The grace of motherhood: disabled women contending with societal denial of intimacy, pregnancy, and motherhood in Ethiopia (original) (raw)
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Reproductive Health
Background Previous research has highlighted widespread public mis/perceptions that portray women with disabilities (WWDs) as asexual, less likely to marry, and often not interested in childbearing. However, evidence from high-income settings shows that many WWDs are sexually active and do have or want to have children. Notwithstanding this, very few studies have focused on understanding childbearing desires and motivations among WWDs in low-income settings. This qualitative research explored childbearing desires and motivations among WWDs in Ghana. Methods A cross-sectional qualitative study was conducted with WWDs aged 18–49 years in Northern Ghana. The distribution of participants by disability types were as follows: physical disability/impairment (n = 37); visual impairment (n = 11); speech and hearing impairment (n = 14); epilepsy (n = ten); and albinism (n = five). A pre-tested open-ended thematic topic guide was designed and used to conduct in-depth interviews. Interviews wer...
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
Background: This study reviews the attitudes and behaviours in rural Nepalese society towards women with disabilities, their pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood. Society often perceives people with disabilities as different from the norm, and women with disabilities are frequently considered to be doubly discriminated against. Studies show that negative perceptions held in many societies undervalue women with disabilities and that there is discomfort with questions of their control over pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood, thus limiting their sexual and reproductive rights. Public attitudes towards women with disabilities have a significant impact on their life experiences, opportunities and help-seeking behaviours. Numerous studies in the global literature concentrate on attitudes towards persons with disabilities, however there have been few studies in Nepal and fewer still specifically on women. Methods: A qualitative approach, with six focus group discussions among Dalit and non-Dalit women without disabilities and female community health volunteers on their views and understandings about sexual and reproductive health among women with disabilities, and 17 face-to-face semi-structured interviews with women with physical and sensory disabilities who have had the experience of pregnancy and childbirth was conducted in Rupandehi district in 2015. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English before being analysed thematically. Results: The study found negative societal attitudes with misconceptions about disability based on negative stereotyping and a prejudiced social environment. Issues around the marriage of women with disabilities, their ability to conceive, give birth and safely raise a child were prime concerns identified by the non-disabled study participants. Moreover, many participants with and without disabilities reported anxieties and fears that a disabled woman's impairment, no matter what type of impairment, would be transmitted to her baby, Participantsboth disabled and non-disabled, reported that pregnancy and childbirth of women with disabilities were often viewed as an additional burden for the family and society. Insufficient public knowledge about disability leading to inaccurate blanket assumptions resulted in discrimination, rejection, exclusion and violence against women with disabilities inside and outside their homes. Stigma, stereotyping and prejudice among non-disabled people resulted to exclusion, discrimination and rejection of women with disabilities. Myths, folklore and misconceptions in culture, tradition and religion about disability were found to be deeply rooted and often cited as the basis for individual beliefs and attitudes. Conclusion: Women with disabilities face significant challenges from family and society in every sphere of their reproductive lives including pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood. There is a need for social policy to raise public awareness and for improved advocacy to mitigate misconception about disability and promote disabled women's sexual and reproductive rights.
Reproductive Health Matters
The aim of this article is to elucidate the childbearing experiences and aspirations of women with disability in Zimbabwe. The paper draws from a qualitative narrative study conducted by researchers at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, which explored the experiences of sexuality of disabled women in Zimbabwe and which used the Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method to generate data. In part, the study revealed that disabled women often encounter a diverse range of challenges that are associated with disability and which hinder them from realising their full sexual and reproductive health and rights. Some participants recounted that they are happy with the fact that they have their own biological children, albeit registering frustration with the fact that they are in most cases discriminated against both within and outside of reproductive healthcare centres. Participants who had not had any childbearing experiences by the time of the study reported that they aspired to have their own biological children. Whichever way, the women's narratives are challenging the myth that women with disability do not require space in the childbearing arena because they are disabled.
Conceptions of physically disabled women in terms of motherhood: an exploratory-descriptive study
Online Brazilian Journal of Nursing, 2014
392 Carvalho CFS, Brito RS.Conceptions of physically disabled women in terms of motherhood: an exploratory-descriptive study [internet] 2014 Oct [cited year month day]; 13 (suppl I): 392-4. Available from: ABSTRACT Problem: Women's daily experiences in terms of their disability and their influence on their lives, on their families and in the social environment, interfere with important decisions such as motherhood. Aim: To understand the conceptions of physically disabled women in terms of their ability to gestate, give birth or raise a child. Method: This is an exploratory and descriptive study in which a qualitative approach was used, carried out with twelve (12) physically disabled women registered in three non-governmental organizations in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte (RN), Brazil. Data collection occurred during the period from April to June 2014, by means of semi-structured interviews. A script consisting of socio-demographic questions and guiding question was used. The information obtained follows the precepts of Bardin's content analysis, and makes use of the thematic analysis technique. The principles of Symbolic Interactionism proposed by Blumer and correlated scientific literature was adopted as a theoretical and methodological framework.
Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 2019
This paper is developed from our study on sexual and reproductive rights of women with disability in Zimbabwe, The paper demonstrates how the social model, human rights-based and feminist approaches combine to come up with an overarching critical feminist disability studies lens (CFDSL) to guide studies on disability and feminism using sexual and reproductive rights of women with disabilities. The paper argues that gender and disability are not only complex, but very dynamic and fluid problems. They cannot be adequately investigated using the lens of one simple theory. Hence the need for theory triangulation to come up with some hybrid theory like CFDSL. From the perspectives of the CFDSL, therefore, this paper argues that women with disabilities are not any special case who should be simply pitied without access to human rights which are mandatory to every human being. They are different, but this difference does not imply denial of human rights, in this case sexual and reproductive rights.
Developing Country Studies, 2018
The importance of marriage cannot be underestimated as it provides social, economic and emotional benefits to partners. This study was conducted to ascertain the challenges disabled people encounter in their marriage within the Yendi Municipality of Ghana. An exploratory design with qualitative approach was conducted in which 16 participants were selected through snowballing technique. Face-to-face in-depth interview was used to collect the data through audio recordings. Data-led thematic analysis was used to categorize the transcribed data into themes which have been presented as main findings. Their expectations have not been met as they are confronted with several challenges in their marriages from society, economic and domestic fields. People with disabilities within the Yendi Municipality who are married and facing challenges should form self-help groups to manage and deal with their challenges collectively. Keywords: Expectations and challenges in marriage, people with disabil...
Journal of Culture, Society and Development, 2019
This paper is derived from study on sexual and reproductive rights of women with disabilities in Zimbabwe. The paper explores the sexual and reproductive rights (SRR) and practices vis a vis women with disabilities in Zimbabwe. This is done with the view of drawing insights and policy recommendations on sexual and reproductive rights for women with disabilities in Zimbabwe. The study argues that there are serious gaps in SRR policies and their implementation for WWDs. While the availability of acceptable and supportive public policy and legislation indicates the beginning of a commendable process of services delivery to all stakeholders, this alone is not sufficient unless supported by effective systems and processes for effective delivery. Formulation and adoption of a policy or piece of legislation does not automatically translate to its implementation and/or enforcement. The study recommends change of mind-set for both the cultural environment and law with regards what is acceptable and legal sex; domestication and enforcement of international and regional disability laws; redesign of national laws to clearly address SRRs for WWDs; communication and advocacy of disability laws to the people. follow-ups and performance evaluation of families and communities on how they treat WWDs vis a vis their SRR; and involvement of WWDs in policy formulation.
Barriers to marriage and motherhood: the experiences of disabled women in Malaysia
The History of the Family, 2019
The conceptualisation of disability is contested globally and issues in gender studies further complicate the movement towards the development of an inclusive and equal society. However, most disability and gender research studies are based on the data collected in the Global North, and little is known about disabled women in the Global South. The data presented here is from a bigger study focusing on the lived experiences of women with disabilities. This paper sets to explore how disabled women in Malaysia experience their lives in terms of marriage and motherhood prospects. The data of this qualitative study was collected from a set of in-depth interviews involving 32 women in Malaysia with physical (mobility) impairment. Over a period of 6 months, 16 Malays, 8 Chinese and 8 Indian women were interviewed twice. The analysis proposes both retrospective and introspective accounts on marriage and motherhood. The data gathered from the in-depth interviews was transcribed and analysed thematically with the help of NVivo software. The findings indicated that most participants have experienced significant barriers concerning individual constraints, familial control, and societal barriers. These were discussed with the intrinsic aspects and contextual factors of living in a patriarchal and traditional society that significantly undermined the wellbeing of disabled women in this study. Nevertheless, many of those interviewed refused to give up their hope of having a family life despite the constant struggles they encountered in their pursuit of happiness. However, their aspirations to experience family life were restricted and this caused them to experience significant psycho-emotional problems. They were constantly reminded that they were 'disabled' and not worthy of experiencing life like other women. The paper will discuss these challenges and negative societal attitudes towards the issue.