MIDWIFERY IN A PATRIARCHAL, RACIST AND CAPITALIST SOCIETY: A VIOLENCE TO BE UNVEILED
Name: PAULA GABRIELLE NASCIMENTO RICIO
Publication date: 11/08/2020
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| ANGELA MARIA CAULYT SANTOS DA SILVA | External Examiner * |
| LÍVIA DE CÁSSIA GODOI MORAES | Internal Examiner * |
Summary: We analyzed, from the report of women who had given birth in the region of Grande Vitória - ES, the relationship between violence in childbirth assistance and the patriarchal, racist and capitalist society. For that, we used three research techniques: bibliographic review, field research and documentary research. The documentary research consisted of analyzing documents from the Ministry of Health, as well as data offered by Datasus and IBGE. In the field research, we opted to apply semi-structured interviews and we had a final sample of 24 puerperal women from the region of Grande Vitória - ES, selected through the Snowball technique. The data obtained were worked from the content analysis technique, in a materialist-historical-dialectic perspective. We demonstrate how the patriarchal system, as a system that oppresses and subjugates women, provided subsidies so that female sexuality and human reproduction ceased to be controlled by women and passed to the control of the state and the dominant male ideology. In the midst of patriarchal domination and control, midwifery was characterized as an event centered on the figure of the doctor and his interests. We present, therefore, how the supremacy of technical rationality, as well as the productivist and market logic that currently prevail in our society, interfere in a safe, respectful and quality delivery. We revealed that there was a high rate of birth interventions among the women interviewed, however, in general, such women did not question the
interventions and left the hospital relieved to have their healthy baby on
their lap. This makes it difficult to recognize obstetric violence, as many
women are unaware that they have been subjected to inappropriate procedures. We identified that 75% of the participants who declared that they suffered obstetric violence are black, reporting, along with other studies, the racial discrimination present in childbirth care. We reaffirm the need to confront all forms of exploitation, domination and violence.
