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  • Title: Women in a south Indian fishing village: role identity, continuity, and the experience of menopause.
    Author: George T.
    Journal: Health Care Women Int; 1996; 17(4):271-9. PubMed ID: 8850762.
    Abstract:
    A study was conducted of the experience of menopause among middle-aged women in a fishing village on the southwest coast of India. These women live in a harsh environment with a standard of living that would be considered economically deprived by an outsider. The women have established their identity as fish sellers. Although they reported experiencing some of the physiological symptoms of menopause typically reported in Western literature, the symptoms were not cause for complaint, and none of them sought medical treatment for them. Nor did these women go through an identity crisis at midlife; they continued to identify themselves as well-established fish sellers, not as redundant, aging housewives. Furthermore, menopause gave them much more time and freedom to pursue their fish-selling business. This paper posits that their continuity in identity accounts for their freedom from the psychological symptoms some Western women experience at midlife. This article reports on a study of how women in a fishing village in Kerala, India, experience menopause. It opens with a brief review of the literature: the historical perspectives of menopause as an affliction, the modern perspective of menopause as a deficiency disease corrected with estrogen supplements, and the conflicted and limited nature of data on women's experience of menopause in developing countries. The experience of women in developing countries does not correspond with that of women in developed countries. In the village under study, the population is Roman Catholic, but family planning is practiced. The women marry in their 20s, inherit an equal share of family property, and pursue careers as fish sellers. The men fish every night, sleep every day, often get drunk on local beer, and become violent towards their wives. The wives openly acknowledge the battering and seek refuge with a neighbor or family member when they feel their husbands are out of control. The women are casual about the men's behavior because the women feel they can control the situation. Data were gathered in 1995 on 190 women 35-69 years old. 68% had a grade 3-5 education, 30% had a grade 6-10 education, and 2% finished high school. Most of the women depended upon sexual sterilization to control their fertility after having two children. The most frequently reported symptom of menopause, after menstrual irregularity, was weight gain. Only 26% of the women had experienced hot flashes, but none thought they were severe. Vaginal dryness was reported by 18%. Other symptoms were attributed to other factors in their lives. The women believed menopause to be natural and to be a positive development because it made it easier for them to go on their selling rounds without personal hygiene difficulties. It is possible that the women had a positive attitude towards menopause because they have continuity in their primary identity as fish sellers, and this role is facilitated by menopause.
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