To this day, women globally are still subjected to various forms of control over their bodies, impacting their ability to exercise their reproductive rights. Many women are also subject to manipulative and distorted information and messaging on health communications around sexuality and reproductive health issues. Amid a rise of challenges to the advancement of women’s rights, including the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade in the United States, sexual and reproductive health rights are at the forefront of conversations about the advancement of gender equality. To determine how communications are used strategically to shape policy, Carolina Matos explored fifty-two feminist and health NGOs from across the world and how they are improving discourse on sexuality and reproductive health in the public sphere.

A core question asked here is how can communications be better used for advocacy on SRHR? Making use of a mixed methods approach, in-depth interviews with gender experts from the organizations were combined with a survey applied to the communication professionals, followed by content and discourse analysis of their institutional websites as well as their social media engagement. Matos investigated how these organizations are making use of communications amid various contemporary challenges, including the proliferation of misinformation about women’s rights and health in the public sphere due to the actions of oppositional far-right nationalist groups. With a postcolonial critique of the role of NGOs in development, Matos illuminates the strategic use of communications in the mediation and advocacy of gender equality and reproductive health.

Praise for…

“This fascinating work combines intellectual traditions, with practical examples and critical empirical approaches. It is the first book, in a long time, that provides both a theoretical and empirical critique from a feminist perspective, of the field of communication for development. Carolina Matos exposes, using a range of research methods including critical discourse analysis, the problems, difficulties and challenges of the practices that characterise the work of NGOs, especially when they work towards the ‘emancipation of women’.” Linje Manyozo, RMIT University

“This book makes an important contribution to a range of areas, bringing together debates across gender and development, feminist theory and praxis in development, communication and media analysis, international development, sexual and reproductive health rights, and social justice. I strongly recommend this book for students, scholars and practitioners interested in the field.” Suzanne Clisby, Coventry University

About the Author: