Academic Members of the Near East University Faculty of Health Sciences Department of Midwifery, Assist. Prof. Dr. Filiz Yarıcı Atış and Research Assistant Betül Mammadov attended the 3rd International-4th National Midwifery Congress in Ankara, Turkey.

According to the press info release issued by the Directorate of Press and Public Relations of Near East University, Research Assistant Betül Mammadov made a verbal presentation on a study conducted by herself and Prof. Dr. Gülşen Takak Vural titled as “Women subjected to violence prior to and during Pregnancy; and factors effecting”

Violence against women is an important public health issue and violation of human rights...

In her presentation, Research Assistant Betül Mammadov pointed out that violence against women was an important public health issue and a violation of human rights and according to World Health Organisation (WHO) report; 15-71% of women worldwide were being subjected to violence. She emphasised that although the word ‘violence’ brought physical violence in mind, there were many types of violence such as economical violence (confiscating a woman’s salary, not allowing a woman to work, etc), gender violence (forcing sexual intercourse, rape, etc.); emotional violence (threatening, constraining, etc) and verbal violence (insulting, humiliation, etc). She added that sometimes women could also be subjected to violence even during a sensitive period such as the pregnancy period.

Violence during pregnancy has a negative impact on both the mother and the baby...

It was pointed out that violence during pregnancy not only had a negative impact on the mother but also had a negative impact on the baby. Research Assistant Betül Mammadov emphasised that women and men with low education levels had a high number of children, and made a prearranged marriage, and subsequent to marriage they ended up with unplanned pregnancy leading to an increase in violence.

75.3% of women in the TRNC are subjected to violence prior to pregnancy and 68% during pregnancy...

In addition to the above, it was emphasised that in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, 75.3% of women were prone to general violence prior to pregnancy; whereas this percentage was found to be 68% during the pregnancy period. Furthermore, the violence encountered during pregnancy were in the form of mainly verbal and economical. Moreover, although a pregnancy period of a woman reduced being subjected to violence, it did not stop or prevent it from happening at all.