Problem
Alienating child-birth environments
Nature:
The obstetrics service in most hospitals follows a well outlined procedure, where having a baby, instead of a somewhat mystic experience, is thought of as something of an illness and the stay in the hospital as recuperation. Women who are about to deliver are treated as 'patients' about to undergo surgery. They are sterilized. Their genitals are scrubbed and shaved. They are gowned in white and put on a table to be moved back and forth between the various parts of the hospitals. Women in labour are put in cubicles to pass the time with virtually no social contact. This time can last for many hours. Father and children are not normally permitted to be in contact. Delivery normally takes place in a 'delivery room' which has the proper 'table' for childbirth. There is a marked lack of facilities in which a woman can have a baby as part of a family, with privacy and seclusion afterwards which would enable the new baby to be introduced to the existing family gently and sympathetically and more in accordance with what happens in simpler societies. Broader Problems:
Birth traumaDetention of mothersAlienating environmentsDenial of the rights of foetusesExcessive medical intervention in childbirth Related Problems:
Ineffectiveness of individual participation in large communitiesInhibition of individual psychological development through life phases Reduced By:
Unsupervised home birthsValues:
Alienation Subject(s):
Society → Maternity, paternitySociety → Disadvantaged
Environment → Environment
Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Problem Type:
F: Fuzzy exceptional problems Date of last update
17.04.2001 – 00:00 CEST