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= Equality and commercial surrogacy = Surrogacy, an increasingly popular practice, is an arrangement (typically legal), where a woman ( the surrogate) agrees to carry & birth the intended person or couples child. Reasons for the use of a surrogate may include: fertility issues, risky health conditions and gay couples. In surrogacy agreements, there is typically a monetary form of payment in which covers the labour, as well as doctor appointments, food and other necessary items that the surrogate may need. With a monetary payment, this is called commercialized surrogacy. Commercialized surrogacy is now all over the world and especially popular in developing countries as women do not have many employment options. It is a way for these women to earn an income as well as help a person or couple achieve their dreams of becoming parents. However, the issues surrounding surrogacy are primarily focused on the inequality that surrogacy may bring towards specifically the surrogate. These inequalities include: reproductive roles, gender stereotypes, and gestational roles. In the chapter " Markets in women's reproductive labour " in the book Why Some Things Should Not Be for Sale:The Moral Limits of Markets, we have discussed the idea of asymmetry in the market for commercial surrogacy, and the effects that this has on surrogate women. This then begs the question:

Should surrogacy be commercialized?

Key concepts : Asymmetry, Gender roles/stereotypes, Reproductive roles, Traditional labour

Asymmetry

 * The lack of equality between two things . In terms of commercial surrogacy, asymmetry comes in multiple ways:

Male and female genetic material being seen as equal
This is problematic because it shapes the definition of parenthood in terms of genetic material, and puts forth the notion that motherhood and fatherhood are defined by only the contribution of genetic material, ignoring the gestational contribution. In the case of baby M, the only reason why the surrogate won the baby back was because of her genetic contribution, the same way a father would have.If she did not contribute her egg, the courts would have ignored any parental relationship. This completely ignores the gestational process that a woman goes through. To say a man and a woman contribute equally to creating a child degrades and ignores the woman's reproductive role. It degrades her body's ability to create which is a unique feature of the female body. A male's sperm contribution or donation only goes so far, a female contribution is far more extensive and life changing. This is argued in article by Satz. ’By not taking women’s actual gestational contributions into account, the courts reinforce an old stereotype of women as merely the incubators of men’s seeds”. In some forms of surrogacy called “gestational surrogacy”, where the sperm and egg is implanted into the surrogate, she is then seen to have no parent/relationship  to the baby, even though technically speaking she has shared more of a physical/emotional relationship with the baby than the donors. With the basis of parenthood being on the contribution of genetic material, this degrades and ignores a woman's reproductive role. This raises questions about what it takes to be a parent? Adoption? Is this really ethical?

Womens reproductive labour seen as traditional labour
Women's reproductive labour in surrogacy has been viewed as being on the same level as any other type of labour such as traditional manufacturing labour. However, the nature of surrogacy goes far beyond that into a deeper physical and emotional labour that cannot necessarily be measured. In surrogacy, the surrogates work is far more extensive. She physically carries the baby for 9 months and within that time there are several changes that she must adhere to. What is unique about this type of labour is that it is not one that can be stopped or "quit" because it gets tough or you decide you don't want to participate anymore. Secondly, the business of surrogacy has risks that traditional forms of labour do not. "A surrogate mother is going to be at higher risk for pre-eclampsia, maternal hypertension, gestational diabetes, death". This is increased as a surrogate performs this service multiple times. By not acknowledging these risks it degrades the surrogates work and service and furthers the inequality. Lastly, womens body in this type of labour is seen as a tool " I was only renting out my womb” is the general consensus when it comes to surrogacy in India, which supports our notion that the process indeed objectifies the female body, and treats it as a tool or machine for production". The issue here is that women's bodies, are seen as a tool, just like how we would see machinery in a factory. With knowing the extent to which this production goes, is it fair to compare the two? is it ethical?

Control
Another aspect of this labour is control. Due to contracts, there is a degree of control that comes along with the process which turns it into control over the surrogates body. Surrogates are told what they can/cannot do and what must be done during the birth and after the baby is born. Their body becomes an object. This is described in the book Surrogacy from a reproductive perspective "A surrogacy agreement gives no decision-making power to the surrogate. Its contents is wholly decided and negotiated between the clinic and the intended parents, and clearly indicates the decision-making powers of physicians and intended parents during the entire surrogacy process. No negotiation and no discussion are possible from surrogates regarding the contract" This was exemplified in the 2014 case in which a Thai billionaire paid several women to become a surrogate for him. One of the women spoke up and said “I don’t know if the doctor used my eggs or another woman’s".  The woman, wasn't even informed of whose eggs were being used, which speaks to the commonality of the surrogate being left out. Again, this is unique in terms of labour because in traditional forms of labour, there is a level or negotiation/ input to some extent because, you are providing a service. In this case, surrogates are removed from having any input on their own service, and therefore it creates an inequality of labour. In Medeths journal this is described as alienated labour 'by requiring the surrogate mother to repress whatever parental love she feels for the child and, these norms convert women's labour into a form of alienated labor', the situation when the product of labour is separated from its producer". In a BBC interview with surrogate mothers in India, one mother says " Is it a boy or a girl? I asked my doctor, but she didn't answer my question.'You are a surrogate mother, you shouldn't ask these questions,' she said"



Reinforces gender stereotypes
Gender stereotypes have been a challenge that women primarily have had to face .When women started to enter the workforce in the 1930's, their role as workers were degraded and not as valued as their role of being a mother and reproducing. This stemmed from the notion that reproducing was a woman's only job. Contract surrogacy reinforces the idea of women being "baby machines" and their role as being a mother ,when you commodify and make reproducing a paid job. "The decision to become a surrogate is generally made to fulfil their duties as mothers and wives, thus reproducing the gender stereotyped roles of women". With surrogacy being commercialized it solidifies the stereotype of motherhood being a womans main duty and main form of labour. Surrogacy will make it harder for women to keep progressing and obtaining higher roles in the workplace because employers will always see women as mothers. "Despite progress toward gender equality, women still lag behind men in career advancement, a disparity that becomes most pronounced once women become mothers". It is also important to mention that this affects women in developing countries even more because they already lack opportunities that would promote equality, therefore surrogacy maintains the gap between male and female equality.

Conclusion
With that being said, it is understandable that several women want to be surrogates. As mentioned, it may help women financially as well as help couples fulfill their dream of becoming parents when the traditional methods are out of reach. However, the inequalities that these women face reverse the progress that women have made in terms of gender equality, and leaves them vulnerable to exploitation in this market. These women unknowingly become objects for personal use and lose control over their body and their reproductive labour. In Pande Amrita's journal she points out "Feminists have denounced surrogacy as the ultimate form of medicalization, commodification and technological colonization of the female body, and as a form of prostitution and slavery resulting from the economic and patriarchal exploitation of women". With that being said, surrogacy should not be commercialized because the inequalities and exploitation outweigh the benefits and does not value the women or her reproductive labour.