Obstetric violence in the city of Santos/SP: giving voice and visibility to women and their pain/strength

• Grant number: 20/10080-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2020
• End date: September 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Welfare Services
• Principal Investigator: Priscila Fernanda Gonçalves Cardoso
• Grantee: Fernanda Frias Motta
• Host Institution: Instituto de Saúde e Sociedade (ISS). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Baixada Santista. Santos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Obstetric violence is a violation of the human and reproductive rights of women recurrent in practices of assistance to the parturition process - whether during pregnancy and / or childbirth, whether in the puerperium or during abortion. It is configured as this form of violence interventions that are harmful to the health of women, and that, despite the strangeness often caused among users and the rights that should be guaranteed to them, remain institutionalized, even without scientific support, used without criteria by professionals of health. This reality is permeated by conditionality’s involving issues other than gender - given its sexist character and being one of the forms of violence against women - such as race / ethnicity, class, generation, among others, that present us different frames of violations, which often overlap. Given the exposed context, the present work will seek to unveil the concreteness of this phenomenon in the city of Santos, located in the state of São Paulo, in order to investigate the experience of parturient women in public and private maternity hospitals in the city, to document and analyze their experiences, allowing to know their needs and demands, as well as the dimensions that obstetric violence assumes in assisting parturition traversed by the different issues that mark the identity and social context of these women. Thus, the aim is to give visibility to the speeches and place of speech of these women, and also to prevent this practice in hospital institutions, public or private, and to promote women's health.