Author: Fouzia Shahin
AIT Library Call Number: AIT Thesis no.GD-99-8
Year: 1999
Academic Program: Gender and Development Studies (GDS)
Type: Thesis (M.Sc.) – Asian Institute of Technology, 1999
Examination Committee: Barbara Earth (Chairperson); Govind Kelkar, Hideharu Morishita, Karl E Weber (Examination Committee Members)
Abstract: Women’s health issues have come into consideration specifically in the last decade of the century reproductive health is one of the important aspects. The process of defining reproductive health brought into light many factors affecting reproductive and sexual health domestic violence is one of them. The present study is an attempt to find associations between reproductive health and domestic violence. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of research including field survey, survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews were used for purposes of triangulation. The perception of women in Rural Punjab was studied with regard to health issues related to pregnancy, delivery, contraceptive use, abortion and sexual health. The patterns of physical and emotional abuse were focused in the study. It was found that reproductive health is associated with domestic violence in more than obvious ways. Insufficient diet in pregnancy, practice of not visiting for antenatal check up, and home deliveries were closely associated with higher physical and emotional abuse. Similarly the miscarriage, child death and abortion was also closely linked to domestic violence. The complex issue of domestic violence along with its health impacts on reproduction and sexuality brought into light many factors such as inferior social position of women, their exclusion from decision-making, economic dependency, lack of knowledge, lack of control over their sexuality and the blend of culture and religion as root causes. The socio-cultural and political environment of Rural Punjab requires to be changed from top-down to bottom-up for a healthy and violence-free environment for women and a healthy nation.
Scholarship Donor(s): Government of the Netherlands
Note: A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development
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