title: Applying a feminist approach to health and human rights research in Malawi: a study of violence in the lives of female domestic workers.
abstract: In this study, we responded to the human rights challenges posed in Malawi by burgeoning poverty, rapid urbanization, lack of employment opportunity for women, and AIDS-related morbidity and mortality as they affect young women in domestic service. Through focus groups and individual interviews with 48 female domestic workers, we examined violence from a postcolonial feminist perspective. In this article, we tell the story of how we operationalized our feminist science and forged relationships with Malawian women to identify the jeopardy they face and make steps toward an emancipatory change. We highlight substantive findings, but direct our focus to methodology, theoretical grounding, and implications for nursing research undertaken with vulnerable populations in the Third World.
authors.affiliation: The College of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA. mkandawi@uwm.edu
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mkandawire-Valhmu
authors.forename: Patricia E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Stevens
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002654:Child Care; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D019513:Feminism; D017144:Focus Groups; D006796:Household Work; D045809:Human Rights Abuses / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008295:Malawi; D015399:Nursing Research / Q000379:methods*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011203:Poverty; D014754:Violence / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D035862:Vulnerable Populations