Date/Time
Date(s) - Wed 7 September
12:00 - 13:00
Location
OK501, Old Kirk Building, VUW
The availability and uptake of assisted reproductive technologies is increasing in most places across the globe yet delays and disparities continue to exist for many Indigenous and minority ethnic groups in terms of outcomes and access to fertility treatment and reproductive services. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the literature shows that Māori and Pacific people who experience fertility issues are generally less likely than Pākehā to seek fertility clinic assistance. In this seminar, we examine why this may be the case by presenting interview data from eight Pacific cisgender women living in Aotearoa. The findings are part of a larger qualitative study conducted with participants seeking access to assisted reproduction for the purposes of family building. While assisted reproductive technologies promise to transform years of “infertility burdens” into “fertility blessings” for our participants, they voiced concern around weight-based restrictions and a lack of awareness and information tailored for Pacific peoples, families, and communities in the fertility clinic context. To address these issues, we propose several strategies to increase effort into producing and disseminating awareness-raising information about fertility treatment that is culturally accessible, appropriate, and equitable.
Dr Edmond Fehoko is a Health Research Council of New Zealand Pacific Postdoctoral Fellow based at the School of Māori and Pacific Studies, University of Auckland. Edmond holds a BA in Social Science and Criminology, MA in Social Science, and a PhD in Public Health from the Auckland University of Technology. His research expertise includes cultural spaces and practices, cultural identity, mental health and addiction, Pacific education, and assisted reproductive technologies. In 2019, Edmond received the 2019 Sunpix Pacific Peoples Award for services to Pacific research and education.
Rhonda Shaw is Associate Professor of Sociology in the School of Social and Cultural Studies at Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Since 2002, Rhonda’s work has focused on the donation and provision of human biological materials and services, including research on assisted human reproduction. Rhonda is a Principal Investigator on the Royal Society New Zealand Marsden Fund (2019-2022) study, ‘Accessing Assisted Reproduction: Social Infertility and Family Formation’.