Economic violence making women more vulnerable

Nov 27, 2014

“Mubbi bubbi, yajja nakaveera; lwaki aleeta loole”, all the young men that were seated in the drinking joint sang along to this supposedly new male anthem as it played on one of the radio stations.

By Gloria Nakajubi

“Mubbi bubbi, yajja nakaveera; lwaki aleeta loole”, all the young men that were seated in the drinking joint sang along to this supposedly new male anthem as it played on one of the radio stations.

From downtown to uptown gatherings, the song is a major hit.

The song, whose storyline is about a woman who at the time of leaving her marriage brings a lorry to carry the property, a move the man finds unacceptable, because according to him, since she came with a polythene bag (kaveera) into the home, she should not carry more property away if she decides to leave.

Several questions come to mind: Does a woman have to go with nothing because she came with nothing? Don’t women contribute in any way to the accumulation of family property?

But as Yvette Alal, the senior programme manager at Centre for Domestic Violence Prevention explains, financially or non-financially, women contribute greatly to the development of the family.

Domestic violence is no respecter of status because even the women who are highly educated and are independent are experiencing the same.

Alal says other than the physical battering, genderbased violence is changing form and becoming more of economic, emotional and sexual.

Economic empowermenthas its own downside.

Women are currently struggling to keep their minds in balance. They have been elevated to taking on the responsibility of being both husband and wife in the home.

“When a man knows you earn a salary, they will resign from the responsibilities of the home. And when you ask for any help, they will ask you to use your salary,” Alal says.

From home responsibilities, some women are apparently servicing loans that they got on behalf of their ‘darling husbands’ under the guise of investing for the family.

The men later shun the responsibility to service the loan and since it was in the wife’s name, she has to take sole responsibility.

Family psychologist, Susan Badagawa of Hope in Life Counselling Services says financial abuse has reached an extent of where some men even attach the wife’s name on all the utility bills in the house, so since its your name on the bill, you have no choice but to pay or risk the inconvenience that comes with non-payment.

She notes that for housewives, the idea of having to account for every penny left behind by the husband is discomforting and emotionally trying.

“There are things that you cannot tell your husband because they are feminine and he may not understand.

But since you have to give accountability at the end of the day, you are left confused,” Badagawa notes.
Some women are not allowed to take on any formal employment because some men cannot stand the idea of having a woman who has more money than they do, or even the fact that this woman can afford to take care of themselves.

For some men, everything to do with spending money is deemed extravagant. Even when it is money that she has earned by herself, she is not at liberty to spend it or risk being scolded by her husband.

Lillian Adriko, the head of legal aid clinic at FIDA Uganda, adds that some women are denied access to disposable income. The man will ensure to give the spouse everything that he thinks she needs, but leave her with no money to spend on her own. However, Adriko notes that it becomes challenging to seek legal redress in cases that involve financial abuse because many women do not keep records of their contribution to the home.

Therefore, no evidence for their financial claims.

“We are trying to sensitise women to keep their receipts and other documents that show financial transactions such that in case they need to seek the intervention of the law, they have proof for their claims,” she says.

The manager for strategic information and research at the Muslim Centre for Justice and Law which operates in Kampala and Butambala districts, economic violence is one of the common cases registered at their centres.

He says many women are abandoned in rented houses and cannot even afford to pay their children’s school fees.

But even then, those that are engaged in petty trade do not enjoy the proceeds as the men take the money by force.

Other than economic abuse, other forms manifest in psychological, emotional and sexual abuse, whose impact may not be physical, but rather leaves the victim traumatised and can lead to a breakdown in the marriage or relationship.

Statistics

Gender-based violence is as prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa as it is in many other continents. According to the preliminary analysis of the World Health Organisation global prevalence database (2013) in World Bank group regions, the percentage of women, who have experienced physical or sexual violence or both by an intimate partner, stand as follows;

Sub-Saharan Africa-40%

Middle East and North Africa-40%

South Asia-43%

Latin America and the carribean-33%

Australia and New Zealand- 28%

Europe and Central Asia- 29%

North America- 21%

Relation

Wives not cows: Uganda dowry fuels domestic violence

Police officers trained to handle domestic violence cases

Domestic violence key player in spread of HIV

 

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});