Women Bargaining to Seek Healthcare: Norms, Domestic Practices, and Implications in Rural Burkina Faso

Based on a qualitative study contrasting a gender-relationally restrictive socio-cultural setting with a rather liberal one, we explain how social norms shape resource negotiation for women seeking modern healthcare. A system of “protection and dependency” covers them in principle for obviously seri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:World development 2008-04, Vol.36 (4), p.608-624
Main Authors: Nikièma, Béatrice, Haddad, Slim, Potvin, Louise
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bargaining
Burkina Faso
Females
Gender relations
Health care
Health care access
Health Care Services
Health economics
healthcare financing
Illness
Negotiation
Norms
Opposite Sex Relations
Rural Areas
Rural health care
Self Esteem
Social conditions & trends
Social norms
West Africa
Women
women’s access to resources
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Summary:Based on a qualitative study contrasting a gender-relationally restrictive socio-cultural setting with a rather liberal one, we explain how social norms shape resource negotiation for women seeking modern healthcare. A system of “protection and dependency” covers them in principle for obviously serious illness, as far as household resources permit. In both settings, however, women must have “well behaved” and justify less-obvious needs in an unequal bargaining process with ambivalent recourse opportunities. Consequently, women may suffer delays in or exclusion from healthcare. Moreover, their self-esteem may lower and the domestic power imbalance may increase. The results suggest sectoral and sector-crosscutting solutions.
ISSN:0305-750X
1873-5991
DOI:10.1016/j.worlddev.2007.04.019