ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the key issue of communication with general practitioners and health visitors, a crucial element in women’s initial and continuing access to health services, and considers how far Pakistani women are disadvantaged in this area, and how their experiences compare with the experiences of white women. It looks at the perspectives of both patients and professionals. Many of the professionals interviewed, especially the health visitors, emphasised the importance of professional communication skills. It was clear that where professionals were conscious of this, and worked to develop their skills, barriers of culture and class could be crossed successfully, and women would seek and accept professional advice. Several women described how they felt professionals to be prejudiced against them on class grounds, assuming stupidity or ignorance in women living in certain parts of the city. An overemphasis on racism as a central exclusionary factor can obscure the role of class differences.
