The Quite Shame:Beliefs can become harmful

In Africa, childbirth is tied to so many beliefs, rumours and rules about what makes a woman real woman .

Vaginal birth is celebrated and it's the mark of a woman’s worth while C-section can be viewed as failure and bad smell or spells .These beliefs are dangerous when they collide with urgent medical needs.

When husbands, in-laws or community leaders insist on no C-section and they force a woman from hospitals checks during pregnancy, delayed childbirth process consent ,until too late .This is not just cultural pressure but reproductive coercion and obstetric violence which is a form of gender based violence.

I have heard stories of women who died during childbirth because the spouse feels it's an abomination in the family despite medical reports and prescription.

Some women were divorced because the husband and his family tagged the wife as unnatural and they insist that such women can't stay married in the family.

Behind each statistic of the violence is a life cut short because of a belief that a woman’s body exists for other people’s honour..

Reproductive coercion is a well-documented form of intimate partner violence which includes controlling pregnancy outcomes and access to reproductive health care.

Obstetric violence and mistreatment in childbirth is recognized by world Health Organization as a violation of women’s rights .WHO research and guidance identify disrespect and denial of care (including refusal of necessary procedures) during childbirth as widespread problems that harm women physically and psychologically.

Forcing a woman into refusing a medically indicated C-section or denying her to consent to lifesaving care meets the definition of Gender based violence in several way:

- CONTROL OF BODILY AUTONOMY

Decisions about surgical birth are personal medical choices. When a husband or family overrides a woman’s consent, it deprives her of bodily autonomy.

-COERSION WITH THREAT OF SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES

Threat of divorce or shame are coercive tools that compel compliance..Research links reproductive coercion to increased intimate partner violence which is a form of gender based violence .

A woman who died during childbirth or on the operating table is not merely a statistic ,she is the proof that cultural shame,male control and health systems can combine to kill. When we label denial of lifesaving care as a cultural preference instead of what it really is (A FORM OF VIOLENCE)We let it continue..

"Beliefs can become harmful when they endanger lives".