Obstetric and Gynecological Violence as Violence Against Women: Expanding the Concept Beyond Pregnancy and Childbirth

Abstract

This study examines obstetric and gynecological violence as a form of violence against women that extends beyond pregnancy and childbirth, affecting contraception, family planning, and routine gynecological care in Colombia, a country marked by persistent gender inequalities and a fragmented, highly medicalized reproductive healthcare system. Guided by Johan Galtung's and Slavoj Žižek's theories of violence, it uses a mixed-methods design (document analysis, nationwide survey, and in-depth interviews) to identify direct, symbolic, and cultural violence embedded in medical practices and normalized through institutional routines and biopower. An intersectional lens reveals how socio-economic status and age shape access to respectful care. The study calls for rights-based, culturally sensitive healthcare training and further research to inform prevention strategies.

Keywords

obstetric violence gynecological violence gender-based violence reproductive healthcare humanized childbirth

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Barbosa Jardim

D. M.

Modena

C. M.

(2018). Obstetric violence in the daily routine of care and its characteristics. Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem, 26, e3069. https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.2450.3069

Bellón

(2015). La violencia obstétrica desde los aportes de la crítica feminista y la biopolítica. Dilemata, 18, 93–111. https://www.dilemata.net/revista/index.php/dilemata/article/view/374

Brigidi

Battisti

Skoko

Santos

Morais

Sadler

Fernandez

(2024). Joint response from Latin American, European obstetric violence observatories and others organizations all over Europe to the joint position statement on substandard and disrespectful care in labour—Because words. European Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology, 299, 329–330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejogrb.2024.05.008

Calafell

(2019). La ginecología natural en América Latina: Un movimiento sociocultural del presente. Sexualidad, Salud y Sociedad, 33, 59–78. https://doi.org/10.1590/1984-6487.sess.2019.33.04.a

Castrillo

(2016). Dime quién lo define y te diré si es violento. Reflexiones sobre la violencia obstétrica. Sexualidad, Salud y Sociedad, 24, 43–68. https://doi.org/10.1590/1984-6487.sess.2016.24.03.a

Castro

(2019). Witnessing obstetric violence during fieldwork: Notes from Latin America. Health and Human Rights, 21(1), 103–114. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26727075

Castro

Frías

S. M.

(2020). Obstetric violence in Mexico: Results from a 2016 National Household Survey. Violence Against Women, 26(6–7), 555–572. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801219836732

Cersosimo

Landolfi

(2024). De-normalizing obstetric violence in Italy: Digital storytelling as source of information and identification. Violence Against Women. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012241292261

Chadwick

(2021). Breaking the frame: Obstetric violence and epistemic rupture. Empowering Women for Gender Equity, 35(3), 104–115. https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2021.1958554

10.

Chadwick

(2023). The dangers of minimizing obstetric violence. Violence Against Women, 29(9), 1899–1908. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012211037379

11.

Chervenak

F. A.

McLeod-Sordjan

Pollet

S. L.

De Four Jones

Gordon

M. R.

Combs

Bornstein

Lewis

Katz

Warman

Grünebaum

(2024). Obstetric violence is a misnomer. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 230(3), 1138–1145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2023.10.003

12.

Chiarioti

García Jurado

Aucia

Armichiardi

(2003). Con todo al aire. Reporte de derechos humanos sobre atención en salud reproductiva en hospitales públicos. INSGENAR y CLADEM.

13.

Cohen Shabot

(2016). Making loud bodies “feminine”: A feminist-phenomelogical analysis of obstetric violence. Human Studies, 39, 241–247. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-015-9369-x

14.

Criado

(2020). La mujer invisible. Seix Barral.

15.

Dixon

L. Z.

(2015). Obstetrics in a time of violence: Mexican midwives critique routine hospital practices. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 29(4), 437–454. https://doi.org/10.1111/maq.12174

16.

Foucault

(2007). El nacimiento de la biopolítica. Fondo de Cultura Económica.

17.

Frías

S. M.

Castro

(2024). Mistreatment, abuse, and gender-based violence during childbirth: A longitudinal analysis of obstetric violence in México (2011–2021). Violence Against Women. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012241289426

18.

Galtung

(2016). La violencia: Cultural, estructural y directa. Cuadernos de estrategia, 183, 147–168. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=5832797

19.

García

E. M.

(2018). La violencia obstétrica como violencia de género (Tesis doctoral no publicada). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

20.

González Vélez

A. C.

Diniz

S. G.

(2016). Inequality, Zika epidemics, and the lack of reproductive rights in Latin America. Reproductive Health Matters, 24(48), 18–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rhm.2016.11.008

21.

Jojoa-Tobar

Chuchumbe-Sánchez

Y. D.

Ledesma-Rengifo

J. B.

MuñozMosquera

M. C.

Paja-Campo

A. M.

Suárez-Bravo

J. P.

(2019). Violencia obstétrica: Haciendo visible lo invisible. Revista de la Universidad Industrial Santander. Salud, 51(2), 135–146. https://doi.org/10.18273/revsal.v51n2-2019006

22.

Ladaris

(2020). Mi hijo murió dentro de mi: Sufrí violencia obstétrica durante el tiempo que estuve ingresada para parirle. Sputnik News- España. https://mundo.sputniknews.com/espana/202003211090853448-mi-hijo-muriodentro-de-mi-sufri-violencia-obstetrica-durante-el-tiempo-que-estuve-ingresadapara/

23.

Ladeira

F. M. B.

Borges

(2022). Body colonization and women’s objectification in the obstetric system. Revista de Administração de Empresas, 62(4), e2021–e0082. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0034-759020220406x

24.

Marin

(2018). No lo estas haciendo bien, esto deberías haberlo practicado. Eldiario.es. https://www.eldiario.es/nidos/violencia-obstetrica_0_746826187.html

25.

Morales

X. B.

Chaves

Delgado

(2018). Neither medicine nor health care staff members are violent by nature: Obstetric violence from an interactionist perspective. Qualitative Health Research, 28(8), 1308–1319. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732318763351

26.

Patiño-Lugo

D. F.

Vélez

C. M.

Díaz-Hernández

D. P.

(2024). Whoever wants better healthcare simply pays more: Citizens’ perception about voluntary private health insurance in Colombia. International Journal for Equity in Health, 23, 7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-023-02086-z

27.

Perdomo

Martines

Lafaurie

Cañón

Rubio

(2018). Discursos sobre la violencia obstétrica en la prensa de países latinoamericanos: cambios y continuidades en el campo de la atención. Universidad de Antioquia. http://www.scielo.org.co/pdf/rfnsp/v37n2/0120-386X-rfnsp-37-02-125.pdf

28.

Quattrocchi

(2019). Violenza ostetrica. Le potenzialità politico-formative di un concetto innovativo. EtnoAntropologia, 7(1), 125–148. https://doi.org/10.1473/ea.v7i1.307

29.

Restrepo-Sánchez

(2025). Autonomy, violence, and consent in the obstetric field. Hypatia, 40(3), 498–524. https://doi.org/10.1017/hyp.2024.84

30.

Rivillas

J. C.

Devia Rodriguez

Song

Martel

(2018). Who are the hardest to reach? Inequitable opportunities in reproductive and maternal health care services in armed conflict and forced displacement settings in Colombia. PLoS ONE, 13(11), Article e0188654. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188654

31.

Rozée

Schantz

(2022). Gynecological and obstetric violence: The construction of a political and public health issue. Santé Publique, 33(5), 629–634. https://doi.org/10.3917/spub.215.0629

32.

Sadler

Santos

M. J. D. S.

Ruiz-Berdún

Leiva Rojas

Skoko

Guillen

Clausen

J. A.

(2016). Moving beyond disrespect and abuse: Addressing the structural dimensions of obstetric violence. Reproductive Health Matters, 24(47), 47–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rhm.2016.04.002

33.

Salgado

Díaz

(2019). Violencia obstétrica y de género mediante la medicalización del cuerpo femenino. Cuerpos, Emociones y Sociedad, 29, 23–34. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/2732/273266030004/html/

34.

Salter

C. L.

Olaniyan

Mendez

D. D.

Chang

J. C.

(2021). Naming silence and inadequate obstetric care as obstetric violence is a necessary step for change. Violence Against Women, 27(8), 1019–1027. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801221996443

35.

Smith-Oka

Rubin

S. E.

Dixon

L. Z.

(2022). Obstetric violence in their own words: How women in Mexico and South Africa expect, experience, and respond to violence. Violence Against Women, 28(11), 2700–2721. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012211037375

36.

Solnit

(2016). Los hombres me explican cosas. Capitán Swing.

37.

Tolton

Signorelli

(2018). Obstetric violence and human development: Knowledge, power and agency in Colombian women’s birth stories. Guaju, 4(2), 164–186. https://doi.org/10.5380/guaju.v4i2.57866

38.

United Nations . (2019). A human rights-based approach to mistreatment and violence against women in reproductive health services with a focus on childbirth and obstetric violence. https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n19/213/27/pdf/n1921327.pdf.

39.

Valls

(2020). Mujeres invisibles para la medicina. Desvelando nuestra salud. Capitan Swing.

40.

Zamudio

C. E.

Ramos

J. J.

(2015). Historia clínica ginecológica. In Otálora

Parra

(Eds.), Revisión de temas y pautas de tratamiento en ginecología y obstetricia (pp. 14–18). FUCS.

41.

Zizek

(2009). Sobre la violencia: seis reflexiones marginales. Paidós.