Cultural Context Of Pregnancy And Childbirth Sociology Essay

heathen Context Of Pregnancy And childbearing Sociology EssayChildbirth, a universally experienced natural event is uniquely valued as a culturally relatable life experience. While common to all peoples and cultures it is deep imbedded with significant beliefs, traditions and set unique to each culture. (Rassin, Klug, Nathanzon, Kan Silner, 2009) I will compass point cultural variations found in Saudi-Arabian Arabia with nonations regarding how the Moslem devotion places a significant influence on the experience of marriage, pregnancy and child reproduction. The Muslim religion guides man-to-man behavior in all aspects of life, including relationships amongst economize and wife, recruit and child and between several(prenominal) and society. Whereas western culture values the individual, license and self-sufficiency and this outlook pervades all aspects of our society as intimately as influencing our perspectives on the world around us. By comparison Arabic Muslim soci eties reject the individual approach as a threat to favorable structure sacrificing individuality to maintain a collective way of life. (Achoui Dwairy, 2006)Historically, the American mans role in marriage, p arenting and during childbirth has undergone a reconstruction in the give-up the ghost 50 years. Husbands used to be considered the dominant source of income and power in a marriage, a father functioned as a disciplinarian, in the deliver room a father was relegated to a sepa crop location to keep back till the pitching was over. Fathers today are considered partners in the marriage they dumbfound a to a greater extent nurturing roll in parenting and are considered an integral and critical member of the delivery team. Conversely, Arabian men and women have maintained to a greater extent(prenominal) traditionally gender separated roles through all aspects of their lives from marriage, childbirth and the rearing of their young.Interestingly, the age at time of marriage i s becoming closer between the two cultures, American women ordinary marital age is 26 with mens clean age being 27. Arabic women are runing to marry by and by in life in their early twenties instead of in their teens as the population moves toward urban life with greater emphasis on fearer. Arabic family life contrasts though with children being supported by their parents well into adulthood as the children mature they are expected to tend to the postulate of their aging parents. (Rashad, Osman Roudi-Fahimi) Sexual virtue is highly valued in Muslim communities and there are stringent cultural norms that restrict the sexual and kind behavior of women. (Papadopoulos, 2006) Marriage in this culture carries special tender status, in particular on the bride as a rite of passage and is viewed as a socially, culturally and legally acceptable sexual relationship. (Rashad, Osman Roudi-Fahimi) Many Arabic couples choose a spouse for themselves although the marriage remains a social and economic contract between the two families. (Rashad, Osman Roudi-Fahimi) Early marriage is lighten seen, but tends to occur in lower socioeconomic and stricter religious sects or subcultures. There tends to be a wider age disparity between husband and wife the younger the fe mannish is in the marriage, with subsequently higher than middling birth rates, lower levels of education, greater rates of sexually transmitted diseases and tall mortality rates during pregnancy and delivery. (Rashad, Osman Roudi-Fahimi) Marriage creates pressure to begin way offspring regardless of the society, and here the number of children born to Americans and Arabs differs somewhat as Muslim women are virtually mandated by their Islamic religion to pack children, womens value and purpose is to build and raise a family, with pregnancy occurring anterior in an Arabic marriage often within the first few months. (Papadopoulos, 2006)Pregnancy is fundamentally the same throughout the world, but how we manage do by of the pregnant women does differ. The number of women using birth control in Saudi Arabia is on the rise, (Rassin, Klug, Nathanzon, Kan Silner, 2009) nevertheless women often require the permission of her husband for basic health care (Saudi Arabia Womens, July) severely impacting womens health and ability to decide for herself the care she desires. Arabic women are a good deal less believably to have genic testing to assess for genetic anomalies or disorders despite the high rate of consanguinity found in the Arabic communities. (Rashad, Osman Roudi-Fahimi) Arabic women tend to not work outside the home during pregnancy and are less likely to have drivers licenses overall. (Rassin, Klug, Nathanzon, Kan Silner, 2009) Educational opportunities regarding pregnancy and the impending delivery are much less available to the Arabic woman as they are more often cared for by their mothers and mothers-in-law throughout their antenatal and post natal periods. (Rassin , Klug, Nathanzon, Kan Silner, 2009)The sensual birth experience varies little and is universally regarded as one of the about joyous occasions but the social structures that surround labor and delivery varies greatly. Traditional Muslim deliveries are primarily a female simply state of affair and the men are not expected to go in in the experience. (Linda Cassar, 2006) The delivery most often occurs at a infirmary with the womans mother or mother-in-law in attendance. Arabic women tend to be more demonstrative expressing labor pain through screaming and crying yet they use epidural anesthesia less often. Almost all Arabic women also breast feed their newborns which may last on average 9 or more months. (Rassin, Klug, Nathanzon, Kan Silner, 2009) Many Muslim cultures have rituals that are used to protect the baby from evil spirits that may embarrass the use of charms, amulets, stones, the reading of verses from the Quran, and the whispering of prayers in the newborns ears by the male family members. Circumcision of male children occurs among Arabic families though there is no prescribed time reference system as is common to the Judaic faith. (Linda Cassar, 2006)The rearing of young is vastly contrastive from culture to culture the psychosocial development of children depends on how they are raised by their parents, and by their society. The behavior of the children influences the parents behavior just as the cultural values and norms influences the parents behaviors. Western cultures place emphasis on psychological individuation and tend to appreciate autonomy, fostering independence as the child matures to self-sufficiency. Arab societies tend to be collective and authoritarian, the extended and nuclear family are more important than the individual and the Muslim religion reinforces this collective point of view. Arabian children grow up with values of loyalty and respect for their families and are socialized with punishments to enforce these values , norms and behaviors. The Arab individual possesses an identity that is enmeshed in the collective family identity. (Achoui Dwairy, 2006)Achoui, M., Dwairy, M. (2006). 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