Village in the City: Autonomy and Maternal Health-seeking among Slum Populations of Mumbai

In Mumbai, where 75 percent of the population live in slums or slum-like conditions (United Nations, 2001), availability of institutional services for childbirth is widespread and most babies are born in facilities (Yesudian, 1988). Despite this, underutilization of municipal services in favor of either childbirth at home or at private providers of variable quality, and late presentation at facilities—many never get there in time—are features of careseeking in this city. In these cramped, unsanitary, and often resource-poor conditions, women’s roles can be subject to scrutiny and decisionmaking regarding careseeking behavior may be constrained, especially in pregnancy (Ramasubban and Singh, 2001). Despite social constraints, however, poor urban women may have access to cash and resources that their rural counterparts could never obtain. Here the village is in the city, as observed from the cultural norms governing the daily lives of these women and the pattern of their interaction within their extended families back in their familial village and their immediate neighborhoods.