Embodied Patriarchy: Reproductive Lives, and Home/host Country Experiences of North Indian Immigrant Women in Aotearoa

Compared with native-born populations, migrant women access and use fewer sexual and reproductive healthcare services, making the sexual and reproductive health of immigrant women a public health issue in most host countries. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Indian diaspora has been growing since the 19th century, but there is little research on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH henceforth) practices of and amongst Indian migrant women. This absence of research is surprising given that Indian women migrate in almost equal numbers to men. Further, the average age of Indian migrant women to Aotearoa is currently 30 years – an age where sexual and reproductive decisions are often central to their settlement in their new home countries. In this thesis, I thus seek to address this knowledge gap by unpacking the sexual and reproductive decision-making experiences of a small number of North Indian immigrant women living in Aotearoa, highlighting the influences of their home and host countries and the implications for local public health policy in their host country.

Informed by a social constructivist epistemology and feminist scholarship, I explore the experiences of twenty-five North Indian immigrant women living in different cities in Aotearoa New Zealand using a qualitative research design. I gained access to rich and nuanced stories of these immigrant women’s experiences through semi-structured, multiple, one-to-one, interviews. I then took a thematic analysis approach to identify recurring themes and patterns within their narratives. These themes and narratives inform the chapters of this thesis.

The uniqueness of this thesis and its contribution to human geography can be found in the conceptual framework used to analyse and interpret the data. I drew on Doreen Massey’s framework of an ‘extroverted sense of place’ to understand the social complexities of two different geographical places (home and host countries) as they were reflected in the lived experiences and decision-making of these women. In particular, Massey’s ideas were helpful in exploring the negotiations and navigations undertaken by these women within the distinct discourses of their two different worlds (home and host countries) where SRH representations, narratives, meanings and behaviours contrast.

Through my analysis and drawing on Massey’s previous scholarship, I conceptually develop and posit ‘embodied patriarchy’ as a way to show how, despite migration, these first-generation immigrant women continue to navigate patriarchal normativity throughout migration and their post-migration lives. Using this concept, I underscore how the socio-cultural norms associated with it from their home country, particularly around premarital chastity, internalised stigma and cultural discouragement towards gaining SRH knowledge, significantly influence their decision-making in the host country, leading to low prioritisation of SRH and low utilisation of healthcare services. I also outline how the host country’s discriminatory health policies intersect with embodied patriarchy to perpetuate forms of oppression and marginalisation post migration.

The research findings here suggest that the inclusion of compulsory, comprehensive and culturally appropriate SRH education for North Indian immigrant women as a part of their resettlement process could improve SRH service uptake and public health outcomes in Aotearoa. I also recommend that North Indian immigrant men be included in educational programmes to help address gendered patriarchal norms, improve power dynamics in heterosexual relationships, and promote a culture of gender equality. Furthermore, I advocate for increased collaboration between migrant communities, policymakers, and healthcare providers to design and impart culturally sensitive education among migrant communities.

In conclusion, using a feminist geographic lens, I argue that it is important to acknowledge the traces of places (and cultures) within women’s sexual and reproductive health through attention to embodied patriarchy. Without attention to this influence on immigrant women’s SRH decision-making, their abilities to access the essential human rights that are reproductive choice, reproductive rights, and above all Reproductive Justice (RJ) may be impeded in their new place of residence.