Gypsy Women Research Articles

The health of Romanian Gypsy women in Serbia

ABSTRACTIndigenous people are over-represented among the world's disadvantaged; their health is influenced by lack of access to critical resources including health care and by their cultural practices. We report on the health and the health practices of one group of indigenous women, the Roma/Gypsies of northern Serbia who live in poverty, reside in sub-standardized housing in segregated communities, and are poorly educated and stigmatized. We describe the environment in which they live, their health history, and the cultural practices that influence their health and health behaviors, including their sporadic utilization of health services that are provided by the state. We also present evidence supporting that, in the face of adversity, cultural practices, including those related to kinship and social support, can have significant benefits in shaping health status.

Analysis of the Vicious Circle of Poverty and Social Exclusion of the Gypsy Woman in the Neighbourhood of Los Rosales, Murcia

Abstract Poverty and social exclusion circle theory, based on the reproduction of causes and effects of poverty and social exclusion, above all, of the gypsy woman ( Caselles, 2008 ), leads us to approach, taking histories of life as starting point, the reality of three gypsy women who belong to the same family and from distinct generations resident in the neighbourhood of Los Rosales, in El Palmar (Murcia), in order to know to what extent the theory is real, and if it was, to what level is presented and how can be fought from quotidian routine. The reality of these women is presented with the aim of knowing and letting know not only the problems of a badly structured neighbourhood, but also the community and individual capacities and strengths of the neighbourhood from the gypsy woman point of view.

Some aspects of health status of the Gypsy population in Slovakia.

Population of the Gypsy people living currently in Slovakia reaches approximately 400,000 people which represents 7.5% of the total Slovak population. The age structure of the Gypsy population is of a considerably progressive type with a high number of children and very low number of old people. This is due to the high natality and high mortality of Gypsies, whose health status is worse than the health status of the majority population. Gypsy people represent an important "old-new" risk group in case of tuberculosis and a more frequent occurrence of other transmitted diseases is observed in them while a higher incidence of genetically conditioned diseases has been confirmed, as well. As for children, a higher frequency of infectious diseases, injuries, intoxications and burns can be found as a result of their environmental conditions. A high level of infant mortality of the Gypsy children is a very negative phenomenon. We can state that the lifestyle of the Gypsy population is unhealthy, characterized by bad dietary habits, drinking alcohol, frequent smoking already in a very young age, higher weight and lower physical activity. All findings confirm that the Gypsy population is threatened by cardiovascular diseases at younger age already. Due to a more difficult approach to the health care, part of the Gypsies consult the physician only when in a serious health state. Health status of the Gypsy seniors has been reported only at minimum due to their low representation in population. Typical feature of this ethnic is, that they take care of their seniors. To prove this, during the author´s twenty seven-year practice he met just three old Gypsy women in social institutions. It is very difficult to address problems related to the Gypsy population; this task requires engagement of all spheres of our society, in particular of the Gypsies themselves, including their organizations (Ref. 50).

Birth outcomes of patients with isolated anorectal malformations: A population-based case-control study.

In most patients affected by isolated anorectal malformation (IARM) the etiology is largely unknown. Thus, the aim of our project was to analyze possible risk factors for IARM. In the first step, birth outcomes of cases with IARM were analyzed on the basis of maternal socio-demographic variables, and these data are presented in this paper. Gestational age at delivery, birthweight, preterm birth, low birthweight and small for gestational age of cases with IARM were evaluated in the function of maternal age, birth/pregnancy order, marital and employment status of mothers in the population-based large dataset of the Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities, 1980-1996. The study samples included 231 live-born cases with IARM, 361 matched and 38 151 population controls without any defect. IARMs are more frequent in males, twins and newborn infants with low birthweight and small-for-gestational-age, the latter being the consequence of intrauterine growth restriction. In addition, mothers of cases were younger but with higher birth order, and had lower socio-economic status. These maternal variables are characteristic for the gypsy population in Hungary. The higher proportion of gypsy women among the mothers of cases with IARM was confirmed during the home visits of the study. Male sex and intrauterine growth restriction of cases, in addition to low socioeconomic status and gypsy origin of mothers may have a role in the risk of IARMs.

Gypsies in 19th-Century French Literature: The Paradox in Centering the Periphery

The issues of liberty and views of the “Other” were common in 19th-century French literary discourse. In many aspects, the “Other” appeared to hold a position of strength. In literature, Prosper Merimee and Victor Hugo attempted to centralize gypsy women through their narratives, even though gypsies (as with Jews) had been marginalized (though present) throughout French history. Merimee’s Carmen and Hugo’s Notre Dame de Paris presented new central perspectives on the peripheral, which in this context should be understood to mean gypsies. This research paper attempts to answer the following questions: What ideology lies behind both stories’ centralization of the peripheral gypsy women? How do the authors portray gypsy women? The goal of this article is to explore the operations of power in a gender-relations context, focusing on the construction of gypsy women in two 19th-century French novels.

Uma Reflexão sobre o Hibridismo Cultural e o Processo Identitário de Ciganas Calins Nômades no Rio de Janeiro

This article proposes a reflection from the theoretical contribution of Cultural and Post-colonial Studies about the hybridity as an intrinsic element to the construction of identities of self-proclaimed gypsy-calins women - female of the Calon people - living in camps in the interior of Rio de Janeiro. Although the western hegemonic discourse promotes a kind of totalizing ethnicization of minorities, transforming dynamic social practices into a set of cultural habits supposedly crystallized and immutable, the process of identity construction among gypsy women is observed as a potent example that ethnicity is not fixed and will not be extinguished with the contact between cultures. Rather, it is formed in the midst of a process of hybridization with the surrounding cultures, becomes important precisely in its borders and cultural exchanges, displaying itself as a permanent exercise of negotiating between different spaces of existence.

La resocialización de la mujer gitana en los cursos de alfabetización de la Renta Mínima de Inserción

This article studies the gender values that are promoted both in the literacy courses for gypsy women beneficiaries of the Social Integration Revenue Policy of the Region of Madrid and in the events that are organized for this group by public institutions and NGOs. The process of “socialization” that occurs in the educative groups for women is focused on constructing an image of what it is to be a “Gypsy modern woman”. Through multiple mechanisms and discursive techniques a specific conception of gender equality is transmitted in these educative spaces. In addition to this, women are continually urged to assume certain values and social practices (of gender identity, of citizenship, of parenting, etc..), while an archetype of Gypsy Woman which condenses powerful stereotypes and prejudices about the Gypsy culture and the gender relations characteristics of this group is constructed.

Gitana Dress and Dress à la Gitana

This essay describes the history of the gitana (gypsy) dress as worn by gypsies and by non-gypsies for portraiture, masquerade, and festivals from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. In addition essential accessories to the costume, the mantón de Manila or Spanish shawl, the pañuela or fichu, jewelry, head coverings, and shoes and stockings are also identified, described, and their symbolic use discussed. The article includes nine illustrations from the period of both gypsy and non-gypsy women wearing gitana dress. Changes over time in the form, use, and symbolic meaning are described.

Gypsies and Society in Iraq: Between Marginality, Folklore and Romanticism

This article focuses on a Gypsy group that lives in Iraq, away from the main concentrations in Europe. Although Gypsies apparently arrived in Mesopotamia around the tenth century, long before many Arab tribes and despite their cultural assimilation into the local culture, Gypsies were not assimilated into the local society, partly because the local society rejected them and partly because they did not want to assimilate. The difference in the attitude of the local society to the Gypsies lies in their perceived ‘impurity’ and their occupation, dancing and music, in which Gypsy women are employed. Iraqi Gypsies had long suffered from social as well as governmental discrimination: Iraqi citizenship was given to them only in 1979. Unexpectedly, it was the Iraqi dictatorship of Saddam Hussein which improved their status considerably, yet, at the same time, made them dependent on the regime. Consequently, after the fall of the Ba`th regime, Gypsies now face a bleak future. The article gives a concise historical presentation of Gypsy life in twentieth century Iraq and takes a closer look at literary views of the Gypsies, reflecting the limits of liberal attitudes toward them.

Dora d'Istria y los gitanos rumanos

Authors from various areas, especially the women's studies sector, have recently been rediscovering the work of Dora d’Istria, alias Elena Ghica, a nineteenth century Rumanian scholar who wrote considerable comparative accounts of the conditions of woman in Western and Eastern Europe. She was also the first woman in history to speak about the conditions of Gypsy women and this article attempts to analyse the way in which these women were described. In particular, it reconstructs the historical-political situation of Wallachia in the first half of the nineteenth century, placing Elena in the genealogy of the Ghica princes, a noble family within the principality, and re-discusses the slavery situation that Gypsies in the region were then subject to. The article therefore analyses the personal and contradictory situation of Dora d'Istria who, a champion for female emancipation, described the Gypsies sweetly and expurgated the existence of female Gypsy slaves with whom she would have had contact in her youth

From Multiple Deprivation to Success – Educational Careers of Ten Roma and Gypsy women

From Multiple Deprivation to Success – Educational Careers of Ten Roma and Gypsy women

From Multiple Deprivation to Success – Educational Careers of Ten Roma and Gypsy women

From Multiple Deprivation to Success – Educational Careers of Ten Roma and Gypsy women

Serbian Gypsy Witch Narratives: ‘Wherever Gypsies Go, There the Witches Are, We Know!’

A salient characteristic of the Serbian Gypsies' demography is an unusually high percentage of infant and child mortality. This paper discusses the narration of Serbian Gypsy women who have lost at least one child to ‘the deadly doings of witches’. These narratives serve to communicate the mother's innocence before the local community, as a means of justification of the unfortunate event. The mother's kinship group's endorsement of such talk includes the communicative acceptance of the supernatural accusation or claim. Because the actual evidence is irrelevant, by such acceptance the kinship group uniquely communicates its willingness to support and cooperate with the narrator. The narratives thus seem to be aimed at encouraging particular social behaviour: cooperation among kin.

Lifelong Learning of Gypsy Women in Spain

Abstract From a very early age, a gypsy woman receives a type of education that differentiates her from men and from other women who do not belong to her culture. The transmission of their culture depends in large measure on the women who create and form part of their own homes. Academic learning in gypsy women is often despised, since it could be an obstacle in her relationship with her husband; in any case, it is not considered to be of any use to her, except for work such as itinerant peddling.

Juvenile marriages, child-brides and infant mortality among Serbian gypsies

Gypsies/Roma make up the largest minority in Europe. Roma communities tend to be segregated and characterized by poverty, unemployment, poor education, and poor quality housing. So far, the European strategy for Gypsy/Roma integration proved insufficient because it fails to account to the normative nature of the isolationist and ethnocentric nature of certain elements of Gypsy culture, as well as the deep and mutual distrust between Gypsies and non-Gypsies within European countries. In Serbia, the Gypsy population tends to suffer disproportionately from higher rates of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, and disease. At the same time, the Serbian Gypsy women average an infant mortality rate between 10-20%. For most of these girls/women, endogamous, arranged marriages are negotiated at an early age, usually without their consent. Among these women, a certain level of infant mortality is “expected”, following an underinvestment in some children manifested in their care, feeding, and the response to their illnesses. These juvenile arranged marriages, subsequent reproduction and child mortality are culturally self-sufficient and hence pose a challenge for international human rights: while many Gypsy girls/women are being denied the right to choose whom and when to marry, the Gypsy community itself openly accepts juvenile arranged marriage as a preservation strategy and means of cultural, economic, and societal maintenance and independence. Although efforts to improve education, health, living conditions, encourage employment and development opportunities for Gypsies/Roma are essential, these objectives cannot be attained without directing the changes needed within Gypsy/Roma culture itself. The initial point for change must come from an increased sense of responsibility among the Gypsies themselves.

Educación, género y deporte: jóvenes de etnia gitana y práctica físico-deportiva

This article concerns the relationship between gender and the practice of sports at school. The author shows that the cultural heritage of young Gypsy women has a direct effect on the process of learning as well as teaching physical education. She analyzes the traits of such heritage and the way they interact with physical education as a course in school. She describes common, everyday situations and problems occurred at a public school and presents them as pieces of practical information for an adequate implementation of basic programs of physical education as they specifically affect Gypsy girls enrolled in the 3rd phase of Primary School.

Conflicting value systems: Gypsy females and the home‐school interface

Drawing on data from a three‐year ethnographic study of Gypsy life in England, this article explores the experience and attitudes of Gypsy women regarding the home‐school interface. Specific attention is given to the following: role expectations in the different contexts; changing perceptions of role in the face of economic and social change; the contradictions and tensions arising from the process of schooling; and the identity dilemmas experienced by those young women who remain in the educational system. The findings suggest that, at the individual level, for many young Gypsy women, the different demands of home and school can lead to feelings of cultural dislocation and anxiety. At a group level, the widening of aspirations constitutes a challenge to structural patterns and traditional value systems that have underpinned both family and communal life.

Mujeres gitanas y mercado laboral: mecanismos para superar su triple exclusión

Traditionally, Gypsies in general have always had to face up situations of discrimination and marginalization, but it is the Gypsy women who have suffered them most, since they have been subject to a threefold exclusion, being disciminated on the basis of gender, ethnic group and education. The difficulties they encounter every day in the labour market, are a clear example. Different Gypsy associations have proposed many options for overcoming those obstacles, which requires the involvement of the Gypsy women. In this context, the dialogical feminism is helping to transform sexual and racial inequalities by including, on an equal basis, the voices of the Gypsy women into the feminist discourse. The changes that those women are making in areas such as education and work so as to fight against male chauvinistic prejudices and male domination, are the advantage of the whole community. And that's why they are considered to be the promoters of the transformation of their people.

Fertility and childbearing practices among poor Gypsy women in Hungary: the intersections of class, race and gender

This article explores changes in childbearing practices among Gypsy (Roma) women in a small village in Northern Hungary. The author benefited from several years of ethnographic field research and data collected in this village, where the proportion of the out-of-wedlock births and births to teenage—mostly Gypsy—mothers have increased by a factor of three in the past 10 years as the population of the village has become more and more impoverished and the opportunities for geographic or social mobility declined sharply for the ethnic minority. The author argues that bearing children early is a sign of passage to adulthood in this group of women, a function which had been assigned to other social institutions before 1989. Early childbearing at the same time exacerbates the problem of Gypsy women: this is the first study which documents the consequences of poverty on women’s and children’s health by showing an increase in low birth weight babies in the community since 1989.

Health, attitude to care and pattern of attendance among gypsy women-a general practice perspective.

There is a lack of knowledge about health and attitude to care among gypsies. The aim of this study was to explore the reasons for and patterns of attendance among gypsy women in primary health care and to shed light on health problems of gypsies. Four gypsy women, frequently attending a primary health care centre, were interviewed in depth. Data were analysed according to grounded theory. Additional facts were received from record files. The gypsy women seldom approached the health centre alone but paid a visit together with relatives or friends. The women usually presented the same type of symptoms, often pain, headache and depression, and obtained the same type of diagnosis and treatment. The symptoms had an acute character and the women wanted immediate access. A collective pattern, a hierarchical order and a strict rule system characterized the gypsy life and coloured the relation to health and illness. Young women were especially vulnerable and could easily end up outside the collective and display symptoms.