Each  teip  had an elected council of elders, a court of justice, and its own set of customs. The civilian chief, referred to as the  thamda  or  kh'alkhancha , chaired the council of elders. The  baechcha , meanwhile, was the military leader. [ 3 ]


The teip has its own subdivisions, in order of their progressive nesting, the  vaer , the  gar , and the  neqe . The  neqe  consists of households sharing the same family name, while the  gar  is a number of  neqe  units that together form a common lineage, however that is not always the case. [ 5 ]  The basic social unit, meanwhile, was the household, consisting of the extended family spanning three or four generations, referred to as the ts' a  or the  dözal , with married daughters usually living with in the household of their spouse. Brothers would share the same land and livestock. [ 5 ]


The number of teips has been unstable in recent history. While there were 59 Chechen and Ingush teips in the early 19th century, this swelled to a hundred by the mid-19th century, and today there are about 170. [ 3 ]  New teips could be founded when a large  gar  broke off and claimed the title of a full-fledged teip. [ 5 ]


Below is a list of teips with the Chechen  tukkhum  to which it may belong.


As well as a list of teips included in the ethno-territorial Ingush societies  Shahar


Third-party reproduction  or  donor-assisted reproduction  is any  human reproduction  in which  DNA  or  gestation  is provided by a third party or donor other than the one or two  parents  who will  raise the resulting child . [ 1 ]  This goes beyond the traditional  father – mother  model, and the third party's involvement is limited to the reproductive process and does not extend into the raising of the child. Third-party reproduction is used by couples unable to reproduce by traditional means, by  same-sex couples , and by men and women without a partner. Where donor gametes are provided by a donor, the donor will be a biological parent of the resulting child, but in third party reproduction, he or she will not be the caring parent.


One can distinguish several categories, some of which may be combined:


Gestation is typically initiated by  artificial insemination  in the case of sperm donation and by  embryo transfer  after  in vitro fertilisation  (IVF) in the case of egg donation, embryo donation, and surrogacy. Thus a child can have a genetic and social (non-genetic, non-biological) father, and a genetic, gestational, and social (non-biological) mother, and any combinations thereof. Theoretically a child thus could have 5 parents. [ citation needed ]


A  donor treatment  is where gametes, i.e. sperm, ova or embryos are provided, or 'donated' by a third party for the purpose of third-party reproduction.


Surrogacy  includes, in its wider sense, all situations where a  surrogate  carries a pregnancy for another person. Recently, there has been a tendency to separate the gestational carrier situation from the "true" surrogate restricting the term for a woman who provides a combination of ovum donation and gestational carrier services.


In a 'conventional surrogacy', a surrogate agrees to be inseminated with the sperm of the male partner of the 'commissioning' couple, or with the sperm of one of the male partners in a same-sex relationship,  or with sperm provided by a  sperm donor . The surrogate is inseminated, conceives, and hands over the baby at the completion of the pregnancy. In conventional surrogacy, the egg which is fertilized is therefore that of the surrogate. A famous case involving  paternity  rights and surrogacy is the  Baby M  case.


In a 'gestational surrogacy', a surrogate agrees to the implantation in her of an embryo which may be created either by using an egg provided by another woman who may be part of a 'commissioning' couple, or she may be a single woman. Alternatively, an egg provided by a donor may be used to create the embryo. The embryo implanted in the surrogate may be fertilised using sperm from the male partner of the 'commissioning couple', or by using sperm provided by a  sperm donor .


Embryo donation  is where extra embryos from a successful IVF of a couple are given to other couples or women for transfer with the goal of producing a successful pregnancy. Embryos for  embryo donation  may also be created specifically for  embryo transfer  using donor eggs and sperm, or in some cases donor eggs and donor sperm. It may thus be seen as a combination of sperm donation and egg donation, since what is donated is a combination of these. Such embryos may also be donated to a 'commissioning' woman or a 'commissioning' couple and gestated by a surrogate where, for example, the 'commissioning' woman or the woman of the 'commissioning' couple is infertile and is unable to bring a pregnancy to full term on medical grounds, or is unwilling for social, medical or other reasons, to do so.


The Traffic in Women: Notes on the "Political Economy" of Sex  is an article regarding theories of the oppression of women originally published in 1975 by  feminist   anthropologist   Gayle Rubin . [ 1 ]  In the article, Rubin argued against the  Marxist  conceptions of women's oppression—specifically the concept of " patriarchy "—in favor of her own concept of the "sex/gender" system. [ 2 ] [ 3 ]  It was by arguing that women's oppression could not be explained by  capitalism  alone as well as being an early article to stress the distinction between biological  sex  and  gender  that Rubin's work helped to develop  women's  and  gender studies  as independent fields. [ 4 ]  The framework of the article was also important in that it opened up the possibility of researching the change in meaning of this categories over historical time. [ 5 ]  Rubin used a combination of kinship theories from  Lévi-Strauss ,  psycho-analytic theory  from  Freud , and critiques of structuralism by  Lacan  to make her case that it was at moments where women were exchanged (principally through  marriage  acts) that bodies were engendered and became women. Rubin's article has been republished numerous times since its debut in 1975, and it has remained a key piece of  feminist anthropological  theory and a foundational work in  gender studies . [ 6 ] [ 7 ]


Rubin began work on the article when she was an undergraduate at the  University of Michigan , based on her wide readings in social science and humanities theory under her advisor  Marshall Sahlins . [ 8 ] [ 9 ]  At the time, Rubin wished to be a Women's Studies major, but no such program existed. Rubin therefore declared one as an independent field and became the first Women's Studies graduate from the university in 1972. [ 10 ]  At the university, Rubin took part in reading groups organized by members of the  New Left , and she was enmeshed in Marxist theory and critiques. [ 11 ]  She became a reader of publications like the  New Left Review , which exposed her also to the critiques and analyses of Marxism by  Lacan  and  Althusser  that informed her writing. [ 10 ]  She was struck at the time by how Marxists failed to adequately explain the roots of female oppression in the global world, and how Marxism subsumed the problem of female oppression within the problems of capitalism more generally. [ 10 ]  Encouraged by Sahlins, it was also during this time that she first read  Claude Lévi-Strauss ' book  The Elementary Structures of Kinship . As Rubin would say in a later interview with  Judith Butler : "It [Lévi-Strauss] completely blew my mind." [ 10 ]  In addition, Rubin was then reading the newly emergent strands of  post-structuralist  theory from French intellectuals. [ 10 ]


The paper arose from several drafts of a term paper for a course she was taking with Sahlins. Parts of this term paper were reworked by Rubin to become a section of her undergraduate thesis, and it was this section that  Rayna Reiter  later excised and published in 1975 in the feminist anthology  Toward an Anthropology of Women . [ 10 ]  Though the article was also published in a lesser known feminist studies journal at around the same time, it was from the anthology by Reiter that it gained a wide audience. [ 10 ]


Rubin's article is about fully understanding and accounting for the generalized oppression of women in the world—in both industrial capitalist and other kinds of societies. Rubin refers to this part of the social as the "sex/gender system." In making this analysis, she combines elements of various theoretical frameworks.


She first attacks  Marxism , arguing that it is unable to "fully express or conceptualize sex oppression." [ 12 ]  Marx offers a very useful account of women's role only in the industrial capitalist context. Men work for wage labor jobs—their  surplus value  being converted into profits for the ruling class or bourgeoisie—while women work at home to sustain and reproduce this labor. The problem with this analysis lies not in explaining the usefulness of this kind of reproductive labor to capitalism, as this is very apparent to Rubin. Rather, as Rubin puts it: "But to explain women's usefulness to capitalism is one thing. To argue that this usefulness explains the genesis of the oppression of women is quite another." [ 13 ]  Classical Marxism therefore fails to explain why it is the women should be so oppressed merely because they perform this reproductive labor.


Just as it cannot account for the oppression of women within capitalist societies, Marxism also cannot explain why it exists outside of them. Rubin provides several examples, such as in the  New Guinea highlands  and in the  Amazon river valley , where the oppression of women thrives and yet capitalist conditions are not present. She also points out that the pre-capitalist European world was also not free of women's oppression. Rather than being inherent to it, the oppression of women therefore exists independently of capitalism as a system. [ 13 ]


Rubin then turns to the work of  Friedrich Engels . She uses Engels' method in  The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State , wherein he argues that women's oppression has been inherited from the social systems prior to capitalism (such as feudal and slave economies). Rubin argues that "We need to pursue the project that Engels abandoned" and recognize that women's oppression is tied to the means of production in  all social forms , not just capitalism.


As a method of studying this oppression in all social forms, Rubin examines kinship structures as they were theorized in  The Elementary Structures of Kinship  by  Claude Lévi-Strauss .  In particular, Rubin focuses on 1) the "gift exchange" of women and 2) Strauss' idea of incest as the ultimate human taboo. For Strauss, the marriage of women (in pre-capitalist forms of society) was always a form of gift exchange. The incest taboo functioned to promote these exchanges of women between families. By forbidding certain kinds of marriage between kin, it ensured that other forms of marriage would take place. Strauss showed that men were principally in control of the exchange and reception of women, or a kind of  kinship exchange , rather than simply a gift exchange based on principles of reciprocity (as  Marcel Mauss  argued in his essay,  The Gift ). Rubin considers this "exchange of women" to be an "initial step toward building an arsenal of concepts with which sexual systems can be described." [ 14 ]


Rather than describing it merely in kinship terms as Strauss did, Rubin wants to also highlight the economic implications of this exchange. She holds that the Lévi-Straussian anthropological analysis based on terms of kinship cannot explain how gender arises and is connected to certain human bodies. This is because the incest taboo is not so universal as Strauss would have us think. There are certain groups of people where incest is normal and "such a marital future is taken for granted." [ 15 ]  Therefore, it cannot be the universal basis for why gender exists and why certain rights are reserved solely for men.


Rubin investigates the incest taboo further by bringing in the  Oedipus Complex  theory of  Sigmund Freud . Rubin focuses on how Freudian theories of  sexual repression  (wherein young girls repress their sexual desires for their mothers) lead to a world where "language and...cultural meanings" are "imposed upon anatomy." [ 16 ]  Drawing upon  Lacan 's analysis of the symbolic exchange of the phallus, Rubin complicates Freud's Oedipal analysis. Rubin stresses the point that girls and women cannot give the phallus—they can only receive it "but only as a gift from a man." [ 17 ]  It is ultimately only by coming to terms with this lack of the ability to give the phallus that girls/women recognize themselves as such. In other words, they are to be exchanged and "trafficked," and this is the idea that defines their gender identity as it relates to their sexual, bodily or biological being.


In her conclusion, Rubin argues for a  feminist  analysis of the problem of the sex/gender system. She argues that it is only by seeing the system in total—in its symbolic,  cultural , and  economic  implications—can we ask the appropriate questions of it:  "there are other questions to ask of a marriage system than whether or not it exchanges women." [ 18 ]  Rubin calls for new research on the sex/gender system in different contexts, arguing that scholars should ask  for what purpose  this exchange transpires in different societies.


Rubin has continued to work on the ideas raised in the article throughout her scholarly career. Her 1982 article, " Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality " was considered by Rubin herself to be a "corrective" to some of her arguments in "The Traffic in Women." [ 19 ]  Rubin also revisited the article directly in  Deviations: a Gayle Rubin Reader  in 2020, explaining the significance of the terms "traffic" and "trafficking" that were used in the article's original title. [ 20 ]  In addition, most of Rubin's other scholarly work continues to be concerned with the themes of sexuality and gender. [ 21 ]


In a talk at a conference on sexuality in 2011, scholar Susan Stryker noted the continuing influence of the piece nearly 40 years since its publication. She also remarked upon how Rubin's work and successful career which "skirted the margins of academe before ultimately finding a place within it" was inspiring to her own career in academia, a career that was made difficult by the oppression faced since she came out as a transgender woman in 1991. [ 22 ]


Notably, Judith Butler has cited the work as key for their own studies on gender and sex. In a 2012 interview between the two, Butler observed that many think of Rubin as an agenda setter for "the methodology for lesbian and gay studies" as well as feminist theory. [ 23 ]


Outside of anthropology, the article has also been critically engaged by philosophers, labor scholars, [ 24 ]  and others broadly interested in feminist ideas. [ 25 ]  Most of the criticisms surrounding the article came some years after its publication, the result of scholars questioning the psychoanalysis that Rubin used. Cultural critic  Laura Kipnis  wrote a response to the article in 2006, wherein she questioned whether the psychoanalysis employed by Rubin did not lead to an overly deterministic assessment of women's lives. [ 26 ]   Joan Wallach Scott , meanwhile, in " Gender, a Useful Category of Historical Analysis ," questioned whether Rubin's psychoanalysis could effectively help the historian to interpret historical actors. Scott stressed that historical actors do not "always or literally fulfill the terms of their society's prescriptions or of our analytic categories." [ 27 ]  The historian should therefore be cautious when using psycho-analysis and recognize that subjects may live their lives on terms other than those given by historians and their own cultures.


Umdat al-Talib fi Ansabi Ale Abi Talib  ( Arabic :  عُمْدَةُ ألطّالِب فی أنْسابِ آلِ أبی‌طالب ,  lit.   ' The Seeker's Guide to the Genealogies of the Family of  Abi Talib ' ) is a  genealogy  book written by " Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Husayn al-Husayni ", known as " Ibn Inabah " (died 828  AH –1425  AD/CE ), a famous  Shiite   scholar  and noble genealogist of the 9th century  AH –15th century  AD/CE . [ 1 ]


This book deals with the genealogy of  Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib  ( the leader of  Banu Hashim , a clan of the  Qurayshi  tribe of  Mecca  in the  Hejazi  region of the  Arabian Peninsula , he being the brother of  Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib , the father of the Islamic  Prophet   Muhammad [ 2 ] ) and the descendants of  Ali ibn Abi Talib  ( the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet  Muhammad , and the first  Shia   Imam ) in details. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ]


"Umdat al-Talib fi Ansabi Ale Abi Talib" ( in  Arabic :  عمدة الطالب فی انساب آل ابی طالب ,  lit.   ' The Seeker's Guide to the Genealogies of the Family of  Abi Talib ' ), is the  Ibn Inabah' s most important work. This book is of great importance in the science of  genealogy  in the  Islamic  sources. [ 8 ]


In this book,  Ibn Inabah  describes the biography of  Abu Talib's  ancestors and then his descendants. Finally, he describes in more detail the lineage of  Ali ibn Abi Talib  ( the first  Shia   Imam ) through his children in five chapters: [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ]


In the book "Umdat al-Talib fi Ansabi Ale Abi Talib", after a preface, the author lists in a detailed introduction the ancestors of  Prophet   Abraham  ( the common  Hebrew   patriarch  of the  Abrahamic religions , including  Judaism ,  Christianity , and  Islam ) and then his children up to  Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib  ( the leader of  Banu Hashim , uncle of the Islamic Prophet  Muhammad [ 13 ] ) known as " Abu Talib " or " Abi Talib ". Then  Ibn Inabah  mentions the children of  Abu Talib :  Aqil ibn Abi Talib ,  Ja'far ibn Abi Talib , and  Ali ibn Abi Talib  ( the first  Shia   Imam , the only successor whom the  Prophet   Muhammad  introduced him clearly in the public, refer to  Ghadir Khumm ). [ 14 ]


After going through these chapters,  Ibn Inabah  briefly mentions the children and grandchildren of the sons of  Abu Talib  in several another chapters. Finally, the author  Ibn Inabah , describes in more detail the lineage of  Ali ibn Abi Talib  through his children in five chapters:  Hasan ibn Ali  ( known as "Imam Hassan" in  Shia  doctrine, the second Shia  Imam ),  Husayn ibn Ali  ( known as "Imam Hossein" in  Shia  doctrine, the third Shia  Imam ),  Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya ,  Abbas ibn Ali  ( known as "Abu al-Fadl", in  Arabic :  أَبو الْفَضْل ,  lit.   'The Father of the Virtues', son of  Ali ibn Abi Talib , he fought until his last breath to save his elder brother,  Husayn ibn Ali , when he was surrounded in  Karbala  to force him to swear allegiance, so "Abu al-Fadl" was killed on the day of  Ashura ), and  Umar ibn Ali  ( in  Arabic :  عُمَر بن عَلیّ , son of  Ali ibn Abi Talib  who accompanied his brother,  Husayn ibn Ali , to  Karbala  and was killed on the day of  Ashura  too ). [ 15 ]


This genealogical report by  Ibn Inabah  provides brief but useful information about how the  Alawi  clan spread across its lands and places of residence, which is a suitable guide for historians. Later historians and  Hadith  scholars such as " Kia Gilani " in the book " Seraj al-Ansab " ( in  Arabic :  سراج الأنساب   lit.   ' The light-way of genealogy ' ),  Hurr Amili  in the book " Amal ol-Aamel " ( in  Arabic :  اَمَلُ الآمِل فی عُلماء جَبَل عامِل   lit.   ' The Hope of the Hopeful in the Scholars of  Jabal Amil ' ), and  Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi  known as " Allamah  Majlesi" in the book " Bihar al-Anwar " ( in  Arabic :  بِحَار ٱلْأَنْوَار   lit.   ' The Seas of The Lights ' ), have greatly benefited from the book "Umdat al-Talib fi Ansabi Ale Abi Talib" by  Ibn Inabah . [ 11 ] [ 16 ]


" Sayyid  Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Al-Hussein ibn Ali ibn Muhanna ibn Inabah" known as "Ibn Inabah" was born in 748  AH –1347  AD/CE , probably in the city of  Hillah  in  Iraq .  Ibn Inabah  died in the city of  Kerman  in  Iran  in the month of  Safar  828 AH–January 1425 AD/CE at the age of 77. [ 17 ]


According to  Ibn Inabah  autobiography, his lineage reaches back to  Ali ibn Abi Talib  ( the first  Shia   Imam ) through 20 intermediaries. He is considered a descendant of  Abd Allah al-Mahd  ( an  Islamic scholar ,  theologian  and  hadith  narrator, grandson of both  Hasan ibn Ali  and  Husayn ibn Ali ), hence his lineage is " Hassani - Husseini ". His relationship is to  Hasan ibn Ali  ( the second  Shia   Imam ) through his father and to  Husayn ibn Ali  ( the third Shia  Imam ) through his mother. [ 18 ] [ 19 ] [ 20 ] [ 21 ]


"Ibn Inabah" was a  Shiite   historian  and  genealogist . He was one of the special students of "Ibn Mu'ayyah" ( the prominent genealogist and historian ). He lived at the same time as  Muhammad ibn Makki  ( known as "Al-Shahid al-Awwal", [ 22 ]   Arabic :  ٱلشَّهِيد ٱلْأَوَّل   lit.   ' "The First Martyr" ' , a prominent  Shia   scholar  and author, and the first jurist who sacrificed his life and brutally murdered for defending his school, Shia ). [ 23 ]


From his early youth, "Ibn Inabah" studied genealogy under the supervision of " Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Qasim ibn Mu'ayyah Dibaji " ( in  Arabic :  ابوعبدالله محمد بن قاسم بن معیه دیباجی , died 776  AH –1374  AD/CE ) known as " Ibn Mu'ayyah " ( in  Arabic :  ابن مُعَيَّه ).  Ibn Inabah  became the beloved and the noble of his master " Ibn Mu'ayyah " among colleagues. During his education,  Ibn Inabah  benefited from numerous sources and teachers, but he undoubtedly gained the most scientific knowledge from the works of his bold master " Ibn Mu'ayyah ". [ 24 ]  As can be seen from  Ibn Inabah  circumstances, after the death of his master " Ibn Mu'ayyah ", he embarked on a journey of exploration and traveled to  Isfahan ,  Herat ,  Samarkand ,  Mecca , and Mazaar (in the Mishan Plain), and benefited from the knowledge of many genealogists. [ 25 ]


His most important work is "Umdat al-Talib fi Ansabi Ale Abi Talib" ( in  Arabic :  عمدة الطالب فی انساب آل ابی طالب ,  lit.   ' The Seeker's Guide to the Genealogies of the Family of Abi Talib ' ) which is written in  Arabic language . In this book,  Ibn Inabah  describes the biography of  Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib 's ancestors and then his descendants. Finally, he describes the descendants of  Ali ibn Abi Talib  with more detail. [ 26 ] [ 27 ] [ 28 ] [ 29 ] [ 30 ]


As can be seen from " Ibn Inabah's " writings, he was a trusted and reliable person in transmitting authentic documents and  Hadiths  ( a form of Islamic  oral tradition  containing the sayings, actions, and approvals of the prophet  Muhammad  or his progeny, specially descendants of  Ali , the  twelve Imams  in  Twelver Shia ) of  Imams  from the previous generation to the newer generation. [ 31 ]  This reputation has made his books very practical in the Shiite religion. His book "Umdat al-Talib fi Ansabi Ale Abi Talib" ( Arabic :  عُمْدَةُ ألطّالِب فی أنْسابِ آلِ أبی‌طالب ,  lit.   ' The Seeker's Guide to the Genealogies of the Family of  Abi Talib ' ) is one of the basic books on the  Shiite   Imams  genealogy in  Islamic  scholarly circles. The authenticity and purity of  Hadiths  are determined by the people who transmit them. In narrating  Hadiths  and transmitting pure Islamic knowledge, "Ibn Inabah" took his method from his prominent master "Ibn Mu'ayyah" ( has a strong reputation among colleagues and was a highly trusted  Hadith  narrator and transmitter of the time ) and then in the root, a reliable source that scholars use to verify Hadiths, "Ibn Inabah" reached out to  al-Allama al-Hilli  ( one of the few purest narrator and transmitters, one of the most influential  Twelver Shi'i Muslim  authors of all time ). [ 32 ]


"Ibn Inabah's" sect is not very clear in the historical reports and evidences, and there are disagreements among scholars over his school of thoughts. There is some evidence that he was either a  Zaydi  or a  Twelver   Shia . [ 33 ]  Some have doubted whether he is a  Shiite . [ 34 ]  But this seems to be incorrect, although it is not certain that he was a  Twelver   Shia . [ 35 ]  However, most likely, "Ibn Inabah" was either a  Zaydi  or a  Twelver   Shiite . [ 11 ]


Ibn Inabah  has written several another books too. Some of these works include "Al-Fosul al-Fakhriyah fi Usul al-Bariyah" ( in  Arabic :  الفصول الفخریة فی اصول البریة ,  lit.   ' Honorary Chapters in the Principles of Creation ' ), [ 36 ] [ 37 ]  "Al-Tohfat al-Jalaaliate fi Ansabi al-Talibiyyah" ( in  Arabic :  التحفة الجلالیة فی انساب الطالبیة ,  lit.   ' The Aesthetic Masterpiece in the Lineages of the Talibiyyah ' ), [ 38 ] [ 39 ]  "Bahr al-Ansab fi Nasabi Bani Hashim" ( in  Arabic :  بحر الانساب فی نسب بنی هاشم ,  lit.   ' The Base of Genealogies in the Lineage of  Bani Hashim ' ), [ 40 ]  "Risalah fi Usul Shajarat al-Sadah Ale Abi Alawi" ( in  Arabic :  رسالة فی اصول شجرة السادة آل ابی علوی ,  lit.   ' A Note on the Origins of the Family Tree of the Nobles of the Family of Abi  Alawi ' ) and “Ansabi Ale Abi Talib” ( in  Arabic :  انساب آل ابی طالب ,  lit.   ' Genealogy of the Family of  Abi Talib ' ). [ 41 ]


Ibn Inabah  has written the book "Umdat al-Talib fi Ansabi Ale Abi Talib" ( Arabic :  عُمْدَةُ ألطّالِب فی أنْسابِ آلِ أبی‌طالب ,  lit.   ' The Seeker's Guide to the Genealogies of the Family of  Abi Talib ' ) three times in different volumes and editions as follows: [ 42 ] [ 43 ] [ 44 ] [ 45 ]


Shahab ud-Din Mar'ashi Najafi  ( an  Iraqi   Shia  Grand  Ayatollah  and  Marja' ) called the three editions as follows: The first edition as "Kubra" ( lit.   ' the big ' ), the second edition as "Wusta" ( lit.   ' the middle ' ) and the third edition as "Sughra" ( lit.   ' the small ' ) respectively. [ 33 ]


In the original manuscript of "Umdat al-Talib fi Ansabi Ale Abi Talib", the text of the book is rich and full of information, but it does not follow a specific order. In the book, the information is presented one after the other in a narrative manner. [ 49 ]  The divisions and chapters of the book "Umdat al-Talib fi Ansabi Ale Abi Talib" are not clear and informative, and in order to find a person or his\her lineage, one must search its contents sufficiently. For example, to finding the description of descendants and lineage of an  Imam , the audience may have to examine a great deal of detail and needs to extensively search around them. Finding a specific lineage and progeny in this book takes a considerable amount of time. In the such valuable genealogical descriptions, the book subject may move from ancient classes to very distant generations and suddenly return to the original ancestors and the discussion becomes prolonged and from old generations goes back to far before that to their ancient ancestors. [ 33 ]  The classification of the original handwritten version of the book is traditional and abstruse. The author does not cite all of his sources, but in some cases he mentions the name of the narrator or the book from which he quoted a specific matter. [ 50 ]


The fame of the book "Umdat al-Talib fi Ansabi Ale Abi Talib" is due to the rare information it provides on the subject of genealogical examination of  the Fourteen Infallibles  ( The Fourteen Infallibles  are the Islamic prophet  Muhammad , his daughter  Fatima , and  the Twelve Imams ). [ 33 ]


Because  Ibn Inabah  traveled to different regions, he saw people claiming to be  Alawi  ( the descendant of  Ali  the first  Shia   Imam  called  Alids  or  Alawis ) and no one identified or denied it, because they were not aware of the lineage of the Alids; Therefore, he wrote the book "Umdat al-Talib fi Ansabi Ale  Abi Talib " to explain the principles and branches of the sacred lineage of  Alids . [ 51 ]  In the preface to the first two editions of "Umdat al-Talib" ( in  Arabic :  عُمْدَةُ ألطّالِب ,  lit.   ' The Seeker's Guide ' ),  Ibn Inabah  says that he wrote this book because a group of people doubted the genealogy of the family of  Abi Talib . [ 52 ] [ 53 ]


The first handwritten compilation was probably completed in 802  AH –1399  AD/CE  in  Iraq  by its author,  Ibn Inabah . The first printed academic version was probably published in 1380  AH –1960  AD/CE  in  Iran . [ 54 ]


An  uncle  is usually defined as a male  relative  who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent, as well as the parent of the cousins. Uncles who are  related by birth  are  second-degree relatives . The female counterpart of an uncle is an aunt, and the reciprocal relationship is that of a  nephew or niece . The word comes from  Latin :  avunculus , the diminutive of  avus  (grandfather), and is a family relationship within an extended or immediate family.
 [ 1 ]  A more slang usage is  Unc . [ 2 ]


In some cultures and families,  children may refer to the cousins of their parents as uncle (or aunt). It is also used as a  title of respect  for older relatives, neighbours, acquaintances, family friends, and even total strangers in some cultures, for example  Aboriginal Australian elders . Using the term in this way is a form of  fictive kinship .


Any social institution where a special relationship exists between a man and his sisters' children is known as an  avunculate  (or avunculism or avuncularism). [ 3 ]  This relationship can be formal or informal, depending on the society. Early anthropological research focused on the association between the avunculate and  matrilineal  descent, while later research has expanded to consider the avunculate in general society.


Uncles by birth (brother of a parent) are  related  to their nieces and nephews on average by 25% (1750  centimorgans ) though this can vary considerably. [ 8 ]  As half-uncles are related through half brothers, they are related by average 12.5%. Non-consanguineous uncles (male spouse of a relative) are not related by blood.


In Arabic, one's mother's brother is called  Khal  خال and the mother's sister is called  Khalah   خالة. On the father's side, one's father's brother is called  Amm  عم and the father's sister is called  Ammah  عمّة.


In Turkish, one's mother's brother is called  dayi , father's brother is   amca , and aunt's husband is known as  enişte . One's mother's sister is called "teyze". Father's sister is "hala". Uncle's wife is "yenge".


In some cultures, like Albanian, Slavic, or Persian, no single inclusive term describing both a person's  kinship  to their parental male sibling or parental male in-law exists. Instead, there are specific terms describing a person's kinship to their mother's brother ( dajë  in  Albanian ,  daiyee  in  Persian ,  wuj  (diminutive:  wujek ) in  Polish ) or a person's kinship to their father's brother ( xhajë  in Albanian,  amou  in Persian,  stryj  (diminutive:  stryjek ) in  Polish ). An analogous differentiation exists using separate terms to describe a person's kinship to their mother's female sibling ( teze  in Albanian,  khaleh  in Persian,  ciotka  (diminutive:  ciocia ) in  Polish ), and a person's kinship to their father's female sibling, ( hallë  in Albanian,  ammeh  in Persian,  stryjna  (diminutive:  stryjenka ) in  Polish ).


Furthermore, in Persian culture the terms used to describe a person's kinship to their maternal or paternal in-laws bear clear and unambiguous descriptions of that relationship, differentiating the parental in-laws from blood-relatives. For example, there is a specific term describing a person's kinship to the spouse of their paternal uncle (i.e.  zan-amou , literally 'wife-of-'  amou ). This clarifies that kinship is to the spouse of the person's paternal male sibling, as opposed to a blood-relationship.


Many Australian  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples  address male respected senior members of the community, known as  elders , as "uncle" (and women as "aunty") as a mark of seniority and respect, whether related or not, [ 9 ]  such as  Uncle Archie  (Roach) [ 10 ]  and  Uncle Jack Charles . [ 11 ]


In India, unambiguous names are used for various uncles such as one's father's brother chacha (or kaka). If the brother of one's father is older than one's father then he is called Tauji (or taya or bapuji). One's mother's brother is called Mama. A paternal aunt's husband is called Fufa (or Fuva) and a maternal aunt's husband is called Mausa (or Masa) in Hindi (or Gujarati).


Likewise, in neighbouring  Bangladesh  (and Pakistan), mother's brother is also Mama (or Mamu) as well father's brother as Chacha. A paternal aunt's husband is Phupha and maternal aunt's husband is Khalu.


Due to the loving image of an old but wise and friendly uncle in many cultures the word has been used as a loving nickname for many people. In  Tibetan mythology   Akhu Tönpa  ( Uncle Tompa ) is a familiar and well-beloved figure. The American national personification  Uncle Sam  serves as an allegorical fatherly figure to many Americans. Various children's TV hosts have used  uncle  as their nickname, including  Walt Disney  ( Uncle Walt ), Bob Davidse ( Nonkel Bob , literally  Uncle Bob ), Edwin Rutten (who hosted a children's show named  De Show van Ome Willem  ( The Show of Uncle Willem ). The Dutch poet Ome Ko also used  uncle  as part of his pseudonym.


Rich, wise or otherwise eccentric uncles are also popular in works of fiction.


Unilineality  is a system of determining  descent groups  in which one belongs to one's father's or mother's line, whereby one's descent is traced either exclusively through male ancestors (patriline), or exclusively through female ancestors (matriline).  Both  patrilineality  and  matrilineality  are types of unilineal descent. The main types of the unilineal descent groups are  lineages  and  clans .


A lineage is a unilineal descent group that can demonstrate their common descent from a known  apical ancestor . It is also called the simple unilineal descent.


Recent research [ 1 ]  on the unilineal descent organization has studied variables that are usually regarded as the main causes of the decline of unilineal descent organization – viz. statehood,  class stratification  and commercialization – along with one not previously considered: deep  Christianization , defined here as having been Christianized over 500 years before ethnographic study. The research demonstrated that the traditionally accepted causes of the decline are less significant than deep Christianization, while the presence of unilineal descent groups  correlates negatively  with  communal democracy  and is especially strong for complex traditional societies. Its conclusion is that as  the communal democracy correlates positively with the supracommunal one [ clarify ] ,   Christianization  might have contributed to the development of modern democracy by helping to replace unilineal descent organization in  Europe .


This  society -related article is a  stub . You can help Wikipedia by  expanding it .


Wahkohtowin  is a  Cree  word which denotes the interconnected nature of relationships, communities, and natural systems. Its literal meaning is "kinship", but it is often used to refer to  Cree  law, or Cree codes of conduct.


In the Cree language,  nêhiyaw wiyasowêwina  literally translates to "Cree laws", with  wiyasowêwina  meaning the act of weaving. [ 1 ]  However, law is almost invariably referred to as  wahkohtowin , which means "kinship", [ 2 ]  in reference to an individual's relationship with, and responsibilities within, the systems of which the individual is a part. As such, " wahkohtowin " is not totally equivalent to the dominant western conceptions of "law", for example because Cree wâhkôtowin does not refer solely to  positivistic  or  formalistic  rules. [ 1 ]  Rather,  wahkohtowin  is a set of obligations which flows from one's role within his or her community. [ 3 ]


Understandings about  wahkohtowin  may have sacred origins, may come from positivistic rules, or may come from observations about the natural environment. [ 4 ]  Knowledge from these sources is then processed through deliberation, ceremony, and storytelling. Cree law lives on primarily through stories, which are among the most important references for  Indigenous law . [ 2 ]


The most recurrent theme within  wahkohtowin  is the circle.  Wahkohtowin  connotes interconnectedness, so circles are used as symbols to represent the way in which every element of a system is part of the whole. [ 3 ]  This reaffirms unity under the Creator and within the community, and represents the continuum of life. [ 5 ]   Wahkohtowin  sometimes physically takes this form; for example, a community may gather in circles for prayer, discussion, and healing. [ 5 ]


Cree law uses different circles as a visual way to conceptualize different legal principles; there are usually four elements or stages comprising a given circle. For example, the most foundational circle-metaphor describes the four kinds of human beings; when one understands one's identity in this circle, then one accepts the responsibilities which accompany that identity. [ 6 ]  Envisioned as a series of concentric circles, children (the most treasured and precious) are placed at the centre. Old ones are next; they are the keepers and teachers of knowledge and represent the past. Women, the nurturers and protectors, are third, and men, who are responsible for safety, constitute the outermost circle. [ 3 ]


Another important circle metaphor in the Cree worldview represents one's personal identity. The innermost level represents the individual, followed by the family, the community, and the nation, respectively. In the Cree worldview, identity is inseparable from land, home, community, or family; these things together constitute a healthy  wahkohtowin . [ 3 ]


Sweat lodge  ceremonies are important in the transmission of nehiyaw legal protocols and teachings, because they allow beauty to persuade participants of the importance of law. [ 7 ]


An initiative in Saskatchewan proposed a  Wahkohtowin classroom , which focused on discussing law from a grassroots perspective. [ 8 ]


The  Western European marriage pattern  is a family and  demographic  pattern that is marked by comparatively late marriage (in the middle twenties), especially for women, with a generally small age difference between the spouses, a significant proportion (up to a third) of people who remain unmarried, and the establishment of a  neolocal household  after the couple has married.
In 1965,  John Hajnal  posited that Europe could be divided into two areas characterized by a different patterns of  nuptiality . To the west of the line, which extends approximately between  Saint Petersburg , Russia, and  Trieste , Italy, marriage rates and thus fertility were comparatively low and a significant minority of women married late or remained single and most families were nuclear; to the east of the line and in the Mediterranean and particular regions of Northwestern Europe, early marriage and  extended family  homes were the norm and high fertility was countered by high mortality. [ 1 ] [ 2 ]


In the 20th century, Hajnal's observations were assumed as valid by a wide variety of  sociologists . However, since the early 21st century, his theory has been routinely criticized and rejected by scholars. Hajnal and other researchers did not have access to, or underplayed [ 3 ]  nuptiality research from behind the  Iron Curtain  which contradict their observations on central and eastern Europeans. [ 4 ] [ 5 ]  Though some sociologists have called to revise or reject the concept of a "Hajnal line," other scientists continue to cite Hajnal's research on the influence of western European marriage patterns. [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ]


The shift toward this "Western European Marriage Pattern" does not have a clear beginning, but it certainly had become established by the end of the fifteenth century on most of the shores of the  North Sea . It is a marriage pattern where couples married comparatively late in life (and especially late for the bride compared to other places). On average first marriages took place around the middle twenties for both genders, with men marrying at slightly older ages than women, and only setting up a nuclear household when they were financially stable enough to care for a household, all of this preceded by time working as  servants , farmhands or apprentices. Also, a significant proportion of women married after their twenties and  20–30% of women never married . [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ]  During the Middle Ages and the modern times, all kinds of movements developed which gradually sought to diminish the influence of the Church in matrimonial matters. The impetus was given in the  Netherlands  since the Middle Ages with urban ordinances threatening civil and criminal measures against those guilty of kidnapping, i.e. marriage without parental consent. This evolution continued and in 1540  Emperor Charles V  decreed that any man who married under 25 years of age and any woman who married under 20 years of age without paternal consent forfeited all the benefits normally accruing to the surviving spouse. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ]  Female age at marriage has proven to be a strong indicator for female autonomy and is used frequently by economic history research. [ 15 ]


The pattern of late and non-universal marriage restricted fertility massively, especially when it was coupled with very low levels of childbirth out of wedlock. Birth control took place by delaying marriage more than suppressing fertility within it. A woman's life-phase from  menarche  (which was generally reached on average at 14 years, with some women reaching it earlier [ 16 ] [ 17 ] ) to the birth of her first child was unusually long, averaging ten years. [ 18 ] [ 19 ]


To the west of the Hajnal line, about half of all women aged 15 to 50 years of age were married at any given time while the other half were  widows  or  spinsters ; to the east of the line, about seventy percent of women in that age bracket were married at any given time while the other thirty percent were widows or  nuns . [ 20 ]  The marriage records of Western and Eastern Europe in the early 20th century illustrate this pattern vividly; west of the  Hajnal line , only 25% of women aged 20–24 were married while to the east of the line, over 75% of women in this age group were married and less than five percent of women remained unmarried.  [ 13 ]


This marriage pattern varied across time and space and class; noblewomen certainly married early, but they were a small minority. The comparatively late age at marriage for women and the small age gap between spouses is rather unusual; women married as adults rather than as dependents, often worked before marriage and brought some skills into the marriage, were less likely to be exhausted by constant pregnancy, and were about the same age as their husbands [ 21 ] [ 22 ]


Outside of Europe, women could be married even earlier and even fewer would remain celibate; in  Korea , practically every woman 50 years of age had been married and  spinsters  were extremely rare, compared to 20–30% of women in western Europe age 50 who had never married. [ 9 ]


The highest average age at first marriage was in the Netherlands: on average 27 years for women and 30 years for men in both the rural and urban population from the late 1400's onward till the end of WWII, rising at times to 30 years for women and 32 years for men. On average 25-30% of people in the Netherlands remained unmarried throughout their life between 1500 and 1950.  [ 13 ]  In  Amsterdam  the mean age at first marriage for women fluctuated between 23.5 and 25 years old from the late 15th century until the 1660s, when it started to rise even further. [ 11 ]


From early on the Roman Catholic Church promoted sexual abstinence over marriage, but marriage over sexual promiscuity. This meant that remaining unmarried became socially acceptable in Western Europe. In the Middle Ages marriage was often not recorded and therefore could depend on the word of the couple that could either confirm or deny it having taken place. A majority of unmarried women would be in the service of the church as nuns or as lay women. A vast number of women also provided for themselves in specialised professions until the financial freedoms of women were curtailed by the guilds in the late Middle Ages. This meant that until the late Middle Ages many women could also run businesses to sustain themselves outside of marriage.  [ 13 ]


After the 1400's the first marriage age became better recorded and seems to be influenced largely by the economic situation. In times of economical uncertainty both women and men tended to marry younger (between 20-25 years old for women) but the age gap was somewhat larger. A major factor was that by marrying their daughter off young the parents had one mouth less to feed and the dowry was often lower for younger girls who had learned less skills and build up less savings. This also explains the larger age gap between husband and wife in economical harsher times: an older husband would already have established himself an income to sustain a wife and thus children. Though for political reasons nobility often engaged and married far younger than the general population in many cases the actual consummation of the marriage was postponed until both marriage partners had reached a more mature age.  [ 13 ]


Another contributing factor to later marriage age is that in the Middle Ages a culture of nuclear family structures developed from the multiple generational extended family structures that were common in pre-Christian tribal societies in Western Europe. Both men and women would typically spend several years of working as a maid, farmhand, labourer or apprentice in order to gain work experience, develop skills and save up money to sustain their own nuclear family, rather than continuing to live in multigenerational household. This development raised the socially accepted first marriage age of women from puberty onset (12-14 years old) in the early Middle Ages up to their late teens and older by the late medieval period, and during the renaissance up to their middle twenties on average. This development also brought the first marriage age of women and men far closer together. The great general wealth in the Netherlands from the spice trade also meant that women married later in life. The highest marriage ages for both men and women was passed 30 years old and are found in times of national financial prosperity. [ 13 ]


An other contributing reason was that late marriage age was a recognised method of birth control. The later a woman married the less children she would birth and the less children a couple had to raise. It was also generally recognised that giving birth at a very young age was detrimental for the woman's health and therefore socially disapproved of. Social disapproval of a young marriage age for the woman and a large age gap between the marriage partners can still be recognised in sayings originating in those centuries. A well known example from neighbouring Britain is the cautionary tale of the play  Romeo and Juliet  by  William Shakespeare  of whom the young ages were considered scandalous at the time. [ 23 ] [ 13 ]


Where in the mid-1500s in  England , approximately 8 percent of women remained unmarried the inference would be that that figure was either the same or lower in the previous several centuries; [ 24 ]  marriage in  Medieval England  appears to be a robust institution where over 90% of women married and roughly 70% of women aged 15 to 50 years were married at any given time while the other 30% were single or widows. [ 25 ]  In  Yorkshire  in the 14th and 15th centuries, the age range for most brides was between 18 and 22 years and the age of the grooms was similar; rural Yorkshire women tended to marry in their late teens to early twenties while their urban counterparts married in their early to middle twenties. In the 15th century, the average Italian bride was 18 and married a groom 10–12 years her senior. An unmarried  Tuscan  woman 21 years of age would be seen as past  marriageable age , the  benchmark  for which was 19 years, and easily 97 percent of  Florentine  women were married by the age of 25 years while 21 years was the average age of a contemporary English bride. [ 26 ] [ 27 ]


While the average  age at first marriage  had climbed to 25 years for women and 27 years for men in  England  the percentage of unmarried Englishwomen rose from less than 10% to nearly 20% by the mid-17th century and their average age at first marriage rose to 26 years at the same time. [ 28 ]  There was nonetheless great variation within Britain alone; while  Lowland Scotland  saw patterns similar to England, with women married in the middle twenties after a period of domestic service, the high birth rate of  Highland Scotland  and the  Hebrides  imply a lower age of marriage for the bride, possibly similar to  Gaelic Ireland , [ 29 ]  where  Brehon Law  stated that women became legally marriageable at 15 years and men at 18 years. [ 30 ]  Similarly, between 1620 and 1690 the average age of first marriage for  Swedish  women was roughly 20 years, approximately 70% of Swedish women aged between 15 and 50 years were married at any one time, and the proportion of single women was less than 10%. But by the end of the 18th century this had risen to roughly 27 years in Sweden and remained high with the celibacy rate as a result of falling  infant mortality  rates, declining  famines , decreasing available land and resources for a  growing population , and other factors. [ 25 ]  Similarly, Ireland's average age of marriage in 1830 was 23.8 for women and 27.47 for men where they had once been about 21 and 25, respectively, and only about 10% of adults remained unmarried. [ 31 ]  in 1840, they had respectively risen to 24.4 and 27.7; [ 32 ] [ 33 ]  In the decades after the  Great Famine , the age of marriage had risen to 28–29 for women and 33 for men and as much as a third of Irishmen and a fourth of Irishwomen never married due to chronic economic problems that discouraged early marriage. [ 34 ]


Class differences played a great role in when a couple could marry; the wealthier that a couple was, the likelier that they were to marry earlier. Noblewomen and gentlewomen married early, but they were a small minority; [ 35 ]  a thousand  marriage certificates  issued by the  Diocese of Canterbury  between 1619 and 1660 show that only one bride was aged thirteen years, four were fifteen, twelve were sixteen, seventeen were seventeen, and the other 966 of the brides were aged nineteen years or older when they married for the first time. The church stipulated that both the bride and groom must be at least 21 years of age to marry without the consent of their families; the most common ages of marriage were 22 for women, 24 for men; the  median  ages were 22.8 for women and 25.5 for men; the  average  ages were 24 years for women and nearly 28 years for men. The youngest brides were nobility and gentry. [ 36 ]


The moderate rates of fertility, mortality, and marriage within the region were tied to the economy; when times were better, more people could afford to marry early and thus have more children and conversely more people delayed marriages (or remained unmarried) and bore fewer children when times were bad. This contrasts with societies outside of this region, where early marriage for both sexes was virtually universal and high fertility was counteracted by high mortality; [ 37 ]  in the 15th century, a  Tuscan  woman 21 years of age would be seen as past marriageable age, the deadline for which was 19 years, and easily 97 percent of  Florentine  women were married by the age of 25 years while 21 years was the typical age of an English bride. [ 38 ] [ 26 ]


The region's late marriage pattern has received considerable scholarly attention in part because it appears to be unique; it has not been found in any other part of the world prior to the 20th century. However, similar marriage patterns, with a high degree of female agency (as measured by the so-called 'female-friendliness index') have been documented in Mongolia, Japan, and parts of  Southeast Asia . [ 39 ]  The origins of the late marriage system are a matter of conjecture prior to the 15th century when the demographic evidence from family reconstitution studies makes the prevalence of the pattern clear; while evidence is scant, most English couples seemed to marry for the first time in their early twenties before  the Black Death  and afterward, when economic conditions were better, often married in their late teens. [ 40 ]  While in neighbouring Netherlands the female marriage age went up in times of financial prosperity to between 25 and 30 years, and fell in times of economic hardship to below 25 while also the age gap between brides and grooms increased. Many historians have wondered whether this unique conjugal regime might explain, in part, why capitalism first took root in Northwestern Europe, contributing to the region's relatively low mortality rates, hastening the fragmentation of the  peasantry  and the precocious formation of  a mobile class of landless wage-earners . Others have highlighted the significance of the late marriage pattern for gender relations, for the relative strength of women's position within marriage, the " conjugal "  dowry  system of Northwestern Europe in which the dowry merged with the husband's wealth and would thus grow or shrink depending on circumstances (perhaps an incentive for many women to work), [ 41 ]  the centrality of widows in village land inheritance, and the vitality of women's community networks. [ 37 ]  The  Roman Catholic Church  curtailed arranged marriages in the middle ages in which the bride did not clearly agree to the union. [ 42 ]


The beginnings of this marriage pattern might be found as early as the time of the Roman Empire.  Julius Caesar , writing in the first century B.C, wrote that while the  Germanic tribes  to the north of the empire were communal with their land, living under the  Sippe  kinship system, the homesteads were largely separate from each other, unlike the closer proximity in Roman towns. And  Tacitus , writing a century and a half later, also observed these many private households among the Germanic tribes, although there was public ownership of pastures and controlled use of the forests. [ 43 ]


Anglo-Saxon  kinship terms were generally very basic; the same word is used for the titles of nephew and grandson, likewise for the term for granddaughter and niece. Based on this, the nuclear household seems to be the norm. Also, since the Church forbade marrying within a given degree of kinship, the common people were probably further discouraged from keeping elaborate kinship networks; Britain only had so many people and virtually everybody on the island was related to some degree and possibly the distant relations had to be forgotten or nearly all marriages would be within the  prohibited degrees . [ 44 ]


In any case, while nuclear residences might have been the norm for families, the  extended family  was undeniably important for the Anglo-Saxons; As with many other  Germanic tribes , if a member of a family was wronged or injured in any way, the  Kentish Laws  outlines the restrictions of  feuds  and  reparations  to the victim of the offense; kindreds were to take charge of reparation and they could (with a few exceptions, for example, when the conflict was too close in blood-line) arrange either for vengeance or for the payment of compensation to the kin of the killed. [ 45 ]  In addition, Anglo-Saxon women, like those of other Germanic tribes, are marked as women from the age of twelve onward, based on archaeological finds, implying that the age of marriage coincided with  puberty . [ 46 ]


The rise of Christianity created more incentives to keep families nuclear; the Church instituted marriage laws and practices that undermined large kinship groups. From as early as the fourth century, the Church discouraged any practice that enlarged the family, like  adoption ,  polygamy , taking  concubines , divorce, and  remarriage . The Church severely discouraged and prohibited  consanguineous  marriages, a marriage pattern that has constituted a means to maintain kinship groups (and thus their power) throughout history;  Canon law  followed civil law until the early ninth century, when the  Western Church  increased the number of prohibited degrees from four to seven. [ 47 ]  The church also clipped the ability of parents to retain kinship ties through arranged marriages by forbidding unions in which the bride did not clearly agree to the union. These rules were not necessarily followed unanimously nor did all cultures across Europe evolve toward nuclear families, but by the latter half of the Middle Ages the nuclear household was dominant over most of Northwestern Europe [ 48 ]  and where in the old  indigenous religions , women married between 12 and 15 years of age (coinciding with  puberty ) and men married in their middle twenties, as Christianity expanded men married increasingly earlier and women married increasingly later. [ 49 ]


The rise of  manorialism  in the vacuum left after the  Fall of Rome  might also have weakened the ties of kinship at the same time that the Church had curtailed the power of  clans ; as early as the 800s in  northern France , families that worked on manors were small, consisting of parents and children and occasionally a grandparent. The Church and State had become allies in erasing the solidarity and thus the political power of the clans; the Church sought to replace  traditional religion , whose vehicle was the kin group, and substituting the authority of the  elders  of the kin group with that of a religious elder, the  presbyter . At the same time, the king's rule was undermined by revolts on the part of powerful, communal kin groups, whose conspiracies and murders threatened the power of the state and, once manorialism had become established, also threatened the demand of manorial lords for obedient, compliant workers; in the west, manorialism was unsuccessful in establishing itself in  Frisia ,  Ireland ,  Scotland ,  Wales ,  Cornwall , the  East of England , and the south of  Iberia  and Italy. [ 50 ] [ 51 ]


Indeed,  Medieval England  saw  marriage age  as variable depending on economic circumstances, with couples delaying marriage until the early twenties when times were bad and the average age falling to the late teens after the  Black Death , when there were labor shortages; [ 52 ]  by appearances, marriage of adolescents was not the norm in England. [ 24 ]  The sudden loss of people from the plague resulted in a glut of lucrative jobs for many people and more people could afford to marry young, lowering the age at marriage to the late teens and thus increasing fertility. [ 53 ]


About 1140,  Gratian  established that according to canon law the bonds of marriage should be determined by mutual  consent  and not  consummation , voicing opinions similar to Isaac's opinion of  forced marriages ; marriages were made by God and the blessing of a priest should only be made after the fact. Therefore, a man and a woman could agree to marry each other at even the minimum  age of consent - fourteen years for men, twelve years for women- and bring the priest after the fact. But this doctrine led to the problem of  clandestine marriage , performed without witness or connection to public institution. [ 54 ]  The opinion of the parents was still important, although the final decision was not the decision to be made by the parents, [ 55 ]  for this new consent by both parties meant that a contract between equals was drawn rather than a coerced consensus. [ 56 ]


Patriarchy  remained in some form or another, including the necessity of the  dowry  by young women. To curb secret marriages and remind young couples of parental power, the Medieval Church encouraged prolonged  courtship , arrangements and monetary logistics, informing the community of the wedding, and finally the formal exchange of  vows . [ 57 ]  While in the  South  a woman's dowry was viewed as separate from her husband's wealth, in the Northwest the dowry was " conjugal "; a woman's dowry merged with her husband's wealth and would grow or shrink depending on circumstances and to which she had rights in widowhood, [ 58 ]  an attractive incentive for women to earn money. And the chance for women to earn money in the one hundred and fifty years after the  Black Death  was attractive, with less competition for jobs; as much as half of women in the North willingly worked to earn money for marriage while their Southern contemporaries were married or  widows  before turning to work and unmarried young women only worked as a last resort, lest her honor be put at risk. [ 59 ]


The average age at first marriage had gradually risen again by late sixteenth century; the population had stabilized and availability of jobs and land had lessened. In the last decades of the century the age at marriage had climbed to averages of 25 for women and 27 for men in England and to 27 for women and 30 for men in the  Netherlands . Generally first marriage age for women went down in time of economic decline due to lack of money or resources of the parents and a decline in living standards, and went up in times of economic growth and social stability. The first marriage age for women remained high for nearly five centuries and averages across Northwestern Europe had done likewise. [ 60 ]  From the late Middle Ages on, because of its sacramental nature, marriage was increasingly held to be indissoluble, and sexual relations outside of marriage were increasingly viewed as illicit. Christian Europe banned polygamy and divorce, and attempted to prohibit any form of sexual relationship that was not marriage, such as concubine or premarital sex, termed fornication. Women were generally expected to bring a dowry when they married, which ranged from a few household goods to a whole province in the case of the high nobility. Remarriage after the death of a spouse was acceptable for both men and women, and very common, though men remarried faster than women. Most issues regarding marriage and many other aspects of family life came under the jurisdiction of church courts and were regulated by an increasingly elaborate legal system termed canon law. The ideals for marriage were not followed in many instances: powerful individuals could often persuade church courts to grant annulments of marriages they needed to end; men, including priests and other church leaders, had concubines and mistresses; young people had sex before marriage and were forced into marriages that they did not want. Nevertheless, these ideals and the institutions established to enforce them remained important shapers of men's and women's understanding of and place within a family. [ 61 ]


When a growing population of poverty caused by "over-hasting marriages and over-soon setting up of households by the youth"., [ 62 ]  the decree of the Common Council of London in 1556 raised the age of consent to twenty-one. [ 63 ]  This aligned with the contemporary views that condemned those who had no means to establish and maintain their own household. The Act of 1901, also contributed to an increase in the average age of first marriage. [ 63 ]  It allowed overseers to apprentice children of the parish poor from the age of ten to twenty-four, essentially delaying the prospects of marriage. [ 62 ]


So many Englishmen began migrating en masse to North America that the marriage prospects for unmarried Englishwomen dwindled and the average age of first marriage rose for Englishwomen. In addition, there was a sharp rise in the percentage of women who remained unmarried and thus decreased fertility; an Englishwoman marrying at the average age of 26 years in the late 17th century who survived her childbearing years would bear an average of 5.03 children while an Englishwoman making a comparable marriage in the early 19th century at the average age of 23.5 years and surviving her childbearing years would bear on average 6.02 children, an increase of about 20 percent. [ 64 ] [ 28 ]


From 1619 to 1660 in the archdiocese of  Canterbury , England, the median age of the brides was 22 years and nine months while the median age for the grooms was 25 years and six months, with average ages of 24 years for the brides and nearly 28 years for the grooms, with the most common ages at marriage being 22 years for women and 24 years for men; the Church dictated that the age when one could marry without the consent of one's parents was 21 years. A large majority of English brides in this time were at least 19 years of age when they married, and only one bride in a thousand was thirteen years of age or younger. [ 65 ]


William Shakespeare 's drama  Romeo and Juliet   puts  Juliet 's age at just short of fourteen years; the idea of a woman marrying in secret at a very early age would have scandalized Elizabethans. The common belief in Elizabethan England was that motherhood before 16 was dangerous; popular manuals of health, as well as observations of married life, led Elizabethans to believe that early marriage and its consummation permanently damaged a young woman's health, impaired a young man's physical and mental development, and produced sickly or stunted children. Therefore, 18 came to be considered the earliest reasonable age for motherhood and 20 and 30 the ideal ages for women and men, respectively, to marry. Shakespeare might also have reduced Juliet's age from sixteen to fourteen to demonstrate the dangers of marriage at too young of an age; that Shakespeare himself married  Anne Hathaway  when he was just eighteen (very unusual for an Englishman of the time) might hold some significance. [ 66 ]


The earliest conception of the theory was created by  Werner Conze , a Nazi anthropologist. [ 67 ]  He refined the racist ideas of his mentor, Gunther Ipsen, as well others, who sought to link racial attributes like skin color and ethnicity to marriage patterns. [ 68 ]  His deeply flawed [ 69 ]  analysis of Baltic nuptiality data left an impression on decision makers in the German military, convincing them of the latent racial inferiority and alienness of  Slavic people . Since the 1990s, Werner Conze's influence has been linked by German scholars to the mass murder of millions of  Slavic  civilians during the German occupation of central and eastern European countries. [ 70 ] [ 71 ] [ 72 ] [ 73 ]


Surrogacy  is an arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a woman agrees to pregnancy and  childbirth  on behalf of (an)other person(s) who will become the child's legal parent(s) after birth. People pursue surrogacy for a variety of reasons such as  infertility , dangers or undesirable  factors of pregnancy , or when pregnancy is a medical impossibility.


A surrogacy relationship or legal agreement contains the person who carries the pregnancy and gives birth and the person or persons who take custody of the child after birth. The person giving birth is called the birth mother or gestational carrier or surrogate mother or surrogate.  The person(s) taking custody is/are called the commissioning parent(s) or intended parent(s).   [ 1 ]  The biological mother may be the surrogate or the intended parent or neither. Surrogate mothers are usually introduced to intended parent(s) through third-party agencies, or other matching channels. They are usually required to participate in processes of  insemination  (no matter traditional or IVF), pregnancy, delivery, and newborn feeding early after birth.


In surrogacy arrangements, monetary compensation may or may not be involved. Receiving money for the arrangement is known as commercial surrogacy. [ 2 ]
 [ 3 ]  The legality and cost of surrogacy varies widely between jurisdictions, contributing to  fertility tourism , and sometimes resulting in problematic international or interstate surrogacy arrangements. For example, those living in a country where surrogacy is banned travel to a jurisdiction that permits it. In some  countries , surrogacy is legal if there is no financial gain.


Where commercial surrogacy is legal, third-party agencies may assist by finding a surrogate and arranging a surrogacy contract with her. These agencies often obtain medical tests to ensure healthy gestation and delivery. They also usually facilitate legal matters concerning the intended parents and the surrogate.


Surrogacy may be either traditional or gestational, which are differentiated by the genetic origin of the egg. Gestational surrogacy tends to be more common than traditional surrogacy and is considered less legally complex. [ 4 ]


A traditional surrogacy (also known as partial, natural, or straight surrogacy) is one where the surrogate's egg is fertilised by the intended father's or a donor's sperm.


Insemination of the surrogate can be either through sex ( natural insemination ) or  artificial insemination . Using the sperm of a donor results in a child who is not genetically related to the intended parent(s). If the intended father's sperm is used in the insemination, the resulting child is genetically related to both him and the surrogate. [ 5 ] [ 6 ]


Some choose to inseminate privately without the intervention of a doctor or physician. In some jurisdictions, the intended parents using donor sperm need to go through an adoption process to have legal parental rights of the resulting child. Many fertility centres that provide for surrogacy assist the parties through the legal process.


Gestational surrogacy (also known as host or full surrogacy [ 7 ] ) was first achieved in April 1986. [ 8 ]  It takes place when an  embryo  created by  in vitro  fertilization  (IVF) technology is implanted in a surrogate, sometimes called a gestational carrier.  Gestational  surrogacy has several forms, and in each form, the resulting child is genetically unrelated to the surrogate:


The embryo implanted in gestational surrogacy faces the same risks as anyone using  IVF  would. Preimplantation risks of the embryo include unintentional epigenetic effects, influence of media which the embryo is cultured on, and undesirable consequences of invasive manipulation of the embryo. Often, multiple embryos are transferred to increase the chance of implantation, and if multiple gestations occur, both the surrogate and the embryos face higher risks of complications. [ 10 ]


Children born through singleton IVF surrogacy have been shown to have no physical or mental abnormalities compared to those children born through natural conception. However, children born through multiple gestation in gestational carriers often result in preterm labor and delivery, resulting in prematurity and physical and/or mental anomalies. [ 10 ]


“Pregnancy surrogates seem to have a higher risk of developing complications such as postpartum haemorrhage and severe pre-eclampsia and are more likely to give birth prematurely.”  [ 11 ]  Gestational surrogates have a smaller chance of having  hypertensive disorder during pregnancy  compared to mothers pregnant by  oocyte donation . This is possibly because gestational carriers tend to be healthier and more fertile than women who use oocyte donation. Gestational carriers also have low rates of  placenta previa  /  placental abruptions  (1.1–7.9%). [ 12 ]


In most countries, such as China, there exists a huge gap in the legal framework between the legislation and regulation for surrogacy. Due to insufficient authority supervision, surrogacy and the safety of surrogate mothers lack of professional support or reliable operation, the medical conditions cannot be achieved either. All these precarious factors increase the safety risks of artificial surgeries such as egg retrieval and insemination. Moreover, the underground contracts can inflict serious physiological harm on surrogate mothers. Surrogacy agencies ignore surrogate mothers' health risks and deaths: enforced foetal sex selection through forced abortions are very common, [ 13 ]  and multiple implantations and foetal reduction procedures may also be repeated on the same surrogate mother, causing health hazards such as miscarriage, infertility, and even death.


Among gestational surrogacy arrangements, between 19–33% of gestational surrogates will successfully become pregnant from an  embryo transfer . Of these cases, 30–70% will result in live birth. [ 14 ]


For surrogate pregnancies where only one child is born, the  preterm birth  rate in surrogacy is marginally lower than babies born from standard IVF (11.5% vs 14%). Babies born from surrogacy also have similar average gestational age as infants born through in vitro fertilization and  oocyte donation ; approximately weeks. Preterm birth rate was higher for surrogate twin pregnancies compared to single births. There are fewer babies with low birth weight when born through surrogacy compared to those born through in vitro fertilization but both methods have similar rates of birth defects. [ 12 ]


Opting for surrogacy is a choice for single men desiring to raise a child from infancy, same sex couples unable or unwilling for pregnancy, or women unable or unwilling to carry children on their own. Surrogacy is chosen by women for a number of medical reasons, such as abnormal or absent uterus, either congenitally (also known as  Mayer–Rokitansky–Kuster–Hauser syndrome ) [ 15 ]   or post-hysterectomy. [ 16 ]  Women may have a  hysterectomy  due to complications in childbirth such as heavy bleeding or a ruptured uterus. Medical diseases such as  cervical cancer  or endometrial cancer can also lead to surgical removal of the uterus. [ 16 ]  Past implantation failures, history of multiple miscarriages, or concurrent severe heart or renal conditions that can make pregnancy harmful may also prompt women to consider surrogacy. [ 17 ]  The biological impossibility of single men and same-sex couples having a baby also may indicate surrogacy as an option. [ 17 ]


In gestational surrogacy, the child is not biologically related to the surrogate, who is often referred to as a gestational carrier. Instead, the embryo is created via in vitro fertilization (IVF), using the eggs and sperm of the intended parents or donors, and is then transferred to the surrogate. [ 18 ]


According to recommendations made by the  European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology  and  American Society for Reproductive Medicine , a gestational carrier is preferably between the ages of 21 and 45, has had one  full-term ,  uncomplicated pregnancy  where she successfully had at least one child, and has had no more than five deliveries or three  Caesarean sections . [ 14 ]


The  International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics  recommends that the surrogate's  autonomy  should be respected throughout the pregnancy even if her wishes conflict with what the intended parents want. [ 19 ]


The most commonly reported motivation given by gestational surrogates is an  altruistic  desire to help a childless couple. [ 14 ]  Other less commonly given reasons include enjoying the experience of pregnancy, and financial compensation. [ 20 ]


Having another woman bear a child for a couple to raise, usually with the male half of the couple as the genetic father, has been referenced since the ancient times. Babylonian law and  custom  allowed this practice, and a woman unable to give birth could use the practice to avoid a  divorce , which would otherwise be inevitable. [ 21 ] [ 22 ]


Many developments in medicine, social customs, and legal proceedings around the world paved the way for modern surrogacy: [ 23 ]


Anthropological studies of surrogates have shown that surrogates engage in various distancing techniques throughout the surrogate pregnancy so as to avoid becoming emotionally attached to the baby. [ 29 ] [ 30 ] [ 31 ]  Many surrogates intentionally try to foster the development of emotional attachment between the intended mother and the surrogate child. [ 32 ]  Some surrogates describe feeling empowered by the experience. [ 30 ] [ 33 ]


Although gestational surrogates generally report being satisfied with their experience as surrogates, there are cases in which they are not. [ 34 ]  Unmet expectations are associated with dissatisfaction. Some women did not feel a certain level of closeness with the couple and others did not feel respected by the couple. Some gestational surrogates report emotional distress during the process of surrogacy. There may be a lack of access to therapy and emotional support through the surrogate process.


Gestational surrogates may struggle with  postpartum depression  and issues with relinquishing the child to their intended parents. [ 35 ]  Immediate postpartum depression has been observed in gestational surrogates at a rate of 0-20%. Some surrogates report negative feelings with relinquishing rights to the child immediately after birth, but most negative feelings resolve after some time. [ 36 ]


A systematic review [ 35 ]  of 55 studies examining the outcomes for surrogacy for surrogates and resulting families showed that there were no major psychological differences in children up to the age of 10 years old that were born from surrogacy compared to those children born from other assisted reproductive technology or those children conceived naturally.


Gay men who have become fathers using surrogacy have reported similar experiences to those of other couples who have used surrogacy, including their relationship with both their child and their surrogate. [ 37 ]


A study has followed a cohort of 32 surrogacy, 32 egg donation, and 54 natural conception families through to age seven, reporting the impact of surrogacy on the families and children at ages one, [ 38 ]  two, [ 39 ]  and seven. [ 40 ]  At age one, parents through surrogacy showed greater psychological well-being and adaptation to parenthood than those who conceived naturally; there were no differences in infant temperament. At age two, parents through surrogacy showed more positive mother–child relationships and less  parenting stress  on the part of fathers than their natural conception counterparts; there were no differences in child development between these two groups.  At age seven, the surrogacy and egg donation families showed less positive mother–child interaction than the natural conception families, but there were no differences in maternal positive or negative attitudes or child adjustment. The researchers concluded that the surrogacy families continued to function well.


The legality of surrogacy varies around the world. Many countries do not have laws which specifically deal with surrogacy. Some countries ban surrogacy outright, while others ban commercial surrogacy but allow altruistic surrogacy (in which the surrogate is not financially compensated). Some countries allow commercial surrogacy, with few restrictions. Some jurisdictions extend a ban on surrogacy to international surrogacy. In some jurisdictions rules applicable to  adoptions  apply while others do not regulate the practice.


Commercial surrogacy is banned in Canada and most of Europe.  [ 41 ]   [ 42 ]


The US, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia have the least restrictive laws in the world, allowing commercial surrogacy, including for foreigners. [ 43 ]  Surrogacy is legal and common in Iran, and monetary remuneration is practiced and allowed by religious authorities. [ 44 ] [ 45 ] .


Several Asian countries used to have less restrictive laws, but the practice has since been restricted. In 2013, Thailand banned commercial surrogacy, and restricted altruistic surrogacy to Thai couples. [ 46 ]  In 2016, Cambodia also banned commercial surrogacy. [ 46 ]  Nepal, Mexico, and India have also recently banned foreign commercial surrogacy. [ 47 ]


Laws dealing with surrogacy must deal with:


Although laws differ widely from one jurisdiction to another, some generalizations are possible: [ 48 ]


The historical legal assumption has been that the woman giving birth to a child is that child's legal mother, and the only way for another woman to be recognized as the legal mother is through adoption (usually requiring the birth mother's formal abandonment of parental rights).


Even in jurisdictions that do not recognize surrogacy arrangements, if the potential adoptive parents and the birth mother proceed without any intervention from the government and do not change their mind along the way, they will likely be able to achieve the effects of surrogacy by having the gestational carrier give birth and then give the child up for private adoption to the intended parents.


If the jurisdiction specifically bans surrogacy, however, and authorities find out about the arrangement, there may be financial and legal consequences for the parties involved. One jurisdiction ( Quebec ) prevented the genetic mother's adoption of the child even though that left the child with no legal mother. [ 49 ]


Some jurisdictions specifically prohibit only commercial and not altruistic surrogacy. Even jurisdictions that do not prohibit surrogacy may rule that surrogacy contracts (commercial, altruistic, or both) are void. If the contract is either prohibited or void, then there is no recourse if one party to the agreement has a change of heart: if a surrogate changes her mind and decides to keep the child, the intended mother has no claim to the child even if it is her genetic offspring, and the couple cannot get back any money they may have paid  the surrogate; if the intended parents change their mind and do not want the child after all, the surrogate cannot get any money to make up for the expenses, or any promised payment, and she will be left with legal custody of the child.


Jurisdictions that permit surrogacy sometimes offer a way for the intended mother, especially if she is also the genetic mother, to be recognized as the legal mother without going through the process of abandonment and adoption. Often this is via a birth order [ 50 ]  in which a court rules on the legal parentage of a child. These orders usually require the consent of all parties involved, sometimes even including the husband of a married gestational surrogate. Most jurisdictions provide for only a post-birth order, often out of an unwillingness to force the gestational carrier to give up parental rights if she changes her mind after the birth.


A few jurisdictions do provide for pre-birth orders, generally only in cases when the gestational carrier is not genetically related to the expected child. Some jurisdictions impose other requirements in order to issue birth orders: for example, that the intended parents be heterosexual and married to one another. Jurisdictions that provide for pre-birth orders are also more likely to provide for some kind of enforcement of surrogacy contracts.


The citizenship and legal status of the children resulting from surrogacy arrangements can be problematic. The Hague Conference Permanent Bureau identified the question of citizenship of these children as a "pressing problem" in the Permanent Bureau 2014 Study (Hague Conference Permanent Bureau, 2014a: 84–94). [ 51 ] [ 52 ]  According to U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, for a child born abroad to be a U.S. citizen one or both of the child's genetic parents must be a U.S. citizen. In other words, the only way for a foreign born surrogate child to acquire U.S. citizenship automatically at birth is if they are the biological child of a U.S. citizen. Furthermore, in some countries, the child will not be a citizen of the country in which they are born because the gestational carrier is not legally the parent of said child. This could result in a child being born without citizenship. [ 53 ]


“In Canada, it is a crime to pay (in cash, goods, property or services), offer to pay or advertise to pay a woman to be a surrogate mother.” [ 54 ]


In South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, and India, surrogacies are all regulated “through national laws that expressly ban it or explicitly set the parameters for its legality”. [ 55 ]


Particularly in China, surrogacy operates within a legally gray area. Scholars mostly claim that surrogacy incites social instability both for the Chinese Government and the public, such as civil disputes, gender disproportion, crime, and the spread of disease. [ 56 ]  However, no law legislation or enforcement has been published against surrogacy, whether it is a surrogate mother or a connecting third agency, despite the state government's attitude to ban such practice. [ 57 ]


Any medical organization involved in surrogacy will be considered as law violation, including any institution that organizes, implements, or facilitates egg retrieval and sale of women. Statistics found more than 400 surrogacy agencies facilitate the birth of more than 10,000 surrogate children every year on average — operating underground with legal prohibitions. [ 13 ]


Due to such blurry legal issues, surrogate mothers have become an underprivileged group facing the oppression of women's reproductive rights and the lack of formal legal restrictions. Many of the conditions they should have, such as emotional caring and social resources, are absent, as research claiming that surrogacy contracts usually blindly meet client needs while ignoring the health and well-being of the surrogate mothers. [ 13 ]  They are marginalized by society and lack the companionship of their partners and legitimate medical health checkups during the nearly one year of pregnancy.


“Australian states and territories allow altruistic surrogacy but prohibit commercial surrogacy.” [ 58 ]


Some countries in Europe allow altruistic surrogacy (where the surrogate is not paid) but most European countries prohibit commercial surrogacy.  [ 59 ]


Numerous ethical questions have been raised with regards to surrogacy. They generally stem from concerns relating to social justice, women's rights, child welfare, bioethics, [ 60 ]  and societal traditional values.


Those who view surrogacy as a social justice issue argue that it leads to the exploitation of women whose wombs are commodified to meet the reproductive desires of the more affluent. [ 61 ] [ 62 ] [ 63 ] [ 64 ] [ 65 ]  They argue that creating a commercial market for human bodies is inherently exploitative:
“A steady supply of women’s bodies is needed in order to meet the demands of rich couples who can afford to pay extravagant fees to agencies.” [ 66 ]
While some hold that any consensual process is not a human rights violation, other human rights activists argue that human rights are not just about survival but about human dignity and respect. [ 65 ]  Almost all countries ban the sale of human organs (e.g., selling a spare kidney) and renting out the use of human organs and bodily processes should be prohibited for similar reasons.   [ 67 ] .


Some  feminists  have also argued that surrogacy is an assault to a woman's dignity and right to autonomy over her body. [ 63 ] [ 64 ] [ 65 ]  By degrading women to purchasable "baby producers”, commercial surrogacy has been accused by feminists of commodifying women's bodies in a manner akin to  prostitution . [ 63 ]  Some feminists also express concerns over links between surrogacy and  patriarchal  expressions of domination as numerous reports have been cited of women in developing countries coerced into commercial surrogacy by their husbands wanting to "earn money off of their wives' bodies". [ 63 ]   Surrogate contracts can impose restrictions on the surrogate that some say violate the surrogate mother’s rights, such as right to freedom of movement.
 [ 68 ] . These contracts can allow other people to legally impose requirements on the pregnant person that some argue result in “your body, my choice”.  [ 69 ]


Other human rights activists express concern over the conditions under which gestational carriers are kept by surrogacy clinics which exercise much power and control over the process of surrogate pregnancy. [ 61 ] [ 62 ]  Isolated from friends and family and required to live in separate surrogacy hostels on the pretext of ensuring consistent  prenatal care , it is argued that gestational carriers may face psychological challenges that cannot be offset by the (limited) economic benefits of surrogacy. [ 61 ] [ 62 ]  Other psychological issues are noted, such as the implications of gestational carriers emotionally detaching themselves from their babies in anticipation of birth departure. [ 63 ]


Some argue that women in developing countries are particularly vulnerable to exploitation from surrogacy. Decisions cannot be defined as involving agency if they are driven by coercion, violence, or extreme poverty, which is often the case with women in developing countries who pursue surrogacy due to economic need or aggressive persuasion from their husbands. [ 61 ] [ 62 ] [ 63 ] [ 65 ]    While opponents of this stance argue that surrogacy provides a much-needed source of revenue for women facing poverty in developing countries, others purport that the lack of legislation in such countries often leads to much of the profit accruing to middlemen and commercial agencies rather than the gestational carriers themselves. [ 61 ] [ 62 ]  Supporters of surrogacy have argued to mandate education of gestational carriers regarding their rights and risks through the process in order to both rectify the ethical issues that arise and to enhance their autonomy. [ 70 ]  Both opponents and supporters of surrogacy have agreed that implementing international laws on surrogacy can limit the social justice issues that gestational carriers face in transnational surrogacy. [ 71 ]


Some argue that commercial surrogacy strips birthmothers of their natural rights. Most countries consider the birthmother to be the legal mother unless she freely chooses to put her child up for adoption (without coercion or payment). When a woman elects to use a donor egg to become pregnant, she is not the biological mother, but is still considered the legal mother because she is the birthmother; similarly, a surrogate is still the birthmother even if she was paid to use a donor egg.  [ 72 ] . Some argue that birth mothers cannot be coerced (or paid) to relinquish their custody of the child they bore (though any birthmother might need to share custody with another). It has been argued that under laws of countries where surrogacy falls under the umbrella of adoption, commercial surrogacy can be considered problematic as payment for adoption is unethical. [ 73 ]


Those concerned with the  rights of the child  in the context of surrogacy reference issues related to identity and parenthood, abandonment and abuse, and  child trafficking .


It is argued that in commercial surrogacy, the rights of the child are often neglected as the baby becomes a mere commodity within an economic transaction of a good and a service. [ 74 ]  Such opponents of surrogacy argue that transferring the duties of parenthood from the birthing mother to a contracting couple denies the child any claim to its birth mother and to its biological parents if the egg and/or sperm is/are not that of the contracting parents. [ 64 ]   In addition, they claim that the child has no right to information about any siblings he or she may have in the latter instance. [ 64 ]  The relevance of disclosing the use of surrogacy as an  assisted reproductive technique  to the child has also been argued to be important for both health risks and the rights of the child. [ 75 ]


It has been argued that bans on surrogacy are violations of human rights under the existing laws of the  Inter-American Court of Human Rights  reproductive rights landmark. [ 76 ]  However, “…there is no “right to a child” under international law. [ 77 ]  The United Nations Report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children states, “A child is not a good or service that the State can guarantee or provide, but rather a rights-bearing human being” and argues that commercial surrogacy (where transfer of the child is a condition for payment) violates human rights as it is considered to be the sale of children (and humans cannot be bought or sold).
 [ 78 ]  UNICEF says “A legally binding contractual relationship between the surrogate mother and the intending parent(s) established pre-birth, in which the transfer of the child would be made conditional upon payment, would constitute the sale of a child….The identity and family relations of a child cannot be for sale.”   [ 79 ]


In China, surrogacy has been argued to contradict traditional Chinese values. [ 56 ]


Traditional Chinese values focus on blood ties and family ties. The physical connection between parents and children and the process by which parents give birth to children are considered virtuous ( "生恩 shēng'ēn" ). There is also an ancient Chinese saying that believes that "the body, hair, and skin come from the parents who gave birth to one", and blood relatives should be respected, and one should not harm oneself at will ( "身体发肤受之父母 shēntǐ fà fū shòu zhī fùmǔ" ). When Chinese people regard blood relations as an important pathway to demonstrate filial piety and family intimacy, these traditional concepts are rooted in the cognitive norm of society. Such emphasis on biological parents and blood relations undoubtedly resulted in conflicts with the practice of surrogacy, which regards childbirth as only a physiological process.


Correspondingly, this value of kinship relations strongly affects the social status of surrogate mothers. They are easily considered "heartless" or "don't care about their own children" in Chinese society because they are only responsible for the birth process and hand over the children to others and do not participate in the upbringing process. However, there are also opinions that this separation from the children is not voluntary for surrogate mothers, but is forced by third-party agencies or restricted by unfair contracts. They can only give up the right to raise their children and send them away despite suffering great psychological and emotional trauma.


According to the Assisted Human Reproduction Act adopted in 2004, it is prohibited in Canada to compensate a female for acting as a surrogate mother or to advertise the payment of such compensation. [ 80 ]  However, on October 1, 2016, Health Canada announced its intention to update and strengthen the Assisted Human Reproduction Act to regulate the financial aspects of contracts between intended parents and surrogate mothers. [ 80 ]  According to research, surrogate mothers are mostly motivated by their low socioeconomic status or family debt; [ 13 ]  they are more likely to be forced into surrogacy due to financial pressures. In 2020, Section 12 of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act provides for the reimbursement of expenses and monetary compensation to the surrogate mother to alleviate the financial burden associated with surrogacy. [ 80 ]  According to this proposed regulation, the reimbursement of eligible expenses is not obligatory. [ 80 ]  Aiming at emphasizing the voluntary nature of the gesture. The proposed regulation provides a non-exhaustive list of different categories of eligible expenses, such as parking fees, travel expenses, caregiver expenses, meals, psychological consultations, etc. [ 80 ]  Additionally, the surrogate mother can be reimbursed for any lost wages during pregnancy if she obtains written confirmation from a qualified physician that the work posed a risk to the pregnancy. [ 80 ]


Different religions take different approaches to surrogacy, often related to their stances on assisted reproductive technology in general.


Buddhist  thought is inconclusive on the matter of surrogacy. The prominent belief is that Buddhism totally accepts surrogacy since there are no Buddhist teachings suggesting that  infertility  treatments or surrogacy are immoral. [ 81 ]  This stance is further supported by the common conception that serving as a gestational carrier is an expression of compassion and therefore automatically aligns with  Buddhist values . [ 82 ]


However, numerous Buddhist thinkers have expressed concerns with certain aspects of surrogacy. [ 83 ] [ 82 ]  One Buddhist perspective on surrogacy arises from the Buddhist belief in  reincarnation  as a manifestation of  karma . [ 82 ]  According to this view, gestational carrierhood circumvents the workings of karma by interfering with the natural cycle of rebirth. [ 82 ]


Others reference the  Buddha  directly who purportedly taught that trade in  sentient  beings, including human beings, is not a righteous practice as it almost always involves exploitation that causes suffering. [ 84 ]  Susumu Shimazono, professor of Religious Studies at the  University of Tokyo , contends in the magazine  Dharma World  that surrogacy places the childbearing surrogate in a position of subservience, in which her body becomes a "tool" for another. [ 82 ]  Simultaneously, other Buddhist thinkers argue that as long as the primary purpose of being a gestational carrier is out of compassion instead of profit, it is not exploitative and is therefore morally permissible. [ 84 ]  This further highlights the lack of consensus on surrogacy within the Buddhist community.


The  Roman Catholic Church  is opposed to surrogacy, which it views as immoral and incompatible with Biblical texts surrounding topics of birth,  marriage , and life. [ citation needed ]  Paragraph 2376 of the  Catechism of the Catholic Church  states that: "Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral." [ 85 ] . Paragraph 2378 states, “A child is not something owed to one, but is a gift. the "supreme gift of marriage" is a human person. A child may not be considered a piece of property, an idea to which an alleged "right to a child" would lead. In this area, only the child possesses genuine rights: the right "to be the fruit of the specific act of the conjugal love of his parents," and "the right to be respected as a person from the moment of his conception.”" [ 86 ]  Many proponents of this stance express concern that the sanctity of marriage may be compromised by the insertion of a third party into the marriage contract. [ 87 ]  Additionally, the practice of  in vitro fertilisation  involved in gestational surrogacy is generally viewed as morally impermissible due to its removal of human conception from the act of  sexual intercourse . [ 87 ]  Roman Catholics also condemn in vitro fertilisation due to the destruction of embryos that accompanies the frequent practice of discarding, freezing, or donating non-implanted eggs to  stem cell research . [ 87 ]  As such, the Roman Catholic Church deems all practices involving in vitro fertilisation, including gestational surrogacy, as morally problematic. [ citation needed ]