An integrated analysis of detailed ethnography and large-scale survey data is presented to explore the gendered influences on women's uptake of antenatal care (ANC) services in Punjab, Pakistan. Pregnancy and its associated decisions were shown to be normatively the older women's domain, with pregnant women and their husbands being distanced from the decision-making process. Women who successfully claimed ANC did so not by overtly challenging the dominant construction of young femininity, but rather by using existing gendered structures and channels of communication to influence authority figures. The quality of a woman's inter-personal ties, particularly with her mother-in-law and husband, were found to be important in accessing resources, including ANC. Gendered influences were moderated by social class. Family finances were an important determinant of ANC use, as was women's education. Wealthier, higher status women also found it easier to circumvent gendered proscriptions against their mobility while pregnant. As well as illuminating the ways in which the sociocultural construction of gender acts to constrain women's access to ANC, the empirical findings are used to highlight significant inadequacies in the 'autonomy paradigm' that has dominated much of the research into women's reproductive health in South Asia.

Recent research and policy discourse commonly views the limited 'autonomy' of women in developing countries as a key barrier to improvements in their reproductive health. Rarely, however, is the notion of women's autonomy interrogated for its conceptual adequacy or usefulness for understanding the determinants of women's reproductive health, formulation of effective policy or design of programs. Using empirical ethnographic data, this paper draws attention to the incongruities between the concept of 'women's autonomy' and the gendered social, cultural, economic and political realities of women's lives in rural Punjab, Pakistan. These inadequacies include: the paradigm's undue emphasis on women's independent, autonomous action; a lack of attention to men and masculinities; a disregard of the multi-sited constitution of gender relations and gender inequality; an erroneous assumption that uptake of reproductive health services is an indicator of autonomy; and a failure to explore the interplay of other axes of disadvantage such as caste, class or socio-economic position. This paper calls for alternative, more nuanced, theoretical approaches to conceptualizing gender inequalities to enhance our understanding of women's reproductive wellbeing in Pakistan. The extent to which our arguments may be relevant to the wider South Asian context, and women's lives in other parts of the world, is also discussed.

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In common with several countries in South Asia, the Pakistan government health system has introduced cadres of community-based female health and family planning workers as a response to gender-based constraints on women's access to services. However, the recruitment, training and retention of such female workers has been difficult. This finding points to the obvious but neglected fact that female health workers must operate within the same gender systems that necessitate their appointment in the first place. The present study used qualitative methods to increase our understanding of the experience of female staff working at the community level and in particular the gender-based constraints that they face. Important problems identified include: abusive hierarchical management structures; disrespect from male colleagues; lack of sensitivity to women's gender-based cultural constraints; conflict between domestic and work responsibilities; and poor infrastructural support. The findings highlight the interconnectedness of women's public and private lives and the interplay of class and gender hierarchies in the patterning of women's employment experiences. The study's conclusions suggest ways in which the organizational functioning of the government health services might be modified to better facilitate the work of female staff.