engleski

Reproductive and socio-economic profile of urban and rural Roma women living in Croatia

The Roma (Gypsy) are the largest European transnational minority population characterized by poverty, social exclusion, poor education and traditional attitudes towards female reproductive health that all contribute to a high fertility reproductive pattern. In order to assess the influence of urbanization on the socio-economic status and reproductive characteristics of Roma women, we included in the study a total of 207 adult Roma women aged 18-72 yrs (40.6±13.7) living in urban (87) and rural (110) settlements in Croatia. The study showed that the Roma women marry young (17.5 years) for a husband two years their senior (19.6 yrs) and give birth to 3.8±2.6 children. Financially, the Roma women primarily relay on social welfare support allowance (63.5%) and child allowance (41%), while merely 5% are permanently and 17% occasionally employed. The proportion of the Roma women who had never attended school amounts as high as 39.1%. The urban-rural difference was not found in any reproductive characteristics (number of children, contraception, menarcheal and menopausal age, etc.). On the other hand, two important differences in socio-economic variables were found: urban Roma women compared to their rural counterparts more frequently have a permanent job (9% vs. 1% ; p = 0.012) and less frequently receive social welfare support allowance (42% vs. 87% ; p < 0.001). These differences in social and financial position of urban Roma women warrant a follow-up of this population to detect whether a) this trend will continue to spread and b) it will have an impact on reproductive behaviour and health.

Gypsy; SES; education; fertility; reproductive health; transition; anthropology; Croatia

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