Problems- Domestic Life, Family Structure, and
Abuse:
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Residences in
South Asia
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Children in the third world face challenges even in
the home. Their living conditions can be very poor, and the way they
are be treated by their families can be even worse. There is
a tendency towards mega cities in the third world, in which there
is limited housing. Thus, shanty towns built with anything stable
spring up throughout the cities as more and more immigrate to them.
This can immediately be seen in many parts of Asia where over one third
of the world’s population resides. In Delhi, for example, over one
third of the people in the city live in informal housing, many in
areas prone to flooding. Families are packed into
shelters, sometimes one-room dwellings, with extended family members or
other families. Ciudad Juárez, Mexico shows a similar story,
where expanding shantytowns mean only half the roads are paved, over a third
of actual houses have no sanitation services, a stench of garbage
and human waste hangs in the air, and a dramatic shortage of
water grows. “According to a national survey, more than half of the families
in Tijuana live below the poverty line, and only 5 percent of all
families are able to meet their basic needs without
difficulty”(5).
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Domestic violence and child abuse is not limited to
the developed world, nor are the effects limited to
mental disorders. According to one 1998 study done in Latin America and the
Caribbean, as the inequality in income increases (the poor get poorer) there
is a dramatic rise in domestic violence. A
study done in rural Karnataka, India showed that children of mothers who
were beaten and abused received less food than normal children; this is most
likely due to the fact that the father devalued his family, and the mother
was unable to acquire food for her child/children. The extreme but
frequent version of this is death of the mother and/or children or their
being outcast from the family altogether. In addition, frequent beatings of
mothers causes a much higher rate of disabilities in children born as
well as infant mortality. In Nicaragua, studies showed more
negative and detrimental effects of abuse. Children in abusive households
suffer more infant mortality, under-5 mortality, are more likely to
have diarrhea and malnutrition, and are less likely to be immunized. (See
chart below) “In Nicaragua children of battered women were more than twice
as likely as other children to suffer from learning, emotional,
and behavioral problems and almost seven times as likely to be
abused themselves, physically, sexually, or emotionally. Among abused women in Nicaragua,
49% said that their children often witnessed the violence, as did 64%
of women in Ireland and 50% in Monterrey, Mexico”(9).
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chart above shows for some places
in the world where women are
abused
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The way children are treated in the third world is
extreme and has been under watch for a while. What defines abuse
in these
difficult living conditions and cultural situations? Children are many times made to work in
order to support the family, forgoing health and education to do so.
Children who are young, disabled, unhealthy, or unable to work typically
receive less of the food acquired by the family, as it is important
that those who can do the most good survive. Children suffer
posttraumatic stress from exposure to warfare, or emotional repercussions from devastating scenes they have
witnessed. In most third world countries, children are considered the property
of their parents, and there are few laws to
prohibit even these general forms of abuse. Because of traditions
and survival, many practices of abuse are the social norm. Such is
the way with women throughout the third world as well. Young girls
born into these societies have a difficult road to follow. Anually, 5,000 brides in India
are murdered or commit suicide because of their lack of dowry. The Dowry
System in India, for example, and the fact that boys are generally stronger
workers leads to mistreatment of female children; they are looked at as
nothings, and many times killed at birth, left on the streets/orphanages, or
sold (ex, the sex industry). “In Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh [states], it
is usual for girls and women to eat less than men and
boys and to have their meal after the men and boys had finished eating... In case
of illness, it is usually boys who have preference in health care. ... More
is spent on clothing for boys than for girls, which also affects morbidity. (Karlekar,
"The girl child in India.")”(4). The same patterns can be seen
in countries such as China, or more extreme in countries in
the Middle East where women culturally are possessed and easily devalued without many rights
at all. In another extreme, female genital mutilation is found
primarily in 28 countries in Africa and used as a ritual
to “to contain sexuality, preserve virginity and insure marriageability”(27). Over 200,000 girls are genitally multilated each year,
which is 6,000 girls a day on
average. Clearly, cultural views make mistreatment of young girls
commonplace.
Domestic
& Adoption Frontpage
Top of this page
Solutions- Domestic Help & Abuse
Prevention:
Many
organizations and programs exist which aid children in these areas of
living conditions, domestic abuse, and cultural stereotypes.
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a
Doscientas Millas family
Habitat for
Humanity International
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First, the problem of poor living conditions and shantytowns is
being addressed internationally. The Westnell Nursery in Lima, Peru
for example has provided education to children in the Doscientas
Millas shantytown for fifteen years now and has acted as a focal point
for all families there. In Nairobi, Africa, there is a shantytown
at Mathare where a small group of women is getting some help and
making a definite impact for their families and children. The group
is named Wapenda Afya Bidi Women/Community Self Help Group (WAB)
and they are being assisted by a Nairobi-based NGO, the
Development Alternatives Network (DAN). Together, the organizations have begun
a long program of improving the living conditions for the
barefoot children and suffering families. The improvements included
waste management (manually cleaning toilets and areas where
children contract diseases), teaching survival skills, setting agendas
of family planning, sanitation, and child health. Since the plan
began, cases of dysentery, diarrhea and worms have been reduced by
over 30%. There is also a special child health monitoring system for
the town. On a global scale, many are taking recognition and action
of living conditions. Perhaps the most well-known for this is
Habitat for Humanity International, which has improved housing in over
2,000 communities in over 70 countries since 1976. While it is famous
in the United States for former president Jimmy Carter’s
enthusiastic involvement, it is known throughout the third world as
an organization which really makes a significant difference.
One personal story from Namugenui Piona speaks of what an impact
Habitat has had for her daughters, “Namugenyi Piona, a nurse and
single mother, lived with her two daughters in a two-room rental house
in Wobulenzi, Uganda. The crowding and insecure location caused her
to worry about the safety of her daughters, and she desired to live
in a place with electricity and a sense of community. She found
that place in a Habitat community of 45 houses. ‘A Habitat home
enhances one’s ability to raise one’s children,’ she
says”(2). The HABITAT II Conference in 1996 also addressed issues of
housing and impacts to families and children with a group of NGO’s
actively supporting plans for improvements. Currently the United
Nations Human Settlements Programme has a number of programs aimed
at sanitation, urban policies, the environmental conditions, the
families in settlements, risks and dangers, and many more.
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Second, the issue of child abuse is a difficult one to address, due to
varying definitions, cultures, governments, and morals. But where children
are suffering, it seems many organizations are identifying that and
stepping in. One example is the “Children First” joint project between
Save the Children (New Zealand) and The National
Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges. The project looks at the needs of children before
those of adults in an attempt to break the
cycle of abuse. Goals of the program include: preventing harm
to children based on experiences of family violence, providing therapy to
children, deliver service in a culturally appropriate way, involving primary caregivers
to create a more stable and safe home environment, and removing barriers
to development when domestic abuse occurs. Save the Children also does programs of teaching and
awareness, as well as providing funding for ECPAT (End Child
Prostitution and Trafficking). Two international organizations have a very strong
online presence. Though the ISPCAN(International Society for Prevention of Child abuse
and Neglect) is based in the United States, it works
to prevent the many forms of cruelty to children through outreach
programs, community training, and publications. It works in places from Sri-Lanka
to Bangladesh, from Pakistan to Poland, from Cote d’Ivoire
to the Republic of Cameroon. ICAN (The International Child
Abuse Network) also has a core-feel to it, but reaches world-wide to help
children. Its publicizing and raising awareness are important, but this organization
has a 24-hour international hotline for support and reporting abuse which
has the capability of supporting over 150 languages. The non-profit organization named
Haitian Street Kids, Inc. works to identify and aid abandoned
and abused children, and children who are restavek, or child slaves
(of which there are over 300,000 in Haiti). They have night
shelters where the Haitian children can go to be safe, place
some children in the Family Circle home, There are, of course, a
number of organizations of varying sizes such as the Global Fund for Women
helping women and their families cope with domestic violence. Programs
such as The Corporación Grupo de Apoyo in Bosa, Colombia, shelter women
and their children who have been in situations of deomestic violence and
sexual violence. The Centro de Apoyo a la Mujer(Women's Support Centre) in
Mexico provides the same support, but also specifically looks at helping
young girls who are forced to marry at age ten into situations of wife
abuse. Counseling goes on for women in Bosnia, Uganda, the Philippines,
Croatia and many more places are the world. In India, where one out of
three men admit to beating their wife, shelters, counseling, and legal aid
are available in some sectors, and a project/study done by the US (PROWID,
Promoting Women in Development) hopes to target more causes and ways to
improve the domestic situations with new techniques. In Mumbai, India, for
example, special cells exists in police stations solely for women and
children who report domestic violence. Not only are they able to stay
there for protection, but in depth data can be gathered by officials on
cases to help. Because so much affects children, is it important to look
at the domestic problems that impact their lives because that is a form of
abuse itself.
Third, when justification for violence and mistreatment stem from gender
norms, sometimes it can be much more difficult to intervene. However, it
can be the worst injustices that attract the most attention. There are a number of programs that have begun in
the last few years that have made a serious impact on the
way girls are treated as they grow.
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The Revolutionary Association of the Women of
Afghanistan (RAWA) is a non-profit organization of women fighting
for justice and human rights, established in 1977. There are many
strides to be made in Afghanistan, where education for women is
banned throughout 90% of the country, the under-five mortality rate
is number four in the world, and one in five children have acute
malnutrition. RAWA works in Pakistan to run & provide materials
to primary and secondary schools for refugee girls, boys, and women;
to provide health care; to allow cultural expression from women and
children; to raise awareness through propaganda and demonstrations,
and much more. In Afghanistan, they organize and run “home schools”
for children (especially girls) who otherwise cannot be educated;
provide health care through very mobile teams; provide short-term
loans and resources for women to work for money in their homes or
nearby.
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RAWA home-based school for
girls
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women’s movement in India has the same sort of
impact for girls born and living in Indian society. One major goal of the
Shantidhara Social Service Society is development of girls and women, as
well as education and living conditions. The Womens Human Rights Net
has a large number of partners worldwide which are making an impact
in the perspectives and treatment of women and girls. As mentioned, there
are also female genital mutilation practices (usually for
young girls entering puberty) in many countries in Africa, an issue
which has been addressed for a number of years by the World Health
Organization(WHO). The Inter-African Committee (IAC) on
Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children is a
private organization begun by women to eradicate FGM practices it has
expanded to at least 24 countries but has also been recognized and banned
in a few others. A Childbirth Picture Book (CBPB) has been developed with
the WHO’s support for educating illiterate young women, and include
sections to prevent mutilation and excision. The Women's International
Network has distributed more than 70,000 to organizations, training
programs, and clinics in Africa. The scope of this problem has reached to
international levels, as young women escaping this fate have been granted
asylum in the US, Canada, and other nations. “Other international NGOs
with a long history of working on FGM include Forward International,
Minority Rights Group, Commission pour l’Abolition des Mutilations
Sexuelles (CAMS), Research Action Information Network for Bodily Integrity
of Women (RAINBOW) and Equality Now. These and other organizations have
together made enormous contributions in the areas of research;
awareness-raising; financial and logistical support for grassroots
initiatives; lobbying of decision makers at the governmental and
intergovernmental level; developing protection mechanisms in Western
countries; and mobilizing international concern”(11).
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