Teenage Pregnancy as an Issue of Human Rights for Women: The Case of Zimbabwe

Abstract

Teenage pregnancy can be simultaneously a health, human rights and a development problem. Whether this is indeed the case depends on the socio-cultural context in which it occurs. Based on a qualitative field study in Zimbabwe, this paper analysis to what extent teenage pregnancy in the context of today's Zimbabwe can be conceived as a violation of reproductive and sexual rights of female adolescents. The field data collected demonstrate that this violation when it occurs is in various ways related to the impairment of the psychological health of these women. In order to prevent this situation, development programs should focus on the realization of women's human rights, in particular their right to reproductive and sexual health, as one of their objectives.



IFE PsychologIA Vol 9, No1 2001, pp. 1-11