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Accepted Paper:
Unmarried Women's everyday negotiations while seeking abortion care in Urban India
Janice Lazarus
(Birkbeck, University of London)
Paper short abstract:
Through this paper I seek to discuss the ways in which unmarried women in India negotiate everyday instances of patriarchy, to navigate patriarchal taboos surrounding out of marriage sex, pregnancy and abortion in India.
Paper long abstract:
Despite abortion being legal in India since 1971, there continues to be discrepancies in the women's access to abortion. Societal norms that consider out of marriage sex and pregnancy taboo stigmatises those who engage in out of marriage sex. However, this scenario is rapidly changing and there is growing research evidence which shows that young people are engaging in out of marriage romantic and sexual relationships. Despite this, young women's access to safe and confidential abortion care continues to be dominated by societal norms that stigmatised them for having sex and becoming pregnancy.
Based on 45 in-depth interviews (as part of my PhD study) conducted with women who had abortions in India as unmarried women; this paper looks at the ways in which young unmarried women engage in everyday negotiations to subvert the stigma surrounding out of marriage sex and pregnancies during their abortion journeys. These negotiations unfold at the individual as well as structural level, with young women selectively hiding their sex lives, pregnancies and abortion experiences from spaces where they may experience backlash; which casts a shadow of potential violence on their abortion journeys.
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Accepted Paper:
Paper short abstract:
Paper long abstract:
Despite abortion being legal in India since 1971, there continues to be discrepancies in the women's access to abortion. Societal norms that consider out of marriage sex and pregnancy taboo stigmatises those who engage in out of marriage sex. However, this scenario is rapidly changing and there is growing research evidence which shows that young people are engaging in out of marriage romantic and sexual relationships. Despite this, young women's access to safe and confidential abortion care continues to be dominated by societal norms that stigmatised them for having sex and becoming pregnancy.
Based on 45 in-depth interviews (as part of my PhD study) conducted with women who had abortions in India as unmarried women; this paper looks at the ways in which young unmarried women engage in everyday negotiations to subvert the stigma surrounding out of marriage sex and pregnancies during their abortion journeys. These negotiations unfold at the individual as well as structural level, with young women selectively hiding their sex lives, pregnancies and abortion experiences from spaces where they may experience backlash; which casts a shadow of potential violence on their abortion journeys.
Gendered Violence and Urban Transformations in the Global South IV
Session 1 Friday 8 July, 2022, -