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Childbearing women and poverty in the developing world

Abstract:

In working with childbearing families in the developing world for more than thirty years and despite the emergence of a so called global community, the web of poverty for the majority of women and their children has not changed. For many, the cycle of poverty has even intensified and is manifested as a downward spiral that is difficult to evade (Beneria & Bisnath, 1996; Filmer & Pritchett, 1997; Levine, 2000a, 1993; Prakasamme, 1998; Solimano, 1999; Williams, Baumslag, & Jelliffe, 1994). As the state and status of poor childbearing women and their young children continues to deteriorate, pregnancy, labour and delivery, and the puerperium are fraught with multiple risks to both mother and baby. This paper will address numerous influencing factors that contribute to the complex issues of childbearing women and their children in the developing world, and the invisibility of their struggle.

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cultural disparity, developing world, gender bias, poverty, social milieu