An analysis of obstetric violence among low-income urban women: A case study of Mabvuku Hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe

abstract

This article explores the everyday narratives of women’s experiences of obstetric violence in public maternity systems in Zimbabwe. It examines women’s perception and knowledge of obstetric violence, analyses the nature and prevalence of obstetric violence and evaluates the factors that influence women experiencing obstetric violence. The study employed a qualitative research approach that sought thick descriptions and narratives from 20 women who had given birth at Mabvuku Hospital in Harare. The research found that women experience various forms of discrimination, abuse and disrespect in maternity settings. Women have largely normalised some of these experiences as everyday, accepted parts of childbearing in maternity wards. The study highlights how age, class, and lack of power in medical contexts shape women’s experiences of obstetric violence. This is compounded by the lack of knowledge around women’s rights in medical contexts and the lack of accountability on the part of medical personnel. We conclude that class and power are at the root of understanding how poor women often experience disrespectful and demeaning experiences in maternal care.

keywords:

• obstetric violence
• maternal health
• Harare
• intersectionality
• public hospitals

Notes

1 According to the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey 2015 (Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency and ICF International 2016) the estimated maternal mortality ratio (MMR) for Zimbabwe is 651 deaths per 100 000 live births. While the trend in the last 5–10 years shows a decline, the ratio is still unacceptably high.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adelaide Mufandaedza

ADELAIDE MUFANDAEDZA is a passionate researcher with professional work experience in both the public, private, non-governmental and the international sector. She has a broad comprehension of issues that affect people, especially women in her society today. Having spent nine years working in laboratory science, driven by her passion to serve people she left her comfort zone and ventured into the field of social science, focusing on the need to see development and the uplifting of people in her community. Her research interests include community development, disaster and risk management, gender and women’s issues. Email: [email protected]

Manase Kudzai Chiweshe

MANASE KUDZAI CHIWESHE is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social and Community Development, University of Zimbabwe and a Research Associate in the Department of Sociology, Rhodes University, South Africa. He is the winner of the 2015 Gerti Hesseling Prize for Best Paper Published in African Studies. His work revolves around the sociology of everyday life in African spaces with special focus on promoting African ways of knowing, with a specific interest in gender, urban sociology, agrarian studies, identity land, and livelihoods. Email: [email protected]