Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.
Non-UMass Amherst users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
Dissertations that have an embargo placed on them will not be available to anyone until the embargo expires.
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0743-0287
Access Type
Open Access Thesis
Document Type
thesis
Degree Program
Sociology
Degree Type
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Year Degree Awarded
2020
Month Degree Awarded
February
Abstract
Little is known about the factors that influence people from the Caribbean to seek reproductive health services in the United States. In this paper, I focus on Indo-Caribbean women from Guyana and Trinidad who undertake reproductive journeys to New York. I ask: (1) What influences Indo-Caribbean women to begin their reproductive journeys to Richmond Hill, New York? (2) How do Indo-Caribbean women challenge gender norms during their reproductive journeys? (3) How does women’s class inform their decision making in challenging gendered norms? After conducting 30 in-depth interviews with Indo-Caribbean women from Guyana and Trinidad who seek reproductive health services in New York, I find that Indo-Caribbean women’s reproductive journeys are influenced by sexism experienced within households, communities, and doctors’ offices, lack of proper care, legal restrictions, and unaffordable treatment. Another driver is support from women networks. Social networks helped women challenge gendered norms around motherhood that are present within communities in home countries. As women receive support from their networks, they challenge gender norms varied by their class. Women from middle-income households are more likely to challenge gender norms outwardly. Obtaining reproductive health care abroad becomes a journey with multidimensional experiences of gendered negotiations and constraints.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/16319969
First Advisor
Joya Misra
Second Advisor
Jennifer Lundquist
Third Advisor
Sancha Medwinter
Recommended Citation
Rozario, Tannuja, "Reproductive Journeys: Indo-Caribbean Women Challenging Gendered Norms" (2020). Masters Theses. 888.
https://doi.org/10.7275/16319969
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/888