Why South Asian women make extreme choices in childbirth

Mayra, Kaveri; Kumar-Hazard, Bashi

doi:10.4324/9780429489853-11

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…The unique application of birthing maps helped to address the language and power barriers and helped women to break their silence especially about their experiences of obstetric violence and share their birthing experience in detail with comfort. It helped to break women's silence about their birthing experiences, where theirs is the crucial voice driving the improvements in sexual, reproductive and maternal health care [19,21,[42][43][44]. Over-medicalisation makes the birth world helpless for women to understand and describe.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over-medicalisation makes the birth world helpless for women to understand and describe. Studies suggest that the culture of silence and the acclimatisation to tolerate violence in personal lives, often as a result of a patriarchal culture, may keep them from reporting on their experience of disrespect and abuse in the birthing environment, as they may be conditioned to feel less valued [21,33,41,43,44].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While literature suggest that "being present with the woman" is crucial for positive birthing experiences [48], in women's opinion the care providers would rank the foetus / baby and their own convenience as top concerns in the order of preference for care. This is reflected in care providers coercing, compelling and restricting women on choices about their bodies [15,44]. It is important to understand the difference between having a birth companion chosen by the family and health care providers, and one chosen and preferred by the woman, whose focus is supportive care towards the woman's needs during the birth process [40].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Breaking the silence about obstetric violence: Body mapping women’s narratives of respect, disrespect and abuse during childbirth in Bihar, India

Mayra

Sandall

Matthews

et al. 2022

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

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Background Evidence on obstetric violence is reported globally. In India, research shows that almost every woman goes through some level of disrespect and abuse during childbirth, more so in states such as Bihar where over 70% of women give birth in hospitals. Objective 1) To understand how women experience and attach meaning to respect, disrespect and abuse during childbirth; and 2) document women’s expectations of respectful care. Methods ‘Body mapping’, an arts-based participatory method, was applied. The analysis is based on in-depth interviews with eight women who participated in the body mapping exercise at their homes in urban slums and rural villages. Analysis was guided by feminist relational discourse analysis. Findings Women reported their experiences of birthing at home, public facilities, and private hospitals in simple terms of what they felt ‘good’ and ‘bad’. Good experiences included being spoken to nicely, respecting privacy, companion of choice, a bed to rest, timely care, lesser interventions, obtaining consent for vaginal examination and cesarean section, and better communication. Bad experiences included unconsented interventions including multiple vaginal examinations by different care providers, unanesthetized episiotomy, repairs and uterine exploration, verbal, physical, sexual abuse, extortion, detention and lack of privacy. Discussion The body maps capturing birth experiences, created through a participatory method, accurately portray women’s respectful and disrespectful births and are useful to understand women’s experience of a sensitive issue in a patriarchal culture. An in-depth understanding of women’s choices, experiences and expectations can inform changes practices in and policies and help to develop a culture of sharing birth experiences.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Breaking the silence about obstetric violence: Body mapping women’s narratives of respect, disrespect and abuse during childbirth in Bihar, India

Mayra

Sandall

Matthews

et al. 2022

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

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“…Several studies report various aspects of women's lives, mostly violent; however, the description of this as obstetric violence or disrespect and abuse during childbirth is new and rising in Bihar, other parts of India and globally (Sen, Reddy & Iyer 2018;Mayra & Hazard 2020;Mayra, Matthews & Padmadas 2021;Chattopadhyay 2018, Dhar et al 2018Chadwick 2018). Women's right to give consent and to choose is essential for a positive birthing experience, especially in an obstetric setting.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Surrogate decision-making’ in India for women competent to consent and choose during childbirth

Mayra¹,

Matthews²,

Sandall³

2021

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In a postcolonial, deeply patriarchal culture, decisions are often made for Indian women about every aspect of their lifebeginning with whether they will be allowed to be born. This is followed by every life decision, including education and marriage. A 'surrogate decision-maker' is a guardian who decides for an adult incapable of making their own decisions due to a mental health condition, or as a substitute based on a patient's stated or predicted wishes. However, the majority of Indian women are 'controlled' and 'allowed' or otherwise regarding everything. No choice in women's life is women's own, including decisions about deeply personal experiences such as giving birth.Our article is embedded in feminist epistemology and uses voice-centred relational analysis of interviews with four women from impoverished backgrounds in Bihar, India, to explore decision making around childbirth and throughout their lives. The surrogate decision-makers in the birth environment are: 1) healthcare and nonhealthcare providers, and/or 2) family members (who play the dominant role in every other decision about women's lives). They communicate amongst themselves about a woman's active bodily experience. Through I-poems we present women's varied levels of resistance and non-resistance to obstetric violence, which can be looked at as an extension of their response to violence in their routine lives. We find similarities in women's conditioning to endure, and argue that women should be the key stakeholders of their decisions about themselves and their bodies, which includes decisions about birth.

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Why South Asian women make extreme choices in childbirth

Cited by 2 publications

References 1 publication

Breaking the silence about obstetric violence: Body mapping women’s narratives of respect, disrespect and abuse during childbirth in Bihar, India

Breaking the silence about obstetric violence: Body mapping women’s narratives of respect, disrespect and abuse during childbirth in Bihar, India

‘Surrogate decision-making’ in India for women competent to consent and choose during childbirth

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