Page 57 - S. Ličen, I. Karnjuš, & M. Prosen (Eds.). (2019). Women, migrations and health: Ensuring transcultural healthcare. Koper, University of Primorska Press.
P. 57
Reproductive Health of Migrant Women in Slovenia: State of the Art
migrant women; they are to a large extent non-active on the labour market
(unemployed, but not registered as job seekers) and, finally, they mostly do
not have Slovenian citizenship, do not speak the Slovenian language and do
not have contacts and a social life outside the (extended) family and ethnic
community. Due to the language barriers and other cultural and traditional
norms (patriarchal values), it is a husband or male relative (e.g. father-in-law)
who communicates with the ‘outside’ world on her behalf. As empirical stud-
ies show, this situation also has important implications for the reproductive
health of these women (Sedmak, Medarić, Lenarčič, & Gornik, 2018).
Although international and EU documents refer to health as a human right,
specific needs and rights, in particular regarding reproductive health, are cur-
rently not ensured through Slovenian legislation. This is particularly true for
migrant women with irregular status who have limited access to services of
any kind beyond emergency care (and even for this service it is not clear
exactly what it encompasses) through the public health system, including
those related to their reproductive health rights. Similar findings were re-
ported in studies dealing with the issue of equal access to health services
among immigrants. Besides barriers specifically linked to their legal status,
migrant women also face obstacles related to their status as foreigners, which
results in limited familiarity with the national health system, different cus-
toms and experiences related to sexual and reproductive health, and lan-
guages that may be unfamiliar to healthcare practitioners. In this respect,
several empirical studies have identified the main obstacles in accessing (re-
productive) health services as being language barriers, lack of intercultural
competences of health personnel and their (hidden) discriminatory relation-
ship towards migrants. Resulting from this, it is clear that in Slovenia there
exist quite a few discrepancies between the rights afforded on paper and the
experiences of migrant women in practice. Although the activities of several
NGOs aim to raise awareness about reproductive health in relation to migrant
women, the literature review indicates that this is an under-researched field
in Slovenia and we still lack theoretically and empirically supported analy-
sis. The bottom line is that assessment of the current situation in Slovenia
clearly unveils both blurred legal and policy frameworks and patchy prac-
tices, which are major shortcomings in terms of the realization of a rights-
based approach to reproductive health in relation to migrant women. The
literature review and best practices overview indicate that the first and the
most urgent step towards improvement of the situation would be to edu-
cate health providers interculturally in order that they can recognize repro-
ductive health norms and practices within different cultural contexts. This
55
migrant women; they are to a large extent non-active on the labour market
(unemployed, but not registered as job seekers) and, finally, they mostly do
not have Slovenian citizenship, do not speak the Slovenian language and do
not have contacts and a social life outside the (extended) family and ethnic
community. Due to the language barriers and other cultural and traditional
norms (patriarchal values), it is a husband or male relative (e.g. father-in-law)
who communicates with the ‘outside’ world on her behalf. As empirical stud-
ies show, this situation also has important implications for the reproductive
health of these women (Sedmak, Medarić, Lenarčič, & Gornik, 2018).
Although international and EU documents refer to health as a human right,
specific needs and rights, in particular regarding reproductive health, are cur-
rently not ensured through Slovenian legislation. This is particularly true for
migrant women with irregular status who have limited access to services of
any kind beyond emergency care (and even for this service it is not clear
exactly what it encompasses) through the public health system, including
those related to their reproductive health rights. Similar findings were re-
ported in studies dealing with the issue of equal access to health services
among immigrants. Besides barriers specifically linked to their legal status,
migrant women also face obstacles related to their status as foreigners, which
results in limited familiarity with the national health system, different cus-
toms and experiences related to sexual and reproductive health, and lan-
guages that may be unfamiliar to healthcare practitioners. In this respect,
several empirical studies have identified the main obstacles in accessing (re-
productive) health services as being language barriers, lack of intercultural
competences of health personnel and their (hidden) discriminatory relation-
ship towards migrants. Resulting from this, it is clear that in Slovenia there
exist quite a few discrepancies between the rights afforded on paper and the
experiences of migrant women in practice. Although the activities of several
NGOs aim to raise awareness about reproductive health in relation to migrant
women, the literature review indicates that this is an under-researched field
in Slovenia and we still lack theoretically and empirically supported analy-
sis. The bottom line is that assessment of the current situation in Slovenia
clearly unveils both blurred legal and policy frameworks and patchy prac-
tices, which are major shortcomings in terms of the realization of a rights-
based approach to reproductive health in relation to migrant women. The
literature review and best practices overview indicate that the first and the
most urgent step towards improvement of the situation would be to edu-
cate health providers interculturally in order that they can recognize repro-
ductive health norms and practices within different cultural contexts. This
55
