Having explored what birth is in U.S. it is important to look at it from another perspective, another country. So I chose India, because their culture and U.S.’s are not similar. In HW # 42, I researched what the typical male role is versus the ideal male role during childbirth is in the U.S. and after doing so I found the topic to be interesting and wondered what the typical male role might be in another country, for example in India.
The birth rate in India is large; they have about 20.3 births per 1,000, with a population of 1,189,172,906 people. This fact helps one understand what birth is like in India and that just as China, India is afraid of overpopulation.
Birth rate: 20.97-births/1,000 population (2011 est.)
Year | Birth rate | Rank | Percent Change | Date of Information | |
2003 | 23.28 | 91 | | 2003 est. | |
2004 | 22.32 | 91 | -4.12 % | 2004 est. | |
2005 | 22.32 | 91 | 0.00 % | 2005 est. | |
2006 | 22.01 | 93 | -1.39 % | 2006 est. | |
2007 | 22.69 | 86 | 3.09 % | 2007 est. | |
2008 | 22.22 | 86 | -2.07 % | 2008 est. | |
2009 | 21.76 | 87 | -2.07 % | 2009 est. | |
2010 | 21.34 | 85 | -1.93 % | 2010 est. | |
2011 | 20.97 | 85 | -1.73 % | 2011 est. | |
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("Indexmundi")
But going back to what the typical male role is in India during childbirth, I decided to learn more about childbirth in India and came upon this book that showed what the average childbirth is like in many countries from Mexico to China. For India it said, “Traditional women in India will act subservient to their husbands and will not make their own decisions…Women from India are modest and will prefer to be draped and covered during procedures and during childbirth.” (Murray, and Huelsmann 202). Women due to their culture and religious are more modest, they like to be covered and let the male make their decisions. So this quote says that the male is in charge of the decisions during this pregnancy, while normally in U.S. it tends to be the female’s choice.
To better understand why it is male’s choice, I looked at what the gender roles are in general in this country. To help us see why typical male role is what it is during childbirth, this article a woman named Hanlon writes about what the gender roles are like in India; “ In India, their view's on gender roles is still one considered backward compared to Western society. The role of each gender in Indian society is one that is steeped in religion and culture and makes for an oppressive tradition. There are many factors that contribute to the oppression of women in India; these include geographical locations throughout the country, education, and economic and religious reasons. Indian women usually suffer from a low social status compared to men and are sometimes treated negatively. But on the other hand women are revered in Hindu practices with many ceremonies dedicated to them, but Indian society and laws still fail to treat women with equal rights as men.” (Hanlon) Hanlon’s quote gave me a better understanding of what the gender roles are in India, evidence of why the male is charge of pregnancy. That the laws still let men have more power than the woman even in 5their own childbirth.
The male role not only can be the partner but the doctor, and how the gender of the doctor taking care of these women during childbirth are women just like them, “The main reason given for the need to train medical women in India was that the cultural practices of purdah prevented Indian women from going to see male doctors. Indeed, cross-cultural studies in many parts of the world suggest that women prefer to be attended my woman doctors during childbirth due to cultural notions of modesty, regardless of whether or not women are secluded for religious purposes such as in purdah.” (Hollen 43) When reading this I thought ahead when I one day will give birth and how uncomfortable I’d feel having all my parts out to a doctor much less a male doctor, so I sympathize with Indian women on why they would rather have woman doctor. Showing how a male in the delivery room is not wanted by these Indian women due to their cultural background, but this quote even shows that it is not only religious women who want a doctor of their gender. So if a male doctor is not wanted in the delivery room, I can only imagine even the father would not be allowed but I continued to research further.
When searching what average/typical male role was in the delivery room, I found an advice column for birth partner from a baby center in India. “A woman's birth partner is a vital support at a crucial time in her life. Although these days it is often the father who attends the birth, many maternity wards welcome whomever the mother has chosen as partner. Many women ask their mother, sister or sister-in-law to help them.” ("Baby center") This is current from 2010 from a baby center in India, and it says its hospital policy being the 21st century, is that men are allowed to be in delivery room, BUT the women tend to ask their mother or sister to help and be there. So still Indian women today rather have their mother or woman figure with them, and when I read Baby Catcher by Peggy Vincent, she explains why this is for many different women, because for them they’d rather have someone who “speaks” the same language and their rhythm of body movement. For these Indian women I believe it is more because of their culture and religion that they follow, men are not allowed them until it is over and fully cleansed.
While researching I found a study two men Singh and Ram who collected data to find out men’s involvement during pregnancy and childbirth by interviewing men ages 15 – 54 from rural Ahmadnagar in India. And these were their results; “ Men who had egalitarian gender role attitudes were more likely to assist their wives during pregnancy compared to men who had traditional gender role attitudes… More than half the men were present at the time of delivery of their last child. A majority of men among those who were absent at the time of delivery reported that their wives were at their parents’ house. Going for delivery to the parents’ house is a very common feature in rural areas of India. Especially the birth of first child generally takes place at the parental home…. In such cases men may not be allowed to go to their in-laws house to assist their wives even if they wished to do so.” (Singh, and Ram 83- 102) The data shows that the males (fathers) did or did not attend their wife’s childbirth depending on their gender role attitudes. Also this data shows that the women’s parents did not allow the man to be present during his wife’s birth, being more traditional.
After all this research, I still cannot make a generalization of how all Indian men are not being present during the woman’s childbirth. Although there was certainly a correlation between the men and women who were more traditional and religious who did not allow father to be present during delivery while those who weren’t had the male/father there. Just like in the U.S. we see TV and how father is always there in delivery room, how can we be so sure that during most of these births that the father is present? We cannot generalize because of the different views one country can have, especially in the US “the melting pot” with so many ideas, cultures and religions how can one infer that the father is always present, and even if he is there the extent of his ability to comfort her will differ. Hope you enjoyed finding out what typical male role is like another expanding one’s view outside, that few us of do until we leave the country and see another’s!
Hanlon, R.L. "India's views on gender roles." Helium. N.p., 24 April 2008. Web. 5 Apr 2011. .
Hollen, Cecilia. Birth in the threshold: childbirth and modernity in South India. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2003. 43. eBook.
"India Birth Rate - Demographics." indexmundi. N.p., 11 March 2011. Web. 5 Apr 2011. .
Murray, Michelle, and Gayle Huelsmann. Labor and delivering nursing: a guide to evidence - based practice. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company, 2009. 202. eBook.
Singh, Abhishek, and Faujdar Ram. "Men’s Involvement during Pregnancy and Childbirth: Evidence from Rural Ahmadnagar, India." 48. (2009): 83- 102. Web. 4 Apr 2011
"10 tips for labor partners." baby center. Baby center India, 2010. Web. 4 Apr 2011. .