Othering of Forced Migrant Women in Maternal Care. Becoming a Mother – Being constructed as Other: Results of a qualitative study in Germany

Abstract

Abstract Refugee women are legally entitled to all necessary medical services related to pregnancy - including medical check-ups, childbirth costs, and midwifery assistance. However, studies indicate that they face structural barriers to maternal care access and are at greater risk of having poor pregnancy outcomes. This study aimed to explore the role of attributions of Otherness and practices of Othering in maternal care and the consequences for the quality of maternal care for forced migrant women in Germany. Qualitative semi-structured problem-centered interviews were conducted in three regions. The study sample includes 64 health care professionals (social workers, midwives, gynecologists) as well as 15 forced migrant women who recently gave birth to a child. Interviews were analyzed via framework analysis to identify perceptions, attitudes, and contextual conditions of providing maternal care to female refugees and to examine their experiences in the German maternity health care system. Most professionals showed an implicit, rarely questioned notion of an ostensible center of motherhood and parenthood. The qualitative results show how forced migrant women are constructed as other to this presupposed center of mothers. The practice of Othering occurs individually by health care professionals as well as structurally by the German asylum system and health care system. Both exclusionary and benevolent processes of Othering come into play. The effects of those attributions of Otherness are described from the perception of refugee new mothers concerning their pathways, resources, and obstacles in maternal care. Opportunities to achieve adequate maternal care for mothers and parents constructed as others from an ostensible and rarely questioned center of motherhood and parenthood are presented and discussed. To face diversity in maternal care, the notion of the center needs to be critically discussed as well as different aspects of consequences of Othering.