Indigenous Women's Resistance of Colonial Policies, Practices, and Reproductive Coercion

Decolonising the field of violence against women and girls: A scoping review and recommendations for research and programming

In response to continuing legacies of colonialism, there is increasing recognition of the need to decolonise various fields of research and practice, including within work on violence against women and girls (VAWG). An emerging body of literature critiques how VAWG is framed, how prevention and response interventions may be imposed on communities as part of White Saviourism, and the existence of hierarchical approaches to data collection, analysis and interpretation. This scoping review is the first known attempt to describe global published and grey literature on colonialism and decolonisation within VAWG research and programming. We conducted an extensive search across databases and search engines including research studies, reports, commentaries and blogs, and identified 55 sources that focused on VAWG and related to the legacy of colonialism and/or decolonial approaches within the field. Included literature discussed the role of colonialism in shaping VAWG, referenced decolonial approaches to respond to VAWG and identified five key recommendations for VAWG research and practice: 1. Consider the context and power hierarchies within which VAWG occurs; 2. Incorporate community resources and perspectives into efforts to end VAWG; 3. Use methods and approaches to researching VAWG that centre perspectives and lived experience of communities; 4. Shift VAWG funding to local actors and ensure VAWG funding streams are more responsive to local needs and realities; and 5. Ensure local, contextually-relevant framings of feminisms inform decolonising of VAWG. We conclude that shifting towards a bottom-up approach to decolonising VAWG research and programming is essential to prevent decolonisation from being reduced to a buzzword. While literature explored the use of specific methods to decolonise research on VAWG, researchers need broader strategies to embed a decolonial perspective throughout the research process, transcending mere methodological adaptations. There is a need for VAWG research and programming to scrutinise structural inequities, particularly acknowledging how colonial practices entrenched within wider societal power structures impact the field of VAWG.

My Parents, My Grandparents Went Through Residential School, and All this Abuse has Come From it: Examining Intimate Partner Violence Against Canadian Indigenous Women in the Context of Colonialism

While the global rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) for Indigenous women have been acknowledged as substantial, few studies have incorporated an analysis of the impacts of colonization in the context of IPV. This secondary mixed-methods analysis explored the experiences of 40 Indigenous women from the Canadian prairie provinces who were abused by their intimate partners. The women discussed the impact of colonization, including the use of residential schools, to break down family life, spiritual beliefs, and languages, at times linking this to IPV. Of the 40 women, 38 described male partners as the abusers and two identified female abusive partners. Consistent with the literature, many of the male partners physically assaulted the respondents so severely that the women were injured and were at risk of death. Almost half of the men (47.4%) used sexually coercive strategies and/or sexually assaulted the women. Implications include the importance of professionals considering the broader historical experiences and possible trauma of Indigenous women who seek assistance for IPV from abusive partners.

Disparities in primary and emergency health care among "off-reserve" Indigenous females compared with non-Indigenous females aged 15-55 years in Canada

BACKGROUND

Access to primary care protects the reproductive and non-reproductive health of females. We aimed to quantify health care disparities among "off-reserve" First Nations, Métis and Inuit females, compared with non-Indigenous females of reproductive age.

METHODS

We used population-based data from cross-sectional cycles of the Canadian Community Health Survey (2015-2020), including 4 months during the COVID-19 pandemic. We included all females aged 15-55 years. We measured health care access, use and unmet needs, and quantified disparities through weighted and age-standardized absolute prevalence differences compared with non-Indigenous females.

RESULTS

We included 2902 First Nations, 2345 Métis, 742 Inuit and 74 760 non-Indigenous females of reproductive age, weighted to represent 9.7 million people. Compared with non-Indigenous females, Indigenous females reported poorer health and higher morbidity, yet 4.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.8% to 6.6%) fewer First Nations females and 40.7% (95% CI 34.3% to 47.1%) fewer Inuit females had access to a regular health care provider. Indigenous females waited longer for primary care, more used hospital services for nonurgent care, and fewer had consultations with dental professionals. Accordingly, 3.2% (95% CI 0.3% to 6.1%) more First Nations females and 4.0% (95% CI 0.7% to 7.3%) more Métis females reported unmet needs, especially for mental health (data for Inuit females not reported owing to high variability).

INTERPRETATION

During reproductive age, Indigenous females in Canada face many disparities in health care access, use and unmet needs. Solutions aimed at increasing access to primary care are urgently needed to advance health care reconciliation.

Re-defining reproductive coercion using a socio-ecological lens: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Reproductive coercion is a significant public health issue in Australia which has mainly been conceptualised as a form of violence at the interpersonal level. This limited scope ignores the role of the gendered drivers of violence and fails to encompass a socio-ecological lens which is necessary to consider the multiple interacting layers that create the context in which reproductive coercion occurs. The aim of the scoping review was to explore how the reproductive coercion is defined by international research. Specifically, how is reproductive coercion defined at the social-cultural-systems-structural levels, and are the definitions of reproductive coercion inclusive of the conditions and contexts in which reproductive coercion occurs?

METHODS

A scoping review was undertaken to explore existing definitions of reproductive coercion. Searches were conducted on Embase, Cochrane Library, Informit Health Collection, and the EBSCOHost platform. Google was also searched for relevant grey literature. Articles were included if they were: theoretical research, reviews, empirical primary research, grey literature or books; published between January 2018 and May 2022; written in English; and focused on females aged 18-50 years. Data from eligible articles were deductively extracted and inductively thematically analysed to identify themes describing how reproductive coercion is defined.

RESULTS

A total of 24 articles were included in the scoping review. Most research defined reproductive coercion at the interpersonal level with only eight articles partially considering and four articles fully considering the socio-cultural-systems-structural level. Thematic analysis identified four main themes in reproductive coercion definitions: Individual external exertion of control over a woman's reproductive autonomy; Systems and structures; Social and cultural determinants; and Freedom from external forces to achieve reproductive autonomy.

CONCLUSIONS

We argue for and propose a more inclusive definition of reproductive coercion that considers the gendered nature of reproductive coercion, and is linked to power, oppression and inequality, which is and can be perpetrated and/or facilitated at the interpersonal, community, organisational, institutional, systems, and societal levels as well as by the state.