/10/26 10:09:07 GMT© BBC MMIX
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Saturday, October 10, 2009
Egypt's sexual harassment 'cancer'
By Magdi Abdelhadi BBC News, Cairo
Sexual harassment of women in Egypt is on the increase and observing Islamic dress code is no deterrent, according to a survey published this week.
The Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights (ECWR) describes the problem as a social cancer and calls on the government to introduce legislation to curb it.
The findings contradict the widely held belief in Egypt that unveiled women are more likely to suffer harassment than veiled ones.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN EGYPT
Experienced by 98% of foreign women visitors
Experienced by 83% of Egyptian women
62% of Egyptian men admitted harassing women
53% of Egyptian men blame women for 'bringing it on' Source: Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights
Participants in the survey were shown pictures of women wearing different kinds of dress - from the mini skirt to the niqab (full face veil) and asked which were more likely to be harassed.
More than 60% - including female respondents - suggested the scantily clad woman was most at risk. But in reality the study concluded the majority of the victims of harassment were modestly dressed women wearing Islamic headscarves.
ECWR head Nihad Abu El-Qoumsan said that even veiled women who were victims of harassment blamed themselves.
Western women who took part in the study demonstrated a strong belief in their entitlement to personal safety and freedom of movement, she says, but this was totally absent among Egyptian respondents.
No-one spoke about freedom of choice, freedom of movement or the right to legal protection. No-one showed any awareness that the harasser was a criminal, regardless of what clothes the victim was wearing.
Shocking attitude
The centre is campaigning for a new law that clearly defines sexual harassment as a crime and makes it easier for women to report it in Egypt - women like Noha Ostath.
The young film-maker told the BBC she was repeatedly groped in broad daylight by a van driver in a Cairo traffic jam as she walked on the pavement.
His behaviour made her so angry she ran after the van and held on to the side mirror to force the driver to stop so she could take him to a police station.
She was equally shocked by the attitude of other passers-by. Some tried to dissuade her from going to the police - others blamed her for what she was wearing (a baggy sports outfit).
In the end, after a tussle with the man that lasted for more than one hour, the strong-willed Ms Ostath dragged the man to the police station.
But even there, police officers refused to open an investigation and insisted on the presence of her father despite the fact that she is not a minor - she is 26.
Impudent allegation
After Noha's story was published in the Badeel daily, editor-in-chief Muhammad El Sayyed Said wrote that the behaviour of the crowd was characteristic of oppressed societies, where the majority identified with the oppressor.
He blamed the increase in sexual harassment on what he said were "three decades of incitement against women" from the pulpits of some of Egypt's mosques.
"This verbal incitement is based on the extremely sordid and impudent allegation that our women are not modestly dressed. This was, and still is, a flagrant lie, used to justify violence against women in the name of religion."
The British foreign office says Egypt is one of the countries with the highest number of cases reported to embassy staff regarding sexual offences against visiting women.
It warns them to be extra cautious in public places especially when alone because of the risks.
Ms Abou El-Qoumsan says Egyptians need to re-evaluate their value system and school curricula and to ensure that the rule of law prevails and prevents offenders and criminals walking free because of a breakdown of basic notions of right and wrong.
Thanks to surveys like this, one encounters an endless number of newspaper articles reflecting the feeling that Egypt is in the grip of a moral crisis.
Perhaps nothing illustrates Egypt's loss of a moral compass than the responses of some men in the ECWR study.
Some said they harassed a woman simply because they were bored. One who abused a woman wearing the niqab said she must be beautiful, or hiding something.
Sexual harassment of women in Egypt is on the increase and observing Islamic dress code is no deterrent, according to a survey published this week.
The Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights (ECWR) describes the problem as a social cancer and calls on the government to introduce legislation to curb it.
The findings contradict the widely held belief in Egypt that unveiled women are more likely to suffer harassment than veiled ones.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN EGYPT
Experienced by 98% of foreign women visitors
Experienced by 83% of Egyptian women
62% of Egyptian men admitted harassing women
53% of Egyptian men blame women for 'bringing it on' Source: Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights
Participants in the survey were shown pictures of women wearing different kinds of dress - from the mini skirt to the niqab (full face veil) and asked which were more likely to be harassed.
More than 60% - including female respondents - suggested the scantily clad woman was most at risk. But in reality the study concluded the majority of the victims of harassment were modestly dressed women wearing Islamic headscarves.
ECWR head Nihad Abu El-Qoumsan said that even veiled women who were victims of harassment blamed themselves.
Western women who took part in the study demonstrated a strong belief in their entitlement to personal safety and freedom of movement, she says, but this was totally absent among Egyptian respondents.
No-one spoke about freedom of choice, freedom of movement or the right to legal protection. No-one showed any awareness that the harasser was a criminal, regardless of what clothes the victim was wearing.
Shocking attitude
The centre is campaigning for a new law that clearly defines sexual harassment as a crime and makes it easier for women to report it in Egypt - women like Noha Ostath.
The young film-maker told the BBC she was repeatedly groped in broad daylight by a van driver in a Cairo traffic jam as she walked on the pavement.
His behaviour made her so angry she ran after the van and held on to the side mirror to force the driver to stop so she could take him to a police station.
She was equally shocked by the attitude of other passers-by. Some tried to dissuade her from going to the police - others blamed her for what she was wearing (a baggy sports outfit).
In the end, after a tussle with the man that lasted for more than one hour, the strong-willed Ms Ostath dragged the man to the police station.
But even there, police officers refused to open an investigation and insisted on the presence of her father despite the fact that she is not a minor - she is 26.
Impudent allegation
After Noha's story was published in the Badeel daily, editor-in-chief Muhammad El Sayyed Said wrote that the behaviour of the crowd was characteristic of oppressed societies, where the majority identified with the oppressor.
He blamed the increase in sexual harassment on what he said were "three decades of incitement against women" from the pulpits of some of Egypt's mosques.
"This verbal incitement is based on the extremely sordid and impudent allegation that our women are not modestly dressed. This was, and still is, a flagrant lie, used to justify violence against women in the name of religion."
The British foreign office says Egypt is one of the countries with the highest number of cases reported to embassy staff regarding sexual offences against visiting women.
It warns them to be extra cautious in public places especially when alone because of the risks.
Ms Abou El-Qoumsan says Egyptians need to re-evaluate their value system and school curricula and to ensure that the rule of law prevails and prevents offenders and criminals walking free because of a breakdown of basic notions of right and wrong.
Thanks to surveys like this, one encounters an endless number of newspaper articles reflecting the feeling that Egypt is in the grip of a moral crisis.
Perhaps nothing illustrates Egypt's loss of a moral compass than the responses of some men in the ECWR study.
Some said they harassed a woman simply because they were bored. One who abused a woman wearing the niqab said she must be beautiful, or hiding something.
Gadget to help women feign virginity angers many in Egypt
Conservatives condemn the Artificial Virginity Hymen Kit as technology that will promote promiscuity. Others say the furor over the device raises disturbing questions about double standards.
By Jeffrey Fleishman and Amro Hassan
October 7, 2009
Reporting from Cairo
Whether it's seen as a clever little gadget to help a woman keep a secret or a devilish deception that threatens Islam, the Artificial Virginity Hymen Kit is not welcome in Egypt.The kit allows a bride who is not a virgin to pretend that she is. A pouch inserted into the vagina on her wedding night ruptures and leaks a blood-like liquid designed to trick a new husband into believing that his wife is chaste. It's a wink of ingenuity to soothe a man's ego and keep the dowry intact.Egyptian conservatives condemn the device as technology that will promote promiscuity in a culture that forbids premarital sex. Their protests are arising in a nation that over the last 40 years has gone from miniskirts and secularism to hijabs and religious devotion. But seldom have conservatives faced such brazen advertising."No more worry about losing your virginity. With this product, you can have your first night back any time," states the website of Gigimo, a Chinese mail-order company that sells the kit and other sexual products, including sex dolls and bondage toys, worldwide. "Add in a few moans and groans, you will pass through undetectable."Members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which controls 20% of the seats in Egypt's parliament, have called for banning the kit and arresting anyone selling it on the black market. Cleric Abdul Moeti Bayoumi has issued a fatwa urging that peddlers of the $29.90 device be charged with banditry and punished for spreading immorality and sin."Egyptian girls are normally afraid to lose their virginity before marriage," Sayed Askar, a lawmaker and member of the Muslim Brotherhood, recently told parliament. "A product like that can make it easier and tempting for girls who don't have strong wills to commit such a sin. It will be a crying shame and a blot on the government if they allow the selling of this product in our markets."Lina Samaan, an accountant, said the furor raises disturbing questions about her country and the double standards that often apply to women:"I think it's a shame that we are discussing a product like this. If most girls don't have sex prior to marriage only because they want to keep virginity, then there is something wrong with the way we think," she said. "Sex is a right for every woman but unfortunately we started turning to products like these because men -- even non-religious ones who have sex before marriage -- wouldn't marry a girl if she's not virgin."The emotion over the kit speaks to a traditional society that is increasingly pious, whether it's rich professionals seeking moderate Islam on websites of progressive imams or poor and middle-class families adopting strict religion as a buttress to the influence of Western media and a loss of confidence in a state that has failed to provide prosperity.The government of President Hosni Mubarak is troubled by ultraconservative Islam imported from Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf. Egypt's leading Muslim cleric, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, is considering forbidding the niqab, or face veil, at the university and schools run by Al Azhar, Sunni Islam's top educational institution. A similar edict barring nurses from wearing niqabs has been loosely enforced.The Egyptian media quoted Tantawi telling a student that the "niqab has nothing to do with Islam. . . . I know about religion better than you and your parents."Many parents, however, did not grow up with the economic and social problems that their children face. Single women have traditionally lived with their families until they found a husband. But today's inflation, joblessness and poverty are forcing many couples to delay marriage until money is saved and dowries are accumulated. With men and women single longer, dating, breakups and natural impulses challenge religion and tradition."Having something like the virginity kit can cause complete mayhem within the Egyptian social life," said Farid Ismael, a member of parliament's health committee. "It can lead to the spreading of vice and the loss of all the good morals and values we had and that totally contradicts with our Islamic beliefs."The kit -- like surgical repairs to the hymen that Middle Eastern women have relied upon for years -- is marketed to offer a sleight of hand. Such secrets keep prospective brides in the graces of their families and avoid what in rare cases are honor killings of women accused of promiscuity.Choosing to have "sex or not is something every girl and woman should decide regardless of the society's perspective toward her," said Samaan, the accountant. "Even if she is religious then she shouldn't do it because of her religious belief and not in fear of other people or fear that she will not get married if she's not a virgin.""If a girl decided to have sex before marriage," she added, "then God already knows it and she shouldn't hide it from anyone else."jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.comHassan is a special correspondent.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
By Jeffrey Fleishman and Amro Hassan
October 7, 2009
Reporting from Cairo
Whether it's seen as a clever little gadget to help a woman keep a secret or a devilish deception that threatens Islam, the Artificial Virginity Hymen Kit is not welcome in Egypt.The kit allows a bride who is not a virgin to pretend that she is. A pouch inserted into the vagina on her wedding night ruptures and leaks a blood-like liquid designed to trick a new husband into believing that his wife is chaste. It's a wink of ingenuity to soothe a man's ego and keep the dowry intact.Egyptian conservatives condemn the device as technology that will promote promiscuity in a culture that forbids premarital sex. Their protests are arising in a nation that over the last 40 years has gone from miniskirts and secularism to hijabs and religious devotion. But seldom have conservatives faced such brazen advertising."No more worry about losing your virginity. With this product, you can have your first night back any time," states the website of Gigimo, a Chinese mail-order company that sells the kit and other sexual products, including sex dolls and bondage toys, worldwide. "Add in a few moans and groans, you will pass through undetectable."Members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which controls 20% of the seats in Egypt's parliament, have called for banning the kit and arresting anyone selling it on the black market. Cleric Abdul Moeti Bayoumi has issued a fatwa urging that peddlers of the $29.90 device be charged with banditry and punished for spreading immorality and sin."Egyptian girls are normally afraid to lose their virginity before marriage," Sayed Askar, a lawmaker and member of the Muslim Brotherhood, recently told parliament. "A product like that can make it easier and tempting for girls who don't have strong wills to commit such a sin. It will be a crying shame and a blot on the government if they allow the selling of this product in our markets."Lina Samaan, an accountant, said the furor raises disturbing questions about her country and the double standards that often apply to women:"I think it's a shame that we are discussing a product like this. If most girls don't have sex prior to marriage only because they want to keep virginity, then there is something wrong with the way we think," she said. "Sex is a right for every woman but unfortunately we started turning to products like these because men -- even non-religious ones who have sex before marriage -- wouldn't marry a girl if she's not virgin."The emotion over the kit speaks to a traditional society that is increasingly pious, whether it's rich professionals seeking moderate Islam on websites of progressive imams or poor and middle-class families adopting strict religion as a buttress to the influence of Western media and a loss of confidence in a state that has failed to provide prosperity.The government of President Hosni Mubarak is troubled by ultraconservative Islam imported from Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf. Egypt's leading Muslim cleric, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, is considering forbidding the niqab, or face veil, at the university and schools run by Al Azhar, Sunni Islam's top educational institution. A similar edict barring nurses from wearing niqabs has been loosely enforced.The Egyptian media quoted Tantawi telling a student that the "niqab has nothing to do with Islam. . . . I know about religion better than you and your parents."Many parents, however, did not grow up with the economic and social problems that their children face. Single women have traditionally lived with their families until they found a husband. But today's inflation, joblessness and poverty are forcing many couples to delay marriage until money is saved and dowries are accumulated. With men and women single longer, dating, breakups and natural impulses challenge religion and tradition."Having something like the virginity kit can cause complete mayhem within the Egyptian social life," said Farid Ismael, a member of parliament's health committee. "It can lead to the spreading of vice and the loss of all the good morals and values we had and that totally contradicts with our Islamic beliefs."The kit -- like surgical repairs to the hymen that Middle Eastern women have relied upon for years -- is marketed to offer a sleight of hand. Such secrets keep prospective brides in the graces of their families and avoid what in rare cases are honor killings of women accused of promiscuity.Choosing to have "sex or not is something every girl and woman should decide regardless of the society's perspective toward her," said Samaan, the accountant. "Even if she is religious then she shouldn't do it because of her religious belief and not in fear of other people or fear that she will not get married if she's not a virgin.""If a girl decided to have sex before marriage," she added, "then God already knows it and she shouldn't hide it from anyone else."jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.comHassan is a special correspondent.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
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