Institutional violence in public maternity hospitals: the women's view

This paper presents and discusses data from a survey on institutional violence in public maternity hospitals, conducted in the municipality of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Twenty-one puerperae were interviewed about their childbirth experiences and the care received, using a semi-structured format. The data showed that the interviewees reported and recognized discriminatory practices and ill-mannered treatment within the attendance at the public maternity hospitals. They reacted through strategies of resistance or accommodation. These experiences are so frequent that these women often come to expect to suffer some type of mistreatment, thus revealing a situation of trivialization of institutional violence.