Page 165 - S. Ličen, I. Karnjuš, & M. Prosen (Eds.). (2019). Women, migrations and health: Ensuring transcultural healthcare. Koper, University of Primorska Press.
P. 165
Monoligual Health?
– She was disturbed by the absence of a nurse and the fact that she was
alone with a gynaecologist. [The problem of gender relations]
Another immigrant woman from Asia describes a negative experience that
relates to her delivery. She comes from an environment where the birth of a
child is a ‘less formal and more social event,’ involving more people from the
community. If she gave birth in her place of origin, according to her testi-
mony, a village woman who was trained to help with childbirth and one of
her female relatives, her mother or sister, would all be present at birth. Even
the birth itself would, in her opinion, be done differently. A midwife would
massage her, massage her baby, and she would lead her through the birth in
a different way. The birth protocol in Slovenian hospitals can therefore be a
real culture shock for migrant women and a very unpleasant experience.
Giving birth, I really wanted my husband to be with me, I explained my
nurse: ‘Please call my husband!’ But my husband was not there. I was
so sad. [She started to cry, MS] The worst thing was that you were alone
in the room, there were not many patients, no mothers, no doctors, no
nurses, and I was: OK, who I could call? I can call my mother, my father,
at home, and in my mind it was, oh no, it is too expensive [. . .] That was
the worst.
Some women also pointed out that they wanted to have a woman gynae-
cologist, but most had no choice.
I wanted a female gynaecologist. There is no way I coud go to a man.
At 22.
In recent years, intercultural competencies in Slovenian healthcare have
been given a little more attention – for example, in the form of a pilot scheme
for training health professionals in this area, the provision of cultural media-
tors by non-governmental organizations in individual institutions and other
similar actions – but there still exists much potential for improvements in this
area.
Ethnic Stereotypes, Ethnic Prejudices, Nationalism, ‘Racism’
and Discriminatory Practices in Relation to Migrant Women
Although medical staff are formally committed to acting in the patient’s best
interest, forms of discriminatory treatment can be observed in our interviews.
This is sometimes more and sometimes less explicit. Health personnel are not
163
– She was disturbed by the absence of a nurse and the fact that she was
alone with a gynaecologist. [The problem of gender relations]
Another immigrant woman from Asia describes a negative experience that
relates to her delivery. She comes from an environment where the birth of a
child is a ‘less formal and more social event,’ involving more people from the
community. If she gave birth in her place of origin, according to her testi-
mony, a village woman who was trained to help with childbirth and one of
her female relatives, her mother or sister, would all be present at birth. Even
the birth itself would, in her opinion, be done differently. A midwife would
massage her, massage her baby, and she would lead her through the birth in
a different way. The birth protocol in Slovenian hospitals can therefore be a
real culture shock for migrant women and a very unpleasant experience.
Giving birth, I really wanted my husband to be with me, I explained my
nurse: ‘Please call my husband!’ But my husband was not there. I was
so sad. [She started to cry, MS] The worst thing was that you were alone
in the room, there were not many patients, no mothers, no doctors, no
nurses, and I was: OK, who I could call? I can call my mother, my father,
at home, and in my mind it was, oh no, it is too expensive [. . .] That was
the worst.
Some women also pointed out that they wanted to have a woman gynae-
cologist, but most had no choice.
I wanted a female gynaecologist. There is no way I coud go to a man.
At 22.
In recent years, intercultural competencies in Slovenian healthcare have
been given a little more attention – for example, in the form of a pilot scheme
for training health professionals in this area, the provision of cultural media-
tors by non-governmental organizations in individual institutions and other
similar actions – but there still exists much potential for improvements in this
area.
Ethnic Stereotypes, Ethnic Prejudices, Nationalism, ‘Racism’
and Discriminatory Practices in Relation to Migrant Women
Although medical staff are formally committed to acting in the patient’s best
interest, forms of discriminatory treatment can be observed in our interviews.
This is sometimes more and sometimes less explicit. Health personnel are not
163
