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Unintended consequences: Exploring the tensions between development programs and indigenous women in Mexico in the context of reproductive health

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  • Smith-Oka, Vania

Abstract

This article offers a case study of the politics of reproduction present between development programs, medical practitioners, and population policies in Mexico. It particularly explores how these policies have shaped indigenous women's family planning choices. It analyzes the unintended consequences that emerge from the interaction between indigenous women, medicine, and an economic development program--Oportunidades. The study was based on participant observation and in-depth interviews carried out between 2004 and 2007 with 53 women, as well as doctors and nurses, in northern Veracruz. Results show that the close association of government policies with medical practitioners serves to constrain women's reproductive decisions. Medical practitioners use this association to promote the state's concern for family planning, unintentionally disempowering their target population. This article uses a political economy of fertility framework to look at broader processes affecting women's choices beyond the personal or domestic level. Such a framework allows us to analyze these connections and place women's reproductive rights within a larger struggle for human rights and dignity.

Suggested Citation

  • Smith-Oka, Vania, 2009. "Unintended consequences: Exploring the tensions between development programs and indigenous women in Mexico in the context of reproductive health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 2069-2077, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:68:y:2009:i:11:p:2069-2077
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    1. Skoufias, Emmanuel, 2005. "PROGRESA and its impacts on the welfare of rural households in Mexico:," Research reports 139, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
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    2. Gamlin, Jennie B., 2013. "Shame as a barrier to health seeking among indigenous Huichol migrant labourers: An interpretive approach of the “violence continuum” and “authoritative knowledge”," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 75-81.
    3. Summer, Anna & Guendelman, Sylvia & Kestler, Edgar & Walker, Dilys, 2017. "Professional midwifery in Guatemala: A qualitative exploration of perceptions, attitudes and expectations among stakeholders," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 99-107.
    4. Smith-Oka, Vania, 2012. "Bodies of risk: Constructing motherhood in a Mexican public hospital," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2275-2282.
    5. Nandagiri, Rishita, 2021. "What’s so troubling about ‘voluntary’ family planning anyway? A feminist perspective," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112535, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Varley, Emma, 2010. "Targeted doctors, missing patients: Obstetric health services and sectarian conflict in Northern Pakistan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 61-70, January.

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