Exploring the Dirty Side of Women's Health

Researchers from seven countries bring together key issues in women's health, social anthropology and midwifery, thus creating a wider picture than is usually available to students. Pollution is used as a concept to highlight and help to explain phenomena in women's health which are usually unexamined, but which can be highly disruptive of service provision and personal well being. Such phenomena often concern relationships between key actors, self-image and professional and personal status. Particular issues will be addressed in depth by well known authors from several countries. For example: the chapters on breast feeding examine issues which form major obstacles to increasing the uptake of breasted but which are not being considered by policy makers. This analysis enables voices to be heard which are important but often ignored. The section on the dai, for instance, addresses birth in India and Pakistan from the viewpoint of those who deliver most babies in those countries, exploring the knowledgeand needs which they share with their clients which do not completely fit with efforts to increase modern service provision. This book addresses things out of place; from bodily leakage to outdated religious practices, from diagnoses that disrupt our self-image to beliefs and practices which undermine health service provision. As such its aim is to use the contradictions in our thinking around pollution and power to stimulate rethinking around women's health.