Violence against children, the voices of Ugandan ... - Raising Voices

In what ways do you punish children?Economic PunishmentControlling children’s access to their families’resources was reported by adults as an importantway of controlling behaviour. Children wereexpected to make a significant contribution tothe family’s economy through their labour, yettheir access to the family resources was seen as aprivilege that can be withdrawn as a punishment.Indeed, a critical quality of the economicpunishment was its overt injustice, otherwise theact was not perceived as punishment.Figure 3.12 Types of economic punishmentused by adults, by sex ofrespondentsNot providing foodNot providingfees/ uniformNot providing moneyfor healthcareMaking them workto earn moneyOther0 10 20 30 40% of respondentsMaleFemaleThis was also an area where, in interviews andinformal conversations, many adults acknowledgedthat children were routinely being abused. Asignificant proportion of adults acknowledgedin discussions that although they realized thatchildren have a right to have their basic needsmet, as parents they would still continue to imposeeconomic penalties that curtailed access to basicneeds for perceived misbehaviour.50Children have to show that they are worthy ofbeing educated, otherwise it is better they stayhome and contribute to the family by working.male, parent, WakisoOf the adults consulted in this study, 46.8 percentsaid that if they were displeased with children, theywithdrew financial support and forced children toearn money for some of their basic needs.Approximately, one in eight adults (12.2 percent)said that they refused to provide children withmoney for healthcare if children misbehaved.Almost one in three adults (29.7 percent) said theydenied children food as a form of punishment, andover one in five (22.3 percent) said that they onlyprovided money for uniforms or school relatedcosts if they deemed the child worthy of it.In every category, women were more likely toimpose economic punishments on children. Forexample, 34.8 percent of women said they woulddeny food to children as a punishment, comparedto 25.2 percent of men. Similarly, 14.5 percent ofwomen said they would deny money for healthcareto children, compared to 10.1 percent of men.However, this difference may be more relatedto access and context rather than characteristicdifferences between women and men. Womencontrol access to food, and children generally tendto approach their mothers for their financial needs.Furthermore, in many cases, it is likely that men arein overall control of the family’s resources, and thatwomen are merely conduits of decisions alreadymade by the male head of the family.74 Part Three Adults’ Rationale