Page 33 - S. Ličen, I. Karnjuš, & M. Prosen (Eds.). (2019). Women, migrations and health: Ensuring transcultural healthcare. Koper, University of Primorska Press.
P. 33
Sexual and Reproductive Health as an Indicator of Social Integration
without a husband we would be the talk of the town. Don’t you ever come
back to Bangladesh. Stay in Italia. You will bring only shame here [. . .] and
everyone will say that you are a bad woman. If I had married the man recom-
mended by my family, perhaps things would not have ended this way, but I
fell in love with him [. . .]’ (18-year-old woman from Bangladesh)
In some cultures, elderly women and those who have a higher social sta-
tus are very powerful and use every means they avail of to sexually ‘edu-
cate’ young women and lead them back to a condition of subordination
through magic: ‘By us there is a ceremony called Kpessosso which takes place
in September. It is a sort of a voodoo ritual. I do not belong to that culture. It
is about magic, the Vudunera. They control women. They say there is a snake
that needs to be subordinated. They tell you that you need to pay the Soma
otherwise you will die. And you must do what they say, so if they say you
must marry a man, you must do it [. . .]’ (A 30-year-old woman from Togo).
In the second case, it is the parents who prevent their children from be-
coming too European, creating their own life space, and integrating com-
pletely with the host society. In this case the spread of religious fundamen-
talism is also relevant. In the case examined in the Bangladesh community
in Monfalcone, where the choice of a future spouse is obviously made by the
parents of the families, the practice of preserving traditional costumes con-
tinues unchanged. Even after years’ residing in Italy, the women do not know
the Italian language, they wear traditional clothes, lead the same lifestyle
they used to lead in Bangladesh, force their daughters to wear a traditional
dress. Everyone knows that at the age of 18 they will wed and will have to
have their first child: ‘My daughter dresses like me. Our life is led among the
community. I’ve been here for many years, almost seven. I have never had
anything to do with Italian women, I do not care, it has never happened. I do
only when I go shopping and when I went to the hospital, but there my hus-
band did the talking as I am unable to speak the local language. When my
daughter turns 18, she will get married and have children. I live like I used to
in the village. I go shopping, cook, speak to other women, clean, wait for my
husband to get back from work. Here it is better. I have a home and we live all
together. If I have problems I go to the hospital, together with my children.
My children go to school. We are many here and we always stick together.’ (A
31-year-old woman from Bangladesh).
The third case has to do with the identification of the country of emigra-
tion, the hope to go back one day and the emigrants’ regular contact with
family back home thanks to the new technologies. All of this makes the em-
igrant a living symbol of his nation of origin, and every disconnection with
31
without a husband we would be the talk of the town. Don’t you ever come
back to Bangladesh. Stay in Italia. You will bring only shame here [. . .] and
everyone will say that you are a bad woman. If I had married the man recom-
mended by my family, perhaps things would not have ended this way, but I
fell in love with him [. . .]’ (18-year-old woman from Bangladesh)
In some cultures, elderly women and those who have a higher social sta-
tus are very powerful and use every means they avail of to sexually ‘edu-
cate’ young women and lead them back to a condition of subordination
through magic: ‘By us there is a ceremony called Kpessosso which takes place
in September. It is a sort of a voodoo ritual. I do not belong to that culture. It
is about magic, the Vudunera. They control women. They say there is a snake
that needs to be subordinated. They tell you that you need to pay the Soma
otherwise you will die. And you must do what they say, so if they say you
must marry a man, you must do it [. . .]’ (A 30-year-old woman from Togo).
In the second case, it is the parents who prevent their children from be-
coming too European, creating their own life space, and integrating com-
pletely with the host society. In this case the spread of religious fundamen-
talism is also relevant. In the case examined in the Bangladesh community
in Monfalcone, where the choice of a future spouse is obviously made by the
parents of the families, the practice of preserving traditional costumes con-
tinues unchanged. Even after years’ residing in Italy, the women do not know
the Italian language, they wear traditional clothes, lead the same lifestyle
they used to lead in Bangladesh, force their daughters to wear a traditional
dress. Everyone knows that at the age of 18 they will wed and will have to
have their first child: ‘My daughter dresses like me. Our life is led among the
community. I’ve been here for many years, almost seven. I have never had
anything to do with Italian women, I do not care, it has never happened. I do
only when I go shopping and when I went to the hospital, but there my hus-
band did the talking as I am unable to speak the local language. When my
daughter turns 18, she will get married and have children. I live like I used to
in the village. I go shopping, cook, speak to other women, clean, wait for my
husband to get back from work. Here it is better. I have a home and we live all
together. If I have problems I go to the hospital, together with my children.
My children go to school. We are many here and we always stick together.’ (A
31-year-old woman from Bangladesh).
The third case has to do with the identification of the country of emigra-
tion, the hope to go back one day and the emigrants’ regular contact with
family back home thanks to the new technologies. All of this makes the em-
igrant a living symbol of his nation of origin, and every disconnection with
31
