Chapter 6: Childbearing Practices of Chinese Women
Overview
Biologically, the processes of pregnancy and childbirth are universal among women. However, the social context of these processes is not universal but is steeped in the cultural world views of the society in which the childbirth occurs. In the last three decades at least, the childbearing practices of Chinese women have been noticed to be different by health care practitioners and have been variously described. These descriptive and prescriptive accounts have served to alert other practitioners to the differences, resulting in some tolerance and understanding of the practices.
But seldom have these practices been presented in their cultural, historical and social contexts so that the health care practitioner is given better understanding of the practices to enable him/her to translate the information into positive strategies for practice. Instead, the practitioner is given the impression that these practices are traditions and superstitions that have to be put up with and that the client has to be brought around to understand and conform with what is practised in the Western health care system. Hence, these cultural practices often conjure up in the mind of the practitioner a sense of negativity in that these practices often make caregiving a more difficult exercise.
This chapter presents the childbearing practices of Chinese women within the context of their cultural world views. It discusses their practices within their social and historical contexts so that these practices are not seen to have developed purely from superstitions. This discussion highlights both the potentially positive and negative aspects of these practices so that the health care practitioner can evaluate the practices within the context of current practitioner/client encounters.
Speaker/ Author
GRACE THAM
Grace was born in Singapore and came to Australia in 1977 to complete a course in postgraduate nursing. She stayed on after the course to complete a degree in nursing and then a Master of Educational Studies at Monash University. Currently, she is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Nursing at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Bundoora Campus, Melbourne, and is completing her doctoral degree at Monash University. She is married and has one son. Her areas of interest are in the cross-cultural aspects of education and medical anthropology.
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