Blog & News

Professor Patrizia Quattrocchi, of the University of Udine and Scientific Coordinator of the European project IPOV – International Platform on Obstetric Violence & Respectful Care, took part on 15 April 2026 in a university event held at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, in the Aula Aldo Moro of Palazzo Del Prete, focused on obstetric violence. The activity appeared in the university programme Lezioni di Pace and was led by Angela Patrizia Tavani.

This article explores how women’s autonomy has been historically regulated and symbolically silenced, from the figure of Jacoba de Settesoli to contemporary obstetric violence. It argues that these forms of exclusion are not isolated, but part of deeper structures that continue to shape birth, authority, and women’s experience of their own bodies.

Professor Patrizia Quattrocchi, Scientific Coordinator of the project IPOV – International Platform on Obstetric Violence & Respectful Care, has co-authored, together with Daniela Bandelli, the chapter “Obstetric violence” in the collective volume Handbook on Gender and Violence, second edition, an important international reference work in the field of gender and violence studies.

Obstetric violence remains a persistent form of institutional and gender-based violence in Argentina despite existing legal recognition. This article introduces obstetric consciousness as an ethical and conceptual framework to help prevent it through cultural and institutional change. Grounded in relational bioethics, childbirth anthropology, and human rights, the concept emphasizes professional reflexivity, awareness of power asymmetries, and attention to subjective birth experience as essential to quality care. Its implementation requires training, ethical oversight, and evaluation focused on users’ experiences.

The IPOV–RESPECTFULCARE Project is launching a call for applications for its Traineeship Programme 2026.

Join us for a 40-minute online webinar on how to access European research funding—covering funding basics, proposal writing tips, and building international partnerships. Two identical sessions available: Wed 11 March 10:00 or Thu 12 March 18:00. Speaker: Thomas Weis (international projects expert).

Montevideo, Uruguay — On Friday, 06 March, from 9:00 to 12:00, the Faculty of Psychology (Room 03) will host the regional roundtable “Perinatal Psychology Today: Dialogues between Uruguay, Chile and Argentina”, a space for exchange on current issues related to Perinatal Psychology.

In this video, artist and scientific mediator Krissima Poba presents MAM! (Mamelles humaines), an artistic installation that reimagines breast milk as a supermarket product. Through fictitious advertising posters for “bricks” of human milk—complete with nutritional tables, percentages, and scientific references—Poba uses the visual language of commercial marketing to question it from within.

Ethical dilemma for Moral Case Deliberation on when “respect” interrupts care, exploring autonomy, newborn rights, and responsibility in safeguarding physiological birth processes.