Pregnant women victims of gender-based violence
RESEARCH coming out of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, is showing that pregnant women are victims of gender-based violence and that midwives are aware and are willing to intervene but lack formal procedures to detect and treat.
The report, Gender-based violence in pregnancy: Opportunities or challenges for midwives, is one of the research projects that will be featured at UWI’s Research Days 2015 from February 9-11.
The research is being conducted by Institute of Gender and Development Studies doctoral student Cynthia Pitter, a nurse and midwife who lectures at UWI’s School of Nursing.
Of the pregnant women interviewed, 140 (51 per cent) reported experiencing gender-based violence. Of this group, 85 (30.7 per cent) reported either physical, psychological or sexual violence during their current pregnancy.
All women stated that gender-based violence should be discussed at antenatal clinics. Midwives reported that their capacity to assist pregnant women is hindered by lack of professional preparedness, gaps in the institutional framework to guide their practice, and concerns for their safety.
Preliminary data from pregnant women was collected using participatory action research, as well as questionnaires administered to 275 randomly selected women at two hospitals in Kingston. Other data was collected from two focus group discussions with 12 midwives.
Violence against women has profound implications for health but is often ignored. The World Health Organisation’s World Report on Violence and Health notes that one of the most common forms of violence against women is that performed by a husband or male partner. This type of violence is frequently invisible since it happens behind closed doors, and therefore legal systems and cultural norms do not treat it as a crime, but rather as a “private” family matter, or a normal part of life.
The study is being done against the background of gender-based violence being a global phenomenon, noting that greater emphasis needs to be placed on its impact on maternal health.
The study seeks to improve maternal health and midwives’ capacity in two Jamaican maternity hospitals to identify and refer pregnant women who are experiencing gender-based violence. As such, a protocol was developed to guide the midwives’ practice.
