Filipino men’s familial roles and domestic violence: implications and startegies for community based intervention

Discussion on the paper by Prof. Romeo B. LeePresented by Jerry Jose

Impetus

• Men’s gender roles have contributed to family violence.

• Consequences of the roles in the development of community – based programmes for men have not been given much attention.

Description of the subjects

• 58 men from four communities– Community leaders and prominent local residents asked to

refer friends and acquaintances.– Recruited whether known to be violent or not.

• Criteria– Aged 20 years old or older– Married or cohabiting, living in the same household with their

partner and children for at least a year• Low to middle income occupations • Half of the participants have less than 4 kids• All were Catholics

Methodology

• Done in 10 months during 2000 in two moderately urbanised provinces where much work on women-centred domestic violence prevention had been going on for years

• Data collection done on Saturday and Sunday afternoons

• Modest incentives were given• Cognisant of the ethical dimensions regarding

informed consent, confidentiality, quality control, closure and referrals for support as required

Methodology

• Small scale qualitative examination of the familial context of Filipino men’s positions and roles, and their domestic violence experiences and attitude was carried out using eight focused group discussion.

• Seven to eight members per FGD• Verbatim tape recorded transcripts analysis

FGD guide

Scope and intended results

• May not be fully representative of the collective experiences and views of the Filipino male population, especially among those residing in the rural areas where most of the population lives

• Findings may provide alternative perspectives which may inform the development of a socially sensitive approach to involving community-based Filipino men and facilitating behaviour change.

A male-based model for stopping domestic violence

• Currently, this was not achievable given the observed official response - arrest and incarceration.

• Support in terms of knowledge, attitudinal and skill reformation to underpin behavior change.

• Community-based provision

Existing domestic violence interventions

For women, children (Abused)

• Programs mainly centered on awareness building; psychosocial support and emergency assistance

• Place – crisis centeres, police stations, and NGOs, some at the community level

For men (Abuser)

• Arrest • Incarceration

Why a preferrence for CBA?

• Reluctance to visit institutional health services.

• Social care and support• Can change community wide norms, which

underlie violence

Familial Roles of Men

Expectations with their women

Collaborative roles in creating happy families

Domestic Violence

Sources of Arguments and Triggers of Abuse

Consequences of Violence

Overcoming violence

Discussion

• At the helm of their families• Men, knowledgeable of and took responsibility for their

gender roles exerting control over the focus and direction of all family affairs including the gender roles of their wives/partners.

• Control –demonstrated facets of hegemonic masculinity such as sexual objectificaton and dominance.

• Men construct their gender as one bearing or symbolising power and strength, and unexpectedly, one imbued with pride

Findings

• Particularly sensitive to interventions aimed at reducing violence against women which will enquire into their private lives.– Direct challenge to their family leadership– Basis for losing face

Recommendations

• Strategic male-sensitive approaches need to be crafted to attract participation and, subsequently, social support from a critical mass of community-based men

• Programmes must employ neutral, nondisabling labels

Recommendations

• Recognition of positive and negative dimensions of men will avoid demonisation fo men and affirm men’s goodnes while pointing on areas in which they can improve

• Realize that men are not all the same

Recommendations

• Interventions must first aspire to involve men separately from women and children– modification of men’s superior regard of themselves

and their inferior regard of women– detach alcohol and drug abuse lifestyle and violent

behaviours from the gender role prescription for men, and to introduce and attach alternative roles

• Work with their wives/partners to unlearn traditional roles conducive to violence and to relearn alternative roles