Women’s well-being and reproductive health in Indian mining community: need for empowerment

Abstract

This paper is a qualitative study of women’s well-being and reproductive health status among married women in mining communities in India. An exploratory qualitative research design was conducted using purposive sampling among 40 selected married women in a rural Indian mining community. Ethical permission was obtained from Goa University. A semi-structured indepth interview guide was used to gather women’s experiences and perceptions regarding well-being and reproductive health in 2010. These interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, verified, coded and then analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Early marriage, increased fertility, less birth intervals, son preference and lack of decision-making regarding reproductive health choices were found to affect women’s reproductive health. Domestic violence, gender preference, husbands drinking behaviors, and low spousal communication were common experiences considered by women as factors leading to poor quality of marital relationship. Four main themes in confronting women’s well-being are poor literacy and mobility, low employment and income generating opportunities, poor reproductive health choices and preferences and poor quality of martial relationships and communication. These determinants of physical, psychological and cultural well-being should be an essential part of nursing assessment in the primary care settings for informed actions. Nursing interventions should be directed towards participatory approach, informed decision making and empowering women towards better health and well-being in the mining community.

Structural equation modeling of psychosocial determinants of health for the empowerment of Iranian women in reproductive decision making

“…The results likewise demonstrated that problems in the relationship between men and women are associated with women's empowerment in decision making about reproduction. As discovered by D'Souza et al [17], marital relations influence reproductive decision making, and women's poor health and relations with their spouses lead to low-quality marriages. Hindin [48] found a significant relationship between women's reproductive health and the involvement of men in this issue; encouraging them to participate in resolving reproductive problems is an important strategy for empowering women.…”

“…Unfortunately, women do not use contraceptives given the lack of or weak support from spouses or communities [16]. Their empowerment in this regard is also particularly influenced by their ability to communicate with their spouses [17,18].…”

“…In reviewing the literature, factors such as the education of women and their husbands' [14,19,20], the occupation of women and their husbands' [14,[20][21][22], asset index [3,4], self-confidence [4,23], marital satisfaction [14,24] and social support [17,25] have been associated with women's empowerment in reproductive decision making. On the other hand, the World Health Organization model has identified these factors as determinant Social health is divided into two groups: structural (occupation, education and asset index) and intermediate (self-confidence, marital satisfaction, social support).…”

Information Resilience in Overcoming Vulnerability of Reproductive Health in Young Women

“…While for rural women, culture, body politics and stigma become challenges that contribute to the impediment of reproductive health for them [3]. In India [4], the reproductive years for women are of central importance to their lives. Women's role in reproductive health is affected by, and could influence her status and empowerment as an individual.…”

“…Women's role in reproductive health is affected by, and could influence her status and empowerment as an individual. However, particularly in the rural communities, Indian women have a subordinate position compare to men and have less power, autonomy status and independence [4]. So, from the various studies, women, especially young women still must face a lot of boundaries related to health reproductive.…”