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Aboriginal Women (aboriginal + woman)
Selected AbstractsColonial Constructions of Masculinity: Transforming Aboriginal Australian Men into ,Houseboys'GENDER & HISTORY, Issue 2 2009Julia Martínez In Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia, Aboriginal men made up more than half of the domestic servant population by 1938. They replaced the Chinese and Malay male servants who had worked for British colonists in the early colonial period. Much of the historical work on male domestic servants in colonial situations plots the construction of the ,houseboy' as emasculated, feminised and submissive. In contrast, colonial constructions of Aboriginal men as ,houseboys' in Darwin emphasise the masculinity of the Aboriginal hunter. Aboriginal men were characterised as requiring constant discipline and training, and this paternalistic discourse led to a corresponding denial of manhood or adulthood for Aboriginal men. While male domestic servants in other colonial settings were allowed some privileges of masculinity in relation to female workers, amongst Aboriginal domestic workers, it was so-called ,half-caste' women who, in acknowledgment of their ,white blood', received nominally higher wages and privileges for domestic work. Aboriginal men were denied what was referred to as a ,breadwinning' wage; an Australian wage awarded to white men with families. Despite this, their role as husbands was encouraged by the administration as a method of controlling sexual relations between white men and Aboriginal women. These sometimes contradictory images can be understood as manifestations of the racialised construction of gender in Australia. [source] Hypertension during pregnancy in South Australia, Part 2: Risk factors for adverse maternal and/or perinatal outcome , results of multivariable analysisAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 5 2004Sophie A. VREEBURG Abstract Objective:, To identify factors associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes among women with hypertension during pregnancy Design:, A population-based retrospective multivariable analysis using the South Australian perinatal data collection. Methods:, Perinatal data on 70 386 singleton births in 1998,2001 were used in multivariable analyses on three groups: all women combined, all hypertensive women and women with pregnancy hypertension only, in order to identify independent risk factors for requirement for level II/III care, preterm birth, small for gestational age (SGA) birth and maternal length of stay greater than 7 days. Results:, The risks for the four morbidities were all increased among women with hypertension compared with normotensive women. Those with pre-existing hypertension had the lowest risk (with odds ratios (OR) 1.26,2.90). Pregnancy hypertension held the intermediate position (OR 1.52,5.70), while superimposed pre-eclampsia was associated with the highest risk (OR 2.00,8.75). Among women with hypertension, Aboriginality, older maternal age, nulliparity and pre-existing or gestational diabetes increased the risk for level II/III nursery care, preterm birth and prolonged hospital stay. Smokers had shorter stays, which may be related to their decreased risk of having a Caesarean section or operative vaginal delivery. Asian women, Aboriginal women, smokers and unemployed women had an increased risk for having an SGA baby, while women with pre-existing or gestational diabetes had a reduced risk. Conclusions:, Among hypertensive pregnant women, nulliparity, older maternal age, Aboriginality, unemployment and diabetes are independent risk factors for one or more major adverse pregnancy outcomes. Smoking does not always worsen the outcome for hypertensive women except for SGA births. [source] Antenatal screening for sexually transmitted infections in remote AustraliaAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 6 2003Donna B. Mak Abstract Background:, Antenatal screening for, and prompt management of, sexually transmitted infections (STI) can prevent adverse maternal, fetal and perinatal outcomes. This is particularly important in areas of high STI endemicity. Aims:, To assess adherence with antenatal STI screening guidelines in a large remote region, and whether completeness of antenatal syphilis screening improved after the onset of a regional syphilis outbreak in April 2001. Methods:, Data from the regional antenatal syphilis screening database from 1997 to 2002 were analysed to identify time trends in the completeness of antenatal syphilis screening. Adherence to antenatal screening guidelines was assessed by examining pathology request forms of women undergoing antenatal syphilis screening to determine whether screening for gonorrhoea, chlamydia, hepatitis B and HIV had also been carried out. Logistic regression was used to analyse associations between adherence to the guidelines and patient's age and race, and health service characteristics. Results:, Adherence to syphilis screening guidelines improved from 44.6% in 1997 to 68.9% in 2001 and 81.4% in 2002. After controlling for the time interval between the first antenatal syphilis test and date of delivery, being younger and Aboriginal, and delivering after the syphilis outbreak had been identified were positively associated with adherence to syphilis screening guidelines. Proportions of antenates screened for gonorrhoea/chlamydia, hepatitis B and HIV at booking and for gonorrhoea/chlamydia in the third trimester were 69%, 91%, 68% and 77%, respectively. Aboriginal women were more likely to have been screened for gonorrhoea and chlamydia. Women seen by a doctor were more likely to have undergone HIV screening than those who saw a nurse. Conclusions:, Significant improvement in adherence to antenatal syphilis screening guidelines occurred after identification of a syphilis outbreak. This achievement is reason for optimism regarding the potential to achieve more complete antenatal screening of other STI. [source] Pragmatic indicators for remote Aboriginal maternal and infant health care: why it matters and where to startAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 2010Malinda Steenkamp Abstract Objective: There are challenges in delivering maternal and infant health (MIH) care to remote Northern Territory (NT) communities. These include fragmented care with birthing in regional hospitals resulting in cultural and geographical dislocation for Aboriginal women. Many NT initiatives are aimed at improving care. Indicators for evaluating these for remote Aboriginal mothers and infants need to be clearer. We reviewed existing indicators to inform a set of pragmatic indicators for reporting improvement in remote MIH care. Methods: Scientific databases and grey literature (organisational websites and Google Scholar) were searched using the terms ,Aboriginal/maternal/infant/remote health/monitoring performance'. Key stakeholders identified omitted indicators sets. Relevant sets were reviewed and organised by indicator type, stage of patient journey, topic and theme. Results: Forty-two indicators sets were found. Seven focused on Aboriginal health, 23 on reproductive/maternal health, eight on child/infant health and four on other aspects, e.g. remote health. We identified more than 1,000 individual indicators. Of these, 656 were relevant for our purpose and were subsequently organised into 300 topics and 16 themes for antenatal, birth and postpartum, and infant care by indicator type. Conclusion: There are many measures for monitoring health care delivery to mothers and infants. Few are framed around remote MIH services, despite poorer health outcomes of remote mothers and infants and the specific challenges with providing care in this setting. Establishing relevant indicators is vital to support relevant data collection and the development of appropriate policy for remote Aboriginal maternal and infant care. [source] Suicidal thoughts among elderly Taiwanese aboriginal womenINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 10 2008Cheng-Sheng Chen Abstract Objectives The aims of this study were to investigate prevalence of suicidal thoughts among a population of elderly aboriginal women in Taiwan over a 1-month period and to examine the risk factors for suicidal thinking in terms of individual (self-perceived health, disability and financial difficulty), family (marital discord) and social (medical accessibility) aspects. The mediating effects of depression on the above risk factors were also investigated. Furthermore, we examined the buffer effect on suicidal ideation of emotional social support for dealing with marital discord. Methods One thousand three hundred and forty-seven elderly Taiwanese aboriginal women were enrolled. Suicide thoughts within the past month, demographic data, adverse life events, emotional social support and depressive state were assessed. The 1-month prevalence of suicide thoughts was calculated. The risks of suicide thought based on individual, family and community aspects were estimated. Results The 1-month prevalence of suicidal thoughts among the community-dwelling aboriginal elderly women was 17.8%. Those subjects with poorer self-perceived health, difficulty in accessing medical resources, or experiencing marital discord were at higher risk of having suicidal thoughts. After controlling for depression, the odds ratio of self-perceived health and marital discord remained statistically significant. The odds ratio of interaction of marital discord and emotional social support was 0.41. Conclusion Suicidal thoughts are common among the community-dwelling aboriginal elderly women in Taiwan. Risk factors for suicidal thoughts comprise individual (depression and physical condition), family (marital discord) and community (medical resources) aspects. Better emotional social support can effectively buffer the effect of marital discord. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Disciplining Subjectivity and Space: Representation, Film and its Material EffectsANTIPODE, Issue 2 2004Jennifer England Although the distinction between representation and reality is increasingly blurred, I argue that representational discourses have material effects in everyday life. By moving "outside the text" I trace the messy terrain between visual discourse and everyday life in Downtown Eastside, Vancouver by examining two questions: (1) how do discursive productions of visual culture articulate, inscribe, and discipline space and subjectivity and (2) how do aboriginal women negotiate the material consequences of those representations? Using discourse and feminist analysis, I analyse how a documentary film, produced by the Vancouver Police Department, constructs spaces and subjectivities of deviance through techniques of realism and the moral gaze of the police officers. I argue that aboriginal women negotiate these deviant representations through their experiences of racism and sexism by police officers. Consequently, aboriginal women are rendered either hyper-visible or invisible by police officers, marked by their gender, race, and class. Combining an analysis of the documentary film and in-depth interviews with aboriginal women, I argue that critical geographers must consider the analytical spaces "outside of the text" to explore the material effects of visual representations. [source] | |||||||||||||