Unmarried Women becoming Pregnant

Country Context
Young women leaving home to work in factories present challenges to traditional patriarchal society. Moreover, cultural constraints obstruct women’s access to health and family planning services—for example, it is culturally taboo to provide contraception to unmarried women.

Considerable international donor and Pakistani government resources are being deployed toward combating HIV/AIDS, but additional resources are required to provide more holistic reproductive health solutions and outcomes that integrate HIV/AIDS awareness-raising and prevention activities as a part of a broader reproductive health program.

Unmet Health Needs of Female Factory Workers in Pakistan
Hepatitis B & C
Nutrition education
Hygiene and sanitation
Pre- and post-natal care
Family planning

Perspective
Context: Traditional Patriarchal Culture Challenged by Growing Economy
In Pakistan, the health issues are contextualized within a challenging geo-political climate coupled with enormous economic growth and traditional patriarchal society.

Women face particular challenges when they try to find their place in society. Men outnumber women in Pakistan – young girls have a higher fatality rate than young boys, because of discrimination against young girls with nutrition and health provisions.

An Ineffective Public Health System
Pakistan has health systems to protect their population on paper from their colonial legacy -- one of the best models on paper -- but implementation has generally failed, and particularly women are left untreated.

In Pakistan, many use the private sector instead, which is highly unregulated. Family planning, for example, is not very well organized.

Urbanization and the Karachi Garment Industry
The garment industry is very large in Pakistan -- Karachi in particular. Development is making rural villages more urban, but still 70 percent live in technically rural areas. Migration, particularly amongst young unmarried women, is driven by centralization in Karachi.

Wide scale migration by unmarried women greatly complicates the traditional social context -- they are stepping out of the home and not providing for their family in the way they are supposed to.

Women Factory Workers Suffer Discrimination, Harassment and Poor Health Services
In turn, the factories do not provide supportive environments for these workers. Discrimination is ripe -- most male workers are older and married, and sexual harassment is common. Women generally do not register complaints because they are too afraid.

If they get pregnant, abortion is not provided through the health service, which leads to great numbers of unsafe “backstreet” abortions.

Lack of Cultural Understanding Limits Health Knowledge & Services
The culture has no understanding of unmarried women becoming pregnant, which psychologically limits support for any of these issues amongst these women worker populations. For example, contraception is not allowed to be provided to unmarried women, so even if they were informed about needing protection, they wouldn’t be able to get any service in this area.

source:Context: Traditional Patriarchal Culture Challenged by Growing Economy
In Pakistan, the health issues are contextualized within a challenging geo-political climate coupled with enormous economic growth and traditional patriarchal society.

Women face particular challenges when they try to find their place in society. Men outnumber women in Pakistan – young girls have a higher fatality rate than young boys, because of discrimination against young girls with nutrition and health provisions.

An Ineffective Public Health System
Pakistan has health systems to protect their population on paper from their colonial legacy -- one of the best models on paper -- but implementation has generally failed, and particularly women are left untreated.

In Pakistan, many use the private sector instead, which is highly unregulated. Family planning, for example, is not very well organized.

Urbanization and the Karachi Garment Industry
The garment industry is very large in Pakistan -- Karachi in particular. Development is making rural villages more urban, but still 70 percent live in technically rural areas. Migration, particularly amongst young unmarried women, is driven by centralization in Karachi.

Wide scale migration by unmarried women greatly complicates the traditional social context -- they are stepping out of the home and not providing for their family in the way they are supposed to.

Women Factory Workers Suffer Discrimination, Harassment and Poor Health Services
In turn, the factories do not provide supportive environments for these workers. Discrimination is ripe -- most male workers are older and married, and sexual harassment is common. Women generally do not register complaints because they are too afraid.

If they get pregnant, abortion is not provided through the health service, which leads to great numbers of unsafe “backstreet” abortions.

Lack of Cultural Understanding Limits Health Knowledge & Services
The culture has no understanding of unmarried women becoming pregnant, which psychologically limits support for any of these issues amongst these women worker populations. For example, contraception is not allowed to be provided to unmarried women, so even if they were informed about needing protection, they wouldn’t be able to get any service in this area.

source:Context: Traditional Patriarchal Culture Challenged by Growing Economy
In Pakistan, the health issues are contextualized within a challenging geo-political climate coupled with enormous economic growth and traditional patriarchal society.

Women face particular challenges when they try to find their place in society. Men outnumber women in Pakistan – young girls have a higher fatality rate than young boys, because of discrimination against young girls with nutrition and health provisions.

An Ineffective Public Health System
Pakistan has health systems to protect their population on paper from their colonial legacy -- one of the best models on paper -- but implementation has generally failed, and particularly women are left untreated.

In Pakistan, many use the private sector instead, which is highly unregulated. Family planning, for example, is not very well organized.

Urbanization and the Karachi Garment Industry
The garment industry is very large in Pakistan -- Karachi in particular. Development is making rural villages more urban, but still 70 percent live in technically rural areas. Migration, particularly amongst young unmarried women, is driven by centralization in Karachi.

Wide scale migration by unmarried women greatly complicates the traditional social context -- they are stepping out of the home and not providing for their family in the way they are supposed to.

Women Factory Workers Suffer Discrimination, Harassment and Poor Health Services
In turn, the factories do not provide supportive environments for these workers. Discrimination is ripe -- most male workers are older and married, and sexual harassment is common. Women generally do not register complaints because they are too afraid.

If they get pregnant, abortion is not provided through the health service, which leads to great numbers of unsafe “backstreet” abortions.

Lack of Cultural Understanding Limits Health Knowledge & Services
The culture has no understanding of unmarried women becoming pregnant, which psychologically limits support for any of these issues amongst these women worker populations. For example, contraception is not allowed to be provided to unmarried women, so even if they were informed about needing protection, they wouldn’t be able to get any service in this area.

source:c/focus/pakistan.php