domestic violence — Ethnic Supplies

Women’s Rights in Kisoro SW Uganda

December 10, 2011 By idahorner Leave a Comment

Kisoro SW Uganda has been named by both National Geographic amongst the 10 ten places to visit in 2012. With its rolling hills and magical landscape Kisoro is breath taking. It is home of the might Mountain Gorillas and one of the most densely populated district in Uganda. The fact that Kisoro is densely populated has implications for both resources and women’s rights. The most prized asset in this farming community is land.

If you delve deep into this community you will learn that

there are two cash crops in this community coffee and Irish potatoes ( there are two kinds of potatoes in Uganda – Sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes- this is the variety that most western readers will be familiar with)
the dominance of one cash crop over the other is determined along gender lines
women have very few rights here specifically property rights

I had a conversation wit 3 women from the community and here is what they had to say.

I apologise for the quality of the recording and if you are unable to follow the conversation the main points raised were

women do not own land
women often work as part of the hired help and unlike the hired help they do not get paid
women have a preference for Irish potatoes as a cash crop over coffee because if they do not get paid they will have food on the table
often the man will handle coffee related cash transactions and the woman has no control over what happens to the money
domestic violence is rife and although authorities get involved things do not work out in the favour of the the abused woman
if a marriage breaks down the woman is expected to leave any children and return to her parents

It was interesting to hear the views of our guide on all of this. He is from Kampala the capital city of Uganda

He told us that as far as he could work the lack of education put the women of Kisoro at a great disadvantage as it means that they do not fully understand their rights and as such cannot argue/fight for those rights. He further stated that he would never dream of treating his own wife the way these women are treated and that his wife had rights to buy and own property without his permission.

What are your views?

Filed Under: Latest, Poverty in Africa Tagged With: domestic violence, Kisoro, Mountain Gorilla, National Geographic, Uganda

The economic consequences of domestic violence

October 16, 2009 By ethnicsupplies Leave a Comment

When I was at University one of the core modules for my area of study Housing Management and development was DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND THE LAW. Domestic violence was considered in the context of property rights but for the purpose of this article I would like to look at the impact of domestic abuse on the economy.

A tall order perhaps but bear with me whilst I illustrate my point.

The fact about domestic abuse is that it ebbs away at the confidence and self esteem of the person at the receiving end of it. It makes them question their self worth making ineffective in all areas of their lives.

Imagine if you will a woman who is responsible for ensuring that the family is fed, clothed and has to work the land to grow the food to feed the family but is beaten by her spouse on a daily basis!

In some cases she is indeed the sole bread-winner in the family as the man’s income is spent on alcohol! What sort of life would children growing up in such a household have to look forward too!

It is widely accepted well as least in the case of African countries that the economic development of these countries rests with women. That being the case what would happen if women are ordinarily unable to participate in economic generating activities due to domestic abuse?

Does society owe such women the duty of care to secure the economic development of a county? What form should that care take?

I am happy to note that in Nigeria steps are being taken to address the issue of domestic abuse. The idea is to provide some for of safe house for women and children fleeing domestic abuse. You can read the rest of the story here

The question is most African countries are so conservative, how will such a facility go down in society? Will women have the courage to seek support and refuge in such a facility?

What will their peers make of it?

My first job as a Social Housing practitioner saw me in charge of just such a facility here in the UK and it gave women new hope and a chance to rebuild their lives and those of their children.

I am therefore hopefully that this type of facility becomes common practice in African countries too.

As usual your points of view are welcome

Filed Under: African women, Good Practice Tagged With: African women, domestic violence, financial indendpence

Alcohol and Poverty in Africa

January 9, 2009 By ethnicsupplies 4 Comments

Besi Besi

You would be forgiven for not spotting the link between alcohol and poverty in Africa. In fact if you asked me a question such as HOW CAN POOR PEOPLE AFFORD ALCOHOL ? I would not be surprised at all.

Poverty as a result of alcohol abuse in developing countries is wide spread, however it is unlcear how well reported it is as a contributing factor to extreme poverty.

My work at Ethnic Supplies brings me face to face with those at the receiving end of alcohol related poverty. On my last visit I was introduced to Besi pictured here. I found her story and those of her fellow weavers heart wrenching. The women spoke of husbands without formal employment but pass their days drinking, local beer. I naively asked where they get the money for beer from. The women told me that the men take up casual work, however that they never bring those wages home and instead spend it all on alcohol.

This means that women become the sole bread winners in the household and given the lack of jobs in these rural areas women struggle to access employment and therefore the family becomes caught in the poverty trap.

My good friend and Environmental Engineer Ivan Kibuka-Kiguli had this to say

There is a co-realtion between alchol and poverty . It appears that if folk can’t afford to pay for the alcohol moneywise, they’ve got ‘plenty’ of time for brewing it and growing the ingredients. This leaves little time for doing other stuff. This was certainly my observation during my last visit to SW Uganda.

Ivan raised an interesting point too, some of these folk drink because they are unemployed or lack anything meaningful to occupy them and as they don’t necessarily have to the money to pay for alcohol in order to access they pass their days drinking. They are certainly unlikely to find any work or anything meaningful to do for that matter whilst drunk, Catch22?? perhaps!

The implications of this way of life are increased domestic violence normally towards women and children, unedcuated children, that will never have a chance to gain formal employment, this then creates a cycle of poverty for generations to come.

Aid and Donor agencies should take the issue of alcohol into account when seeking to end extreme poverty in the developing world.

I would very interested in hearing from others with differing views or similar expreiences

Filed Under: Poverty in Africa Tagged With: alcohol and poverty in Africa, child poverty, domestic violence