The shifting axes of marginalities

The politics of identities shaping women's experiences during childbirth in Northeast India

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3972532
AutoresChattopadhyay (0000-0003-1077-2162, Consultant at Ramalingaswami Centre on Health Inequalities, Public Health Foundation of India, Bangalore, India., autor de correspondencia)
Año2018
Volumen26
Número53
Páginas62-69
Fecha de publicación2018-08-27
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaReproductive Health Matters (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0968-8080 • E-ISSN: 1460-9576
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09688080.2018.1502022
PMID30132408
OpenAlexW2888704144
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas12

Institutional births in India, including the north eastern state of Assam, have increased steeply in the last decade such that 71% of all births now occur in facilities. Most analyses of disrespect and abuse during childbirth have largely framed the problem within a binary that juxtaposes all users of services in one category, subordinate to institutions and institutional actors. This commentary explores whether a different analysis is possible within a relational context where citizenship itself is graded, and not all marginal groups experience either the same form or the same intensity of mistreatment. Employing a historical lens including examining relations between non-elite groups, current discriminatory state policies and practices, and deepening conflicts over scarce resources, this commentary presents a more localised and granular understanding of how disrespect and abuse may manifest in institutional births in Assam. Experiences of disrespect and abuse during childbirth are mediated by axes of marginalities that are dynamic and non-isomorphic, shaped by state policies, the everyday practices of the citizens, the differential and unequal relations between the state and multiple marginal groups of citizens, and between citizens themselves. Reframing marginality in this way may lend itself to identifying sources of inequities that emanate from both within and outside of health systems, allowing for more sophisticated explorations of disrespect and abuse. This may help improve health systems to ensure that experience of childbirth is more humane, safe and respectful, independent of women's social identities and their locations in the larger political economy

Childbirth · Political science · Politics · Pregnancy · Sociology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Gender Studies · Global Maternal and Child Health · Migration, Health and Trauma