Sara Rahman

Sara will focus her research on public perceptions of the State s role in protecting women s reproductive freedoms since the establishment of the Ministry for Women s Rights in 1981. In 1981, Fran ois Mitterrand became the first Socialist president of the Fifth Republic of France. Consistent with campaign promises, he established the Ministry for Women s Rights, a major breakthrough for French feminists, and appointed prominent feminist politician Yvette Roudy as Minister. Mme. Roudy managed to balance Mitterrand s priority of raising France s birth rate with feminist aims to expand women s reproductive freedoms, passing several key reforms in France s family planning policy. Sara will track changes in public opinion regarding key topics such as state subsidization of contraception and abortion, maternity rights, and the tension between motherhood and work. She hopes to use her research to outline possible methods of directing American family planning policy so that the American public prioritizes and values reproductive justice.