Books and Babies: Reproductive Literacy among Haredi Women

Posted by parkismc on Friday, April 29, 2022 in Past Events.

Books and Babies: Reproductive Literacy among Haredi Women

Michal Raucher hosted by the Jewish Studies Department

“In Conceiving Agency: Reproductive Authority among Haredi Women (Indiana University Press, 2020), Michal Raucher explores the ways ultra-Orthodox Jewish women in Israel make decisions about their reproductive lives. Although they must contend with interference from doctors, rabbis, and the Israeli government, ultra-Orthodox women find space for―and insist on―autonomy from them when they make decisions regarding the use of contraceptives, prenatal testing, fetal ultrasounds, and other reproductive practices. Drawing on two years of ethnographic research with Ultra- Orthodox women in Jerusalem, Raucher asserts that ultra- Orthodox women’s reproductive agency is a demonstration of women’s commitment to ultra-Orthodox life and culture as well as an indication of how they define religious ethics.”

February 28, 2022