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Bangladesh Sociological Society

Committed to the advancement of sociological research and

ISSN 1819-8465

The Official Journal of


Committed to the advancement of sociological research and publication


publication.

Bangladesh e-Journal of Sociology. Volume 9, Number 2. 2012

BangladeshBangladeshBangladeshBangladesh Contents of Volume 9, Number 2. July 2012 Note from the Editor Application of Fuzzy Logic in Sociological Research: An Instance of Potential Payoff

Domestic Violence against Women in Bangladesh: Analysis from a Socio-legal Perspective

Water Security in Coastal Region of Bangladesh: Would Desalination be a Solution to the Vulnerable Communities of the Sundarbans? Female Executives’ Experiences of Contra- power Sexual Harassment from Male Subordinates in the Workplace Health Care Seeking Behavior for Safe Motherhood: Findings from Rural Bangladesh The Need to Incorporate Senior Caregivers in Health Education Relating to Malaria in Rural Areas

Secondary School Students’ Perception of Environmental Variables Influencing Academic Performance in Edo State, Nigeria Drug Abuse, Youth Violence and Social Order: A Study of Petroleum Hawkers in Minna, Niger State, Nigeria A Socio- economic Study of Informal Sector Workers of Dhaka City Call for papers for the 10 th Ann


Committed to the advancement of sociological research and

Volume 9, Number 2. 2012

BangladeshBangladeshBangladeshBangladesh eeee----Journal of SociologyJournal of SociologyJournal of SociologyJournal of Sociology

Contents of Volume 9, Number 2. July 2012

Application of Fuzzy Logic in Sociological Mohammed Faruque UddinResearch: An Instance of Potential Payoff

Domestic Violence against Women in Mst. Taslima Khatun and Khandaker Farzana Rahman

Water Security in Coastal Region of Asiful Basar Bangladesh: Would Desalination be a Solution to the Vulnerable Communities of

Female Executives’ Experiences of Emmanuel Abiodun Fayankinnupower Sexual Harassment from

Male Subordinates in the Workplace

Health Care Seeking Behavior for Safe Shirina Aktar Motherhood: Findings from Rural Bangladesh

The Need to Incorporate Senior Caregivers Ali Arazeem Abdullahi in Health Education Relating to Malaria Anton Senekal and

Cecilia Van Zyl- Schalekamp

Secondary School Students’ Perception Jolly Okoza of Environmental Variables Influencing Oyaziwo Aluede and Academic Performance in Edo State, Nigeria Justina E. Afen Akpaida

Drug Abuse, Youth Violence and Social Order: Usman Isah Ndashiru A.A Study of Petroleum Hawkers in Minna, Usman Ahmad Karofi

economic Study of Informal Sector Md. Nazmul Alam

Ann iversary Issue

ISSN 1819-8465 The Official Journal of


Committed to the advancement of sociological research and publication

2

Page 5

Mohammed Faruque Uddin 7

and Khandaker Farzana Rahman 19

31

Emmanuel Abiodun Fayankinnu 40

57

Schalekamp 71

Justina E. Afen Akpaida 84

A. and 95

101

109


publication.


3

Bangladesh eBangladesh eBangladesh eBangladesh e----JournalJournalJournalJournal of Sociologyof Sociologyof Sociologyof Sociology (Biannual e-Journal of the Bangladesh Sociological Society)

Editor Nazrul Islam

Independent University, Bangladesh

Associate Editor Managing Editor Book Review Editor

S. Aminul Islam M. Imdadul Haque A.I.Mahbub Uddin Ahmed University of Dhaka University of Dhaka University of Dhaka

Web Master

Faridul Islam, University of Dhaka

Emails: [email protected]

[email protected]

Published on the Internet

URL: http://www.bangladeshsociology.org

Published by


From School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) Phone: 88-02-840-1645, Ext. 247. Email: [email protected]


10TH

ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

Bangladesh eBangladesh eBangladesh eBangladesh e

Join us as we reach a milestone in our efforts to sociological research and publication internationally

We are inviting papers on

ReReReRe----imaging imaging imaging imaging ““““

Or on other sociological issues for this momentous publication

Be a part of the 10of the only international, peer reviewed, free to d ownload

electronic journal of sociology from the region

[email protected]


For the

ANNIVERSARY ISSUEOf the

Bangladesh eBangladesh eBangladesh eBangladesh e----Journal of SociologyJournal of SociologyJournal of SociologyJournal of SociologyJanuary, 2013

Join us as we reach a milestone in our efforts to sociological research and publication internationally


““““Third Third Third Third WorldWorldWorldWorld”””” SociologySociologySociologySociology


Be a part of the 10 th Anniversary Issue of the only international, peer reviewed, free to d ownload


Send your paper to [email protected]

4

ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

Journal of SociologyJournal of SociologyJournal of SociologyJournal of Sociology

Join us as we reach a milestone in our efforts to promote sociological research and publication internationally

SociologySociologySociologySociology


of the only international, peer reviewed, free to d ownload



5

Note from the Editor

A few issues back I had lamented the lack of contribution to the e-Journal from Bangladesh. I attributed it to the general lack of scholarship among the sociologists in the country, indeed to the wholly anti-academic atmosphere that prevails in Bangladesh. It is, therefore, heartening to report that this issue of the e- Journal has proved to be otherwise. For the first time since the initial few issues we have a majority of the articles contributed by the Bangladeshi scholars and, to my utter delight, by the young ones at that. The articles range from the very challenging notion of “Fuzzy Logic” and its application in sociology to the impacts of climate change and the future dangers facing Bangladesh to the issues like “domestic violence”, “safe motherhood” and the “informal sector”. Though some of the contributions are from expatriate Bangladeshis, it still gives me hope that in spite of the anti-intellectualism dominant in the universities of Bangladesh, a few defiant ones are fighting it out, hoping to raise their heads above the cesspool, and be counted in the international arena. They are young and inexperienced but given time they may, one day, reverse the tide. My “hats off” to them! In his “Application of Fuzzy Logic in Sociological Research: An Instance of Potential Payoff”, Mohammed Faruque Uddin first introduces the idea of the fuzzy logic explaining its usefulness in the not-so scientifically accesible social world. He then demonstrates its application with an easy to follow example. Granted that it is only an introductory study but it carries the promise of future use of “fuzzy logic” in sociology. In their study of “domestic violence”, Mst. Taslima Khatun andKhandaker Farzana Rahman pick up from where Syeda Tonima Hadi left off in two earlier issues of this e-Journal. They detail on the various facets of the domestic violence in Bangladesh and later focus on the legalistic issues and the role of the state in curbing such practices. Shirina Aktar, similarly, looks to the state for providing better education to the women and allowing them to face the most challenging periods of their lives. She calls for proper knowledge of “safe motherhood” to make pregnancy an enjopyable experience for women, which in many cases in Bangladesh rural setting is not, as by far the majority of the pregnancies occur withiout the conscent of the woman bringing with it many hazards she is forced to face. Climate change is the buzz word for the decade and scientists, governements, social workwers all over the world are debating various issues leading to and are lijkely to be caused by climate change. For most of these actors “climate change” occurs only in paper or is debated accorss the table. But for Bangladesh it is a reality, claimed by many, already taking place bringing with it the prospect of untold miseries to this hapless country. It is estimated that nearly all the bad aspects of climate chage will one way or the other affect Bangladesh. In the light of that sad prospect, Asiful Bashar takes up the issue of the destruction the ecosystem and habitat of the Sundarbans mangrove forest, one of the UN heritage sites, due to the rise in sea level and consequest increase in salinity of the region. He feels that people in the region have to learn to live with the change and one way of doing so would be to use desalinization equipments to obtain drinkable water. Women in all work locations face discriminations and, worse, are the victims of sexual harrasment. In most such scenarios it is the men in positions of power who take advantage of their high positions and make unwanted advances to women in lesser positions. In rwecent times, however, many women, and young ones in most cases, have risen to high postions of power and often administer over men much older in age. Emmanuel Abiodun Fayankinnu argues that such alteration in power position has not, unfortunately, ended the harassment. The contra-power sexual harassment merely takes a different form and often disguised in manners which cannot be identified as criminal acts, creating a situation as unbearable for most women as in the regular harassment situations. As with the previous issues, Nigeria features very prominently in this issue as well. The next three articles deal with the Nigerian society in three very important social issues. Ali Arazeem Abdullahi, Anton Senekal and Cecilia Van Zyl-Schalekamp focuses on the tradition al knowledge base of a rural community as it comes to be ignored or passed by, in recent times, by the more modern scientific knowledge, particularly in health care s ituations. The original title of the paper read as “ I Always Depend on My Mother-in-law Whenever My Child is Down with Malaria” is a clear indication of the necessity for the retention of traditional knowledge base for the cure of not only


6

malaria but for dealing with life in general, side by side with the more modern knowledge which is driving out the traditional. Alarmed by “near collapse” of the secondary education system in Nigeria as evidenced by “students’ abysmal performance in 2011 examination results”, Jolly Okoza, Oyaziwo Aluede and Justina E. Afen Akpaida have taken up a study of 1500 students to identify the causes of such failures. Different groups have played the blame game and pointed fingers at the teachers, parents and government policies while others have blamed the students themselves. But the current “study revealed that learning environments, teacher’s method of teaching and parental socio-economic status mediated on students’ academic performance”. On the basis of these the study recommends that all concerned should provide a proper academic environment for the students to perform well. Usman Isah Ndashiru A. and Usman Ahmad Karofi take up the issue of drug activated violence in the city of Minna in Nigeria. The petroleum hawkers in the area act as gangs and are prone to violence. The study focuses on a sample of 165 petroleum hawkers and finds positive relationship between drug abuse and violent activities among the hawkers. They also find that peer group influence, teaming and gangsterism also propel the hawkers to violence. Last but not the least is the study of the informal sector workers of Dhaka City. Md. Nazmul Alam delves deep into the life and the work situation of the informal sector economy and shows how defficient is the working conditions, where the workers have little or no assurance of even the jobs they do, let alone a formal contract and other facilities like health insurance etc. His study found that most workers have a low level of “decent work dimension score”. He also works out the socio-economic conditions of these workers. All said and done, this issue brings to a kind of maturity for the e-Journal as it combines the national with the international. We plan to celebrate this “coming of age” for the e-Journal through a special issue in the next volume, the launching of which has been planned at the University of Dhaka, from where this e-Journal was first published. The launching will be held at an international seminar to highlight the progress of sociology in the “third world”. Let this be an invitation to all our past and current contributors to the journal and our well-wishers to join us celebrate this historic occasion. After all, this is the only and the longest running electronic journal of sociology from the region!

International Seminar onInternational Seminar onInternational Seminar onInternational Seminar on

ReReReRe----imaging imaging imaging imaging ““““Third Third Third Third WorldWorldWorldWorld”””” SociologySociologySociologySociology

And the Launching of the And the Launching of the And the Launching of the And the Launching of the

10TH

ANNIVERSARY ISSUE of the

Bangladesh eBangladesh eBangladesh eBangladesh e----Journal of SociologyJournal of SociologyJournal of SociologyJournal of Sociology January, 2013

Please contact me for details at:

[email protected] or [email protected]


7

Application of Fuzzy Logic in Sociological Research : An Instance of Potential Payoff

Mohammed Faruque Uddin *

Abstract: The function of science is to explain reality logically. Present article portrays an enthusiastic initiative to exemplify sociological research of the ‘grey social world’ by using fuzzy logic. Taking the dilemma between qualitative and quantitative approaches into account there is an anticipation to make a merger between these two. There is an enormous prospect to turn up scientists’ humanitarian innovations if they could use fuzzy logic in social science researches! Consequently, by using fuzzy logic in sociological research there is a great deal of opportunity to study the facts or issues related to poverty, consumption, employment, intersubjectivity, social capital, environment, gender etc.. Here, as a demonstration, we have applied Yager’s theory to analyze labor market issue using hypothetical quantification of attributes.

Introduction

In the selection of a research method, forces of structure and agency shape the outcome. Although

we might like to think that social scientists select the absolutely perfect research design and

method(s) to investigate a given question, we know that agency has its limits, and research decisions

are also influenced by one’s methodological training (e.g., the availability and quality of training in

various methods) and the proclivities of one’s audiences (be they journals or book reviewers, senior

faculty, tenure and promotion letter writers, or funders). These structural forces shape and are shaped

by reigning methodological paradigms, or sets of widely accepted beliefs and values about how

research should be conducted, that shift through time (Pearce 2012).

The well-known distinction between social and natural sciences cuts a sharp line of demarcation

between hard and soft facts of scientific studies. Physics characteristically deals with precise hard

facts whereas social sciences are confronted with imprecise soft social facts. Social facts are

dreadfully vague and interpretative in nature. Therefore, Fuzzy logic seems to fit perfectly with the

needs of social scientist that look for mathematical precise models to deal with vague, imprecise data

(Pipino and van Gigh 1981:21-35).In this contribution we discuss the usefulness of Fuzzy logic for

social sciences in general, and sociology in particular. In a first step we summarize some

fundamentals of “fuzzy thinking” (Drösser 1994) for social scientist. This will lead to the discussion of

the need of fuzzy thinking in empirical social research. In Bangladesh, use of fuzzy logic in

sociological research is hardly found. Mia (1998) used the application of fuzzy set theory to analyze

the entrepreneurship among micro entrepreneurs. In this paper the researcher has illustrated Yager’s

(1980b) theory of fuzzy logic and has applied the technique for sociological data analysis using a

hypothetical instance of social capital research.

Objectives: * Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), Sylhet, Bangladesh. Email: [email protected] I express my deep gratitude to Professor Dr. Md. Akhtarul Islam of Chemical Engineering and Polymer Science, SUST for his thoughtful discussion on the epistemology of the logic and also for valuable comments on preliminary draft.


8

1) To discuss some fundamental aspects of fuzzy logic which may be important to administer

social data.

2) To discuss procedure of decision making by using Yager’s model of fuzzy logic in a

sociological research.

3) Illustration of the methodology with hypothetical example.

4) Finally to delineate the perspective of the methodology in solving social problem has been

briefly outlined.

Fundamental aspects of fuzzy logic for social resea rch

Fuzzy analysis is based on set theorem of pure mathematics. For social research, usually we use

basic statistical tools, scales, indices both for cross-sectional and longitudinal study. The basic

difference between crisp set and fuzzy set might generate a new thinking for using fuzzy tolls for

sociological analysis. For instance, a conventional (or "crisp") set is dichotomous: a case is either "in"

or "out" of a set, for example, the set of professors. Thus, a conventional set is comparable to a binary

variable with two values, 1 ("in," i.e., professors) and 0 ("out," i.e., not-professors). A fuzzy set, by

contrast, permits membership in the interval between 0 and 1 while retaining the two qualitative states

of full membership and full non-membership. Thus, the fuzzy set of professors could include

individuals who are "fully in" the set (fuzzy membership = 1.0, full professors), some who are "almost

fully in" the set (membership =.90 has applied for professor!), some who are neither "more in" nor

"more out" of the set (membership = .5, also known as the "crossover point", still in the middle in the

stair of associate professor and professor), some who are "barely more out than in" the set

(membership = .45, still enjoying associate professorship), and so on down to those who are "fully

out" of the set (membership = 0, out of the set of professors, merely assistant professors). It is up to

the researcher to specify procedures for assigning fuzzy membership scores to cases, and these

procedures must be both open and explicit so that they can be evaluated by other scholars. Basic

sociological (phenomenological alternatives) understandings allow us to set down the notion of ‘stock

knowledge at hand’ by which it is easy for a researcher to attach membership function in a social

phenomenon.

Importance of using Fuzzy Logic in Sociology

The surplus of Fuzzy logic for the social research was recognized early by Charles Ragin (Ragin

2000, 2003, 2005, Pennings 2003). Charles Ragin advanced traditional Qualitative Comparative

Analysis (Ragin 1987, Berg-Schlosser 2001, 2003) in macro-sociological studies using fuzzy-logical

operations to include diversity of kind and diversity of membership degree in configurational analysis

of social causal factors. Qualitative Comparative Analysis, generally speaking, aims at identifying

necessary and/or sufficient (configurations of) causal factors for a social outcome. Those prime

implicants, as Ragin calls them, are common (configurations of) causal factors of a certain group of


9

social cases in regard to a certain social outcome. Prime implicants “explain” how social causes

combine to generate a specific social effect. Cases are understood as configurations of variables.

These variables are interpreted as factors that lead to an outcome. The comparison of cases as

configuration of factors in regard of an specific outcome (diversity of kind) and their fuzzy membership

to those configurational sets of factors (diversity of degree) results in parsimonious explanations that

deal with as much complexity as required by sociology but at the same time are simple enough to

explain the social effect sufficiently (Ragin et.al. 2005).

Because social diversity is complex, comparative analysis often results in different causal paths that

generate the same social effect. For classical research strategies (especially quantitative social

research) this might seem to be a disadvantage as long as science is looking for causal laws of hard

facts. But, as we already stated in the beginning, the realm of the social is not governed by hard facts,

therefore there is a need for a method that allows consideration of diversity and complexity without

given up the idea that diverse, complex cases could be explained even if they are fuzzy. To conclude:

Formal logic and linguistic formulations converge in Fuzzy logic. The specification of variables and

degrees of membership is theoretically and empirically instructed. Thus Fuzzy Set Social Sciences

(Ragin 2000) provides an interpretative tool that forces social scientist to bring together theory,

empirical evidence and formal logic in one research strategy while considering diversity and

complexity of the social realm.

Why fuzzy thinking in sociological researches?

Among the various paradigmic changes in sciences and mathematics in this century, one such

change concerns the concept of uncertainty. In science, this change has been manifested by a

gradual transition from the traditional view, which insists that uncertainty is undesirable in science and

should be avoided by all possible means, to an alternative view, which is tolerant of uncertainty and

insists that science cannot avoid it. According to the traditional view, science should strive for certainty

in all its manifestations (precesion, specificity, sharpness, consistence etc.); hence uncertainty

(impression, nonspecificity, vaugeness, inconsistencey, etc.) is regarded as unscientific. According to

the alternative (or current) view, uncertainty is considered essential to science; it is only an

unavoidable vaugue, but it has, in fact, a great utility.

While analytic methods based upon calculus are applicable only to problems involving a very small

number of variables that are related to one another in a predicatble way, the applicability of statistical

methods has exactly opposite characteristics: they require a large number of variables and a very

high degree of randomness. These two types of methods are thus highly complementary. When one

type excels, the other totally fails. Despite their complementarity, these types of methods cover,

unfortunately, only problems that are clustered around the extremes of complexity and randomness

scales. In his well known paper, Warren Weaver (1948) refers to them as problems of organized


10

simplicity and disorganized complexity. He argues that these types of problems represent only a tiny

fraction of all systems problems. Most problems are somewhere between these two extremes: they

involve nonlinear systems with large number of components and rich interactions among the

components, which are usually nondeterministic, but not as a result of randomness that could yield

meaningful statistical averages. Weaver calls them problems of organized complexity; they are typical

in life, cognitive, social and environmental sciences, as well as in applied fields such as modern

technology or medicine.

It is generally agreed that an important point in the evolution of the modern concepts of uncertainty

was the publication of a seminal paper by Lotfi A. Zadeh (1965b), even though some ideas presented

in the paper were envisioned some 30 years earler by the American philosopher Max Black (1937). In

his paper, Zadeh introduced a theory whoe objects – fuzzy sets – are sets with boundaries that are

not precise. The membership in a fuzzy set is not a matter of affirmation and denial, but rather a

matter of a degree.

“Fuzzy principles” for social scientists

Western scientific community is characterized by a bivalent way of thinking: scientific statements have

to be true or false, independent from our ability to find out its logical value. This way of thinking leads

to two fundamentals of Aristotelian logic:

(1) The principle of the excluded contradiction: no statement can be true and false simultaneously

[� = ��( ∩ ��)]

(2) The principle of the excluded middle: every statements is either true or false [ � = U �� ].

This worldview is also fundamental for a number of sociological theories (Kron 2005) but has been an

object for reservation; bivalent modeling involves a “problem of mismatching” (Kosko 1995); the social

realm is grey but science is black and white.

Thus, bivalent thinking is not per se adequate to cope with social phenomena. According to Mario

Bunge (1983), it seems that bivalent thinking is as primitive as the underlying dichotomization is and

therefore inconsistent with how the (social) world is organized. Systems possess polar characteristics

but also possess some characteristics that are not. Polar characteristics are rather exceptions and not

the rule. Therefore we need another way of thinking which is able to cope with world’s diversity,

including polar as well as non-polar characteristics. One candidate for a (new) way of thinking world’s

diversity is Fuzzy logic. Fuzzy-logic is more than just a method. Fuzzy logic implies a new worldview

(Kosko 1992, 1995, 1997, 1999) that focuses not just on bivalence but also on polyvalence and

therefore challenges the “probabilistic monopoly” of classical Aristotelian logic over the world (Kosko

1994). Polyvalence addresses the fact that systems are fuzzy per se. Fuzzy logic “refers to the


11

uncertainty of the system. . . . A Fuzzy set is a collection of objects without clear boundaries. In a

Fuzzy system, there is a transition area where things can belong to either opposite. . . . A probabilistic

statement concerns the uncertainty among a fixed, unambiguous set of outcomes; a statement of

fuzziness concerns uncertainty in the meaning of the outcomes themselves. The uncertainty in a

Fuzzy set is to a large extent the uncertainty of the system per se” (Zhang et.al. 1994). One can

imagine easily the progress of fuzzy thinking for how the world is described and explained.

Fig. 1.1: The “Fuzzy Cube”

The progress of fuzzy thinking we have in mind can be demonstrated using the so called “fuzzy-cube”

(or “set-cube”) (Fig. 1.1). It describes the degree of sets referring to their membership to certain

dimensions. There by Fuzzy sets are not presented as functions over a basic set but as a single point

in a space whose dimensions correspond to the number of elements of the basic set. We can call

these elements [�, �] “fuzzy units” (or “fits”) that designate the degree of membership within a range of

values ( 0,0 �� 1,1) that is calculated by summing up the fits. The set of all of those data pairs is a

quadrate with a side length of 1, and a point A within this quadrate is a fuzzy-set [�, �].

By “mirroring at the central point of the quadrate” one can identify the set ��, i.e. if [�, �] then

�� [1 − �, 1 − �]. With these two sets one can form the set union and the intersection of sets. The

latter (A-and-notA) is formed by the minimum of the membership functions:

A ∩ Ā = (min(x, x ), min(y, y ))

And the set union of two sets is those set-points that describe the most widely rectangular extension

of both sets:

AυĀ = (max(x, x ), max(y, y ))

The set M is the fuzziest set of all sets wherein the known bivalent views looses their validity because

the sets A and notA as well as A − and − notA and A − or − notA are identical here! This means that

the central theorems of bivalent thinking are no longer valid.


12

Illustration: A Fuzzy model for studying social cap ital

The process of studying social capital consists of a vast array of different types of simultaneously

interrelated social relationships of individuals and societies where many of which conflict with each

other. It is therefore difficult to determine the precise scenario and inherent (invisible) facts which

really hinders functions of social capital because of both distortions from external noise (political,

cultural limitations) and ambivalence on the part of its manifestation. Conventional receiver-sender

model might be useful to fit the model for analyzing the effect of social capital in a society. In our

analysis we would just use scientist (sociologist) as the receiver and respondents as sender. We

outline here the approach suggested by Yager (1980b), which models this process and the

vagueness associated with it through the use of fuzzy set theory using hypothetical data.

The Theory

Suppose that "constitutes the universal set of all possible signals that � may be communicated by

the sender. Because of the distorting factors mentioned above, a clear unique signal may not be

available. Instead, the message received is a fuzzy subset # of ", in which #(�) denotes the degree

of certainty of the receipt of the specific signal �. In order to determine whether an appropriate

response can be chosen based on the message received or whether some error was involved in the

communication, as assessment of the quality of the transmission must be made. Let the maximum

value of membership that any � ϵ " attains in the set # corresponding to the strength of the

transmission. If the set # has no unique maximum, then the message is called ambiguous. If the

support of # is large, then # is considered to be general. The clarity of the message can be

measured by the distance between the maximum membership grade attained in # and the next

largest grade of any signal �% in #. When the message received is strong, unambiguous, and clear,

then the signal attaining the maximum membership grade in # can easily be selected as the most

obvious intended communication. Difficulty occurs, however, when the message is weak, ambiguous,

or unclear. In this case, the receiver must determine whether the problem in the communication lies in

some environmental distortions (in which case a repetition of the signal may be requested) or in the

sender of the message (in which case a response must be made that is, as far as possible,

appropriate).

Usually, the receiver of the communication possesses some background information in the form of

probabilities or possibilities of the signals that can be expected. If &('(), &(')), &('*),

&('+)…….,&(',)represent the probabilities associated with each of the signals

�-, �., �/, �0, … … … … . �3 ϵ ", then the probability of the fuzzy event of the receipt of message # is

given by

&(#) = ∑ #(�)&(�)3'56 … … … … . (1.1)


13

The receiver can use this information to assess the consistency of the received message with his or

her expectations. If the probability of the received message is high, then it can be assumed that little

distortion was introduced by the environment. On the other hand, if the message is very clear and

unambiguous, then an appropriate response can be made even if the probability of the signal was

low.

Instead of the expectation or the background information being given in probabilistic form, this

information may be given in the form of a possibility distribution 7 �� ". In this case, 7(�) 8 [0, 1]

indicates the receiver’s belief in the possibility of signal x being sent. The total possibility of the fuzzy

message is calculated as

7(#) = max'∈6[min:#(�), 7(�);] ………… (1.2)

As in the case of probabilistic expectation, if the received message conflicts with the expected

possibility of communication, then the receiver may attempt clarification by requesting a repetition of

the transmission. Before this new transmission is sent, the receiver will probably have already

modified his or her expectations based on the previous message. If 7< indicates the initial probabilistic

expectations of the receiver, and 7- is the modified expectations subsequent to the receipt of message

#, then

7-(�) = min [7<=(�), #(�)] ……………. (1.3)

For each �ϵ", where > indicates the degree to which past messages are considered relevant in the

modification of expectations. Our procedures for signal detection now consist of the following: a test of

the consistency of # against the expectations and the test of the message #3 for strength and clarity.

If both of these values are high, the signal attaining the maximum value in # can be comfortably

assumed to be intended signal. If both tests yield low values, the expectations are modified and a

repetition is requested. If only one of these tests yields a satisfactory value, then either a new signal is

requested or a response is made despite the presence of doubt.

An additional complication is introduced when we consider that the receiver may also introduce

distortion in the message because of inconsistency with the expectations. Let

?(#, 7) = max'∈6[min:#(�), 7(�);]…………. (1.4)

Correspond to the consistency of the received message with the possibilistic expectations. Then let

#@ denote the message that receiver actually hears, where

# (�) = #A(�) …… … … … … …. ….. (1.5)


14

For each �ϵ" where ? = ? (#, 7).The less consistent M is with the expectations, the less #@

resembles M. Since the receiver will be modifying his or her expectations based on the message

thought to have been received, the new possibilistic expectation structure is given by:

7-(�) = min[7<-BA(�), #@(�)] …………….. (1.6)

for each �ϵ".

Finally, once a determination has been made of the signal �ϵ" that was sent, an appropriate response

must be chosen. Let Y be the universal set of all responses, and let R Y X be a fuzzy binary

relation in which R(y, x) indicates the degree of appropriateness of response y given signal x. A fuzzy

response set A Y can be generated by composing the appropriateness relation R with the message

M,

= C<#,

or

(�) = max'∈6[min:C(�, �), #(�);] ……… (1.7)

for each �8D. The membership grade of each possible message � in fuzzy set thus corresponds to

the degree to which it is an appropriate response to the message #. more interesting case occurs

when the elements �8D are not actual messages, but instead indicate characteristics or attribute that

the appropriate message should possess. This allows for creativity in formulating the actual response.

The following example illustrates the use of this model for sociological research.

The application:

Numerous researchers already manifested their scientific endorsement about the functional entity of

social capital on labor market participation where Bourdieu (1986), Portes (1998), Coleman (1988),

Putnam (2000), Lin (2001a), Fukuyama (2001) are the key exponents. While they are analyzing the

issue they have their own background information in hand from the society. A tentative outcome they

expect from the study while mastering the data. At least they can assume the expected relation

among variables will be either positive or negative or zero sum or others. Any social researcher can

conduct researches using conventional research methods either by qualitative (FGD, Case studies,

PRA etc.) or quantitative (survey, Experiment etc) method with possible statistics of univariate, bi-

variate, or multivariate analysis. Interestingly speaking, application of fuzzy logic might explain the

research findings with possible magnitudes of alternative technique where both qualitative and

quantitative data are embedded. Using a hypothetical arbitration we can explain the process focusing

Yager’s model of fuzzy logic.

Suppose we have the background information on the relation between social capital and labor market

participation i.e. social capital might be a complimentarity to human capital of individual which can

help him/her to be recruited in the labor market. In order to analyze this relation using fuzzy logic, we


15

need to develop a universal set of possible responses (�-,�., … . . �3). To determine the magnitude of

the elements of response set researcher needs to attach membership to the signal set (�-, �., … … . �3)

which lies between [0,1]. For establishing membership (degree of certainty) of the elements of the

response set researcher needs to generate a matrix between response set and signal set where we

know response set is a universal set.

By using Yager’s model, now we can calculate the magnitude of the elements of response set by

following procedure:-

Arbitrarily speaking researcher wants to take a decision for the following question from the respondent

‘beyond human capital people need to have social capital for being recruited in the labor market in

Bangladesh-how do you go with this statement?’ Now researcher has developed following signal set

which will be sent to the respondents:

�- = E�7��FG� F7HH

�. = E�7��FG� IJ?�F7HH

�/ = K�J7G� L7MH

�0 = K�J7G� K�G?H

�N = O� P�QQH��

�R = OHH� �� G�H7 7HS7MJ�QH�� T�GJS�

Assume also that researcher’s expectation of possible outcome for each element of signal set with

following membership by the possibility distribution as -

7< = (0.9, 0.1, 0.7, 0.3, 0.1, 0.6)

We can see from this distribution that the researcher expects a large positive outcome of strongly

agree from respondents. Suppose, from the first instance researcher received following message M1

from respondents -

#- = .1/�- + 0.8/�. + 0.4/�/ + 0.0/�0 + 0.1/�N + 0.0/�R

= .1/�- + 0.8/�. + 0.4/�/ + 0.1/�N

This message, although relatively unambiguous and clear for strong disagreement but is rather

inconsistent with researcher’s expectation with his background information at hand. As measured by

(1.4), the consistency is -

?(#, 7<) = Q��[0.1, 0.1, 0.4, 0.1] = 0.4

Because the message is contrary to the researcher’s expectations, let us assume that the researcher

introduces some distortion, as specified by (1.5) and got the following responses

#-@ = 0.4/x1 + 0.9/x2 + 0.7/x3 + 0.0/x4 + 0.4/x5 + 0.0/x6

= 0.4/x1 + 0.9/x2 + 0.7/x3 + 0.4/x5


16

Based on this message from respondents researcher modifies his expectations according to (1.6)

such that

r-(�) = min[r<<.R(�), M-

@ (�)]

for each �ϵ"

`a = 0.4/�- + 0.25/�. + 0.7/�/ + 0.0/�0 + 0.25/�N + 0.0/�R

= 0.4/�- + 0.25/�. + 0.7/�/ + 0.25/�N

The researcher has thus greatly diminished his expectation of output strongly agree, somewhat

increased his expectation of the strongly disagree and need to alter recruitment policy and has given

up all hopes of the possibility of no comment. Suppose now, researcher wants to check and clarify the

output (real fact) from respondents again for his precision development and got the following output

M2 -

#. = 0.9/�. + 0.4/�N

This message is stronger, clearer, and less general than first answers. Its consistency with

researcher’s new expectation is

?(#., 7-) = 0.25

Thus the message is highly contrary even to the revised expectations of the researcher, so let us

suppose researcher distorts the message such that

#.@ = 0.97 �.⁄ + 0.8 �N⁄

Researcher has thus coming to take precision after the clarity of the message he received from the

respondents and led him to exaggerate the degree to which he believes that respondents have

responded with need to alter recruitment policy. Let us now suppose that decision the researcher

makes will have characteristics from the following set D:

�- = TH�TGH �HH� �� ℎ�dH ��G� ℎMQ�� S�TJ��G

�. = TH�TGH �HH� �� ℎ�dH ��G� ℎMQ�� S�TJ��G

�/ = TH�TGH �HH� �� ℎ�dH T�GJ�JS�G �H�e�7f

�0 = TH�TGH �HH� �� ℎ�dH g�QJG� �7 fJ�?ℎJT �H�e�7f

�N = TH�TGH �HH� �� ℎ�dH g7JH��?ℎJT �H�e�7f

�R = TH�TGH �HH� �� ℎ�dH 7HGJFJ�M? �H�e�7f

�h = TH�TGH �HH� �� ℎ�dH SJdJS �H�e�7f (QHQiH7?ℎJT J� SJdJG ?�SJH��)


17

Let the fuzzy relation C ⊆ D × " represent the degree to which researcher plans to respond to a

given signal � with the response having the attribute �. This relation is given by the following matrix

(rows and columns are ordered by the subscripts of the symbols involved):

Using (1.7) we can now calculate the magnitude the researcher will make to the message #.@ :

= C< #.@ = 0.0/�- + 0.9/�. + 0.9/�/ + 0.7/�0 + 0.0/�N + 0.4/�R + 0.0/�h

= 0.9/�. + 0.9/�/ + 0.7/�0 + 0.4/�R

Now the researcher can analyze the findings as, ‘respondents are not convinced that only by human

capital people can be recruited in the labor market. They need to have a great deal of political

network, a large degree of family and kinship network, and some religious network as well’.

Conclusion:

Use of fuzzy logic in sociology might accelerate a huge potential payoff for both small scale and large

scale research projects. This is an all inclusive technique of data analysis where surveys, data

manipulation, construct validity, internal and external reliability is well designed. Most importantly in

Bangladesh there is no strong domain of database for social science researchers. So installation of

fuzzy logic in social science research could open promising avenues for social scientists mainly to

demonstrate and uncover the realm of development issues.

Reference:

Berg-Schlosser, D. 2003. “Makro-Qualitative vergleichende Methoden.” in Berg-Schlosser, D., Müller-Rommel, F. (eds.): Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft. Opladen: UTB 103-125[English Version]. Berg-Schlosser, Dirk. 2001. “Comparative Studies – Method and Design.” In Smelser, N. J., Paul B. B. (eds.): International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Oxford: Pergamon, 2427-2433. Black, M. 1937. “Vagueness: an exercise in logical analysis.” Philosophy of Science, 4(4):427-455. (Reprinted in International Journal of General Systems. 1990. 17(2-3):107-128. Bourdieu, p. (1986). The forms of capital. In Westport, J. (Ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. New York, NY: Greenwood, pp. 214-258.

0.9 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.9 0.1 0.2 1.0 0.0 0.1 0.9 0.2 0.9 1.0 0.3 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.6 0.7 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.9 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.0 0.9 0.0 0.9 0.3 0.0 1.0


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Bunge, M. 1983. Epistemologie: Aktuelle Fragen der Wissenschaftstheorie. Mannheim, Wien, Zürich: Bibliographisches Institut [English Version]. Coleman J S 1988, ‘Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital’, American Journal of Sociology, vol. 94. pp. S95-120. Drösser, C. 1994. Fuzzy Logic. Methodische Einführung in krauses Denken. Reinbeck: Rowohlt Taschenbuch-Verlag [English Version]. Fukuyama, Francis. 2001. 'Social capital, civil society and development.' Third World Quarterly 22: 7-20. Kosko, B. 1994. “The Probability Monopoly.” IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems. 2(1):32-33. Kosko, B. 1995. Fuzzy logisch: Eine neue Art des Denkens. Düsseldorf: Hyperion [English Version]. Kosko, B. 1997. Fuzzy Engineering. New York: Prentice Hall. Kosko, B. 1999. The Fuzzy Future: From Society and Science to Heaven in a Chip. München, Zürich: Crown. Kosko, Bart. 1992. Neural Networks and Fuzzy Systems. A Dynamical Approach to Machine Intelligence. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall. Kron, T. 2005. Der komplizierte Akteur: Vorschlag für einen integralen akteurtheoretischen Bezugsrahmen. Münster: LIT [English Version]. Lin, Nan. 2001a. 'Building a Network Theory of Social Capital.' Pp. 3-30 in Social capital : theory and research, edited by Ronald Burt. New York: Aldine de Gruyter. Mia, Md. Abdul Hannan. 1998. “Entrepreneurship Among Micro Entrepreneurs.” Dhaka University Journal of Business Studies 19(2): 155-173. Pearce, Lisa D. .2012. “Mixed Methods Inquiry in Sociology.” American Behavioral Scientist 56(6) 829–848. Pennings, P. 2003. “The Methodology of the Fuzzy-Set Logic.” In: Pickel, Susanne et al. (Hrsg.): Vergleichende Politikwissenschaftliche Methoden. Neue Entwicklungen und Diskussionen. Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag, 87-103[English Version]. Pipino, L. L. and van Gigh, J. P. 1981. “Potential Impact of Fuzzy Sets on the Social Sciences.” Cybernetics and Systems 12: 21-35. Portes, Alejandro. 1998. "Social capital: its origins and applications in modern sociology." Annual Review of Sociology 24: 1-25. Putnam, Robert D. 2000. Bowling alone : the collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster. Ragin, C. C. 1987. The Comparative Method. Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press. Ragin, C. C. 2000. Fuzzy-Set Social Sciences. Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press. Ragin, C. C. 2003. “Recent Advances in Fuzzy-Set Methods and their Application to Policy Questions.” Working Paper accessed online from (http://www.compasss.org/Ragin2003.PDF). Ragin, C. C. and Pennings, P. 2005. “Fuzzy Sets and Social Research.” Sociological Methods and Research 33(4):423-430. Ragin, C. C. and Sonnett, J. 2005. “Between Complexity and Parsimony: Limited Diversity, Counterfactual Cases, and Comparative Analysis.” in Kropp, S., Minkenberg, M. (eds.) Vergleichen in der Politikwissenschaft. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag 180-197. Weaver, Warren. 1948. “Science and complexity.” American Scientists. 36(4):536-544. Yager, R. R. 1980b. “On modeling Interpersonal Communication.” in Wang, P. P. and S. K.Chang, (eds.) Fuzzy Sets: Theory and Applications to policy analysis and Information Systems. Plenum Press, New York 309-320. Zadeh, L. A. 1965b. “Fuzzy Sets.” Information and Control, 8(3):338-353. Zhang, J. Brody, C. J. and Wright, J. D. 1994. “Sociological Applications of Fuzzy Classification Analysis.” Applied Behavioral Science Review 2:171-186.


19

Domestic Violence against Women in Bangladesh: Analysis from a Socio-legal Perspective

Mst. Taslima Khatun * and Khandaker Farzana Rahman **

Abstract: In Bangladesh, the patriarchal capitalism puts women in such a position within their communities that they always remain subordinate under male domination and in many cases this is reflected through violence (Hadi, 2009). Thus a woman commonly has risk of experiencing domestic violence within her family and it is not very surprising that the husband is more likely to assault and/or batter his wife if she fails to meet his dowry demands or to perform household work. Given the scale of the human rights violation against women within family this article concentrates on the socio-legal concerns of domestic violence problem in Bangladesh. The study in the beginning focuses on the socio-economic cost due to domestic violence in Bangladesh and then finds out the domestic violence prevention mechanisms through national law and international human rights obligations of the state.

Introduction Violence against women (VAW), materialization of a historic unequal power relation between sexes,

is a form of discrimination and mistreatment of women which results in physical, psychological, and

socioeconomic costs to women and society as well. Termed as a global epidemic, VAW is as much

fatal as any serious diseases or accidents that causes deaths of women of reproductive ages (World

Bank, 1993); and is one of the most disgraceful expressions of human rights violation across the

world. WHO multi-country study (10 countries including Bangladesh) demonstrates that most of the

women in the study areas experience physical and sexual spousal violence in their lifetime, ranged

from 15% to 71% (WHO, 2005). In Bangladesh, VAW is a very common practice which denies

women’s equal opportunity, security, self-esteem, and dignity in the family and in the society as a

whole.

Being in a patriarchal society, powerlessness and vulnerability is associated with women’s lives

where they are dominated and subjugated by the men. In Bangladesh, women face various forms of

violence, ranging from wife abuse to rape, dowry killings, acid throwing, sexual harassment, and

sexual slavery through trafficking in women (Zaman, 1999), among which domestic violence is

widely prevalent both in urban and rural areas as an everyday matter of women’s lives. Deeply

rooted subordinate positions of women allow men to dominate and control not only their families and

resources (Schuler et al., 1998 stated in Hossain, 2007) but also lives of women. Consequently,

societal norms and traditional values associated with gender roles and supremacy within

households and society tend to trigger, dictate and provoke domestic violence against women in

Bangladesh (Koenig et al., 2003).

UN Secretary-General (Annan, 1999) in a video conference on violence against women stated that

this violence knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth and as long as it continues, we

* Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Khulna University

** Senior Lecturer, Department of Law, Northern University Bangladesh


20

cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace in the world.

Thus, it is highly appreciable to adopt effective strategies for the prevention of violence which

involve public awareness campaigns and community-based networks to combat violence and

support victims. However, Bangladesh Government has recently passed the Domestic Violence

(Prevention and Protection) Act of 2010 for the protection of women and children from family

violence and discrimination. However, we observe that in spite of having many legal protections of

women in the society, this form of violence is still continuing and in some cases are increasing day-

by-day as evidenced by the recent magnitude of eve teasing and acid abuse. In this context, our aim

in this article is to disclose the socio-economic factors and effects of the domestic violence occurring

in the community of Bangladesh and to look for national and international legal protection for the

victims; and finally, some interventions are recommended to be taken in compliance with national

and international legal instruments.

'Domestic Violence': Definition and Forms

Domestic violence is purposeful, and is commonly used as a form of control, the assertion of one

member above the others. However, this violence grows out of inequality within marriage and

reinforces male dominance and female subordination within the home and outside it (Yllö, 2005).

Various researchers, advocates, and theorists who have studied and worked with women subjected

to abuse have catalogued many types of abuses as domestic violence. Domestic violence is defined

as a pattern of behavior in a relationship by which the batterer attempts to control his victim through

a variety of tactics . . . . These tactics may include fear and intimidation, any kind of abuse,

destruction of property and pets, isolation and imprisonment, economic abuse, and rigid

expectations of sex roles (Postmus, 2000 cited in Johnson, 2008).

UNICEF (2008) includes different forms of abuse and exploitation in defining domestic violence

perpetrated by intimate partners and other family members- “Physical abuse such as slapping,

beating, arm twisting, stabbing, strangling, burning, choking, kicking, threats with an object or

weapon, and murder. It also includes traditional practices harmful to women such as female genital

mutilation in African society or honor killings as well as sexual abuse such as coerced sex through

threats, intimidation or physical force, forcing unwanted sexual acts or forcing sex with others.

Psychological abuse which includes behaviour that is intended to intimidate and persecute, and

takes the form of threats of abandonment or abuse, confinement to the home, surveillance, threats

to take away custody of the children, destruction of objects, isolation, verbal aggression and

constant humiliation. Economic abuse includes acts such as the denial of funds, refusal to contribute

financially, denial of food and basic needs, and controlling access to health care, employment, etc”.

(ibid, 2008)

However, in a recent study (Centre for Policy Dialogue, 2009) it has been observed that mainly fours

types of domestic violence, i.e. physical, psychological, economic and sexual abuse and violence

are prevalent throughout Bangladesh. Most of the victims (93%) reported in the study that they had


21

experienced physical violence; only 13 per cent reported of having experience of sexual violence, 91

per cent victims reported economic violence and 84 per cent reported psychological violence

committed by their husbands.

Magnitude and socioeconomic costs of domestic viole nce in Bangladesh:

Several studies have indicated that domestic violence against women, especially violence

perpetrated by a woman’s husband, is a serious problem in Bangladesh (Bhuiya et al., 2003). For

instance, a study by Khanom (1999) shows that most of the violence is done by husband (46.48%).

Although domestic violence includes child abuse, parent abuse and in-law abuse committed by male

aggressors on female victims, available information from research indicated that the “most common

type of violence in Bangladesh against women is domestic violence perpetrated by intimate partners

or ex partners” (Heise et al., 1994).

Most of the women in Bangladesh experience DV in their lives which takes different forms of

abuses, i.e. physical (slapping, beating, arm twisting, stabbing, strangling, burning, choking, kicking,

murder), psychological (threats of abandonment or abuse, to take away custody of the children,

verbal aggression and humiliation, threats of killings), sexual abuse (coerced sex through threats,

intimidation, forcing unwanted sexual acts), economic (denial of funds, refusal to contribute

financially, denial of food and basic needs, controlling access to health care and employment) etc. In

Bangladesh, though the magnitude of some of the DVAW is highly alarming, till now there is no

organized information on the extent, nature and context of DV.

Women experiencing DV or living with its consequences are under-reported because in most cases

violence is considered as personal or family matter. Moreover, the way of treating women socially is

not gender-sensitive, and sometimes the fears of increasing sufferings or vulnerability by the victim

reduce the number of violence to be reported and even expressed to others. A significant number of

DV in Bangladesh is under-reported due to social stigma; women are accused of provoking the

violence by their disobedience, failure as a wife, or infidelity; in fact, they have to consider the trade-

offs between sufferings of violence and losing reputation in the society which contributes to the

fewer reporting of the DV in Bangladesh. Though, women report about DV only when it becomes a

serious problem or threats to life. The magnitude is so high that Bangladesh ranked second in 2002

(The Independent, 2002) and fourth (Daily Star, 2003) in 2003 in the world in terms of different forms

of violence against women; and sixty-five percent of Bangladeshi men perceived wife beating as

justified (stated in Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, 2004). Odhikar, a human rights

coalition group in Bangladesh, reported that at the first nine month of 2003, in Bangladesh 278

women were victims of dowry related violence among those 184 were killed, 20 committed suicide,

67 were physically tortured, 11 sustained injuries from acid attacks and 2 were divorced (ibid, 2004

). Farouk (2005) in her paper prepared for the Expert Group Meeting of UN Division for the

Advancement of Women summarized the DV reports from 9 leading daily newspapers and observed

that number of DV has increased from 530 in 2001 to 1164 cases in 2004; moreover, in 2000


22

Bangladesh ranked first in wife-beating. According to recent research by International Center for

Diarrhoeal Disease Research-Bangladesh (2006), “60 per cent of women in Bangladesh experience

some form of domestic violence during their lives. One Stop Crisis Centre, a Bangladesh based

NGO that supports women victims of violence, reveals that almost 70 per cent of sexual abuse

suffered by women occurs within their own homes. An estimated 200 women are murdered each

year in Bangladesh when their families cannot pay their dowry, says Oxfam Australia”.

Physical abuse or beating wives by husbands is almost a universal form of domestic violence

against women. Worldwide 10-70% of women found being physically violated by their intimate

partners in their lives (Ahmed, 2005). Bhuyia et al. (2003) in their study demonstrated that around

seven in ten (66.8%) women were vulnerable to abusive words against them and their parents by

their husbands; and most of the women were physically abused by their husbands and were

seriously injured to consult a healthcare provider.

DVAW is now seriously undertaken by national and international bodies due to its direct adverse

consequences to women’s physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health as well as

socioeconomic consequences. Spousal violence against women is an everyday matter which results

in problems both for society and for the women.

Violence in marriage or within families is perceived as the most undesirable situation for women

because at home where they should have security and worthy position, instead they are usually in

threats of possible intentional attacks by the closest ones which consequently have physical impact

as well as mental tolls. Female homicides, maternal mortality, injuries, pain, dizziness, memory loss,

problems with walking and carrying out daily activities are the direct health problems for women in

Bangladesh caused from physical violence. Most of the physically violated women suffer injuries as

a result of this violence. Spousal violence injuries adversely affect the health of women which

sometime even causes death of many women. A study by Paltiel (1987) observed that almost half

household deaths of women in Bangladesh occur for serious beating by husband (stated in Ahmed

2005). Moreover, domestic violence carries a risk of death instigating the idea of the

meaninglessness of life which encourage women to kill themselves. Physically and/or sexually

violated women face different reproductive health problems, such as pelvic pain, reproductive tract

infections, symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, gynecological problems at the time of pregnancy,

miscarriage and low birth weight babies, low rate of contraceptive use, even abusive husbands

suffer from sexually transmitted diseases (STD) that ultimately makes women vulnerable to STDs as

well as fear, anxiety, fatigue, posttraumatic stress disorder, sleeping and eating disturbances are the

common psychological problems suffered by abused women (Fikreeu and Bhatti, 1999).

Though an economic cost of DV is important for the community it is not well addressed in analysis

especially in developing countries. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified

direct and indirect costs of DV including healthcare, judicial, and social services, and value of loss of


23

productivity from work and the lifetime earnings for DV deaths; and found that in 1995 DV costs $4

billion for healthcare services in US (Morrison et al., 2007). In Bangladesh, there is still a gap in

estimating the economic costs of DV.

Factors contributing to DVAW:

Many researchers and theorists discovering the factors associated to violence against women focus

on the ecological approach which covers factors of individual, partner, and social context. In

Bangladesh, marital violence against women are also linked to women’s individual attributes like

age, education, economic autonomy, empowerment, previous victimization and history of violence in

parental family. Partner’s attributes includes age, education, employment, use of alcohol and drugs,

history of violence in parental family, level of communication with her. The social factors are level of

economic inequality between men and women, level of female autonomy, attitudes towards gender

roles and violence against women, the extent of extended family, neighbours and friends

intervention in domestic violence incidents and some measure of social capital (Ahmed, 2005;

Koenig et al., 2003; Morrison et al., 2007; Naved and Persson, 2005).

Women in Bangladesh face violence for very trivial matters. In most cases, they suffer without any

reason which is the definite demonstration of subordinate position of women in the patriarchal

society. From the reasons which are identified through different qualitative and quantitative research

we can see how women are positioned in the marital relations or in the family where she spends or

want to spend all of her energy and resources. In a study, it is revealed that the most frequently-

mentioned reasons for violence included questioning the husband in day-to-day matters, failure of

the wife to perform household work satisfactorily, economic hardship of the family, failure of the wife

to take proper care of the children, not conforming to veil or other expected behavior, inability to

bring money from parental home, not taking good care of in-laws and relatives, and husband’s

frustrations in relation to his various activities even dark complexion of children (Bhuyia et al., 2003).

Women are even violated by the husband and in-laws if she is incapable of giving birth to a child or

a son. In this stage, she usually faces humiliation, verbal abuse, mental or physical torture, force to

conceive again and again until a male child is born, or husband divorces her or marries again

(Hossain, 2007). Another most common reason in Bangladesh that initiates violence against women

and many women are giving their lives from either homicides or suicides is the increasing

prevalence of dowry for which is strictly prohibited. But due to socioeconomic hardships and treating

women as the economic burden to the in-laws or husbands’ family, dowry is widely prevalent among

all social sections in different names. In addition, covetous nature of men and society perpetuating

dowry and violating wives for not getting the expected dowry causes many deaths of women.

However, in most cases women live with the abusive husband and in-laws by considering their

socioeconomic dependence on men. To consider leaving the husband in the face of violence may

induce sufferings for children, no place to go- place at paternal home lost at the time of marriage,


24

and social stigma to broken marriage which Bhuyia et al. (2003) termed as an interplay of economic

and cultural factors in perpetuating violence against women. Moreover, in Bangladesh, through the

gender socialization, women come to see dependence and deprivation relative to male family

members as natural, a logic that encourages them to accept the violent behaviour against them

(Schuler et al., 1998). Institutionalized social norm make women perceive violence as justified, and

as they do not have any places to go they have to believe that violence is the only destiny of

women, which they cannot escape until death.

In Bangladesh, different social and behavioural traits like age, education, socioeconomic status,

family pattern, religion etc. are associated with domestic violence. Research reveals that wife’s age

and marital duration are associated with violence; younger women are more at risk of domestic

violence than the older women (Schuler et al, 1998; Koenig et al. 2003), and longer the marital

partnership lesser the violence. Consequently, child marriage, which is very common in rural areas,

contributes to the high rate of the continuation of DV. Increased education of both spouses is linked

to lesser risks of women to be violated within marriage.

Men from low socioeconomic levels have greater probability of perpetrating violence against wife.

Slum dwellers, alcohol and drug users, STDs infected men are more violent to their wives. In some

cases, witnesses of violent behaviour at parental home increased the likelihood of being violated or

perpetrating violence. Naved and Persson (2005) revealed that husband’s violent behaviour is

associated with the history of abuse of husband’s mother by his father and the women who has

witnessed the violent behaviour of her father against her mother in the parental house increases her

chance to be violated by her partner; and in this case she accepts it as a common fate of all women

in the society.

Though general assumption that women’s increasing roles to market economy increase women’s

autonomy and empower them in the family and society, researchers found that women’s economic

independence and autonomy trigger new forms of violence in response to general social reaction

against their violation of traditional patriarchal social norms, control of assets and earnings, their

protest of unfair exploitation and discrimination (Schuler et al., 1998; Farouk, 2005).

In Bangladesh, due to existing socioeconomic and political systems domestic violence against

women is not only manifestation of gender inequality, but also serves to continue this and as a result

DV is accepted and tolerated here; and once a woman is victimized by DV, her probability to be

victimized again is very high. Discriminatory and exploitative inheritance system and marital laws are

two crucial facts in social and state systems rooted in traditions and culture which obstruct women’s

well being at every stage of life. In practice, patrilineal inheritance and ownership system in

Bangladesh perpetuating the male domination in interpersonal and social relationships which trigger

and perpetuate the abuse of women. This unequal property right of women ultimately results in

discrimination and exploitation in nearly all aspects of life which is legitimized and reinforced by the


25

existing socioeconomic system and increases women’s powerlessness and vulnerability to the male

member of the family which causes DV for lifelong (Zaman, 1999).

Another important system is unequal rights of women in marital life which attributes at the time of

marriage, and women remain vulnerable in marital life. One aspect is unilateral divorce right of

husband which they enjoy without any complicated legal system, as a result Muslim men use their

divorce rights as weapon of DV against their wives; and most of the women are in a threat of divorce

in their marital lives. On the other hand, for a long time Muslim women did not have divorce rights

within marriage, in contemporary situation though women can exercise their divorce right, but in

practice it is not so easy as man’s right. A woman seeking a divorce has to go through extensive

and complicated legal procedures, and suffers social stigma and often insurmountable difficulties in

earning a living after divorce (Zaman, 1999). Indeed, these circumstances oblige women to stay with

husband after being violated; and be violated again.

Domestic violence, women’s rights and International human rights framework:

International human rights frameworks provide several provisions to protect women from any kind of

violation and exploitation derived within and beyond personal life. Notably, equal rights of men and

women have been laid down in the national and international human rights treaties. The Universal

Declaration of Human Rights 1948 followed by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and

Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in the

first instance provide the initial basis for equal right to men and women. Next to these, the

Convention to Eliminate Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) ultimately holds ratifying states

accountable for insuring that women's rights are protected under the ICCPR and the ICESCR.

Additionally, this convention provides a framework in which ratifying states are held accountable to

change cultural norms that oppress women and to enact women-sensitive policies (Freeman, 1993).

In 1992, General Recommendation No. 19 was added to CEDAW, which more explicitly addresses

the issue of violence against women by stating that gender-based violence is discriminatory

(CEDAW, 1992). The recommendation also notes that previous state reports to the committee did

not "adequately reflect the close connection between discrimination against women, gender-based

violence, and violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms" (ibid, 1992). As a result of this

deficit, the committee proposed General Recommendation No. 19 to provide a more specific linking

of violence against women and discrimination so that state parties would address the issue of VAW

in their reviews and report to the committee (Morgaine, 2007).

Subsequently, a new addition was developed, ‘the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence

against Women 1993’ at World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna. The declaration was

developed through input from three regional nongovernmental caucuses and preparatory

conferences held in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia (ibid, 2007). This convention

defines violence against women as physical, sexual, and/or psychological violence within the family,


26

the community, and/or any violence that is condoned by the state. Some examples included in the

definition are marital rape and spousal abuse, sexual harassment, and so on. Although non-binding,

the declaration has been viewed as a significant step in the attempt to universalize concern about

violence against women.

Combating domestic violence in Bangladesh:

The extent and magnitude of the problem of domestic violence in Bangladesh requires identifying

the priority areas for intervention. As stated before, at least half of women in Bangladesh experience

domestic violence at least once in their lives. But, there are unfortunately no adequate support

groups for victims of domestic violence.

The studies mentioned earlier also clearly portray the violation of women’s rights in different forms

within their families. Nationwide efforts in this regard are expected to be initiated to combat domestic

violence. Legal and other initiatives such as imposing punishments on the perpetrators as well as

responses to create awareness and motivational programs are highly encouraged.

Formal protection through national laws?

Though domestic violence is not specifically mentioned in the 1979 CEDAW, General

Recommendation 19 states that violence against women is a form of discrimination that inhibits a

woman’s ability to enjoy rights and freedoms on a basis of equality with men. It asks that

governments take this into consideration when reviewing their laws and policies (CEDAW

Committee, 1992). As a state party of CEDAW, thus, Bangladesh has the legal obligation to comply

with the provisions contained in the convention. Though motivational programs with a view to

enhancing social awareness in matters relating to women’s human rights have been in action, there

were no special laws on domestic violence against women. In connection with that there have been

calls for a full-fledged legal enactment from the non-governmental organizations and civil societies

to safeguard the rights of women from the adverse effects of domestic violence. Women's rights

groups specifically criticized the government for its inaction on the issue, which was widespread and

increased during last year. In October, 2010 subsequently parliament passed the Domestic Violence

(Protection and Prevention) Bill, that came into force in December of the same year which

criminalized domestic violence.

Salient features of the law

The Act in the beginning defines “domestic violence” in article 3 as "abuse in physical,

psychological, economical and sexual nature against one person by any other person with whom

that person is, or has been, in family relationship, irrespective of the physical location where that act

takes place". The key features of the Act are summarized below:


27

Who can seek protection under the Act

a. Any woman or children who is or has been at risk of being subjected to domestic violence.

b. Any victim who is or has been a family relationship with the respondent.

c. Any handicapped adult who is or has been subjected to domestic violence. Any person can file a

complaint on their behalf.

Against whom can a complaint be filed?

a. Any adult person who has been in a family relationship with the victim

b. Relatives of the husband or intimate male partner including his male and female relatives.

Forum of relief (Article 4, 5 & 6):

a. For the purpose of this Act after receiving a complaint a Police Officer, Enforcement Officer or

Service Providers shall inform the victim about the availability of the services including medical and

legal aid services.

b. Upon receiving complaint the first class Magistrate shall grant an interim Protection Order or any

other order under this Act.

c. Multiplicity of forum reliefs can be sought in other legal proceedings such as petition for divorce,

maintenance.

Court's power to pass protection order:

The Court may pass a decree of compensation ascertainment of victim's injury or damage or loss as

a result of domestic violence. The court may also pass at any stage of proceedings for a protection

order or for any other relief under this Act, a temporary custody of children of the victim will grant to

the victim or the applicant.

Consequences of breach of Protection Order (Articles 30 & 31):

a. Breach of protection order deemed is a punishable offence though cognizable and bail able.

b. First contravenes: imprisonment six months or fine up to taka ten thousand or both or engaging in

a service benefiting to the community for a period.

c. Subsequent contravention-imprisonment up to twenty four months and fine up to taka one lac or

both or engaging in a service benefiting to the community for a period

After the passage of the bill, critics expressed doubts about its effectiveness since the Act can

hardly be implemented without community participation and other logistic support. Mazumder (2010)

comments,

To ensure proper enforcement of the law immediate initiatives needed to board creating a social safety net based on community participation that includes supports like counseling and legal aid as protective measures. As long as the question of victim witness protection is involved, to deal with incidences of domestic violence, in particular to execute the Residence Order stipulated in Article 15 of the said law there is no alternative of community intervention -


28

the efficiency of the community based legal institutions should be enhanced and public confidence into the Local Justice System should be restored.

The proper implementation of the recent Act nonetheless requires better logistics and resource

mobilization also. Article 8 of the Act states that the Order Enforcement Officer shall arrange shelter

for the victim. But the traditional shelter homes provided by NGOs and Government do not have the

proper empowerment programs for the victim. Experiences show that such confinement within the

home for a certain period in the name of shelter creates threat to social integration Program, while

initiatives are being taken to integrate the survivors to the mainstream of the society (ibid). In this

regard the stakeholders need to be prompt to utilize the maximum resources effectively in applying

the law in the ground.

Conclusion Domestic violence in Bangladesh is a major concern of development interventions as well as in

human rights perspectives. The paper confirms that since DVAW impediments women’s well being

and over all development, i.e. it has direct consequences for women’s health-physical, mental,

sexual and reproductive as well as economic costs, and afterwards adverse effects on psychological

development of children. A coordinated effort for practical and effecient interventions need to be

made to eliminate this problem where men’s supremacy over women needs to be challenged. To

eradicate violence against women and help women to achieve lives of equality and dignity, it is

necessary to provide them adequate redress and support from the stakeholders. In this regard this

socio-legal analysis suggests a comprehensive intervention where protective and preventive

measures would be devised to address the problem which will help in changing the patriarchal

mindset and behaviour against wife or women.

In Bangladesh most of the women experience domestic violence at the hands of an intimate partner

or family member in her lifetime. Acid burning, dowry deaths are not very uncommon in this context.

To combat against this violation, the present law should be well implemented. However, despite the

deployment of strong laws to deal with the problem, DVAW is increasing. Social awareness raising

efforts need to be introduced. Educational programs should focus on patriarchal social norms that

perpetuate DV. Increased research on DV can also contribute in addressing the problem identifying

crucial factors of interventions. Rehman Sobhan opined that,

“to reduce the costs of domestic violence and in fact to eliminate it from our society, both the civil society and the government have to play their due roles. The civil society organisations have to identify and put forward the best possible agenda to eliminate the mastans from the bed rooms. And it is possible with the commitment and cooperation from the government and civil society that can make people aware of the adverse effects of domestic violence upon the family and society” (Centre for Policy Dialogue, 2009).

Simultaneously, media has a prominent role to play in preventing the violence. Electronic and print

media both need to cover both extreme and general cases and present it in an objective manner.

It appears finally from the findings that higher educational efforts and priority to empowerment of the

women, along with the proper implementation of the women sensitive legislation are more likely to


29

contribute to protect women from domestic violence in the family. Otherwise it is hardly possible to

ensure women’s independence in society and to give them equal power within families.

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Programme in Matlab, Bangladesh, J Health Popul Nutr, 23(1): 95-101, ICDDR,B: Centre for Health and Population Research

Anan, K. (1999), 'A World Free of Violence against Women', United Nations Inter-Agency Global Video Conference, 8 March

1999.Accessed 3 January 2010<http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/violence_against_women/facts_figures.php

Bhuyia, A., T. Sharmin and S.M.A. Hanifi (2003) Nature of Domestic Violence against Women in a Rural Area of Bangladesh: Implication for Preventive Interventions, J Health Popul Nutr, 21(1): 48-54, ICDDR,B: Centre for Health and Population Research

CEDAW Committee (1992) General Recommendation No.19 (llth session, 1992), Accessed 2 February, 2012

< http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/recommendations/recomm.htm#recom19>

Centre for Policy Dialogue (2009) Domestic Violence in Bangladesh: Cost Estimates and Measures to Address the Attendant Problems, Report no 97, Accessed 2 February, 2012 < http://cpd.org.bd/pub_attach/DR97.pdf>

Farouk, S.A. (2005) Violence against Women: A Statistical Overview, Challenges and gaps in Data Collection and

Methodology and Approaches for Overcoming Them, Expert Group Meeting, DAW, ECE and WHO, Geneva,11-14 April 2005, UN Division for the Advancement of Women

Fikreeu, F.F. and L.I. Bhatti (1999) Domestic Violence and Health of Pakistani Women, Journal of

Gynecology & Obstetrics 65 (1999):195-201

Freeman, M. A. (1993). Women, development and justice: Using the International Convention on Women's Rights. In J. Kerr (Ed.), Ours by right: Women's rights as human rights (pp. 93-105). London:Zed

Hadi, S.T. (2009) “It’s OK to beat my wife?” – Patriarchal Perceptions of Bangladeshi Respondents and Factors Associated,

Bangladesh e-Journal of Sociology, 6(2):4-14

Heise, L., H. Pitanguy and A. Germain (1994) Violence against Women: The Hidden Health Burden, World Bank Discussion Papers No. 255, Washington DC: The World bank, 1994

Hossain, K.T. (2007) Violence against Women in Bangladesh, p. 257-264 in the Proceedings of the 8th Annual Conference

of Hong Kong Sociological Association, Keung, C.S., Traver, H. and Xiuguo, L. (eds.) Narratives and Perspectives in Sociology: Understanding the Past, Envisaging the Future

Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (2004) Bangladesh: Violence against Women, Especially Domestic Violence;

State Protection and Resources Available to Survivors of Abuse, Accessed 12 December 2012 <http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/403dd1e40.html>

International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research-Bangladesh (2006) Domestic Violence against Women in Bangladesh,

Accessed 12 December 2012 <https://centre.icddrb.org/pub/publication.jsp?classificationID=56&pubID=7197> Johnson, Margaret, E. (2008) 'Redefining Harm, Reimagining Remedies and Reclaiming Domestic Violence Law' University

of Baltimore School of Law, Baltimore Koenig, M.A., S. Ahmed, M.B. Hossain and A.B.M.K.A. Mozumder (2003) Women’s Status and Domestic Violence in Rural

Bangladesh: Individual and Community Level Effects, Demography, 40:269-288 Mazumder, S.H. (2010) Domestic Violence: Law is "Essential" but not "Sufficient", Accessed 5 February, 2012<

http://www.thedailystar.net/law/2010/10/03/index.htm> Morgaine, K. (2007) 'Domestic Violence and Human Rights: Local Challenges to a Universal Framework', J.Soc.&

Soc.Welfare 34: 109 Morrison, A., M. Ellsberg and S. Bott (2007) Addressing Gender-Based Violence: A Critical Review of Interventions, the

World Bank Research Observer, Oxford University Press Naved, R.T. and L.A. Persson (2005) Factors Associated with Spousal Physical Violence against Women in Bangladesh,

Studies in Family Planning, 36(4): 289-300 Schuler, S.R., S.M. Hashemi and S.H. Badal (1998) Man’s Violence against Women in Bangladesh: Undermined or

Exacerbated by Microcredit Programmes? Development in Practice, 8(2): 148-157 UNICEF (2000) Domestic Violence against Women and Girls, Accessed 2 February, 2012 <http://www.unicef-

irc.org/publications/pdf/digest6e.pdf> p.2


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World Health Organization (2005) WHO Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women,

Geneva, Department of Gender and Women’s Health, WHO World Bank (1993) World Development Report 1993: Investing in Health, Oxford University Press, New York (1993) Yllö, K.A. (2005) ‘Through a Feminist Lens: Gender, Diversity, and Violence: Extending the Feminist Framework’ in Donileen

R. Loseke, Richard J. Gelles, and Mary M. Cavanaugh (eds.), Current Controversies on Family Violence, London: Sage. Zaman, H. (1999) Violence against Women in Bangladesh: Issues and Responses, Women’s Studies International Forum,

22(1): 37-48


31

Water Security in Coastal Region of Bangladesh: Wou ld Desalination be a Solution to the Vulnerable Commun ities of the

Sundarbans?

Asiful Basar *

Abstract: Salinity is one of the major problems that the coastal region of Bangladesh has been facing over the last couple of decades. Due to sea level rise, frequent natural disasters, changes of climate patterns and man-made alteration of natural settings, the situation is becoming more vulnerable day by day. It has also been observed that both natural and man-made changes can alter the patterns of poor peoples’ lives and livelihoods. Faulty development policies and economic interest of the rich, such as promoting shrimp farming in a saline-prone zone, could make the environmental settings more vulnerable. The future of the coastal communities of Bangladesh depends on the sustainable development and disaster management policies of the government; and efficient and ‘techno-natural’ use of water could generate lifeblood for its coastal economy. The new hydrological development in the West, especially in the USA, Israel and Spain, brings new inspiration on water desalination venture. The purpose of this research work is to study the reasons for water salinity in the Sundarbans region of Bangladesh and examine the prospect as well as drawbacks of desalination venture in the context of Bangladesh’s current development policy.

Introduction Bangladesh is a deltaic country with a total land area of 147,570 Sq.km and a population of over 156

million (CIA Factbook, 2010). It is often called the ‘land of rivers’ where more than 700 rivers and their

tributaries formes a large network of hydro-system that has a length of 21,140 km. The three major

rivers of Bangladesh, the Padma, the Meghna and the Jamuna, which bring large flows of water and

the alluvium mostly from the Himalayan-Tibetan plateau, play a lifeblood role in the economy and

culture of Bangladesh. These rivers serve as the main water source for cultivation and major arteries

for commercial transportation, as well as supply enormous amount of fish. However, continuous

exploitation of river-water system due to man-made changes, industrial pollution and dumping of

household-waste, most of the rivers have lost their quality. Besides, the geophysical changes of

natural water flow carried out by neighboring India for its own interest, has already created a huge

water scarcity in the southern-eastern part of Bangladesh. In many points, the country’s main river the

Padma has lost its natural water flow and its tributaries dried out and started the process of

desertification.

The reasons of water salinity: The upstream reduction of natural water flow is contributing to increasing level of salinity problem in

coastal areas of Bangladesh. Both water and soil salinity have increased in an alarming rate during

the last couple of decades. The factors which are influential for increasing level of water and soil

salinity include global climate change and seal level rise (CCSLR) and man-made destruction due to

widespread commercial shrimp farming. Rise of sea level will naturally affect the ecosystem and

biodiversity of the coastal region of Bangladesh. Saline water intrusion into the inland fresh water

sources is causing severe threat to the lives of the species living around the world’s greatest

mangrove forest, the Sundarbans. Moreover, rapid growth of unplanned brackish water shrimp

cultivation seals off the capacity of natural resistance against increased level of water and soil salinity

in the Sundarbans.

* MSC in Asian Studies, Lund University


32

Source: IWM Bangladesh, www.iwmbd.org

It is noticeable that the National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA), which presented unique policy

paper of Bangladesh government to fight against climate change, does not clarify the role of shrimp

farming and its consequence brackish water intrusion into the coastal districts because of increasing

water and soil salinity. In fact, very little attention has been given on water salinity as a whole. The

report mostly indicates sea level rise (SLR), change of climatic patterns and upstream withdrawal of

fresh water as the main reasons of water salinity in coastal Bangladesh. However, contemporary

researches show that beside other physical factors, unplanned brackish water shrimp cultivation also

influenced the rising salinity level over recent years (Haque and Saifuzzaman 2002; Primavera, 1997:

821).

Sundarbans: A place where water is scarce: The Sundarbans is the largest mangrove ecosystem in the world. It has been declared as a World

Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 1997 due to its tremendous ecological importance to world heritage.

It extends across Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal with a total area of approximately

10,000 square km. The Bangladeshi part of the Sundarbans comprises 60 % of the whole area which

is largely a flat coastal land formed across the area of ancient Ganges delta (ADB, 1998: 1).

According to Chowdhury I. Quamrul and others, the most important physiographic feature of the

Sundarbans is its wetlands and water bodies which create a unique reservoir of bio-diversity

(Chowdhury I. Quamrul et al., 2001:5).

The natural hazards that SRF (Sundarbans Reserve Forest) face year after year are cyclonic storms,

storm surges and coastal flooding during the high tide period. Storm surge and coastal flooding bring

the saline sea water into the flat land which increases the salinity level. During the monsoon season

because of heavy rainfall the salinity level is lowered due to the onrushing fresh water from the


33

upstream region, and the vice-versa scenario occurs during post monsoon season (Chowdhury I.

Quamrul et al., 2001: 6). Cyclones generally occur in October to November and March to April periods

each year and cause severe ecological damage within SRF boundaries. The two recent cyclones:

Sidor and Aila caused enormous damage to SRF and its surrounding areas.

Despite the importance of SRF in the Bangladesh economy, it has been seen that over-exploitation of

SRF by the surrounding communities and invaders caused severe damage to its ecosystem during

the last 30 years. This process accelerated particularly after the introduction of shrimp farming in this

region. According to the local people, wide scale shrimp farming enhances the opportunity of over-

exploitation in the Sundarbans region. The Chokoria Sundarbans, the second largest mangrove patch

in Bangladesh, has seen devastated by man-made destruction in 1990s due to the intrusion of shrimp

industry. After its introduction in 1975, most of the 7500 ha. of mangrove flora has been cleared for

shrimp farming, leaving only 973 ha. of scrub forest by 1988 (Choudhury, Quadir and Islam 1994).

Shrimp cultivation also affects the surrounding environment of the Sundarbans. The use of saline

water in shrimp culture contaminates the source of drinking water and thus it fosters salinization

process. This process further creates the conversion and salinization of rice and other agricultural

lands which also leads to marginalized coastal rural communities (Primavera, 1997: 821).

Impact of Water Salinity on livelihood operation:

The increase level of water salinity is impacting on the livelihood operation in several ways. First, it is

making the whole coastal belt’s water availability unsecure and pushing poor people’s lives to a more

vulnerable position than before. Near about four million people in the Sundarbans and its

surroundings is now water insecure. Nowadays, saline water becomes the only means of potable

water.

Second, water salinity also causes an increase in soil salinity which further decreases the agricultural

productivity and brings enormous pressure on food security. And lastly, it destroys the ecosystem of

the Sundarbans, causing massive threats to the lives of various species living in this natural

wonderland.

How severe is the salinity problem in the Sundarban s?

The salinity problem in the Sundarbans and its surroundings became more severe after the two great

cyclones Sidor and Aila and the consequential tidal surges, which took place in December 2007 and

May 2009 respectively. The Sundarbans and its surrounding regions are the most affected and were

devastatingly inundated by sea-saline water after cyclone Aila. Till today, a large number of areas in

the Sundarbans region remain inundated by saline water. Millions of people living around this region

are struggling with high level saline water and so far very little efforts have been given by the

governments and non-government organizations to restore the place to normality.


34

The situation looks worse when one compares the pre-Aila and post-Aila living conditions and

livelihood. During my field visit in July 2009 in Shymnagar, for conducting my master’s thesis work, I

saw the devastating images of post-Aila condition first hand. The cyclone caused major damages in

Source: Basar, 2010, Master Dessertation.

Figure 1: Food and Water Security Cycle

Shymnagar Upazila of Satkhira district and largely destroyed the available sources of potable water.

Small ponds, canals, wells and tube wells are now filled by salty sea water, which makes all the water

sources unusable.

While talking with the local people at Shymnagar Upazila of Satkhira district, I came to know that

salinity is affecting their lives in various ways. First, it has reduced their economic opportunity by

degrading their land quality and reducing productivity. Secondly, it is lessening the security of food

and water. They said that water has become the most precious commodity of their daily life. Lack of

pure drinking water is the greatest challenge that they are facing and they do not know when and how

they could recover from this terrible situation.

Government and NGOs have made some water storage tanks in several places of Aila affected areas

but those do not cover all their needs. However, to get a bucket of water from those sources one has

to wait several hours and travel a long way to fetch it. Those who are unable to fetch pure water,

have to rely on saline water. A middle-aged woman showed me her Sharee, which has faded and

Climate Change

Sea Level Rise

Change of Rainfall

Temperature Variation

Increase of Salinity

Dec

reas

e of

Soi

l Pro

duct

ivity

Loss of agrobased Livelihoods

Shrimp Farming Environmental Degradation

Dec

reas

e of

Foo

d an

d W

ater

Sec

urit

y


35

become stiff and flimsy because of continuous washing with saline water. Living with saline water is

also causing several health problems, including cholera, diarrhea, kidney and several skin diseases.

Government and development organizations: What is t heir observation?

Water salinity issue so far did not get much importance in the government’s disaster management

policy; even development organizations seemed less interested in this subject though this issue is

becoming one of the major challenges against achieving millennium development goal (MDG) for

Bangladesh. The National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) briefly explains the causes and

impacts of water salinity on the coastal economy whereas much greater focus was given on climate

change and sea level rise. The future of water security for the poor coastal inhabitants is much

neglected. While describing coping strategy for Bangladesh government, the NAPA suggests and

popularizes different adaptation mechanisms. Not a single word was written on to the techno-natural

(Swyngedouw, 2007:9) use of saline water; rather this policy paper relies on existing adaptation

thoughts. According to this report, the saline prone zone should learn the technique of using rain

water in a more sustainable way. It says,

‘‘Increasing salinity has exacerbated the problem of drinking water availability in the coastal zone. Rain water harvesting is an adaptation measure in such circumstances’’ (NAPA,2005).

But this does not reflect the demand of the present circumstance. Because of climate variability, rain

also becomes irregular in monsoon season and that is why rain will never be able to provide drinking

water for the vast population.

While describing key priority activities, the NAPA initiates a series of projects which would assist the

government to combat climate change and its consequential hazards. Out of 15 projects two projects

are directly linked with water issue where one of them particularly focused on drinkable water supply

to coastal communities who are vulnerable due to high water salinity. The implementation cost of

these two projects was estimated at about $3.5 million. The other project focuses on capacity building

for infrastructure designing, conflict management and land water zoning for water management

institutions. Four projects exclusively focus on coastal salinity problems and prioritize government

actions for mitigating the problem. But none of these projects could explore the needs for the future,

rather they relied on traditional methods of water treatment which seem incompetent, inefficient and

worthless for present demand.

According to the project “Providing drinking water to coastal communities to combat enhanced salinity

due to sea level rise”, the main objective is to find out alternative sources (rain water harvesting,

surface and ground water treatment etc.) of safe drinking water which will ensure the needs of the

present and future generation of coastal Bangladesh. Here we can see the government’s desires for

developing new alternative sources of safe drinking water but unfortunately, the methods they have

indicated are entirely conventional. They never mention the term of techno-natural use of hydro-

system-- no mention about desalination of sea water. It seems that the concept of ‘”desalinated sea

water’’ is still “unknown” in Bangladeshi policy papers.


36

Desalination: A new prospect towards water security ?

Desalination is the process of removing salt and other minerals, especially from sea water to produce

potable water for household or irrigation purpose (AHSD, 2002). This process of water purification

from brackish water has become very popular in recent times. According to International Desalination

Association, up to 2008 there were 13,080 desalination plants all over the world producing more than

12 billion gallons of water per day (www.idadesal.org). The intense water crisis all over the world due

to population growth, wasteful use of water, pollution, diversion of international river flow and climatic

change related with global warming played an influential role for promoting desalination methods all

over the world (R. Einav et al, 2002:142).

The common technologies for desalinating sea water are based on two main processes: evaporation

and membrane separation. It is perceivable that any form of evaporating process requires large

amount of energy source and, therefore, this method of desalination only becomes feasible for a

country that has cheap energy source and has continuous supply of that (R. Einav et al, 2002:142).

Due to low energy consumption and production cost, a new method of desalination, Reverse Osmosis

(RO) or a new technology of so called membrane process, has become the most efficient desalination

mechanism for the present time (R. Einav et al, 2002:142). The other technology of membrane

process includes Electro Dialysis (ED), Multi Stage Flash (MSF), Multi Effect Distillation (MED) and

Vapor Compression Distillation (VCD). One of the world’s largest desalination plant Jabel Ali in United

Arab Emirates is using MSF technology to produce 300 million cubic meter of water per year. On the

other hand, the world largest state-of-the-art desalination plant, the Ashkelon seawater reverse

osmosis (SWRO) of Israel produces 330 million m³ of water per year and provides around 13 % of

Israel’s domestic demand with world’s lowest ever price (www.water-technology.net).

The most important users of desalinated water are in Middle East, mostly Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait ,

Qatar and Bahrain, who consume about 70% of world capacity, while United States consume 6.5 % of

worldwide production and becomes the world largest user of desalinated water. Besides these

countries, other prominent countries who are joining the race include Australia, Israel, Libya, Spain,

Morocco, Tunisia, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Greece, Cyprus, Trinidad and Tobago etc.

In South Asia, India became the pioneer country for producing desalinated water for its own domestic

use. In 2005, it introduced world’s first Low Temperature Thermal Desalination Plant (LTTD) in

Kavaratti which supplies 1 million liters of water per day (GOV of India PIB, 2005). Indian Government

has also plans to set up other desalination plants all around its southern coast to face upcoming water

challenges. Pakistan is also implementing several desalination plants which will come in operation

within the next few years and provide a modest amount of water supply to its arid regions.

All these efforts of water desalinating plans represent an acute concern of future water crisis of

different states. These countries are pioneering in planning cost effective desalination projects to

meet their future needs and present crises, subsequently reducing dependency on other natural and


37

non-natural factors, such as rainfall , river water flows, ground water availability, international river

water sharing etc.

Pros and Cons of Desalination: Any solution for min imizing cons?

Desalination has lots of pros and cons that one needs to consider before one proceeds. The

countries, which are water stressed and have long coastline with available source of sea water are

obviously suitable for this kind of venture. Desalinating sea or brackish water certainly reduces

country’s dependency on ground or surface water, and assures water sustainability of a country. This

process of water purification can also promote agriculture in saline-prone coastal zone and can

reduce the loss of agro based livelihoods.

However, desalination is not entirely an eco-friendly solution for saline water treatment. The main

adverse effect of desalination comes from its concentrated brine which comes out as a byproduct of

desalinated water. The disposal of this brine to the sea could damage the surrounding marine

environment (Einav R. et al. 2002:143). The use of energy and the method of energy production is

also a vital factor for environment. Desalination process requires a large amount of energy for

producing electricity for its plant. Electricity production often depends on oil, coal, gas or non-

renewable sources which cannot impact our environment positively. Furthermore, this operation

requires high pressure pumps which produce unpleasant noise and that is why in many countries the

plants were built in remote places away from city centers (Einav and Lokiec, 2003:80).

It is true that initially desalination technologies did not focus enough on economical and environmental

aspects of desalination, but continuous research on these issues and innovation of modern

technologies have opened up new prospect of desalination in the world. The use of renewable energy

instead of fossil fuel would reduce both cost and hazards of desalination. Furthermore, it would

eventually enhance the sustainability of desalination process (Rodriguez L.G., 2001:104). The

concentrated brine can be diluted with waste water stream before pumping it out to the ocean. In that

way the salt concentration could be reduced.

The lesson for Bangladesh: Could desalination becom e a solution for salinity-prone costal

region?

Salinity induced coastal region definitely warrants some concerns on desalination process. The

coastal region of Bangladesh covers about 29,000 sq.Km which is 20 % of its total land area. Out of

that 53 % of is under medium to high level of salinity (Haque, S.A., 2006: 1359). Near about 40 million

people are directly affected by water and soil salinity and another 20 million are at risk. Furthermore,

sea level rise and diversion of river water by proposed Indian dams would deteriorate the situation in

near future. In that case, alternative solutions for potable and agro-water need to be explored.

Desalination process could be one of the alternatives for Bangladesh to fight against present and

future water crisis. It is true that this process requires a lot of investment and energy sufficiency that

Bangladesh lack; but new financial models of Public Private Partnership (PPP) or Build, Operate and

Transfer (BOT) would minimize government’s investment and production cost subsequently (Busch,


38

M. and Mickols, W.E., 2004:300). Use of renewable sources of energy, such as solar, air or tidal

power would also minimize overall cost and ensure sustainability of the project. Besides, small reactor

(CAREM) based nuclear desalination plant (IAEA Proceedings, 2007:383) might become workable for

Bangladesh. In fact the most viable desalination solution for Bangladesh could be the Tunisian model

of small-scale desalination plant which could produce 100 liter of water per day and can meet up

around 5 families’ daily demand of household water for drinking and cooking (Elfil, H. et al, 2006:

320). The treatment plant use RO method for desalinating saline water and consume limited energy

resource. This small desalination unit cost around €300 which is approximately Tk.300,000 in

Bangladeshi currency in current value (2010).

Conclusion:

Due to intense water crisis in coastal region of Bangladesh, especially in the greater Sundarbans

region, Bangladesh government needs to focus on alternative fresh water production methods. In that

case desalination process could bring some relief to its vulnerable communities. The absence of

knowledge of desalination in government policy reflects a complete ignorance of international

developments regarding water crisis. The impending water crisis of Bangladesh can never be met

with traditional solutions; rather a more techno-natural use of water becomes necessary to ensure its

water security.

References

AHSD (The American Heritage of Science Dictionary), 2002, Houghton Mifflin. Asian Development Bank, 1998, Report and Recommendation of the President to the Board of Directors on a Proposed Loan and Technical Assistance Grant to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh for the Sundarbans Biodiversity Conservation Project,ADB, Manila. Basar, Asiful, 2010, Master’s Dissertation on “Climate Change, Loss of Livelihood and the Absence of Sustainable Livelihood Approach: A Case Study of Shymnagar, Bangladesh.” Busch, M. and Mickols, W.E.,2004, “Reducing energy consumption in seawater desalination”, Desalination 165, 299-312. Choudhury A.M.. Quadir D.A. & Islam M.J. (1994) Study of Chokoria Sundarbans using remote sensing techniques. ISME Mangrove Ecosystems Technical Report 4. 1-22. Chowdhury I. Quamrul, Haque. Mahfuzul and Chowdhury I. Shahidul, 2001, The Sundarbans: Overview of an Amazing Ecosystem,in Chowdhury I. Quamrul (ed) State of Sundarbans, Forum of Environmental Journalists of Bangladesh (FEJB), Dhaka. Elfil, H., Hamed, A.and Hannachi, A., 2006, “Technical evaluation of a small-scale reverse osmosis desalination unit for domestic water”, Desalination 203, 319-326. Haque, S.A., 2006, “Salinity Problems and Crop Production in Coastal Regions of Bangladesh”, Pakistan Journal of Botany 38(5): 1359-1365. Haque Zahurul and Saifuzzaman Md., 2002, Social and Environmental Effects of Shrimp Cultivation in Bangladesh: Notes on Study Methods, in Motiur Rahman (ed) Globalization, Environmental Crisis and Social Changes in Bangladesh, Winnipeg, Canada. National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA), Final Report 2005, Ministry of Environment and Forests Government of Bangladesh, Dhaka. Primavera, J.H.,1997, Socio-economic Impacts of Shrimp Culture, Aquaculture Research, 28, 815-827. R. Einav, Harussi K, Perry D, 2002, The footprint of Desalination Process on the Environment, Desalination 152, 141-154. Rodriguez, Lourdes Garcia, 2001, Seawater desalination driven by renewable energies: a review, Desalination 143, 103-113. Swyngedouw, Erik, 2007, Technonatural revolutions: the scalar politics of Franco’s hydro-social dream for Spain, 1939–1975, The Geographical Journal, London.


39

Internet Sources Government of India Press Information Bureau, May 23, 2005, access on 17th October 2010, at 8:30 PM. http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=9439 CIA World Factbook, 2010, access on 17th October, 2010 at 8 PM. http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html Water-technology access on 17th of October, 2010 at 9 PM, http://www.water-technology.net/projects/israel/


40

Female Executives’ Experiences of Contra-power Sexu al Harassment from Male Subordinates in the Workplace

Emmanuel Abiodun Fayankinnu *

Abstract: This paper examines female executives’ experiences of ‘contra-power sexual harassment’ (CPSH) – a situation in which the abuser possesses less formal power than the abused – from male subordinates in the workplace. One hundred and fifteen (115) respondents, consisting of sixty-seven (67) female executives and forty-eight (48) male subordinates, were purposively and randomly selected, respectively. Two versions of a structured questionnaire in terms of the abused and the abuser, containing eleven (11) sexual acts/behaviours were administered to the respondents. Additionally, two focused group discussions (FGDs), comprising between 6 and10 participants, were conducted with female executives and male subordinates, respectively. The FGD guide contained questions relating to pattern of female executives’ experiences of CPSH, consequences of CPSH on them, and coping strategies employed. The FGDs conducted among female executives, revealed that CPSH may induce low job satisfaction, job commitment, and reduced productivity. It also led to high feelings of loss of control over the body, destruction of gender identity, and increased the tendency to quit the job. The paper concludes that female executives experience more of symbolic and indirect verbal sexual harassments from male subordinates, rendering it difficult to hold them as culprits. Thus, as powerful as female executives are in position of authority, they are still powerless as regards CPSH. Some policy options are however, highlighted.

Introduction

Over the years, more men compared to women have often occupied executive positions in the

workplace for reasons associated with gender perceptions situated in patriarchy – that conceives men

to be superior to women. This gender perception confers certain privileges (e.g. access to education,

employment, placement/promotion, etc.), on males over females in all spheres of life (Wilson and

Thompson, 2001). Such privileges have strengthened gender differentiation in the workplace, with

men empowered politically and economically over women.

Some studies (Akinbulumo, 2003; Jafe, Lemon, & Poisson, 2003; Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998; Elles

and Dekeseredy, 1996) argued that gender differentiation has accounted partly for the development

and perpetration of sexual harassment (SH) in the workplace with men as the major perpetrators and

women, the victims. Other studies (e.g., Fayankinnu, 2010; Wayne, 2000; etc) suggest that male

executives’ fear of challenges that may arise from women occupying executive positions increased

the prevalent rate at which male executives sexually harass female subordinates as a means to

sustain a male hegemony in the workplace and subject women under men’s control (traditional SH).

Studies (such as Fayankinnu, 2010, 2004; Nnorom, 2004) have addressed traditional SH (where the

harasser possesses higher organizational power than the harassed) and argued that, to reduce the

incidence of such SH in the workplace women must improve their lot in areas that will render them

relevant to attaining executive positions in the workplace.

* Department of Sociology, Adekunle Ajasin University, P.M.B. 001. Akungba Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria. Emails: [email protected], [email protected]


41

In the last two decades, women have acquired higher educational qualifications, like their male

counterparts, and have engaged in advocacy programmes against all forms of workplace

discrimination. This has led to more women entering jobs traditionally preserved for males, e.g.

executive positions in organizations (Akinnawo and Fayankinnu, 2010). In spite of attaining higher

level and status, researches indicate that female executives remain far outnumbered by male

executives and also experience SH from higher status male executives and from lower status males

(Ann, 2007; McKinney, 1990; Grauerholz, 1989). This paper is delves into female executives’

experiences of ‘contra-power sexual harassment’ (CPSH) from male subordinates in the workplace.

Benson (1984) had defined CPSH as a situation in which the abuser possesses less formal power

than the abused.

The justification for this study is hinged on the dearth of data on female executives’ experiences of

CPSH from male subordinates, particularly, in Nigeria. A plausible explanation for this gap may be

that men had traditionally outnumbered women in executive positions, consequent to “patriarchy”.

High incidence of SH against female subordinates by male executives has aroused researchers’

interest towards traditional SH, with little or no attention to CPSH (Benson, 1984). Skewed studies of

such are capable of undermining the number of female executives who may be experiencing CPSH in

the workplace. Moreover, previous studies (Ann, 2007; DeSouza and Fansler, 2003; Yamada, 2000;

Shaffer, Joplin, Bell, Lau, and Oguz, 2000; Smith, 2000; Claney, 1994; Sandroff, 1992; McKinney,

1992, 1990; Grauerholz, 1989; Benson, 1984) conducted on CPSH were in Western societies and do

not reflect the exact situation in Africa, particularly Nigeria. Findings from this study may, therefore,

compliment other scholars’ research interest in comparative studies relating to female executives’

experiences of CPSH.

In spite of their status, female executives experience CPSH (McKinney, 1992, 1990; Grauerholz,

1989; Benson, 1984), and it is prevalent (DeSouza and Fansler, 2003; Yamada, 2000). For example,

in a study conducted among members of the National Association of Female Executives in the United

Kingdom on their experiences of SH from male subordinates, Galen, Weber, and Cuneo (1991)

reported that 53% of the respondents had once been sexually harassed by a male of lower status in

the workplace. In another study, Sandroff (1992) reported that over 60% of executive women in a

survey of working women have been sexually harassed by male subordinates at work. A similar study

conducted on female family physicians in 1993 revealed that 77% of the female physicians had

experienced at least one form of SH from patients (Phillips and Schneider, 1993). In her study of

female attorneys, Claney (1994) found that 39% of female attorneys reported being sexually harassed

by clients. In another study consisting of health care executives, Burda (1996) reported that 29% of

women executives and 5% of men executives have been sexually harassed by men and women

respectively of lower status, respectively. Finally, in his study of workplace aggression, Yamada

(2000) found that 20% of the instigators of bullying are of lower institutional status than their targets.

Despite the high incidence of CPSH, studies (Yamada, 2000; Newel, Rosenfeld, and Culbertson,

1995) continue to find low reporting rates for reasons associated with victims being scared of


42

repercussions; embarrassed to report the incidence, feel shameful about what happened, or do not

believe that what they experience qualifies for SH (Ann, 2007; Dey, Korn, and Sax, 1996).

Studies suggest that CPSH may have several consequences on the workplace and the individuals

involved. For instance, CPSH may interrupt with female executives’ careers (Ann, 2007), executive

women may experience job dissatisfaction and reduced commitment (Fayankinnu, 2010; Einarsen,

Hoel, Zapf & Cooper, 2003), decline in productivity (Akinnawo and Fayankinnu, 2010), may lead to

high feelings of loss of control over emotion and the body (Hardy, 2002), destroy gender identity

(Fayankinnu, 2004; Van, 1993), and increase the tendency to quit the job (Djurkovic, McCormack &

Casimir, 2004). This paper broadly examines female executives’ experiences of CPSH from male

subordinates, with specifics into female executives’ perception of behaviour considered sexually

harassing, experiences of sexually harassing behaviour from male subordinates, consequences of

CPSH, and coping strategies employed.

Method

Participants

One hundred and fifteen (115) respondents, comprising of sixty-seven (67) female executives and

forty-eight (48) male subordinates, selected purposively and randomly, respectively, participated in

the study. The purposive sampling technique was used for reason associated with fewer females in

executive positions in Nigerian organizations. Seven per cent of the entire respondents aged between

25 and 29 years, 22.6% aged between 30 and 39 years, 55.7% were between 40 and 49, and 14.8%

aged 50 and above. Comparatively, more male subordinates (60.4%) than the female executives are

between 40 and 49 years, 12.5% and 16.4% male subordinates and female executives, respectively,

are 50 years and above. More than seventy percent (71.3%) of the total respondents are married

compared to 26.1% who are single; only 1(0.9%) is divorced, 1(0.9%) separated, and 1(0.9%)

widowed, accordingly. When specifics were considered, 66.7% males and 74.6% females are

married. Majority (92.2%) of the entire respondents are from the Yoruba ethnic group. This is

expected given that the study is conducted in the south-western part of Nigeria, dominated by the

Yoruba. Respondents who are Igbo constituted 7% while 0.9% are from other ethnic groups. The

entire respondents are literate – 18.3% are holders of National Diploma Certificate (ND)/National

Certificate of Education (NCE), 77.4% are degree holders while 2.6% and 1.7% hold higher degrees

and professional certificate, respectively. When the respondents’ educational qualification is

compared by gender, 66.7% males and 85.1% females are degree holders, 33.3% males compared

to 7.5% females hold Ordinary Diploma/ National Certificate, while 4.5% and 3.0% females are PhD

and professional certificates holders, respectively. Analysis concerning job tenure of respondents,

showed that 10.4% of the total respondents had served between 1 and 5 years in service, 27% had

spent between 6 and 11 years in service, 38.3% had put in between 12 and 16 years in service, while

24.3% are 17 years and above in service. Comparing job tenure for both genders, 94% female

executives have spent 12 years and above compared to 18% male subordinates. On the other hand,

81% male subordinates have spent 1-11 years compared to 6% female executives (see Table I).


43

Table I: Cross Tabulation of Respondents’ Demograph ic Characteristics

X2= 17.210; df=3, P<.001 AGE Total

25-29 30-39 40-49 50+

Gender: Male, (% within gender) 8(16.7%)

5(10.4%)

29(60.4%)

6 (12.5%)

48(100%)

Female, (% within gender)

0(.0%)

21(31.3%)

35(52.2%)

11(16.4)

67(100%)

Total % for the entire respondents 8(7%) 26(22.6%) 64(55.7%) 17(14.8%) 115(100%)

X2= 3.919; df=4, P<.417 MARITAL STATUS Total

Single Married Divorced Separat

ed

Widowe

d

Gender: Male, (% within gender)

15(31.3%)

32(66.7%)

1(2.1%)

0(.0%)

0(.0%)

48(100%)

Female, (% within gender) 15(22.4%) 50(76.4%)

0(.0%)

1(1.5%)

1(1.5%)

67(100%)

Total % for the entire respondents 30(26.1%) 82(71.3%) 1(.9%) 1(.9%) 1(.9%) 115(100)

X2= 4.328; df=2, P<.115 ETHNICITY Total

Yoruba Igbo Others


46(95.8%)

1(2.1%)

1(2.1%)

48(100%)


60(89.6%) 7(10.4%)

0(.0%)

67(100)

Total % for the entire respondents 106(92.2%) 8(7.0%) 1(.9%) 115(100%)

X2= 71.233; df=3, P<.000 JOB TENURE Total

1-5 years 6-11

years

2-

16y1ears

17 years +


12(25.0%)

27(56.3%)

9(18.8%)

0(.0%)

48(100%)


0(.0%)

4(6.0%)

35(52.2%)

28(41.8%)

67(100%)

Total % for the entire respondents 12(10.4%) 31(27.0%) 44(38.3%) 28(24.3%) 115(100%)


44

Instrument

The FGD and the questionnaire schedule are the instruments utilized for collection of qualitative and

quantitative data, respectively. A total of four (4) FGDs, divided into two groups (2 FGDs for female

executives and 2 FGDs for male subordinates), consisting of between 6 and 10 participants per FGD,

was held. The FGD-guide specifically sought to establish female executives’ experiences of CPSH,

implications for their social well-being, and the coping strategies employed. The criteria for selecting

the respondents for the FGDs were hinged on experience, job status, job tenure, and willingness to

participate in the study.

During the discussions, it was ensured that participants in each session were homogeneous in terms

of their job status. This encouraged the participants to express themselves freely as well as it enabled

this study to establish if there were differences in female executives’ experiences of CPSH compared

to sexually harassing acts perpetrated by male subordinates against female executives. Additionally,

participants’ consent to have their voices recorded was sought and voluntarily given – which ensured

the respondents’ confidence that this study was purely for academic purpose. In addition to

convincing the participants (through verbal discussions) that facilitators/interviewers were learning

from them and not testing their knowledge, the participants were also encouraged to choose the

setting for their discussions and to freely ask the facilitators pertinent questions. The group

discussions were conducted in locations and spaces free of the watchful eyes of the male

X2= 115.000; df=4, P<.000 AVERAGE MONTHLY INCOME Total

<N40,000 N40,000-

N49,000

N50,000-

N59,000

N60,000-

N69,000

N70,000

+


35(72.9%)

13(27.1%)

0(.0%)

0(.0%)

0(.0%)

48(100


0(.0%)

0(.0%)

26(38.8%)

38(56.7%)

3(4.5%)

67(100)

Total % for the entire

respondents

35(30.4%) 13(11.3%) 26(22.6%) 38(33.0%) 3(2.6%) 115(100)

X2= 15.056; df=3, P<.002 EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION Total

OND/NCE HND/B.Sc. PhD PROFESSIONAL


16(33.3%)

32(66.7%)

0(.0%)

0(.0%)

48(100%)


5(7.5%)

57(85.1%)

3(4.5%)

2(3.0%)

67(100%)

Total % for the entire

respondents

21(18.3%) 89(77.4%) 3(2.6%) 2(1.7%) 115(100%)


45

subordinates or supervisors. This was to avoid threat of sanctions, and the influence of non-

participating on-lookers and gate-keepers. The FGDs lasted between 52 and 59 minutes, per session.

Two versions of a structured questionnaire (in terms of the abused and the abuser) containing eleven

(11) sexual acts/behaviours were administered to the respondents. The questionnaire for the abused

(female executives) was divided into three (3) sections and contained both open-ended and close-

ended questions. The first section of the questionnaire assessed the demographic characteristics of

the respondents, while the second and third sections measured female executives’ perceptions of

male subordinates’ behaviour considered sexually harassing, and female executives’ experiences of

CPSH from male subordinates. The female executives were asked to indicate the acts/behaviour they

perceived as sexually harassing from male subordinates as well as their experiences of CPSH from

male subordinates on the following response format: Disagree (D) = 1, Not Sure (NS) = 2, and, Agree

(A) = 3. Some of the acts/behaviours included in the questionnaire schedule are ‘unwanted touch on

the body’, ‘suggestive text messages from male subordinates, ‘male subordinates grabbing their

groins before female executives, etc.

On the other hand, the questionnaire for the abuser (male subordinates) contained two sections which

assessed the demographic characteristics of the respondents and male subordinates’ perpetration of

SH against female executives. The questions were paraphrased to reflect male subordinates’ posture

as intending perpetrators of SH against female executives. Thus, the male subordinates were asked

to indicate which of the acts/behaviour they have perpetrated against female executives with the

intention to sexually harass them. These questions include ‘male subordinates bragging about their

sexual prowess in bed before female executives, ‘male subordinates bragging about their sexual

organs as hefty before female executives’, ‘looking lustfully at female executives’, etc. The responses

were coded as Disagree (D) = 1; Not Sure (NS) = 2; and, Agree (A) = 3.

The ethical and field protocols for this study were approved by the Research and Publications

Committee of the Department of Sociology, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Nigeria.

Analysis

The data collected from FGDs were audio-taped, sorted, and later transcribed with the help of field

assistants. Data were analyzed using manual content analysis – reporting verbatim the responses of

participants where necessary. The questionnaire schedule was analyzed, using simple frequency

percentage distributions. Cross tabulations and Chi-square were used to measure the association

between gender and other demographic characteristics of the respondents; and, inferences drawn to

provide explanation why female executives may experience CPSH.


46

Result

Female Executives’ Perception of Male Subordinates’ Behaviour Considered Sexually Harassing

The respondents (female executives only) were served with a scaled list that contained eleven (11)

acts/behaviour and were asked to indicate which of the acts they perceive as sexually harassing.

Table II indicates that the respondents perceived all the eleven (11) acts as sexually harassing but

reported that three out of the eleven sexual behaviours – male subordinates grabbing their groins

before female executives (73.1%), bragging of their sexual organs as hefty before female executives

(64.2%), and bragging of their prowess in bed before female executives (61.2%) – as the most

sexually harassing. With the exception of the act – suggestive text messages from male subordinates

– perceived by 43.3% of the respondents as sexually harassing, the response rate for the remaining

seven acts was below 30% for each (see Table 2).

Table 2: Percentage Distribution of Female Executiv es’ Perception of Sexually Harassing Behaviour from Male Subordinates

Agree Not

Sure

Disagree

1 Unwanted touch on the body from male subordinates 14(20.9%) - 53(79.1%)

2 Suggestive Text messages from male subordinates 29(43.3%) - 38(56.7%)

3 Frontal hugging with suggestive meanings 16(23.9%) - 51(76.1)

4 Prolonged handshake with junior male subordinates 19(28.4%) - 48(71.6%)

5 Verbal discussions with sexual undertones 7(10.4%) - 60(89.6%)

6 When male subordinates pass pleasant comments often

about female executives

6(9.0%) - 61(91.0%)

7 Male subordinates grabbing their groin before female

executives

49(73.1%) - 18(26.9%)

8 Male subordinates bragging of their sexual prowess in bed

before female executives

41(61.2%) - 26(38.8%)

9 Male subordinates bragging about the size of their penal

organ as hefty before female executives

43(64.2%) - 24(35.8%)

10 Male subordinates presenting suggestive gifts to female

executives.

7(10.4%) - 6(89.6%)

11 Lustful look from male subordinates 16(23.9%) - 51(76.1%)

Source: Author’s Survey.

Female Executives’ Experiences of CPHS

To investigate female executives’ experiences of CPSH from male subordinates, the female

respondents were served with a scaled list containing eleven sexual behaviours and asked to indicate


47

the behaviour they had experienced from male subordinates in the workplace. Table 3 shows that a

large proportion (61.2%) of the female executives reported that male subordinates grabbed their

groins before them, 59.7% reported that male subordinates bragged about their sexual organs as

hefty before them, and 58.2% female executives confirmed that male subordinates bragged about

their sexual prowess in bed before them. These three acts/behaviours constitute the most sexually

harassing behaviour the female executives reported that they experienced. Additionally, 25.4% of the

female executives reported that they experienced unwanted touch on their bodies from male

subordinates, 16.4% said they were hugged frontally by male subordinates, and 34.4% received

prolonged handshakes with sexual undertones from male subordinates. Some 16.4% received text-

messages with sexual undertones from male subordinates, 35.8% said that male subordinates had

engaged them in verbal discussions that are sexually suggestive, 41.8% had received sexually

patronizing comments from male subordinates, 37.4% have been given gifts with sexual undertones,

and 35.8% reported that male subordinates lustfully looked at them (see Table 3).

Table 3: Percentage Distribution Showing Female Exe cutives’ Experiences of Sexual Harassment from Male Subordinates

Agree Not Sure Disagree

1 Unwanted touch on the body from male subordinates 17(25.4%) 5(7.5%) 45(67.1%)

2 Received suggestive text-messages from male

subordinates

11(16.4%) 6(9.0%) 50(74.7%)

3 Frontal hugging with suggestive meanings 11(16.4%) 9(13.4%) 47(70.3%)

4 Prolonged handshakes from junior male subordinates 23(34.4%) 4(6.0%) 40(59.6%)

5 Verbal discussions with sexual undertones 24(35.8%) 6(9.0%) 37(54.7%)

6 When male subordinates make sexually patronizing

comments often about female executives

28(41.8%) 10(14.9%) 29(43.3%)

7 Male subordinates grabbing their groins before female

executives

41(61.2%) 14(20.9%) 12(17.9%)

8 Male subordinates bragging of their sexual prowess in

bed before female executives

39(58.2%) 11(16.4%) 17(25.4%)

9 Male subordinates bragging about the size of their

sexual organs as hefty before female executives

40(59.7%) 13(19.4%) 14(20.9%)

10 Male subordinates presenting suggestive gifts to female

executives.

25(37.4%) 6(9.0%) 36(53.6%)

11 Lustful look from male subordinates 24(35.8%) 4(6.0%) 39(58.2%)

Source: Author’s Survey

Male Subordinates’ Perpetration of CPSH against Female Executives

In an attempt to avoid lop-sided results, the male subordinates were requested to indicate the sexual

acts/behaviours they ever perpetrated against their female executives. Table 4 reveals that the

prevalence which male subordinates harassed female executives was higher in four sexual


48

acts/behaviours. According to the male respondents, 60.4% bragged about the size of their sexual

organs as hefty before female executives, 58.4% sent suggestive messages to female executives,

54.2% agreed that they looked lustfully at female executives, while 52.1% said they bragged about

their prowess in bed before female executives. In addition, 31.3% of the male respondents had

touched female executives on their bodies without permission, 37.5% had hugged female executives

in a sexually harassing manner, 37.5% had engaged female executives in verbal discussions that are

sexually suggestive, 37.5% had prolonged their handshakes with female executives, 27% had made

sexually patronizing pleasant comments about female executives, 35.4% grabbed their groins before

female executives, and 6.3% said that they presented sexually suggestive gifts to female executives

(see Table 4).

Table 4: Percentage Distribution Showing Male Subor dinates’ Response to Perpetration of Sexually Harassing Behaviour against Female Executi ves

Agree Not sure Disagree

1 Unwanted touch on female executive body 15(31.3%) 13(27.1%) 20(41.7%)

2 Sending suggestive text-messages to female executives 28(58.4%) 6(12.5%) 14(29.2%)

3 Giving frontal hugging to female executives with

suggestive meanings

18(37.5%) 13(27.1%) 17(35.4%)

4 Prolonged handshakes with female executives 18(37.5%) 13(29.1%) 17(35.4%)

5 Verbal discussions with female executives carrying

sexual undertones

18(37.5%) 19(39.6%) 11(22.9%)

6 Making sexually patronizing comments about female

executives

13(27.1%) 9(18.8%) 26(47.9%)

7 Grabbing your groin before female executives 17(35.4%) 12(25.0%) 19(39.6%)

8 Bragging about your sexual prowess in bed before

female executives

25(52.1%) 7(14.4%) 16(33.4%)

9 Bragging about the size of your sexual organ as hefty

before female executives

29(60.4%) 4(8.3%) 15(31.3%)

10 Presenting suggestive gifts to female executives. 3(6.3%) 15(31.3%) 30(62.5%)

11 Looking lustful at female executives 11(22.9%) 26(54.2%) 11(22.9%)

Source: Author’s Survey

The chi-square test (Table 5 below) showed that gender is significantly associated with the

respondents’ age (X2=17.210; df = 3, P<.001), educational attainment (X2=15.056; df = 3, P<.002),

average income (X2= 115.000; df = 4, P<.000) and job tenure (X2 = 71.233, df = 3, P<.002). This

result suggests that about the same proportion of both female executives and male subordinates are

within the same age bracket and possess the same educational qualifications. It also suggests that

female executives earn higher income than male subordinates and have spent longer years than male

subordinates in the organization. However, gender showed no significant association with marriage

(X2 = 3.919; df = 4, P<.417), and ethnicity X2= 4.328; df= 2, P<.115).


49

Table 5: Cross Tabulation and Chi-Square Results.

Consequences of CPSH

The FGD was utilized to ascertain what consequences CPSH have on the female executives. The

choice to use the FGD is informed by the fact that CPSH is subjective in nature and requires a

technique that can capture the subjective nature of the issue under study. Findings from a significant

number of the participants in the FGDs point to the fact that CPSH induces low psychological health,

which impact negatively on job satisfaction and job commitment, and reduces productivity. The bulk of

the participants also reported that SH led to high feelings of loss of control over the body, destroys

gender identity and induces the tendency to quit the job. The following are excerpts from the FGDs

conducted with female executives:

It is very painful when you experience sexual harassment from a junior male officer. The experience is agonizing

such that it makes you fall sick and lose interest in going to work.

Another female executive remarked that:

When male subordinates sexually harass their female executives, I consider it as a slight and disrespect on our bodies. In other words, the male subordinates are suggesting that we don’t own control over our bodies – we consider this attitude violent and dehumanizing.

Another female executive reported thus:

Being sexually harassed by male subordinates is an indication that the workplace is unsafe for female executives. In short, every female executive lives in fear of the unexpected – being raped or sexually molested by male subordinates. Thus, the satisfaction we ought to derive from our work declines, commitment reduces, and productivity drops.

Yet, another female executive expressed her experiences thus:

The presence of SH in any organization is capable of making people to quit their jobs. For example, there was a time when a female executive had to quit her job for reasons related to being sexually harassed by a male subordinate; and, the failure of the sexual

Variables Values Df Sig.

Gender & Age (115) 17.210 3 .001

Gender & Education (115) 15.056 3 .002

Gender & Average Income

(115)

115.000 4 .000

Gender & Job Tenure 71.233 3 .002

Gender & Marriage 3.919 4 .417

Gender and Ethnicity 4.328 2 .115


50

harassment panel to punish the male subordinate. Such a woman saw her identity destroyed, the essence of her existence stolen away, losing control over her body, and alienated from her workplace and the society. On the other hand, the male subordinate raises his shoulders high in the workplace.

Majority of the participants aligned with the views expressed in these excerpts.

Coping Strategies – Female Executives

When the respondents were asked how they coped with CPSH from male subordinates, they reported

that they simply ignored acts with sexual undertones by male subordinates towards them, and

maintained strict formal relationships with their male subordinates. An excerpt from one of the FGDs

reads thus:

Simply ignored sexually harassing acts perpetrated by male subordinates and ensure that my relationship with the male subordinate is strictly on official basis.

Discussion

This study examined female executives’ perception and experiences of CPSH from male subordinates

in the workplace. The findings confirmed that female executives perceived and believed they

experienced three sexual behaviours – ‘male subordinates grabbing their groins before female

executives’, ‘male subordinates bragging about their sexual organs as hefty before female

executives’, and ‘male subordinates bragging about their sexual prowess in bed before female

executives’ – as most sexually harassing. In other words, female executives experienced more

symbolic SH (e.g., male subordinates grabbing their groins before female executives) and verbal SH

(e.g., male subordinates bragging about their sexual organs as hefty before female executives, and

male subordinates bragging about their sexual prowess in bed before female executives) compared to

physical SH. This is similar to the findings of Matchen and DeSouza (2000), and McKinney (1990),

who found that faculty female professors experienced more body language of sexual nature each

month from male students.

Female executives experiences of higher incidence of symbolic SH and verbal SH from male

subordinates may be explained within the purview of the power relations that exists between female

executives as leaders, on the one hand, and male subordinates as followers, on the other. Such

power relation empowers female executives as supervisors over male subordinates, and requires that

the latter comply with directives from the former, or be sanctioned for insubordination. Aware of the

differences in possession of organizational power, and the fear of being punished if caught in the act

of harassing female executives, male subordinates appear to resort to the use of subtle patterns of

SH, such as symbolic behaviour and verbal behaviour, to sexually harass female executives fairly

indirectly – patterns that protect male subordinates from easily being detected as perpetrators of SH

against female executives. Additionally, female executives’ low report of SH occasioned by fear of

stigmatization, difficulty in providing evidence against suspects of symbolic SH and verbal SH, and the

absence of a functional Sexual Harassment Panel (SHP), may have increased the incidence at which


51

female executives experience SH from male subordinates in the workplace (Fayankinnu, 2010; Ann,

2007; Benson, 1984).

Comparing male subordinates’ responses to the three sexual acts/behaviour reported by the female

executives as most sexually harassing, 35.4% of the male subordinates reported that they grabbed

their groin before female executives (symbolic SH), more than 50% male subordinates said they

bragged about their sexual prowess on bed before female executives (verbal SH), and 60.4%

bragged about the size of their penal organ as hefty before female executives (verbal SH), and 58.4%

said they forwarded sexually suggestive text messages to female executives (electronic SH). An

inference from this finding is that male subordinates perpetrated less symbolic SH (35.4%) against

their female superiors compared with female executives’ report of high experiences of symbolic SH

(61.2%). DeSouza and Fansler (2003) earlier observed a similar variation in respondents’ response

rate. They observed a similar rate of female faculty reporting sexual harassment, but found a lower

level of SH admitted by students. As regard this study, there is the need to take caution in

interpreting this dichotomy of responses from both the female executives and male subordinates,

particularly as it relates to the cultural context of the environment in which the study was conducted.

The variation in response rates as observed above may be explained in two ways. First, studies show

that females differ from males in their perception of acts/behaviour that constitute SH. Therefore,

female executives may misinterpret when male subordinates grab their groins before them as

harassment when, in actual fact, male subordinates may grab their groins unconsciously or habitually

without the intention of harassing female executives. Commenting on this in one of the FGDs, a male

subordinate stated:

I am a very hairy person and I often have little itching in between my legs. If I grab my groin before a female executive, it is only to scratch and nothing more. I am also aware of many males who hold their groins as a matter of habit, imbibed and internalized from rap musicians. Unfortunately, female executives are quick to conclude that we are sexually harassing them when we do this.

Second, male subordinate’s low response rate to the perpetration of symbolic SH against female

executives may have been informed by both societal and organizational cultures inherent in the

workplace. For instance, the Yoruba culture perceives the grabbing of one’s groin intermittently as

indecent. Similarly, workplace ethics frowns at males grabbing their groins – thus, male subordinates

may shy away from responding affirmatively that they grabbed their groins before female executives

to harass them for fear of being stigmatized as indecent persons.

On the other hand, male subordinates’ responses in affirmation that they perpetrated more verbal SH

against female executives may be associated with the fact that the Yoruba culture approves such

sexual behaviour, particularly in relation to sexual acts/behaviours reported by the respondents (e.g.,

male subordinates bragging about their prowess in bed before female executives and male

subordinates bragging about the size of their sexual organs as hefty before female executives). In the

Yoruba language of South-western Nigeria, farm (oko) is where most men work and, indeed own.


52

Among the Yoruba, the persons (males) who possess the penis (oko) own the farms (oko), who also

own the hoes (oko) and are the husbands (oko). Thus, as the hoe (oko) constitutes the tool used to till

the farm (oko), the penis (oko) is the tool, the plough, or the ‘thing’ with which men work upon women

as husbands to affirm their authority in the home. Any dysfunction of the penis (oko) incapacitates the

man from being a ‘good’ husband (oko), and denies him applause from his wife. Hence, it becomes a

pride for men to boast of their sexual prowess and for women to ‘deny’ their sexuality.

In the context of the foregoing, culture seems to have played a vital role in transmitting this cultural

belief through (the Yoruba) language from one generation to another within the family and into the

workplace. Thus, in a sense, it appears culture has institutionalized verbal SH in the workplace such

that when male subordinates brag about their sexual prowess in bed or brag about the size of their

sexual organs as hefty before female executives, they may be hiding under culture to affirm their

masculinity and, at same time, harassing female executives, though indirectly.

Several factors seem to explain the SH of female executives by male subordinates in the workplace.

The cross tabulation and chi-square test showed that gender is significantly associated with age,

education, average income, and job tenure of the female executives. When interpreted, except for

16.7% of male subordinates who were younger than their female executives, other male subordinates

and female executives were of the same age bracket. For instance, the age distribution of the

respondents revealed that 31.3% of the female executives and 10.4% of the male subordinates are

between the age of 30 and 39 years, 52.2% female executives and 60.4% male subordinates are

between 40 and 49 years, while 16.4% female executives and 12.5% male subordinates are 50 years

and above. Such age distribution may propel male subordinates to harass female executives given

the culture of patriarchy that conceives men as superior to women, and the African perception in

relation to age. Narrating her experience of SH from a male subordinate, a female executive

recounted as follows:

A male subordinate once admired me and told me that I am beautiful and young as his wife. He was very polite in his utterance, but was driving at a point – to remind me that I am young as his wife and perhaps behave as his wife does to him, submissive. This is a clever way through which male subordinates make unwanted sexual advances towards female executives.

The foregoing suggests that the male subordinate in question is likely to be older than the female

executive. For example, the Yoruba culture accords significance to age, emphasizing that the younger

ones should respect their elders. Given such cultural belief, particularly in African societies, male

subordinates who are older or within the same age bracket with their female executives may take

advantage of the privilege the culture offers to sexually harass female executives, indirectly. Female

executives’ resistance against SH perpetrated by male subordinates is often misconstrued as being

disrespectful to elderly men. In a sense, the culture that canvasses respect for the elderly renders

female executives vulnerable to SH from male subordinates given the lack of understanding that

rational issues should be treated differently from culture. At this juncture, the question that emerges is:


53

what happens if female executives are older than their male subordinates? The answer to this

question is better given, presumably, from further research.

The chi-square also showed that gender is significantly associated with the respondents’ educational

qualifications. This suggests that both female executives and male subordinates hold almost the

same educational qualifications. In the light of this assertion, other factors than educational

qualifications appear to have accounted for women attainment of executive positions. For example,

female executives may have over the years developed their careers on the job through in-service

training, to attain executive positions through promotion. In this wise, job-tenure may account for the

positions attained by a sizeable proportion of the female executives. When male subordinates

possess the same certificates/qualifications with female executives, there is the likelihood to want to

prove that they (male subordinates) are not inferior to female executives, by ostensibly sexually

harassing female executives in the workplace as a ‘defence’ against the reality that a female is their

superior officer. The FGD reveals that large proportions of the male subordinates were employed with

Diploma certificates and have only improved their lots by acquiring additional academic qualifications

from part-time programmes. The situation in which male subordinates possess the same educational

qualifications as female executives may explain, in part, why female executives experience SH from

male subordinates.

The chi-square also indicates a relationship between gender and average monthly income, meaning

that female executives earned higher than their male subordinates. This is expected given the

difference in statuses and positions occupied by both gendered employees. How this disparity in

income aids the SH of female executives by male subordinates may be traced to previous studies

conducted on traditional SH – where the harasser possesses more organizational power than the

harassed (Fayankinnu, 2010, 2004; Nnorom, 2004). These studies focused on males as the

perpetrators of SH owning to increased number of men in leadership positions, resulting from males’

acquisition of higher educational qualifications, compared to the females. This empowers men with

organizational and economic power (income) to harass women. In contrast, the male subordinates

lack such organizational and economic power to compete with their female executives. Thus, male

subordinates resort to harassing female executives using their ‘agbara inu’ – literally defined as an

informal power of self-consciousness characterized by subtleness, yet potent as a way of coping with

inferiority complex (Fayankinnu, 2004, 2007). Generally, the position of this paper is that the reasons

identified do not justify the SH of female executives by male subordinates; rather, it is an attempt by

male subordinates to further institutionalize male hegemony in the workplace.

Female executives who have been sexually harassed are prone to low health status. The FGDs

revealed that female executives suffered some ailments after an experience of SH from a male

subordinate. An excerpt goes thus:-

The day a male subordinate sexually harassed me, I could not sleep for nights. I had blurred vision, serious headache, and was restless for several days.


54

Another excerpt reads:-

Some female executives who are my colleagues told me that after their experiences of SH from their male subordinates, they felt like something moving in their bodies, experienced depression and anxiety, had internal heat, felt sudden fear, had pains on their chest, lost appetite, sulked, felt dizzy, had stomach-ache, and changes in their menstrual cycles. In my case, I was shocked to my marrow, sweated profusely and became uncomfortable.

The foregoing suggests that female executives’ health status is often at risk when sexually harassed.

But, a pertinent question to ask is that could the experiences of SH from male subordinates account

for the health challenges reported by the female executives, particularly when other work stressors

(e.g., longer working hours, poor work environment, exposure to work hazards, etc.) could lead to

similar manifestations. A plausible explanation is perhaps, female executives experiences of SH from

male subordinates triggered the symptoms they reported as health challenging. Such experiences, in

turn, tend to induce job dissatisfaction and reduce work commitment, expressed in the forms of

absenteeism, sabotage, labour turnover, boycott, etc. These unfriendly work manifestations impede

productivity and hamper the growth of the organization. At the personal level, female executives

experience alienation – being estranged to oneself, and loss of gender identity. Such experiences

breed the feeling of not being in the workplace and, subsequently, reduce the sense of belongingness

while encouraging the ‘withdrawal syndrome’ – withdrawing to oneself such that it impacts on the

identity of the individual, work activity, and the organization.

All the female executives in this study reported that they coped with SH from male subordinates by

ignoring acts/behaviours perpetrated by male subordinates and maintaining strict formal relationships

with their male subordinates. Two inferences can be drawn: - first, it may imply that female executives

consider themselves capable of handling the situation on their own; and, second, it indicates that

female executives seldom report cases of SH against them for reasons associated with the absence

of any sexual harassment policy or, where there is a policy, inadequate implementation of the policy

and the fear of being stigmatized by others.

Conclusion

The author acknowledges the limitation inherent in this study particularly as it relates to the sample

size. The study recognizes that the sample size used in this study may not be adequate for global

generalization and that with a larger sample; some variations in findings may be obtained. However,

the study serves to complement other researchers that may be interested in studying issues on CPSH

in Nigerian organizations. Other researchers may take advantage of the limitation in this study and

examine larger samples, employ bivariate statistical tools, such as correlation and regression, to test

for relationships between variables identified.

The paper concludes that female executives constitute victims of symbolic and verbal SH in the hands

of male subordinates. These forms of SH render it difficult to provide conclusive evidence against


55

male subordinates as culprits, thereby letting them off the hook. Thus, as powerful as female

executives are in their formal positions of authority, they are still powerless. Hence, to protect female

executives from further victimization from male subordinates, it is suggested that efforts be geared

towards instituting a definitive advocacy programme that emphasizes and encourages female

executives to report cases of SH to the appropriate quarters. The rationale behind this is that if male

subordinates know that female executives are most likely to report cases of SH, they are likely to be

discouraged from harassing female executives for fear of being sanctioned. Reported cases of SH

can only be meaningful when a functional SHP is in place. In this regard, Management in

organizations should ensure that they are gender sensitive when constituting SHPs. Furthermore,

work handbook containing regulations relating to SH be issued to all employees; and, male

subordinates found guilty of SH against female executives be swiftly sanctioned.

References

Akinnawo, O. E. and Fayankinnu, E.A. 2010. Psychological Health and Traumatic Experiences of Women Working in Two Male-Dominated Profession. Gender Behaviour 8(2), 3314-3324. Ann, N. J. 2007. Harassing Women with Power: The Case for including Contra-Power Harassment within Title VII. Boston University Law Review 87, 491- Benson, R. 1984. Comments on Crocker’s. An Analysis of University Definitions of Sexual Harassment, Signs 9, 516-519. Burda, D. 1996. ACHE Survey Response Spurs Expedited Sexual Harassment Policy. Modern Healthcare 26(42), 2-3. Clancy, F. 1994. When Customer Service Crosses the Line. Working Woman, (Dec.), 36-38. Desouza, E. & Fansler, A.G. 2003. Contra-power Sexual Harassment: A Survey of Students and Faculty Members, Sex Roles 48, 519-542. Djurkovic, N., McCormack, D. & Casimir, G. 2004. The Physical and Psychological Effects of Workplace Bullying and their Relationship to Intention to Leave: A Test of the Psychosomatic// and Disability. Organisational Theory and Behaviour 7(4), 469-497. Einarsen, S.E., H. Hoel, D. Zapf & C.L. Cooper 2003. Bullying and Emotional Abuse in the Workplace. In (S. Einarsen, H. Hoel, D. Zapf & C.L. Cooper eds.) International Perspective in Research and Practice, Taylor & Francis, London, pp. 127-144. Dey, E. L., J. S. Korn, & L.J. Sax 1996. Betrayed by the Academy: The Sexual Harassment of Women College Faculty. Higher Education 67, 149-150. Fayankinnu, E.A. 2010. Nigerian Women Prison Workers’ Experiences of Workplace Violence, African Study Monograph 31(1), 1-15. Fayankinnu, E.A. 2007. Gender Based Violence in Akungba-Akoko of South western Nigeria: Are Men Victimized? Paper presented at the 5th Union African Population Conference, December 10-14, 2007. Arusha, Tanzania. Fayankinnu, E. A. 2004. Ethics and Sexual Harassment in Staff/Students Relations: Who Harasses Who? The Nigerian Social Scientist 7(2), 13-18. Galen, M.J., J. Weber and A. Cuneo 1991. Out of the Shadows, the Thomas Hearings Force Business to Confront an Ugly Reality. Business Week (October 28), 30-31. Grauerholz, E. 1989. Sexual Harassment of Women Professors by Students: Exploring the Dynamics of Power, Authority, and Gender in a University Setting. Sex Roles 21: 789-801. Hardy, C. 2002. An Act of Force: Male Rape Victims. Toture 12(1): 19-23. Matchen, J. & DeSouza, E. 2000. The Sexual Harassment of Faculty Members by Students. Sex Roles 42, 295-306. McKinney, K. 1992. Contra-Power Sexual Harassment: The Effects of Students Sex and Types of Behaviour on Faculty Perceptions. Sex Roles 27, 1-17. McKinney, K. 1990. Sexual Harassment of University Faculty by Colleagues and Students. Sex Roles 23, 421-438.


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Newel, E. C., P. Rosenfeld & A. L. Culbertson 1995. Sexual Harassment Experiences and Equal Opportunity Perceptions of Navy Women. Sex Roles 32, 159-161. Nnorom C. P. 2004. Sexual Harassment in the University of Lagos: A Fact or Farce? The Nigerian Social Scientist 7(2), 27-30. Sandroff, R. 1992. Sexual Harassment: The Inside Story (Working Women Survey), Working Women (June), 47-48. Shaffer, M.A., J.R.W. Joplin, M.P. Bell, T. Lau, & C. Oguz 2000. Gender Discrimination and Job-Related Outcomes: A Cross-cultural Comparison of Working Women in the United States and China. Vocational Behaviour 57(4), 395-427. Smith, S.M. 2000 Women at Work: Leadership for the next Century, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Van, T.H. 1993. Sexual Torture of Male Victims. Torture 3(4), 133-135. Wayne, J.H. 2000. Disentangling the Power Bases of Sexual Harassment: Comparing Gender, Age, and Position Power. Vocational Behaviour 57, 301-325. Wilson, F. and Thompson, P. 2001. Sexual Harassment as an Exercise of Power. Gender Work and Organisation 8(1), 61-83. Yamada, D.C. 2000. The Phenomenon of Workplace Bullying and the Need for Status-Blind Hostile Environment Protection. Geo. L.J. 88, 475- 481.


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Health Care Seeking Behavior for Safe Motherhood: Findings from Rural Bangladesh

Shirina Aktar *

Abstract: This study aims to explore women’s health care seeking behavior for safe motherhood in rural Bangladesh. Using random sampling method, the study collects data from 118 married women aged between 15 and 45 years in three villages namely Attanda, Srifala, and Lokkhinathkathi in Keshabpur Upazila in the District of Jessore. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to collect data. As a significant finding, the study reports that 69.39 percent women receive healthcare services from village doctors (polli chikitshok), followed by 21.43 percent from drugstore salespersons, and 5.10 percent from kobiraj. Another key finding of the study is that financial insolvency is the main reason for not receiving healthcare services from qualified providers during pregnancy. Based on the findings, the study recommends that the government take an integrated approach to increasing women’s educational level, creating more income-generating opportunities for them, and providing basic healthcare facilities in rural areas of Bangladesh.

Glossary: Kobiraj: A practitioner of traditional medicine.

Polli Chikitshok: Medical practitioners who provide services to people in rural areas. They do not have higher education in medical science, and often lack government-issued licensure for providing medical services.

Introduction

In rural areas of Bangladesh, people are in a vulnerable situation in terms of health care facilities. The

situation is worse for women when it comes to their health care seeking behaviors and the services

they receive during pregnancy and after childbirth. Health care seeking behavior is not an isolated

event; rather, it is an integral part of a woman’s status in her family and community. It is a result of an

evolving mix of her personal, familial, social, religious, and economic factors. The process of seeking

health care can be too complicated to be described in a straightforward term. A woman’s decision to

seek a particular health care service is the composite result of her personal needs, social forces, the

availability and qualifications of the care providers, and the location of the services.

Some factors that might affect women’s health care seeking behaviors for safe motherhood in rural

areas of Bangladesh are age at marriage, age at childbirth, education level, work status, economic

status, location of the residence, and husband’s awareness and so on. Another serious problem in

this regard is that there are many non-qualified health care providers in Bangladesh. A lack of

government monitoring system makes this situation even more dangerous. In most cases, the people

who provide services in rural areas do not have formal medical education and a government-issued

license for providing medical services. Another serious problem in this regard is that many

salespersons at drugstores provide services. It has been noticed that people go to drugstores, explain

their illness to a salespersons, and seeks health care services from them. It is a common practice for * Intern Researcher, Ontario Early Years Center, Toronto, ON, Canada. Email: [email protected]


58

the salespersons to sell medicine without a prescription from a doctor. Salespersons at drugstores

and non-qualified providers make the health care sector very dangerous for the general people.

Rahman (2000) found that in rural areas of Bangladesh 86 percent of women received health care

services from non-qualified health-care providers.

The importance of safe motherhood to the overall development of a country has already been

acknowledged at the highest levels. Without improving women’s health care seeking behavior

regarding safe motherhood, the overall development of the country will be hindered. This study,

therefore, aims to explore health care seeking behavior of women regarding safe motherhood in rural

areas of Bangladesh. Based on the findings of the study, the report also provides some

recommendations which can be crucial to policy formulation and implementation to ensure safe

motherhood in rural areas of Bangladesh.

Maternal Health Care in Bangladesh: An Overview

Although significant development has been achieved in the area of maternal care over the past

several years, the situation deserves further attention and action for improvement. Women are

increasingly using antenatal care, and maternal mortality has evidently decreased. However, many

women still face one or more life-threatening complications during pregnancy. Unfortunately,

according to Koenig et al. (2007), only one in three women seeks treatment from a qualified provider.

Poor nutrition, inadequate health care and large number of closely spaced pregnancies give the

women high maternal mortality. Malnutrition is another common feature among the women in rural

Bangladesh. Dietary practices are important indicators of pregnant women’s care seeking behaviors

for safe motherhood. After surveying pregnant mothers in a rural area of Bangladesh, Shannon et al.

(2008) report that although most of the women have awareness of dietary requirements, half of the

women in the survey report unchanged or reduced food intake during pregnancy. Many women

practice various dietary taboos and food aversions. A large number of women receive last and

significantly small shares of foods during mealtimes.

Many women in Bangladesh experience life-threatening complications during pregnancy and

childbirth. In most cases, they are not aware of the health-care services available for them. A very low

rate of utilization of health-care services results in maternal morbidity, mortality, and other

complications. Based on Andersen's health seeking behavior model, Haque (2009) investigates

maternal health services utilization by married women in Bangladesh. The study reveals that

education level is the most important determinant for utilization of antenatal care, choice of place of

delivery, and types of assistance at delivery. Two other important factors are household wealth index

and place of residence. In addition to utilization of health care services, the place of child delivery is

an important factor in pregnant women’s care seeking behavior. Studies show that a very small

proportion of deliveries take place in hospitals where better services are available. Islam et al. (2006)

find various complications such as maternal morbidity caused by the place of delivery. Most of the


59

deliveries take place at either woman’s husband’s house or at the parents’ house. These deliveries

are often assisted by untrained birth attendants or by elderly relatives.

Delay in seeking care is another crucial factor in women’s maternal health. Killewo et al. (2006) show

that delay in accessing obstetric care facilities is highly related to maternal mortality in rural areas of

Bangladesh. Three main reasons for delay, identified in the study, are wait-time for results of informal

treatment, inability to understand the seriousness of diseases, and a lack of monetary support. In

addition to delay in care seeking, socio-culturally constructed gender roles place various expectations

and constraints on women. Gender refers to socio-culturally constructed roles for men and women. It

is different from sex, which denotes biological differences between men and women. Ahmed et al.

(2000) argue that gender imposes certain reproductive roles on women, and thus results in early and

excessive childbearing. Gender roles are also responsible for women’s lack of power to make

decisions about their reproductive behavior and to generate income to become self-dependent and

independent decision maker. Thus, gender and socioeconomic inequalities in health-care facilities

and services also affect women’s care seeking behavior for safe motherhood. Therefore, it is essential

to know about the actual health care seeking behavior of women for safe motherhood in rural

Bangladesh.

Additionally, formulation of policies and their successful implementation have always been a

challenge for both government and non-government organizations. One of the problems in this regard

is a lack of correspondence between people’s notions of care seeking behavior and the definitions

used in maternal health programs. Moran et al. (2007) examined definitions of care seeking for

maternal health complications used by families in rural Bangladesh, and concluded that families

generally seek care for complications, but the ways they seek care do not correspond to the

definitions used by various health programs. Therefore, it is recommended that local definitions be

considered in designing interventions and providing services to people in need.

Methodology

In this study, I used a mixed methods approach in which I combined qualitative and quantitative

methods of data collection and analysis. I conducted two parts of the research sequentially, that is,

qualitative part was followed by the quantitative. First, my interest in the studying phenomenon, i.e.,

rural women’s health care seeking behavior, encouraged me to employ an exploratory inquiry. I

started to make observations of the phenomenon. During my observations, I searched for patterns of

women’s care seeking behaviors. After gathering some preliminary ideas about the phenomenon, I

conducted qualitative interviews with the participants. The main aim of these unstructured interviews

was to hear from the participants about their care seeking behaviors. On the basis of the qualitative

data gathered from my naturalistic observations and unstructured interviews, I developed a

questionnaire that contained both closed and open-ended items. Thus, I started the second phase of

my research, that is, the quantitative part of the study. The data gathered in the qualitative phase

helped me explore ideas, words, categories, and concepts about the studying phenomenon through


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the structured questionnaire. Together, the qualitative and quantitative approaches informed the

comprehensive questionnaire that I administered to collect data from the participants.

I conducted the study in three villages namely Attanda, Srifala, and Lokkhinathkathi of Keshabpur

Upazila in the District of Jessore in Bangladesh. The estimated population of the study was 1180

married women aged between 15 and 45 years who had at least one child at the study time. The

population was selected according to the information obtained from the Upazila Family Planning

Office of Kesahbpur. Respondents were selected by using random sampling method. The total

sample size was 118, which was determined as 10 percent of the estimated population.

In the beginning of my study, I used naturalistic observation to collect preliminary data. Observation

as a method provided me with an opportunity to watch the behavioral patterns and beliefs of the

participants. The observations were naturalistic because I carried them out in a setting where the

observable behaviors naturally occurred. I took an unstructured approach to observation because I

wanted to gather data in a natural and open-ended way. I did not pre-determine and specify the types

of data to be gathered. I observed the participant behaviors “as the stream of actions and events as

they naturally unfold” (Punch, 1998, p. 185).

After gaining understanding of the behaviors and actions of the rural women, I used qualitative

interviewing to obtain information about their thoughts and beliefs about various care-seeking

behaviors and actions. It allowed me “to enter into the inner world of another person and to gain an

understanding of that person’s perspective” (Johnson & Christensen, 2008, p. 207). Interviewing as a

research method is very important when a researcher is interested in the lived experience of other

individuals and how they make meaning of their experience. Through understanding this experience,

the researcher gains insights into crucial issues as reflected in the lives of those individuals. When the

interviewees tell their stories, they provide the interviewer with access to their inner world, and thus a

way of understanding their action. Therefore, interviewing can be a powerful method of inquiry when

the researcher is concerned with making meaning through language (Seidman, 2006). In this study, I

followed an informal conversational style for interview. Without any protocol, this unstructured

interview helped me understand the participant’s behaviors and perceptions because the interview did

not impose “any a priori categorization which might limit the field of inquiry” (Punch, 1998, p. 178). I

took field-notes during and immediately after the interviews and used these notes as an important

source of data.

In addition to observations and interviews, I used a questionnaire as a data-collection technique. My

main aim was to understand the participants’ feelings, attitudes, and perceptions about the study

topic, i.e., rural women’s care seeking behaviors for safe motherhood. I developed an interview

schedule prior to the study and finalized it through pre-test. It contained both closed- and open-ended

questions. The questions were written in English and translated into Bengali to the respondents for

their better understanding. The interviews were completed orally in face-to-face interactions with the


61

participants. The field work involved going to the houses of the respondents and asking questions and

opinions about their health care seeking behavior for safe motherhood. During the meetings with the

participants, their responses were written on the printed copies of the interview schedule and

questionnaire. Later, the data were processed and coded by using computer applications such as

Excel and Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). After being processed, the data were

analyzed by using both qualitative and quantitative methods.

I collected the data by using three different techniques—observation, interview, and questionnaire—

so that I could triangulate them. Triangulation “is a process in which the data are looked at from a

range of perspectives – usually at least three, if not more” (McNiff & Whitehead, 2010, p. 179).

Researchers have different ideas about triangulation. Some believe that data should be gathered from

three different sets of people. Others believe that data should be collected using at least three

different techniques. Agreeing with the latter group, I utilized the triangulation process in my study as

a means of achieving greater validity of the research data. The naturalistic observations helped me

see the participants’ behaviors in a natural setting. The unstructured interviews were helpful for me to

enter into the inner world of the participants. Finally, the questionnaires provided me with information

about the participants’ experience of and beliefs about care seeking behaviors for safe motherhood.

I used the Miles and Huberman framework to analyze the data I gathered using three different

methods. Miles and Huberman (1994) propose this framework which comprises of three main

components: (1) data reduction, (2) data display, and (3) drawing and verifying conclusions. Data

reduction happens in several stages. First, the researcher edits, segments, and summarizes the data.

Then, the researcher uses coding and memoing to find out themes and patterns in ideas. In the final

stages of data reduction, the researcher tries to develop understandings through conceptualizing and

explaining. Data display, the second component of the Miles and Huberman framework, is very

important because the collected data are usually voluminous and bulky and various display

techniques such as charts, diagrams, concept-maps etc. can be very helpful in organizing,

compressing, and assembling the gathered information. These two components of the framework

happen concurrently and assist the researcher in drawing conclusions, that is, the third and final

component of the framework. I found the Miles and Huberman framework very helpful in analyzing the

qualitative and quantitative data in my research.

Results

Age of the Respondents: Age is an important factor for safe motherhood because it is related to

sexual desires and fertility. It is also related to various risk factors of pregnancy, which affect health

care seeking behavior of women. Majority of the respondents in the sample belonged to the age

group between 25 and 29 years which constituted 34.7 percent of the total. Among the participants,

1.7 percent women were found between the age 45 and 49 years, followed by 11.9 percent between


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20 and 24 years, 16.9 percent between 30 and 34 years. Women aged between 35-39 years

constituted 14.4 percent of the respondents.

Education of the Respondents: Education is an important issue in a woman’s life because it helps

her lead a better life. Through education, she can also acquire knowledge regarding health care

seeking behavior for safe motherhood. The sample was not homogenous with respect to educational

attainment. The literacy rate was good which marked about 12 percent as illiterate and 88 percent as

literate. Findings show that 34.7 percent of the respondents were educated between grades I to V,

33.9 percent of the respondents were in grades VI to X, 11.9 percent women passed SSC

examination, and only 2.5 percent women were college graduates.

Age at Marriage: Age at marriage is a key factor in women’s health and safe motherhood. Although

the government prohibits marriage of girls who are below the age of 18, it is reported that many girls

in rural areas are married off before the age of 18. In the study population, 55.1 percent of the

respondents were married between the age of 10 and 14. Among the participants, 30.5 percent of the

women were married between the age of 15 and 19. A total of 8.5 percent of the respondents married

when their age was between 20 and 24, and 3.4 percent of the women married when they were

between 25 - 29 years of age. Only 2.5 percent of the women got married when they were between

30 - 34 years old.

Time between Marriage and Conception of First Child : A long interval between marriage and

conception of first child can be helpful for those girls who get married at an early age. Among the

respondents, 15.3 percent of the respondents conceived their first child 1 month after their marriage,

12.7 percent of the women after 2 months of marriage, 11 percent after 3 months of marriage, 1.7

percent after 11 months of marriage, 43.2 percent after 1 year of marriage, 9.3 percent after 2 years

of marriage, and 4.2 percent after 3 years of their marriage. Only 2.5 percent of the women conceived

their first child 4 years after their marriage.

Consent for Childbearing: Women’s consent for childbearing is an important factor in the

physiological and emotional wellbeing of both mother and child. According the study, not all women

gave consent for childbearing. It was found that 36.4 percent of the women gave consent for

childbearing. However, 63.6 percent of the respondents did not give consent to conceive a child at

that time. Among the respondents who did not consent for childbearing, 86.67 percent mentioned that

their husbands decided for their childbearing, followed by 5.33 percent where decision was made by

parents, and 8 percent by their in-laws.

Medical Check-up During Pregnancy: Medical check-up during pregnancy is one of the most

important needs of expecting mothers. This can detect any threats to mother and the unborn baby.

While medical check-up during pregnancy is commonly observed among the middle and upper class

women in urban settings, the situation can be different in rural areas. The study finds that most of the

rural women did not have regular medical check-up during their pregnancy, which constituted 88.1


63

percent of the total. Only 11.9 percent women did have medical check-up during pregnancy. So, it

may be said that regular medical check-up during pregnancy is not a common phenomenon for

women in rural areas.

Sexual Intercourse during Pregnancy: Sexual intercourse during pregnancy can be an important

factor for the health of mothers and their unborn babies. Sometimes, women may be forced to sexual

intercourse which can hurt their physical and mental health. Almost all the respondents had sexual

intercourse during their pregnancy. The data indicate that 6.8 percent of the respondents continued

having sexual intercourse up to the 5th month of pregnancy followed by 8.5 percent until the 6th month

of pregnancy, 16.1 percent until the 7th month of pregnancy, and 68.6 percent of women until the 8th

month of pregnancy.

Physical Work during Pregnancy: Due to poverty and agro-based economy, many women in rural

areas are engaged in manual work. In addition, most of the women live in extended families and they

have to prepare meals for other family members. Traditionally, it is a housewife’s job to cook for all

other members of the family. All the respondents were engaged in physical work during their

pregnancy. This can be detrimental to their health and damaging for the unborn babies. The data

show that most of the women were engaged in household chores which constituted 91.5 percent of

the total respondents. In addition, 5.1 percent respondents were involved in agricultural work in farms,

in addition to household chores. The data also show that 3.4 percent women had outside job, in

addition to household chores.

Being Extra Careful during Solar or Lunar Eclipse: Many people believe that solar and lunar

eclipses result in bad effects on their lives. It may have effects on their health, financial status,

education etc. Many people believe that pregnant women should stay indoors during solar eclipse to

prevent the baby from developing birth defects. From the study, it was known that all respondents

took special measures during the solar and lunar eclipse. The data show that 16.9 percent of the

respondents did not take meal during the eclipse, followed by almost 12 percent who did not sleep

during the eclipse, 65.3 percent who did not cut anything, and almost 6 percent who did very limited

physical movement.

Place of First Childbirth: Place of childbirth is another important indicator of women’s care-seeking

behavior. It was found that 74.6 percent of the respondents gave birth to their first child at their

parents’ house, followed by 18.6 percent at their in-law’s house, only 0.8 percent at government

hospital, and almost 6 percent at private clinics.

Birth Attendant in First Child Delivery: Birth attendants play very crucial roles in child delivery. In

general, there is a lack of trained birth attendants in rural Bangladesh. The data show that 5.1 percent

of the respondents were assisted by trained birth attendants, followed by 88.1 percent by untrained


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birth attendant, 0.8 percent by either a doctor or a nurse at a government hospital, and almost 6

percent by doctors and nurse at private clinics.

Physical Problems after First Childbirth: Many women experience health problems during the first

year after childbirth. Common postpartum problems are fatigue, bowel problems, lack of sleep,

postpartum depression, urinary incontinence, back pain, and pelvic pain. These common physical and

mental health problems can lead to both short- and long-term sickness. According to the study, 100

percent respondents experienced physical problems after their first childbirth. The data show that 35.6

percent respondents suffered from physical weakness after their first child’s birth, 26.3 percent

women had vaginal infection, and 21.2 percent suffered from excessive bleeding. The women who felt

pain in their belly made up 6.8 percent of the total population, and 10.2 percent of the respondents

reported to have uterus infection after their first childbirth.

Consulting Providers for Physical Problems: It is important for mothers to receive healthcare

services from qualified providers for the illness they suffer from after their childbirth. As the data show,

74.6 percent of the respondents consulted providers for the health problems they experienced after

their first childbirth. However, 25.4 percent of the respondents did not see a provider. Choosing an

appropriate service provider is a crucial decision for mothers because a wrong choice may result in

detrimental effect on the health of both mother and child. Among the mothers who consulted

providers, 55.68 percent visited village doctors for their illness. Only 4.55 percent of the women

sought health care services from qualified doctors with MBBS degrees, 6.82 percent consulted

homeopathic doctors, and 32.95 percent of them consulted kobiraj for their illness after first childbirth.

Breastfeeding after First Childbirth: Breastfeeding not only provides maximum emotional

satisfaction to both the mother and the child creating a bond between the two, it is also a wholesome

food with protein, sugar, fat and vitamins that the baby needs. The study shows that 96.6 percent of

the respondents breastfed their child immediately after the child was born, while 3.4 percent shows

the reverse result. Many women believe that breastfeeding has negative impact on mother’s health.

As the data show, 94.1 percent respondents said that breastfeeding had negative impact on their

health, and only about 6 percent reported no impact of breastfeeding on their health. Respondents

specify two main impacts of breastfeeding on their health. A total of 82.88 percent reported that the

main impact of breastfeeding was physical weakness of a mother, and 17.12 percent mentioned

mother’s weight loss as an effect of breastfeeding. Another significant finding was that almost 80

percent women believed that breastfeeding might decrease the beauty of women’s breasts.

Opinion about Supplemental Food for Mothers: Pregnancy and childbearing pose a number of

physiological and emotional challenges to mothers. During this period, women need additional food to

cope with the changes their body and mind go through. According to the study, all respondents said

that a new mother should take supplemental food. They mentioned two main reasons for this opinion.


65

A total of 86.4 percent mothers believed that mothers should take supplemental food because it is

good for their child’s health, while 13.6 percent believed that it is good for the mother’s health.

Total Number of Childbirths: The total number of children a woman gives birth to is a key factor in

her physical and emotional health. A woman’s care-seeking behavior may also be affected by the

number of childbirths that she goes through. According to the findings of this study, 9.3 percent of the

respondents had only 1 child at the time of the field survey, 34.7 percent had 2 children, and 29.7

percent had 3 children. Another group of women who constituted 6.8 percent of the sample had 4

children, 16.1 percent had 5 children, and 3.4 percent had 6 children. With regard to the number of

dead children, the study showed that 58.5 percent of the respondents had no dead children at the

time of interview while 23.7 percent of the women had 1 dead child, 7.6 percent had 2 dead children,

7.6 percent had 3 dead children, and 2.5 percent of the women had 4 dead children.

Mothers’ Experience of Stillbirths: A stillbirth is defined as the death of a fetus after the 20th week

of pregnancy up to birth. Stillbirths may occur during pregnancy and at the time of delivery. The data

show that 51.7 percent of the participants gave birth to stillborn baby. However, 48.3 percent

respondents never experienced stillbirths. Among 61 respondents who experienced stillbirths, 81.97

percent of mothers gave birth to 1 stillborn child, and 18.03 percent mothers gave birth to 2 stillborn

babies. Among the women who experienced stillbirths, 45.90 percent respondents believed that the

reason for their stillbirths was fear while 34.43 percent women reported hard physical work as the

main cause of stillbirth. Additionally, 19.67 percent women believed that excessive sexual intercourse

during pregnancy was the main cause of their stillbirths.

Mothers’ Experience of Abortion: Abortion means the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or

expulsion of a fetus or embryo from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death. An abortion can

occur spontaneously due to complications during pregnancy or can be induced. The study shows that

73.7 percent of the respondents went through abortion. Among the respondents who experienced

abortion, 54.03 percent of mothers underwent abortion once until the time of data collection, 31.03

percent of the respondents had two abortions, and 12.64 percent of the women underwent three

abortions. Among the women who experienced abortions, 88.50 percent of them said that their

husbands played the main role in their abortion while 4.60 percent women said that their parents

played the main role in their abortion. For 6.90 percent of the respondents, it was their in-laws who

made decisions regarding abortion.

Physical Illness after Abortion: Women often suffer from physical illness after abortion. This illness

can lead to a state of maternal morbidity and even maternal mortality. The study shows that 100%

women who went through abortions suffered from illness and complications. Among them, 80.46

percent suffered from weakness, 14.94 percent had excessive bleeding, and 4.60 percent suffered

from uterus infection after their abortion. The study also shows that 48.28 percent of the women

consulted providers for their illness after the abortion. Among the women who sought health care


66

services after their abortion, none of them consulted a qualified doctor who had an MBBS degree,

30.95 percent women consulted village doctors, 21.43 percent of them consulted homeopathic

doctors, and 47.62 percent of them consulted kobiraj for their illness and other complications.

Mothers’ Knowledge about Maternal Morbidity: Knowledge about maternal morbidity is very

important for women’s physical and mental health. As the study shows, 83.1 percent of the

respondents said that they had knowledge about maternal morbidity. However, 16.9 percent women

did not have any knowledge about maternal morbidity. Among the respondents who claimed to have

knowledge about maternal morbidity, 56.12 percent of them believed that it meant physical weakness,

11.23 percent thought it was related to low blood pressure, 7.15 percent thought it was asthma, 9.18

percent thought it meant heart diseases, and 16.32 percent thought it was gastric.

Mothers’ Knowledge about Maternal Mortality: Knowledge about maternal mortality plays

important roles in women’s care-seeking behavior. A total of 90.7 percent of the respondents said that

they had knowledge about maternal mortality. Among these respondents, 64.49 percent believed that

a lack of medical treatment was the main reason for maternal mortality. For 9.65 percent of the

women, the main reason was excessive sexual intercourse, for 12.15 percent of the women it was

hard work during pregnancy, and for 14.01 percent of the respondents it was excessive frequency of

pregnancy.

Mothers’ Knowledge about Safe Motherhood: Safe motherhood means that no woman should die

or be harmed by pregnancy or childbirth. It is a state of well-being in which a woman approaches

childbirth with confidence in her abilities to give birth to and nurture her newborn. Knowledge about

safe motherhood is important for an expecting mother’s physical and emotional health. According to

the study, 8.5 percent of the respondents said that they had knowledge about safe motherhood.

Among these women, 30 percent of them thought that safe motherhood meant good health of mother,

20 percent women thought it meant giving birth to healthy babies, and 50 percent of mothers believed

that it meant safe mother and safe child. The study further shows that among the respondents who

did not know about safe motherhood, 14.82 percent of them believed that the main reason for not

knowing about it was illiteracy, and for 85.18 percent of the women the main reason for not knowing

about safe motherhood was a lack of facilities.

Safe Motherhood: Many respondents in this study did not have knowledge about safe motherhood.

However, all of them thought that it was an important factor in maternal health. The study shows that

100 percent of the respondents believed that safe motherhood should be ensured for all mothers.

With this regard, 79.7 percent of the respondents believed that government should take effective

initiatives, and 20.3 percent of the women believed that both government and non-government

organizations should take initiatives to ensure safe motherhood. The data further show that 21.2

percent of the respondents believed that creating awareness should be prioritized for ensuring safe

motherhood, 50.8 percent of the respondents suggested that more hospitals be established in rural


67

areas, and 28.0 percent of the respondents believed that free treatment should be provided to every

pregnant woman.

Discussion

The most important key finding of this study is that the socio-economic status of women in rural

Bangladesh is a major factor in their health care seeking behavior for safe motherhood. In families

with low income level, pregnant women cannot afford to consult qualified doctors for their physical

problems and illness. Often they end up visiting village doctors or kobiraj who can jeopardize their

maternal health. Visiting village doctors and kobiraj also pose a threat to the health and well-being of

the unborn child. Most of the women in the study sample seek health care services from unqualified

providers such as village doctors (polli chikitshok) and drugstore salespersons. About 69 percent

women receive healthcare services from village doctors, 21.43 percent women from drugstore

salespersons, and 5.10 percent women from kobiraj.

Age of childbearing is another crucial factor because childbearing at an early age can pose serious

health and psychological risks to young girls. A significant finding of the study is that majority of the

women gave birth to their first child before the age of 17. It is alarming that 11 percent respondents

bore their first child by the age of 14. In addition to age, the place of childbirth is an indicator of

mothers’ care seeking behavior for safe motherhood. Almost 75 percent respondents were at their

parents’ house for their first childbirth. Another indicator of their care seeking behavior is the person

who assisted them in their child delivery. Almost 88 percent of the participants had untrained birth

attendants to assist in the child delivery process.

Doing physical work during pregnancy is another important indicator of women’s health and wellbeing.

The study finds that 100 percent of the respondents were engaged in physical work during their

pregnancy. All the respondents were extra careful at the time of solar or lunar eclipse. Almost 17

percent women did not take meal at the time of eclipse. Almost 12 percent women did not sleep, and

65 percent women did not cut anything at the time of eclipse.

Eating appropriate type and amount of food during pregnancy is an indicator of women’s awareness

of health and wellbeing. It is a key finding of the study that 100 percent of the respondents said that a

new mother should take supplemental food. However, due to poverty, many women could not

increase their food intake during pregnancy. In addition, women’s consent for childbearing is an

important factor in the physiological and emotional wellbeing of both mother and child. The study finds

that not all women gave consent for childbearing. Only 36 percent women had consent for their first

childbearing. Women who did not give consent for childbearing were imposed the decision by their

husbands, parents, or in-laws.

Almost 74 percent women had experience of abortion. The total number of abortion mothers

underwent varies from 1 to 4. All of these mothers suffered from illness and physical problems after


68

they had gone through the abortion. The illnesses included weakness, bleeding, and uterus infection.

Not all of them, however, sought services from qualified providers. Most of them received services

from unqualified providers such as village doctors and kobiraj.

Another significant finding is that almost 83 percent respondents claimed to have knowledge about

maternal morbidity. They thought maternal morbidity means weakness, low pressure, asthma, heart

disease, and gastric. The reasons for these problems, according to them, are a lack of medical

treatment, a lack of consciousness, excessive sexual intercourse during pregnancy, and malnutrition.

They also have similar beliefs about maternal mortality. However, almost 92 percent respondents did

not have knowledge about safe motherhood. Respondents who claimed to know about safe

motherhood thought that it was related to the good health of mothers and children. They mentioned

two main reasons for not knowing about safe motherhood: illiteracy and a lack of facilities. However,

all the respondents believed that safe motherhood should be ensured through government and non-

government initiatives. The suggestions they provided were creating awareness, establishing

hospitals in rural areas, and providing free treatment to all pregnant women.

Recommendations

The present study finds that women’s socio-economic status heavily affects their healthcare seeking

behavior for safe motherhood. It is often a lack of financial solvency which prevents them from

receiving healthcare services from qualified providers. If women are financially solvent, it is expected

that they will be able to make decisions regarding their healthcare services. The number of total

pregnancies is also an important factor in women’s reproductive wellbeing. In this regard, education

and awareness were found to have positive impacts on the motivation for fertility control and

healthcare seeking behavior. Therefore, an increased awareness of physical and emotional health

during pregnancy and after childbirth is required for safe motherhood.

It is imperative to note that many women conceive and give birth to children without their consent.

While becoming mother is a pleasant experience for most women, a forced conception without their

consent can have a negative effect on their physical and emotional health. According to the findings

of this study, 81 percent respondents conceived a child without their consent at some point in their

reproductive life. This can have a long-term effect on mothers. For safe motherhood, it has to be

ensured that every woman is ready for childbearing and enjoys the freedom to decide when she will

bear a child. Additionally, early marriage has been identified as another major threat to women’s

reproductive wellbeing. It has been found that a large number of girls in rural areas of Bangladesh are

married before the age of eighteen.

Another important factor in women’s care seeking behavior is abortion. A large number of women in

the study went through abortion. Sometimes they wished to have an abortion, but at other times they

were forced to abort their babies. A forced abortion can have a very detrimental effect on their

physical and emotional health. Therefore, creating awareness about abortion and ensuring post-


69

abortions health care facilities is an important measure for improving care seeking behavior of women

in rural Bangladesh.

When it comes to providing the expecting mothers with nutritious supplemental food, family members

need to have more awareness. Many respondents believe that taking supplemental food is beneficial

for their health. However, no significant increase of nutritious food intake during pregnancy was

observed in the study. Therefore, greater awareness about the importance of supplemental food

during pregnancy needs to be created among the rural men and women.

Based on the findings of the study, three key recommendations for enhancing women’s health care

seeking behavior are women’s education, employment opportunities, and basic healthcare services. It

is also important to know what kind of education, employment, and health care facilities can have the

greatest impact on the status of women and their perception of health care seeking behaviors.

Because of the interrelatedness of these components, an integrated approach to solving the problem

will have a greater impact on care seeking behaviors.

A rigorous effort to improve women’s health care seeking behavior through education, work

opportunities, and health care within an integrated framework can have positive impacts on the

improvement of rural women’s health care seeking behavior for safe motherhood. Therefore, this

study recommends the following three important measures:

• Education: education for all rural women needs to be ensured for increased knowledge and

awareness of pregnancy and childbirth;

• Income-Generating Opportunity: income-generating work opportunities need to be created for

women so that they can be financially independent to make decisions and to seek better

health care services; and

• Health-Care Facility: basic healthcare facilities need to be available in rural areas of

Bangladesh so that women do not have to depend on non-qualified providers such as kobiraj

and drugstore salespersons.

Finally, women’s care seeking behavior is such a complex issue that it cannot be improved overnight.

In this regard, an increase of people’s awareness is a must. Moreover, an integrated approach to

improving women’s education, creating income-generating opportunities, and providing healthcare

facilities in rural areas should be taken by the government and non-government organizations in order

to avoid what Moran et al. (2007) call a narrow approach to care seeking for safe motherhood.

Limitation of the Study

A limitation of this study is that it collected data from 118 women of three villages in Keshabpur

Upazila of the District of Jessore in Bangladesh. Therefore, it is difficult to generalize the findings to all

women in all rural areas of Bangladesh. Women’s care seeking behavior may be different in another

rural region of Bangladesh. Moreover, the socio-economic condition and availability of health care

facilities are not similar across all rural areas in the country. Hence, the generalization of the findings


70

is a potential limitation of this study. Nevertheless, naturalistic generalization might be used to ensure

the validity of the findings. Naturalistic generalization refers to the notion that “the more similar the

people and circumstances in a particular research study are to the ones that you want to generalize

to, the more defensible your generalization will be and the more readily you should make such a

generalization” (Johnson & Christensen, 2008, p. 281). Therefore, I hope that the findings can be

generalized to other sets of people in similar socio-economic contexts. Additionally, the study provides

important insights into our understanding of health care seeking behavior of women in rural areas.

Since there are many similarities of socio-cultural and economic conditions among various regions of

Bangladesh, the findings of this study can provide us with valuable information regarding women’s

health care seeking behaviors for safe motherhood. Moreover, this study can be replicated in other

rural regions of Bangladesh to achieve greater generalization of the findings.

References

Ahmed, S. M., A.M. Adams, M.Chowdhury, and A. Bhuiya. (2000). Gender, socioeconomic development and health-seeking behaviour in Bangladesh. Social Science and Medicine, 51(3), pp. 361-371.

Haque, M. (2009). Individual's characteristics affecting maternal health services utilization:

Married adolescents and their use of maternal health services in Bangladesh. Internet Journal of Health, 8(2), p. 16. Islam, M., R. Chowdhury, and H. Akhter. (2006). Complications during pregnancy, delivery,

and postnatal stages and place of delivery in rural Bangladesh. Health Care for Women International, 27(9), pp. 807-821.

Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2008). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and

mixed approaches. Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Killewo, J., I. Anwar, I. Bashir, M. Yunus, and J. Chakraborty. (2006). Perceived delay in

healthcare-seeking for episodes of serious illness and its implications for safe motherhood interventions in rural Bangladesh. Journal of Health, Population, and Nutrition, 24(4), pp. 403-12.

Koenig, M. A., K. Jamil, P.K. Streatfield, T. Saha, A. Al-Sabir, S. El Arifeen, et al.

(2007). Maternal health and care-seeking behavior in Bangladesh: Findings from a national survey. International Family Planning Perspectives, 33(2), pp. 75-82.

McNiff, J., & J. Whitehead. (2010). You and your action research project. New York:

Routledge. Miles, M. B., & A.M. Huberman. (1994). Qualitative data analysis. New York: Sage. Moran, A. C., P.J. Winch, N. Sultana, N. Kalim, K.M. Afzal, M. Koblinsky, et al. (2007).

Patterns of maternal care seeking behaviours in rural Bangladesh. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 12(7), pp. 823-832.

Punch, K. F. (1998). Introduction to social research: Quantitative and qualitative

approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Rahman, S. A. (2000). Utilization of primary health care services in rural Bangladesh: The

population and provider perspectives. PhD Thesis, University of London, UK. Seidman, I. (2006). Interviewing as qualitative research. New York: Teachers College Press. Shannon, K., Z. Mahmud, A. Asfia, and M. Ali. (2008). The social and environmental factors

underlying maternal malnutrition in rural Bangladesh: Implications for reproductive health and nutrition programs. Health Care for Women International, 29(8/9), pp. 826-840.


71

The Need to Incorporate Senior Caregivers in Health Education Relating to Malaria in Rural Areas

Ali Arazeem Abdullahi *, Anton Senekal ** and Cecilia Van Zyl-Schalekamp ***

Abstract: Using a combination of qualitative research techniques this study has investigated the place and the roles of senior caregivers in the management of malaria in children in rural communities of Nigeria. The study was conducted in Okanle and Fajeromi in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State. The study shows that a variation may exist between young and older caregivers with respect to desire for modern or traditional medicines in the treatment of malaria. While most senior caregivers continued to rely on herbal treatment regimens, younger parents seemed to have preference for modern treatment but not without difficulties. Given their important position within the extended family structure, senior caregivers seemed to also possess tremendous influence on health care decision making process. The study suggests the need to incorporate senior caregivers in health promotion strategy related to malaria control in rural communities.

Introduction

There are strong indications that the majority of the people who suffer from malaria worldwide live in

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where plasmodium falciparum is responsible for the highest number of

malaria cases and deaths. Like other affected countries in SSA, malaria is ranked one of the leading

causes of morbidity and mortality in children less than five years of age in Nigeria (Olasehinde et al.

2010: 159; Oshikoya, 2007: 49). It is estimated that between 250,000 and 300,000 children below five

years of age die from malaria every year in Nigeria (FMoH, 2009) representing about 30% of infant

mortality (Malaria Byte, 2007; Mosanya, 2000; Okafor and Amzat, 2007) and about 25% of the global

malaria deaths in children within this age-bracket (Okeke et al. 2006). Although malaria is increasingly

becoming an urban phenomenon in Nigeria (see Oguonu et al. 2005; Oreabga et al. 2004) and

beyond (Baragatti et al. 2008), the highest number of deaths and disability are often recorded in the

rural areas where the level of poverty is relatively high coupled with limited access to information,

modern preventive and curative measures.

Given the recent and the on-going socio-political commitments to fight malaria head-on, one expects

the trends of malaria to have receded very significantly among the Nigerian children. For instance,

there have been remarkable health sector reforms such as change in the treatment policy from

chloroquine to artemisinin-based combination therapy ACTs in line with the World Health

Organisation’s (WHO) directives and ‘free’ distribution of millions of doses of ACTs and insecticide

treated bed nets (ITNs) to the 36 States of the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory

(FCT), Abuja. Some States of the Federation have even started to implement the ‘free’ malaria

treatment for children younger than five years of age. In Kwara State where this study has been

conducted the government has partnered with a number of local and international non-governmental

* Department of Sociology, University of Johannesburg, South Africa and Department of Sociology, University of Ilorin, Nigeria. Email:[email protected] ** Department of Sociology, University of Johannesburg, South Africa *** Department of Sociology, University of Johannesburg, South Africa


72

organisations (NGOs) to provide ‘free’ bed nets and treatment for children younger than five years of

age (Saraki, 2009). Despite these efforts, malaria crisis has continued to linger unabated in rural

communities with thousands of children falling prey to the disease. The questions are: what have the

government of Nigeria and its agencies failed to do or recognise in promoting health education in rural

areas? To what extent can senior caregivers be integrated into health promotion strategies and

education in order to avert some of the debilitating consequences of malaria in children in rural

Nigeria and beyond?

Indeed, one of the most influential cultures in the world is the ‘Western culture’; the widespread of

which has been aided and exacerbated by a constellation of events and factors such as the Western

imperialistic occupations, religion (particularly Christianity), capitalism, urbanisation and globalisation

phenomena. This is evident in contemporary African societies. In Globalisation and its Implication on

African Culture and Development with specific focus on the African system of education, Oni (2005)

noted that the impacts of colonisation and globalisation in African societies are enormous and

multifaceted. They are usually manifested in the political, educational, family and cultural systems.

Some scholars have attributed the widespread cultural and family disintegration across African

societies to the infiltration of the so-called ‘Western lifestyles’ and their attributes (see Oni, 2005;

Mbakogu, 2006). The post Apartheid South Africa represents a perfect example of a country in

contemporary Sub-Saharan African societies whose family systems have suffered considerable

disintegration or set-back owing to many years of Apartheid. In modern South Africa there is

widespread evidence to suggest that a large proportion of the nation’s children are growing up in a

female-headed household with little parental control and financial support (see Preston-White, 1993).

While all of these predicaments cannot be blamed on ‘Western cultures’ and their attributes, many

scholars are of the opinion that the so-called ‘Western cultures’ and their attributes constitute the

‘carrier agents’ of the evils that have befallen the African society over the years (see Oni, 2005).

Despite the infiltration of the so-called ‘Western cultures’ or lifestyles into the socio-cultural and

political landscape of African societies, the extended family system, which has been in existence

aeons ago, has remained a very powerful normative ideal in most indigenous African communities. In

some of these communities especially in rural areas, sociologists and anthropologists have found that

the extended family structures have endured and remain unbroken. In such a family system senior

parents (including grandparents and mother-in-laws) have remained important elements of the

extended family system (see El-Safty, 2001; Jonasi 2007; Kerr et al. 2008) as they are generally

perceived as the custodians of indigenous knowledge system (IK) and culturally obligated to guide the

activities of the younger generations (Aubel, 2006). The role of the grandparents particularly the

senior women in the well-being and up-keep of younger children becomes even more important

where the biological parents are unwilling (perhaps as a result of family disorientation) or

incapacitated (by sickness and poverty) to provide adequate care for their children (Jonasi 2007).


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However, most development programmes and malaria control strategies have tended to ignore the

important roles often played by the senior caregivers in the community well-being as a result of which

they (senior caregivers) are often ignored in an effort to strengthen the existing family and community

survival strategies (see Aubel, 2005). Where they are involved in health education at all, experience

has shown that their ideas are often considered obsolete and incongruent with ‘modernisation’ or

Western idea of medicine (Kerr et al. 2008). In this study, therefore, the place of the senior caregivers

(both men and women) in the management of malaria in children and health decision making process

has been investigated. First of all, the study probed the differences in the patterns of health care

seeking behaviour between young and senior caregivers and their impacts on the treatment of

malaria in children keeping track of the factors responsible for such differences. It also investigated

the role of the senior caregivers in the decision making process. This study became important

considering the web of responsibilities of the senior caregivers in the well-being of little children in

rural communities which have been hitherto neglected in development projects aiming at controlling

and eradicating childhood diseases in rural communities.

Methodology

The Anatomy of the Study Areas

This study was conducted in Okanle and Fajeromi in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.

Okanle and Fajeromi are typical examples of indigenous and rural communities in Nigeria under the

Omupo district. Based on the 2006 population census, the total population of Ifelodun local

government is about 204,975 people (Federal Republic of Nigeria [FRN], 2009). The Okanle Village

Area Council was established in 1956 with other seven villages that included Fajeromi (Okanle

Descendant Union [ODU], 2009). Okanle and Fajeromi are a few metres away from each other. The

villages are about 30km away from Ilorin, the Capital of Kwara State, along Offa/Ajase Ipo Road and

exactly 6km from Idofian town. The people speak Yoruba language. The number of households in

Fajeromi is less than 40 while that of Okanle is more than 60. Before the introduction and acceptance

of Islam and Christianity in the community, the people were predominantly traditional believers.

One of the most common characteristics of rural communities in Nigeria is communal life where the

basic residential units are compounds and an extended family structure in which older generations

play important roles. The extended family structures are also generally patriarchal in nature where

men are seen as the heads of the households and are expected to be responsible not only to

themselves and families but the entire community. The family head is known as the olori-ebi who is

culturally expected to provide financial, moral and spiritual responsibilities to members of his family.

This is not to suggest that women are prevented from playing active roles in the day-to-day activities

of the communities. Women make concrete and significant contributions to the sustainability of the

family. The majority of women engage in farming activities. Some of them engage in buying and

selling in order to support or augment the family income to meet certain important family demands like

education and health. However, culturally, domestic responsibilities like cooking, washing and taking

care of the children are considered to be women’s roles. Housing patterns in these areas vary. Most


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buildings are constructed with mud and bricks and roofed with corrugated iron sheets. There are,

however, a number of modern buildings that include the Oluode and Idera estates in Okanle.

In most indigenous communities in Nigeria, traditional institutions remain to be seen as an

embodiment of cultural identity and tradition and the traditional rulers as catalysts and symbols of

these institutions. Each of the rural communities studied is headed by a traditional village head.

Okanle is headed by a King known as the Oba or Kabiesi popularly addressed as “Olokanle of

Okanleland”. The Olokanle is a member of Ifelodun Traditional Council with the headquarters in

Igbaja. In Fajeromi, on the other hand, the traditional title of the village head is Baale. In traditional

hierarchy, the Baale is lower than the Oba mostly because of historical antecedents. Indeed, in both

communities, the traditional rulers are conceived as the representatives of the community in matters

affecting the people at all levels of governance: district, local and state levels.

Okanle and Fajeromi are like many rural areas in Nigeria where people have very limited access to

basic social amenities. The roads leading to both communities from both Arugbo and Idofian are not

tarred and as a result difficult to traverse. Although the communities have just been electrified, the

researcher hardly saw any electricity in use throughout his visits to both communities. Almost every

household had a transistor radio to listen to news. The community health centre was established in

1978 through the initiatives of both Okanle and Fajeromi communities. The facility is situated in-

between the two communities. However, the management of the health centre has since been taken

over by the State government. As a result, it is in a deplorable condition due to poor maintenance.

Indeed, the hospital lacked basic health facilities with just two beds in a dilapidated building. Most of

the rooms in the health centre have been abandoned because the roofs were collapsing.

Data Collection, Analysis and Sampling Procedures

Data for the study were sought through primary and secondary sources. The study adopted a

combination of qualitative research techniques to collect primary data from the respondents. In a

study of this nature, a qualitative research technique often provides a ‘richer’ and ‘more valid’ basis

than simply dealing with numbers and measures commonly found in quantitative research (see Yates,

2004: 139). A total of 20 semi-structured interviews, 10 in-depth interviews and two focus group

discussions (FGDs) were conducted with young and older caregivers whose children or wards below

the age of five had manifested malaria symptoms at one time or another. They aged between 25 and

80 years. The majority of the respondents belonged to the lower socio-economic status with limited

income and without formal education. The secondary data included the 2008 Surveillance Report on

Malaria Cases and Deaths sought from the Kwara State Ministry of Health. A purposive sampling

procedure was used to select sample for the study. All the interviews were recorded using a tape

recorder (widget). Data analysis was done both manually and electronically. The NVivo software

package (Version 9) was used to aid analysis.


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Results and Analysis

Theme I: Treatment of Malaria in Children: a Commun ity Polarised

One of the cornerstones of malaria control and eradication across malaria endemic regions has been

early detection, diagnosis and treatment through primary health care services that offer anti-malarial

treatment in line with the WHO’s guidelines of the artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs).

However, much information available in malaria endemic regions has indicated that the majority of

malaria cases are treated outside the formal health facilities. While some depend on spiritual healing

others rely on self-medication with some elements of traditional and modern treatment; others

completely ignore treatment. Nyamango (2002) found out that a significant number of patients rely on

multiple sources of care when malaria occurs in rural Kenya. A recent study by Bamidele et al. (2009)

in urban areas of Osun State, Nigeria, found that a high proportion of the people still believed in

traditional medicine in the management of diseases even where there was ‘adequate’ access to

modern health care facilities and health providers.

The current study however showcases a polarised community between young and older caregivers

with respect to the status and use of traditional herbal regimens in the treatment of malaria in children.

This notion became prominent when focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted for young and

older parents and questions were asked regarding the use of herbal medicine in the treatment of

malaria in children. “In the olden days”, argued by one of the senior caregivers, “you treat children

with malaria exclusively with herbs. Nobody tells you to go to the hospital or use any white man’s

medicine (modern medicine)”. In fact, “there was no hospital in those days” said by another senior

respondent. The traditional therapies locally known as oogun-ibile or agbo-ibile used as the first point

of treatment of malaria comprised principally of local plants, bark of a tree or root which are usually

boiled together to make malaria herbs known in local communities as agbo-iba. Once boiled, they are

usually sieved and allowed to cool down to create a broth (Ellis et al. 2007: 705). The agbo-iba is

used as a normal wash either with or without local soap known as ose-dudu and as a medicinal drink

usually administered at least three times daily as long as the symptoms persisted. As argued by most

of the senior caregivers, this practice has been entrenched in the community’s knowledge of medicine

over a period of time. One of the senior women interviewed in Fajeromi said with some level of

confidence that “everybody in this village knows that I don’t go to the clinic when I’m sick and I don’t

take my children there either. I prefer herbal medicines… It’s what I inherited from my parents”.

I use to combine a number of local plants to cure malaria in my grandchildren. Once I observe symptoms of malaria in them I rush to the bush to pick some plants and roots and prepare for them to make herbal medicine. One of the plants is called “panseke”. I also use “dogonyaro” leaves. All of these are very effective in treating malaria. Should the first set of plants not work you search to assemble another set. This is called “akida”. But if these don’t work then you may not have a choice than to go to the hospital or buy drugs from those vendors that come to the village from the neighbouring communities. (A grandfather in Fajeromi.)

Some of the older caregivers attached the efficacy of medicine to belief systems:

The efficacy or effectiveness of any method of treatment depends on the belief people have about it. Most times when you hold strong belief about traditional medicine or even hospital


76

drugs, it is bound to work for you. Our belief therefore has much influence on the efficacy of medication. The same belief the educated people have about modern medicine is what the old people have about traditional medicine. (A 58 year old mother in Fajeromi.)

However, most young mothers expressed different opinions. A significant number of young mothers

recognised the fact that changes are taking place with respect to the treatment of malaria especially

among the ‘new generation’ of caregivers. While most senior caregivers are still tied to the cultural

pattern of disease treatment in children (absolute reliance on traditional medicine), a significant

number of young mothers - with or without western education - are beginning to break away from the

‘old tradition’ of malaria treatment thereby supporting modern medicine in the treatment of malaria.

This group of mothers see themselves as a new generation of parents. They believed they are more

exposed than their grandparents. They felt that a total reliance on traditional herbal medicines is not

only ‘obsolete’, ‘precarious’ and ‘dangerous’ it is also ‘uncivilised’ and ‘barbaric’ many of whom

believed that herbal medicines are usually prepared under unhygienic conditions which they strongly

felt must be corrected. As argued by one of the young mothers: “although, I think there is nothing

wrong with the herbal medicines but something can be wrong with the way they are prepared”. Others

were however worried about the measurement, potency and efficacy of traditional drugs.

When we talk about traditional medicine there is always the problem of dosage, potency and efficacy since their drugs are not clinically tested. There is no proof to show that traditional medicines are efficacious or that when patients use them there won’t be side effects. What we know is that herbal medicines contain some corrosive elements that are injurious to the body system and any drugs taken by any patient goes directly to the liver. Things like that can cause damage to the liver… Although I was raised with herbs I cannot use the same herbs to raise my children now because we have to move with time. Medicine is not static. It is a dynamic thing. In order for us to catch up with what is happening in the world, we have to make sure we move with time (a young educated father in Okanle).

The differences in the patterns of health care seeking between young and older caregivers were

attributed to several factors some of which are pervasive cultural diffusion, intermarriages, ‘exposure’

or ‘civilisation’ rooted in the Western system of education as well as nurse/doctor’s advice. According

to a 66 year old mother in Fajeromi:

Changes in management of disease are bound to happen in modern society where people often marry from different cultures than theirs. In contemporary societies, intercultural marriages are common. If you are married to a woman who is not from your cultural background you may have to forgo certain things about your own culture as a sign of respect for your partner. Both of you might need to find a middle ground. This middle ground might be the hospital as far as the management of disease is concerned… Also related to this is the issue of modernisation and exposure. People are more exposed nowadays unlike before… For instance, my senior child who lives in Lagos has instructed me not use herbs for my grandchild who lives with me here when he’s sick. I don’t have any choice than to accept whatever instruction he gives and support all of them in prayers (a middle aged woman from Fajeromi)

One of the senior caregivers in Okanle also argued that:

The nurses and doctors are the major reasons for this kind of attitude. They feed mothers with all kinds of dangerous information. They advocate for modern medicine as the most effective way of managing diseases in children as against traditional medicine. They even instruct them to stop giving children herbs completely... So, when we try to convince them at home to use local measures for infants, they simply ignore our advice...


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On the one hand, the above comments suggest that senior caregivers are still attached to the cultural

patterns of disease management using an exclusively indigenous method of healing for children in

their custody. On the other hand, it also suggests that a sizable number of young parents are

beginning to break away from what they perceived as the ‘old tradition’ or the ‘old-fashioned’ way of

treatment. However, a growing concern was observed among the older parents with respect to young

parents’ inclination to modern medicines. While some acknowledged and applauded the ‘positive’

attitude, a significant number of them condemned it outright because they believed it was a

derailment from the normative patterns of disease management which the communities have known

for years. They attributed the prevalence of chronic diseases in the contemporary society to over

dependence on modern medicine and non-compliance to cultural instructions regarding traditional

medicines. For instance, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is believed to be one of the prices to be paid for

ignoring indigenous cultural practices and belief systems. As a result, sometimes young parents are

compelled to administer herbal medicines to their children (see the next theme for detailed

discussion).

Where this happens young mothers are usually forced to combine herbal medicines with selected

modern drugs in the treatment of malaria usually at home. Some of the older women had no problem

or objection to young mothers’ inclination towards combining traditional and modern medicines in as

much as herbal medicines are not abandoned. Some of the older parents even expressed the

harmonisation of the two methods in proverbs and idioms: “in life one hand washes the other” said by

one of the older caregivers. Some used religion to justify the combination of treatments: “both the

native and modern doctors are ‘angels’ sent by God to heal the world” said a woman in Okanle. For

this group of respondents, the use of traditional and modern drugs was complementary rather than

competitive. One of the young mothers in Fajeromi said “it is not that young mothers have stopped

using herbs completely. Those of us who still appreciate the efficacy of herbal medicines still use

them. The difference is that we use them with caution and together with orthodox medicine most

times”. Another young parent interviewed in Okanle said “nowadays, you don’t have to be exclusively

attached to a single method of treatment. Once you try the traditional one and it doesn’t seem to work

then there is nothing wrong in trying the modern ones”. This finding agrees with previous findings

where a combination of modern and traditional healing methods has been reported (see Amira and

Okubadejo, 2007; Sharma, 2008; Wiseman et al. 2008). Amira and Okubadejo’s (2007) study shows

that a significant proportion of hypertensive patients receiving conventional treatment at the tertiary

health facility in Lagos, Nigeria combined modern drugs with traditional therapies even without the

consent of their physicians.

It must be mentioned however that in an attempt to use the services of the modern health care

facilities most young caregivers are still faced with some difficulties. The majority of the younger

caregivers interviewed identified a lack of money as the most outstanding factor that could hinder the

use of modern health care services. The majority acknowledged that the amount of money charged

during consultation often depends on the severity of cases but since most of them do consult with the


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doctor at a later stage of malaria in children there are possibilities of paying more money which might

further worsen the financial burden in the household. . For mild malaria, caregivers are usually

charged between N150 and N400 ($1 - $3) at the Basic Health Centre available in the communities.

For complicated cases, charges could run to thousands of naira which the majority of the caregivers

could not afford. Therefore, to be able to raise such money parents usually borrow money from

neighbours or the cooperative society where they are members. They sometime pawn some valuable

properties to be able to raise money for treatment. Others appeal to the nurse to allow them to pay for

treatment later or in installments. Unfortunately, those who cannot afford to raise this kind of money

continued to rely on herbal medicines until the condition of the child improves.

Theme II: The Place of Senior Caregivers in Health Decision Making Process

A number of studies have shown a positive correlation between economic factors (Asenso-Okyere et

al. 1997; Kofoed et al. 2004; Mathews and Hill, 1990; Oths, 1994; Weller et al. 1997), user fees and

health care decision making process in poorer communities of Africa and elsewhere. What most of

these studies have found is that poverty and the introduction of the user fees in public health care

facilities has resulted in treatment delays thereby aggravating the levels of morbidity and mortality

especially in children (Lugalla, 1995; Stratton et al. 2008; Turshen, 1999). However, Kamat (2006:

2946) has noted that an overemphasis on the correlation between poverty, user fees and treatment

delays has mirrored in most of these studies may have prevented or diverted attention away from

other significant existing cultural and structural constraints affecting health-care decision making

process and outcomes, one of which is the place of senior women or grandparents in health-care

decision making process.

The role of “significant others” most importantly the senior women in health care decision making

process cannot be overemphasised especially in a community where people have firsthand

knowledge of one another and where people live a communal lifestyle. Most of the people interviewed

in this study lived in extended family structures which comprised of biological parents and other

members of the family. At the beginning of the malaria crisis the biological mother and other women

within the household, particularly the mothers-in-law and grandparents known as senior women, have

the primary role of ensuring that the child’s health is restored within a reasonable period of time.

Hence, the pursuance of health for a sick child commences with traditional medicines which according

to the majority of the respondents is typically under the control of the senior mothers. The use of an

indigenous treatment episode is encouraged and often seen as the first treatment option by the senior

women because they are easily assembled and prepared often without cost. The influence of the

senior women in the decision making process is usually felt more by the young mothers believed to be

inexperienced when it comes to childhood illnesses. The husband only intervenes when malaria

symptoms have persisted after some days without any improvement and may suggest additional

traditional measures or encourage seeking treatment outside home which could include buying drugs

from ambulatory quack vendors or over-the-counter drugs or seeking the services of the medical

experts. One of the young mothers in Okanle said “as you can see I live with my husband’s family. So,


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my mother-in-law plays a significant role in seeking treatment for my child. More importantly, I always

depend on my mother-in-law whenever my child is down with malaria because she knows too much”.

However, in the absence of senior mothers and the husband sometimes other members of the family

could assume the responsibility of the husband and senior mothers by encouraging the biological

mother to seek treatment at the nearest facility. This might include the husband’s siblings. The

influence of social networks in decision making process as revealed in the present study is illustrated

below:

When my child had malaria and was obvious that the situation was getting out of hand after doing what I was supposed to do (home treatment using a combination of herbs and modern drugs) I had to call my husband’s elder brother because my husband was not in town… I told the brother because I can’t single-handedly manage the situation. What if something terrible happens eventually? I need to let at least a family member know about it. Besides, my husband’s elder brother will be the one to bear me witness when my husband returns. I should have told my mum but she’s not staying where we stay and I don’t have friends around here who could assist me. My child is my friend. (a 30 year old mother in Fajeromi).

Indeed, the decision to seek health care on behalf of a sick child within or outside the family set-up

goes beyond the individual biological mother. As seen in this study other members of the family

especially grandparents play a very significant role in the health care seeking decision making

process. They often determine when, how and where treatments are sought.

Discussion

This study has investigated the place of the senior caregivers in the management of malaria in rural

communities of Nigeria using a combination of qualitative research techniques. This study has shown

that a variation may exist between young and older parents in terms of their desire for modern or

traditional medicines in the treatment of malaria. While most senior mothers continue to rely on herbal

treatment regimens in the management of malaria, younger parents seemed to have preference for

modern treatment regimens but not without difficulties. Younger parents’ thoughts and feelings about

modern medicines have been influenced largely by Western education, modernisation and health

education usually received from the health officials in public hospitals. Instead of complete reliance on

traditional remedies, some young mothers believed that there is nothing wrong with benefiting from

each of the healing methods which is also the core issue in contemporary discourses about traditional

and modern medicines. The changing patterns of health care utilisation in the treatment of malaria in

this study between young and senior women concur with the finding made by Wiseman et al. (2008)

in Gambia. Like Wiseman et al. (2008) while older parents in this study are still attached to the herbal

treatment option, younger parents are more likely to seek modern health care services earlier than

older parents, few of whom may have tried the traditional medicine first without major improvement.

Meanwhile, it needs to be mentioned that whether responding to malaria using herbal medicines is an

appropriate or inappropriate treatment option remains a highly controversial issue. Evidence is

abound to show that traditional medicines and the practitioners advocating them have contributed

immensely to the overall health care delivery systems, hence the growing demand for traditional


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medicines across the world. In fact, more than 60% of children with high fever resulting from malaria

in countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Mali and Zambia receive herbal medicines from home as the first line

of treatment (WHO, 2002). In Gambia, a drug known as chemoprophylaxis given to pregnant women

by the traditional birth attendants (TBAs) was found to reduce malaria-related morbidity and poor

pregnancy outcomes (Greenwood et al. copied from Mbonye et al. 2008). What is less controversial,

however, is the surge of complicated cases of malaria in children caused by poor handling which may

have been induced by incorrect use of herbal and/or modern medicines or lateness to seek care from

the appropriate medical service providers.

Furthermore, studies on informal social networks and social support have gained momentum in the

social science disciplines recently. A relationship between social interaction and subjective wellbeing

(Taylor et al. 2001) as well as prevention of violence (Budde and Schene, 2004; Gervich, 2008) has

been documented. There are indications that such interactions might have impacted on the health

care decision making process. For instance, studies have found that close social support is a strong

independent predictor of good health and that it enables people to cope better when they are ill

(Asher, 1984; Zhang, 2007). Ciambrone’s (2002) study in South Africa shows how women’s social

network composition helped to mediate the disruption caused by HIV/AIDS. Similarly, in the cultural

domain of the communities studied where preference is attached to an extended family structure and

social interaction, household decisions on important issues such as children’s health are usually

influenced by “significant others”. Treatment is usually related to a community rather than for an

individual’s responsibility. This is usually based on the principle of “what affects one affects all”.

More importantly, the senior caregivers hold a pivotal position within the family structure and hierarchy

when it comes to diagnosing childhood illnesses and initiating and retaining the treatment process.

Many young mothers in this study argued that they relied on the wealth of experience of the senior

caregivers and the community at large in the management of malaria. This corroborates with previous

findings that have been reported and documented. Kerr et al. (2008) clearly demonstrate that older

parents hold powerful positions within the extended family structures and are often able to impose

their wills on younger mothers in the management of diseases. A review of the literature by Aubel

(2005) on grandmothers’ roles in non-Western societies indicates that grandmothers, in virtually all

cultures and societies, have considerable knowledge and experience related to all aspects of child

and maternal health, and that they have a strong commitment to promoting the well-being of children

and families. Indeed, a well informed, educated senior caregiver shall be able to pass correct and

appropriate knowledge about disease management to the younger ones. Unfortunately, most policy

designers in most developing countries like Nigeria have failed to come to term with this reality which

often results in faulty designs.

Conclusions

In this study, the place and roles of senior caregivers in the management of malaria has been

examined. This became important against the backdrop that most studies on health care seeking


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behaviour in Nigeria have tended to ignore the role of senior parents and their influence on health

care decision making process. Most development programmes are constructed on the belief that

health education and promotion in indigenous communities should focus on the younger members of

the society with a strong belief that they (the young members) will teach their elders (Aubel, 2006).

This form of orientation however often conflicts with indigenous knowledge systems and local

orientations. While health education and promotion is actually a prerequisite for sensitising the

uninformed and possibly encouraging them to make the “right” choices, it has been well

acknowledged and documented that knowledge on its own is not enough for positive health

behaviour. In fact, most studies on knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) towards ill-health have

indicated that appropriate treatment procedures require an approach that goes beyond simply raising

awareness to a more sustainable behaviour change that people are willing to make every day of their

life even when they are not threatened by ill health (Alaii, 2003). Unfortunately, most health promotion

strategies and initiatives in Nigeria and other places have tended to portray an individual as a

mechanical device that automatically reacts to a ‘stimulus package’ without any processing and

questioning. For instance, the so-called comprehensive Behaviour Communication Change Strategy

(BCC) was developed in Nigeria in 2004 to strengthen malaria interventions (Roll Back Malaria [RBM]

Secretariat, 2008). However, the BCC initiative has recorded a minimum level of achievement so far

and the major factor responsible being a failure to recognise and incorporate local dynamics (for

instance, the role of senior caregivers in the management of malaria) into their design and

implementation.

To promote health behaviour and practices related to maternal and child health in Southeast Asia

(Laos) and West Africa (Mali and Senegal), ‘The Grandmother Project’, a non-governmental

organisation (NGO) came up with a methodological approach that focuses on i) the community-

recognised indigenous knowledge authorities on maternal and child health and their conveyors (the

grandparents); and ii) the merits and demerits of this system of knowledge (that is, their potency as

well as harmful outcomes). The results achieved were overwhelming. Specifically, in Laos,

grandmothers’ approach to treating diarrhea at home greatly improved during the one-year

intervention. At baseline study, only 30% of grandmothers involved were giving “lots of fluids” to

children with diarrhea whereas in the end-line study, 74% of grandmothers were giving the beneficial

advice. Therefore, the proportion of grandmothers who advised mothers with young children to

continue breast-feeding during diarrhea episode increased from 73% at baseline to 90% at end-line

(Aubel, 2006). Therefore, health promotion and education initiatives about malaria in children in

developing countries like Nigeria must take cognisance of the place and roles of the senior caregivers

in order to reduce the disruption of lives caused by malaria among the children.

References

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Secondary School Students’ Perception of Environmen tal Variables Influencing Academic Performance

in Edo State, Nigeria

Jolly Okoza *, Oyaziwo Aluede **, Justina E. Afen Akpaida ***

Abstract: The study investigated the environmental variables influencing academic performance of Secondary School Students. The study specifically examined the influence of three environmental variables namely, learning environment, teachers’ method of teaching and family condition on students’ academic performance. A total of 1500 students drawn through multistage proportionate sampling technique constituted the sample of the study. The instrument titled “Environmental Factors in Students Academic Performance Questionnaire” (EFSAPQ) was used to obtain responses from the participants. Data were analyzed with percentages. The study revealed that learning environments, teacher’s method of teaching and parental socio-economic status mediated on students’ academic performance. The study recommended among others the provision of manageable class size, and congenial learning environment devoid of external interferences; parents should provide incentives and, show mutual concern with teachers on students learning to enhance their academic performance; and government should equitably distribute scarce resources among families based on the principles of social justice to enhance the families’ living conditions.

Introduction

In Nigeria, secondary education is the education children receive after primary education and before

the tertiary stage. Consequently, the broad goals of secondary education are geared to prepare the

individual for useful living within the society and to progress to higher education (Federal Government

of Nigeria, 2004). The school at this level is established so that students can learn in order to be able

to transmit knowledge from one generation to another for the continuity and well-being of the society.

Learning as a hypothetical construct can only be inferred from observable behavior. Psychologists

usually define learning as a relatively permanent change in behavior due to past experience or the

process by which relatively permanent changes occur in behavioral potentials as a result of

experience(Gross,2010)

In fact, secondary school education is an investment and an instrument that can be used to achieve a

more rapid economic, social, political, technological, scientific and cultural development in the country.

The role of secondary education is to lay a solid foundation for better academic performance of

students in their pursuit of university education and in other higher institutions with the aim of

producing competent manpower for the growth and development of the nation. Recent trends in this

tier of education in Nigeria show poor academic results from our children. The preponderance of

mass failure in the final examinations conducted by various examination bodies (WAEC, NECO

NABTEB) has led to the hue and cry by all and sundry over students’ poor academic performance. It

is clear that this tier of education is now seriously threatened by total near collapse as evident by

students’ abysmal performance in 2011 examination results in Nigeria.

* National Open University Benin Study Centre ** Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma- Nigeria. Email: [email protected], [email protected] *** Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma- Nigeria


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Dissenting groups have passed the blame of students’ poor performance on teachers, parents and

government policy somersault. According to Aremu and Sokan (2003), and Aremu and Oluwole

(2001), secondary school students’ poor performance may be hinged on students because of their

low retention, parental factors, association with wrong peers and motivation. Previous research

evidence showed that poor academic performance at the secondary school level of education is a

product of teacher, school and the home environment. According to Morakinyo (2003), the falling level

of academic performance of secondary school students is attributable to teachers’ non-use of verbal

reinforcement. Also the home environment or family background of learners affects their academic

performance (Ajila & Olutola, 2007)

The sharp decline in the academic performance at various levels of our educational system in Nigeria

is largely attributed to the poor conditions in our educational institutions. These include lack of

modern instructional technology, poor classroom conditions and lack of adequate training

programmes for teachers. Similarly, classroom learning environments and school factors exert some

dominant influence on learners, since man is a product of his environment. The importance of

learning environment to a successful academic achievement cannot be overemphasized. The

learning environment includes school location and physical buildings, laboratory equipment, library

services and materials, instructional aids and effective classroom management. Intelligence is not the

only determinant of academic achievement. Learning environment affects the academic achievement

of a student. According to Basque and Dore (1998), learning and teaching environment ought to

implement six functions: inform, communicate, collaborate, produce, scaffold and manage. They

added that conceptually speaking, the learning environment refers to the whole range of components

and activities within which learning happens.

Learning environment that is free from barriers or distraction such as noise, gas/smoke pollution and

so on, will promote students’ concentration or perceptual focus to learning (Sprinthall, 1987).

Similarly, the entire unattractive physical structure of the school building could demotivate learners to

achieve academically. This mismatch promotes poor academic performance. Danesty (2004) stated

that dilapidating building lacking mental stimulating facilities that are characterized with low or no

sitting arrangement, will also affect students’ learning.

Class size has also been identified as a determinant of academic performance. Schools with smaller

class size perform better academically than schools with larger class size. Kraft (1994) in his study of

the ideal class size and its effects on effective teaching and learning concluded that any class size

above forty (40) has negative effects on students’ achievement. Generally, good teaching is best

done in classes with small numbers that allow for individual attention.

Teachers do make a difference to motivate students in learning, working in tandem with parents who

are the first teachers to children. Noordin, Azizi, Jamaludin, Shahrin and Zurihanmi (2010) opined that


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teachers can make school life miserable or appealing by filling the classroom with excitement and

hope. Students will continue in their learning and even search for more knowledge under the leading

of enthusiastic teacher (Wlodkowski & Jaynes, 1990). Atkinson (2000) found a positive relationship

between teachers’ motivation and the students’ performance.

The availability and use of teaching and learning materials affect the effectiveness of a teacher’s

lesson. The use of a variety of media increases the probability that the students would learn more

and that young children are capable of understanding abstract ideas if they are provided with

sufficient materials and concrete experience with the phenomena that they are to understand. Adu

and Olatundun (2007), Adediwura and Tayo (2007), and Star (2002) suggested that effective teaching

is a significant predictor for students’ academic achievement. In short, poor academic performance of

students has been linked to poor teachers’ performance in terms of accomplishing learning tasks

(Ofoegbu, 2004; Asikhia, 2010).

The home environment or family background of students affects their academic performance (Ajila

and Olutola 2007; Nzewuawah, 1995; Ichado, 1998). The home environment sharpens the child’s

initial view of learning. Parents’ beliefs, expectations and attitudes about education have a profound

early impact on students’ conceptions of the place of education in their life. `

Children in poverty often face problems at home and at school that compromises their learning

(Ceballo and McLoyd, 2002, Evans and English, 2002). At home, they might have parents who do

not set high educational standards for them, who are incapable of reading to them, and who do not

have enough money to pay for educational materials and experiences such as books and trips to

zoos and museums. They might be malnourished and live in areas where crime and violence are a

way of life (Santrock, 2004).

The home environment is as important as what goes on in the school. The home factors include:

parental involvement in children’s education, how much parents read to young children; how much

television children are allowed to watch; and how often students change schools. Phillips (1998) also

found that parental education and social economic status have an impact on students’ achievement.

Students with parents who were both educated tended to achieve at the highest levels. Income and

family size were moderately related to achievement (Ferguson, 1991). Thus from the analysis of

academic achievement, home environment (including family income) and educational activities, it can

be concluded that home environment and educational activities explained the greatest amount of

variance (Peng and Wright, 1994; Kamaruddin, Zainal, Aminuddin and Jusoff, 2009)

The import of this study, therefore, was specifically to measure the perception of students on the

influence of environment variables (learning environment, teachers’ method of teaching and family

condition) on their academic performance. In concrete terms, this study aimed at investigating the

influence of the following: learning environment on students’ academic performance; the effect of


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teaching method on students’ academic performance; and the impact of family conditions on students’

academic performance. Thus, this study addressed three research questions: How do secondary

school students perceive the quality of learning environment in relation to their academic

performance? How do secondary school students perceive teachers’ teaching methods in relation to

their academic performance? How do secondary school students perceive parents economic status in

relation to their academic performance?

Method of Study

Participants: A total of 1500 students drawn through multistage proportionate sampling technique

from the sampled secondary schools in Edo State were used as participants for the study. The

sample was made up of 763 males with the age mean =14. 7, SD = 1.21 and 737 females with age

mean = 13.8, SD = 1.30, drawn from all the secondary schools in the study location.

Measures: The instrument used for the study was entitled “Environment Factors and Students

Academic Performance Questionnaire (EFSAPQ)” designed by current researchers to obtain relevant

information. The first part of the questionnaire had information on personal data. The other section

had 20 items eliciting responses on learning environment, teachers’ method of teaching, and family

conditions. The items were measured on a four point scale ranging from Strongly Agree, Agree,

Disagree and Strongly Disagree format. The instrument was validated by two experts in Educational

Psychology in the Department of Educational Foundations and Management, Faculty of Education,

Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria. The aim was to ensure that the items in the instrument

were capable of obtaining responses to test the research questions. To test for the reliability of the

instrument, a pre-test was conducted on a sample of 30 students in a secondary school that was not

a part of the sampled schools. The split-half method used yielded a reliability index of 0. 82.

Procedure: The instrument was administered by the principal author with the aid of assistance from

teachers in the sampled secondary schools. Respondents were guaranteed confidentiality and the

instrument was filled anonymously with no identification information. Data were analyzed with

percentage using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences)

Results

1. How do secondary school students perceive their learning environment as an influence of

their academic performance? To answer this question based on the variables, the respondents’

scores were analyzed and the summary is presented in Table1.

Based on the Table I, 140 students representing 9.33% strongly agreed that lack of desk affect their

academic performance, and 50 students representing 3.33 agreed that lack of desk affect their

learning, while 210 representing 14.00% disagreed and 1100 students representing 73.33% strongly

disagreed on the effect of this variable on their academic performance. On class size, 650 students


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Table 1: Students’ Perception of Influence of Learn ing Environment on Students Academic Performance

Variables Strongly

Agree

Agree Disagree Strongly

Disagree

My school does not

have desk

140 (9.33%) 50 (3.33%) 210 (14.00% 1100 (73.33%)

The size of my class

is large

650(43.35) 530(35.33%) 170(11.33%) 150(10.00%)

My friends distract

me in school

240(16.00%) 440(29.33%) 380(25.33%) 440(29.33%)

The roof in my

classroom is bad

220(14.67%) 110 (7.33%) 210(14.00%) 960(64.00%

My school is close to

the road

200(13.33%) 350(23.33%) 400(26.67%) 550(36.67%)

My school

environment is noise

330(22.00%) 450(30.00%) 250 (16.67%) 470(31.33%)

representing 43.33% strongly agreed that the size of their class was large and 530 students

representing 35.33% agreed that their class is large and could affect their academic performance.

But 170 students representing 14.00% and 150 representing 10.00% disagreed and strongly

disagreed respectively that the size of their class was large.

On distraction from friends in school, 240 students representing 16.00% strongly agreed on it and 440

students representing 29.33% and 440 students representing 29.33% agreed on the variable, while

380 students representing 25.33% and 440 student representing 29.33% disagreed and strongly

disagreed respectively on this variable. On the bad roof in the classroom, 220 student representing

14.00% and 960 students representing 64.00% disagreed and strongly disagreed on it.

On school closeness to the road as influence on students’ academic performance, 200 students

representing 13.33% strongly agreed and 350 students representing 23.33% strongly agreed and 350

students representing 23.33% agreed, but 400 students representing 26.67% disagreed and 550

students representing 36.67% strongly disagreed. Furthermore, 330 students representing 22.00%

strongly agreed that their school environment is noisy, and 450 students representing 30.00% also

agreed on the effect of this variable, but 250 students representing 16.67% and 470 students

representing 31.33% disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively.

2. .How do secondary school students perceive teachers’ teaching methods as influencing

students’ academic performance? To answer this question based on the variables, respondents’

scores were analyzed and the summary is presented in Table2.


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Table 2: Students’ Perception of Teachers’ Method o f Teaching as influencing Students’ Academic Performance

Variables Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly

Disagree

My teacher does not

use teaching aids

230 (15.33%) 210 (14.00%) 230 (15.33% 830

(55.33%)

The textbooks in our

library are out dated

420(28.00) 480(32.00%) 260(17.33%) 340(22.67%)

my teacher do not

motivate me to learn

40(2.67%) 100(6.67%) 340(22.67%) 120(68.00%)

Based on the Table 2, 230 students representing 15.33% strongly agreed that their teachers do not

use teaching aids and 210 students representing 14.00% agreed on the non- use of teaching aids, but

230 students representing 15.33% and 830 students representing 55.33% disagreed and strongly

disagreed respectively

On obsolete textbooks in the school library as influencing students’ academic performance, 420

students representing 28.00% strongly agreed on it and 480 students representing 32.00% agreed,

while 260 students representing 17.33% and 340 students representing 22.67% disagreed and

strongly disagreed respectively. On motivation, 40 students representing 2.67% and 100 students

representing 6.67% strongly agreed and agreed respectively on it, while 340 students representing

22.67% disagreed and 120 students repre3senting 68.00% strongly disagreed on this variable as a

hindrance to their academic performance.

3. How do secondary school students perceive family conditions as influencing students’

academic performance? To answer the question based on the variables, the respondents’ scores

were analyzed and summary is presented in Table3.

Table3: Students’ Perception of Family Conditions i nfluencing Academic Performance.

Variables Strongly

Agree

Agree Disagree Strongly

Disagree

I do not have writing

materials

20(1.33%) 50(3.33%) 210(14.00% 1220(81.33%

I do not have text

books

220(14.00%) 260(17.33%) 360(24.00% 660(44.00%

My school uniform is

bad

40(2.67%) 40(2.67%) 320(21.33%) 11.00(73.33%


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I do not pay my

school fees on time

40(2.67% 350(23.3%) 30(20.00%) 810(54.00%)

I do not attend extra

lesson

380(25.33%) 28(18.67%) 200*13.33) 640(42.67%)

I do trek to school

every morning

340(22.67%) 240(16.00%) 180(12.00%) 740(49.33%)

I do not eat to school 100(6.67%) 270(18.00) 210(14.00%) 920(61.33%)

After school I help my

parents to hawk

40(2.67%) 40(2.67%) 90(6.00%) 1330(88.67%)

My parents are not

educated

340(22.67%) 240(16.00% 180(12.00%) 740(49.33%)

The harshness of my

parent affect my

studies

70(4.67%) 110(7.33%) 290(19.33%) 1030(72.00%)

My parents are not

living together

100(6.67%) 90(6.00%) 210(9.33%) 1170(78.00%)

Based on the Table 3, 20 students representing 1.33% strongly agreed; and 50 students representing

3.33% agreed that lack of writing materials affected their academic performance, while 210 students

representing 14.00% and 1220 students representing 81.33% disagreed and strongly disagreed

respectively. The table further revealed that 220 students representing 14.67% strongly agreed on

lack of textbooks and 260 students representing 17.33% agreed on this variable, while 360

representing 24.00% and 640 students representing 44.00% disagreed and strongly disagreed

respectively.

On bad school uniform, 40 students representing 2.67% strongly agreed and agreed respectively that

it could affect their academic performance, while 320 students representing 21.33% and 1100

students representing 73.33% disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively. Also, on delay in

payment of school fees, 40 students representing 2.67% and 350 students representing 23.33%

strongly agreed and agreed respectively on it, while 30 students representing 20.00% and 810

students representing 54.00% disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively.

Furthermore, 380 students representing 25.33% and 280 students representing 18.67% strongly

agreed and agreed respectively on not attendance of extra lesson, but 200 students representing

13.33% and 640 students representing 42.67% disagreed and strongly disagreed. On trekking to

school, 340 students representing 22.67% and 240 students representing 16.00% strongly agreed

and agreed, while 180 students representing 12.00% and 740 students representing 49.33%

disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively. The table further reveals that 100 students

representing 6.67% and 270 students representing 18.00% strongly agreed and agreed that they did


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not eat to schools but 210 students representing 14.00% and 920 students representing 61.33%

disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively.

On helping parents to hawk as influence of academic performance, 40 students representing 2.67%

strongly agreed and agreed, while 90 students representing 6.00% and 1330 students representing

88.67% disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively. Again, 340 students representing 22.67%

and 240 students representing 16.00% strongly agreed and agreed that their parents were not

educated, while 180 students representing 12.00% and 740 students representing 49.33% disagreed

and strongly disagreed respectively. Moreover, 70 students representing 4.67% and 110 students

representing 7.33% strongly agreed and agreed respectively that parental harshness affected their

studies, while 290 students representing 19.00% and 1030 students representing 49.33% disagreed

and strongly disagreed respectively. Lastly, 100 students representing 6.67% and 90 students

representing 6.00% strongly agreed and agreed respectively that their parents were not living

together, while 210 students representing 9.33% and 1170 students representing 78.00% disagreed

and strongly disagreed respectively.

Discussion of Results

From the findings of this study, we observed that distraction from peers is a potent weapon that can

hamper students’ academic performance. This can result in negative modeling of peers who are not

attentive and do not focus in learning activities in the class. The study revealed that 21% of the

respondents agreed that the roof of their classroom is bad. In this case both rain and sun will affect

their comfort in the classroom and equally their academic performance will be affected. Also 36% of

the respondents agreed that their schools were located close to the road. And this may also account

for the reason why 55% of the respondents agreed that their school environment was noisy. The

volume of traffic that passes through the roads may be responsible for the noise. Ideally, schools are

best located in serene environment away from the bustle of the city in order to have calm and

peaceful learning classroom. These five significant variables observed in a learning environment, in

this study can inhibit students’ academic performance. This finding is in agreement with Sprinthall

(1978), Isangedighi (1998), Danesty (2004), that learning environment significantly affects students’

poor academic performance. It is possible that desk and bad roof of the classroom were not

considered as important variables by the respondents that could affect their learning.

From the result of this study, out of the ten variables examined under family conditions, only five (5)

were perceived by the respondents to have effect on their academic performance. On the issue of

lack of textbooks, 31 percent of the respondents perceived it as militating factor to their learning.

Also, 43% of the respondents perceived non- provision of opportunity for extra lesson as a factor that

could affect their academic performance. Trekking to school was perceived by 38% of the

respondents as a factor that can affect their academic performance. Truly, if the distance to a

student’s school is far, the child ought to use any means of transport that will help to prevent the tear


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and wear of the body that will be caused by trekking. To achieve this purpose, students must have

the financial support from their parents. The problem of food was perceived by 25% of the

respondents as a factor that could hinder their academic performance. Taking breakfast to school is

very important. Glucose derived from food is an essential ingredient that any child’s brain needs to

function at optimal level. It serves as primary fuel for the brain. Lastly, 38 percent of the respondents

perceived lack of parental education as anathema to their academic performance in school. Dozens

of studies show that children from poor families, or families where the parents are relatively

uneducated, have lower academic performance than those from middle-class families (Bee, 2000).

Poverty has a significant effect on children’s academic performance over and above what the parents

own genes may have contributed (Bee, 2000). This finding is expected because students who come

from a high socio-economic background will perform better academically compared to their

counterparts from low socio-economic background. This is because an affluent home is a better

environment for better academic performance. Parents with high socio-economic status are in a

position to give more parental help and motivation to their children than those of low socio –economic

status. Children from high socio-economic background have greater access to learning resources at

home such as extra lesson, computers, toys, textbook. In addition, they provide good shelter, food

and healthy environment. Such positive conditions may affect their physical and mental development.

This result is in consonance with previous findings of Sprinthall (1978), Morakinyo (2003), Rohana et

al (2009) and Phillips (1998).

It is pertinent to support this finding in that we have cogent reasons to show that material life of the

middle and upper class homes are secure and rich. These parents have appropriate knowledge

having gone through school themselves to know the kind of stimulating experiences to provide for

their children. Children coming from better home will have advantage in learning as a result of

opportunities provided for them. These parents see education in terms of self-improvement, character

building, cognitive development and total personality development.

There is no denying the fact that a learner is helped by the available resources for bringing desirable

changes in his/ her behavior. How effectively such changes will take place in his/ her behavior depend

on the quality and management of these resources. Therefore, availability of appropriate learning

materials and facilities like teaching-learning aids, textbooks, library, calm and peaceful environment

are indispensible elements that will enhance students academic performance. From the lenses of

educational psychologists, learning depends upon the methods, the nature of learning experience and

the socio-emotional climate available in the school system. These are the variables that constitutes

quality environment for student learning.

Conclusion / Recommendation

The result of this study showed that learning environment, teachers’ method of teaching and family

conditions mediated students’ academic performance in some key variables that were found to be

significant.


93

Since the result revealed that there are some key elements that contribute to student’s academic

performance in learning environment, teacher’s method of teaching and family conditions, we

recommend that class size should be limited to the approved number of students that can be

managed to a single teacher at time. Schools should be located in an environment free from external

interference such as noise and pollution.

Teachers should enrich their teaching method by using good teaching aids and where necessary,

source for materials that are not available through improvisation. The need to provide modern text

books in school library is advocated. Furthermore, current researchers recommend that parents

should provide incentives that would stimulate students’ interest in learning and greater academic

performance. Also, parents should see education as something that should be mutually encouraged

by them and teachers. The view of low socio-economic parents that learning activities of their

children is the teacher’s job should be jettisoned. Both parents and teachers should create

stimulating interest in children learning. Current researchers hold that equitable distribution of scarce

resources by government will bridge the gap between the high and low income families and hence the

need to provide adequate stimulating home environment for all student to learn and become

productive citizens.

References Adediwura, A. A & Tayo, B (2007) Perception of teachers knowledge attitude and teaching skills as predictor of academic

performance in Nigeria secondary schools. Educational Research and Review 2(7): 165 – 171 Adu, E. O. & Olatundun S.O.(2007). Teachers perception of teaching as correlates of students academic performance in Oyo

state, Nigeria Essaysin Education; 28:57-63 Ajayi, T. (1988). A system approach towards remediating of academic failure in Nigeria Schools. Nigerian Journal of

Educational Psychology 3(1) 25- 35 Ajila, C. & Olutola, A (2007) Impact of parents socio-economic status on University students’ academic performance. Ife Journal of Educational Studies, 7(1): 31-39 Aremu, A.O. & Oluwole, D.A. (2001). Gender and birth order as predictors of normal pupil’s anxiety pattern in examination.

Ibadan Journal of Educational Studies, 1, (1), 1-7 Aremu, A.O. & Sokan, B.O (2003). A multi-causal evaluation of academic performance of Nigerian leaders: Issues and

implications for national development. Department of Guidance and Counselling, University of Ibadan, Ibadan. Asikhia, O.A. (2010). Students and teachers’ perception of the causes of poor academic performance in Ogun State secondary schools, Nigeria. Implications for Counselling for National Development. European Journal of Social Sciences. 13:. 238-240 Atkinson, E.(2000). An Investigation into the relationship between teacher motivation and pupil motivation. Educational Psychology, 20(1), 45 – 57 Basque, J. & Dore, S. (1998). Le concept d’ environment d’ appreatissage informatise. Journal of Distance Education, 13, (1), 0830-0445. Bee, H. (2000). The developing child (9th edition). Boston. Allyn & Bacon. Ceballo, R. & Mc Loyd, V.C. (2002). Social support and parenting in poor, dangerous neighourhoods. Child Development, 73, 1310-1321 Danesty, A.H. (2004) Psychological determinants of academic performance and vocational learning of students with

disabilities in Oyo State. Unpublished Ph. D Thesis, University of Ibadan De la Fuente, J. (2002). Recent perspectives on the study of Motivation. The theory of goal orientation. Escritos de

Psicologia. (2) 72 -84.


94

Evans, G.W. & English, K. (2002). The environment of poverty: Multiple stressor exposure, psycho physiological stress, and

socio-emotional adjustment. Child Development, 73, 1238-1248 Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004). . National policy on education (Revised Edition). Lagos: Federal Ministry of Education. Ferguson, R. (1991). Pay for public education: New evidence of how and why money matters. Harvard Journal on Legislation,

28, 465 -98 Funkunle, J.A. (1983). Concept difficulty in some aspect of Secondary School biology as a function of Students; developmental

readiness. Unpublished Master Thesis submitted to University of Jos. Jos. Gross ,R .(2002). Psychology.(6th edition). London. Hodder Education Ichado, S.M (1998). Impact of broken home on academic performance of secondary school student in English Language. Journal of Research in Counselling Psychology, 4(1), 84 -87 Isangedighi, A. J. (1998) under achievement: An index of learner – environment mismatch. Nigeria Journal of Educational Psychology. 3 (1) 220 – 226. Kraft, R.J. (1994), Teaching and Learning in Ghan. Boulder, Co: Mitchell Group. Kamaruddin, Rohana., Nor Rashidah Zainal, Zaidi Mohd Aminuddin, Kamaruzaman Jusoff (2009).The quality of Learning environment and academic performance from a student’s perception. International Journal of Business and Management,. 4 (6), 171 – 175. Morakinyo, A. (2003). Relative efficacy of systematic desensitization. Self Statement monitoring and flooding on subjects test anxiety . Unpublished Ph.D Thesis. University of Ibadan Noordin, Y., Azizi, Y., Jamaludin, R., Shahrin, H.I. Zurihanmi, Z. (2010). The effects of extrinsic motivational factors in learning among students in students in secondary school in Negeri Sembilan. International Journal of Psychological Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, 128-136 Nzewuawah, P.N. (1995). The effects of single parenthood on the academic performance of students. Unpublished M.Ed Project University of Lagos Odebunmi, E.O. (1981). Integrated Science teaching strategies and pupils attitudes to the subject in some selected secondary

schools in Oyo State.Unpublished Master Thesis submitted to University of Ibadan, Ibadan. Ofoegbu, F.I (2004) Teacher Motivation. A factor for classroom effectiveness and school improvement in Nigeria. Gale Group.

Retrived August 15, 2005. from http://www.findarticles.com. Peng, S.S., & Wright, D. (1994). Explanation of academic achievement of Asian – American Students. Journal of Educational Research, 87 (6), 346 – 352. Phillips, M. (1998). Family background, parenting practices, and the black-white test score gap: The black-white test score

gap, Washington, D.C, Brooking Institution Press. Santrock, J.W. (2004). Educational psychology. Boston: Mc Graw Hill Sprinthall, E. (1987). Educational psychology. A Developmental Approach.( 2nd Ed.) New York: Addison, Wesley. Starr. L. (2002). Measuring the effects of Effective Teaching Education World Retrieved October 16, 2005. From www.education-worldcom/a- isues.shtml. Wlodkowski, R.J., & Jaynes, J.H. (1990). Eager to Learn: Helping Children become motivated and love learning. San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.


95

Drug Abuse, Youth Violence and Social Order: A Stud y of Petroleum Hawkers in Minna, Niger State, Nigeria

Usman Isah Ndashiru A .* and Usman Ahmad Karofi **

Abstracts: This paper explored the relationship between the abuse of drug and youth violence in Nigeria. The petroleum hawkers who were almost exclusively males, within the age bracket 15-35 years and with a penchant for violence in the city of Minna, Nigeria , had their activities examined as a reference point for youth violence. The antisocial activities of petroleum hawkers during fuel procurement often threaten peace which has also earned them an identity A multi-stage random sampling procedure was used to select four wards out of eleven that constitute Minna metropolis. A sample of two hundred (200) respondents was selected, however, only 165 were found to be good for analysis after data cleaning, representing 83% of the response rate. Using Pearson Product Moment Correlation, the study found that violence activities among petroleum hawkers were attributable to drug abuse as a result of significant correlation at P≥0.05. The result of regression analysis indicates that poverty (r=8.4) could adequately explain drug abuse and violent activities among petroleum hawkers in the area of this study ,but age(r=0.5) could not. In fact, other factors that propelled hawkers to violence were peer group influence, learning (.456) and gangstarism (.217) which correlated at P≥ 0.01 level of significant.

Introduction

This paper explored the relationship between the use and abuse of drugs and involvement in violent

activities by petroleum hawkers. The petroleum hawkers otherwise known as “black marketers” in

Minna had their activities examined as a particular reference point for youth violence. These hawkers

are young persons, almost exclusively males, who sell petroleum products by road sides at strategic

locations in the city of Minna. The ages of these youth range from 15 to 35 years. The black

marketers constitute a group that has a penchant for violence.

The petroleum hawkers constitute an emergent gang that served as a ready raw material for political

thuggery particularly during election periods. The aggressive nature of these youth is more pronounced

whenever there is fuel scarcity. The anti-social behaviours of these hawkers in the city of Minna have

earned them an identity and from whom peace loving residents try to maintain safe distance. Petroleum

hawkers are also always seen as trouble making people. This paper, therefore, examines the issues of

drug abuse and violence among petroleum hawkers and social order in Minna from the sociological

perspective. The paper is then sub- divided into seven sections. The first section is this introductory

section; the second section contains the literature review, while the third section is where theoretical

framework is dwelt. The forth section contains method employed in data collection, just as result and

discussion are situated in section five, while recommendations and conclusion are in section six .The

reference is in the seventh section.

Literature review

Sociological and criminological literatures are replete with empirical studies that tried to establish

relationship between drug addiction/abuse and crime. The way such relationship was established had

* Federal University of Technology, Department of Mass Communication Technology, Minna- Nigeria. Email: [email protected] ** Department of Sociology, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria. Emails: [email protected] ; [email protected]


96

been as diverse as the researchers. While some authors (for example, Jenny, 1999) felt there exist a

robust relation between drug addiction and crime; others (like Spencer, 2000) revealed that the

association between them was mild.

Barry and Paul (1994) in a study of 268 homicide offenders incarcerated at the New York State

Correctional Center reported that 86 per cent of cases of homicides were alcohol related. In the cases

of combination of alcohol with other substances such as marijuana, 44 percent of the respondents

believed the homicide was a result of the combination (1994:8). Barry and Paul then came up with a

tripartite classification of drug related violence. A ‘psychopharmacological’ violence was that which

results when either the perpetrator or the victim had taken drug. The second one called ‘economic

compulsive’ was that type of violence carried out for economic gains. A good example of this type of

violence was the ones exhibited by youths at Mega Station in Minna during hawkers’ procurement of

petrol to be sold for drugs habit sustenance. The last of the classification was the ‘systematic’

violence. Any murder or violence that occurred out of dispute between or among drug dealers was

termed systematic. This was simply violence within the drug distribution circle or any related situation

(1994:9).

All the studies reviewed above have attempted a linkage between drug use and criminal activities, but

none has made specific attempt to relate addiction with violence. Thus the search for other works

which focus on violent crimes.

Igbinovia, (2003) opined that upsurge of violence and other series of crimes in Nigeria was as a result

of the breakdown of societal ethos and moral values (2003:21). Blau and Blau (1982) believed

violence was attributable to socio-economic inequality in society.”If there is a culture of violence, its

roots are pronounced inequalities (1982:114).

Moreover, Effiom and Effiong (2005) in a study on violent behaviour tendencies among youths with

sample of 350 students in Calabar reported that the social environment played a significant role in

begetting youths who were likely to be violent. The researcher established a significant difference

between school children from barracks and those of non-barracks in terms of violent behaviour. This

was because the calculated T value of 6.12 was greater than the critical T value of 1.96 given 0.5

level of significant. The researchers concluded that children who grew up in violent environment were

likely to be violent later in future (2005:19).

Also, in a study of 252 residents of Lagos on living conditions and urban violence, Ezekiel and

Emmanuel (2008) reported that unemployed youths were the common perpetrators of urban violence.

The research established a strong relationship between incomes, education and participation in any

form of violence. Ezekiel and Emmanuel (2008) focused on living conditions, not drug abuse. The

only strength of the study was the discovery of youths as chief perpetrators of violence. Having

reviewed some relevant literature, the next item is the highlights of a guiding theory.


97

Theoretical framework

The central argument of this theory is that “elements in the structure of society promote deviance by

making deviant behaviour a viable adaptation to living in the society” (Clinard and

Meier,1995:107).The theory further argues that modern societies emphasized certain values such as

education, health, wealth while at the same time limiting access to certain segments of society. Those

blocked to these societal goals are the poor, the lower class in the society. “Anomie is (therefore) the

social condition in which success goals are emphasized much more than the acceptable means by

which to achieve them” (Clinard and Meier,1995:108).”It is,…my central hypothesis that aberrant

behaviour may be regarded sociologically as a symptom of dissociation between culturally prescribed

aspirations and socially structured avenues for realizing these aspirations”(Merton,1969:164).Merton

further argued that:

It is only when a system of cultural values extols, virtually above all else, certain common success-goals for the population at large while the social structure rigorously restricts or completely closes access to approved modes of reaching these goals for a considerable part of the same population, that deviant behavior ensues on a large scale(1969:171).

Since the society cannot provide for all in terms of success goals through legitimate means, others

who could not achieve success through the acceptable ways do so through drug abuse, violence and

distortion of social order.But how do we study the petroleum hawkers in Minna brings us to the issue

of methods

Methods

For the purpose of this research, the existing division of Minna into 11 areas by the Niger State

Independent Electoral Commission (NSIEC) as political wards was used to avoid bias. The presence

of hawkers at different locations within these areas was considered. These wards include Limawa ‘A’,

and ‘B’, Makera, Minna Central and Minna South. Others are Nasarawa ‘A’,’B’ and ‘C’, Sabongari and

Tudun Wada North and South.

The wards were then arranged alphabetically and numbered. From a pre-research survey each ward

had an average of 50 hawkers present. From the frame which had 11 wards, four (4) wards were

selected using a simple random technique. The four wards selected include Limawa ’A’, Makera,

Nasarawa ‘B’ and Tudun Wada South. Four wards were selected because this represents one third of

the entire study population. The figure was adequate for a fair representation of the population which

was one key element of sampling as argued by Carely and Lury (1984) and Blalock and Blalock

(1971).

With an average of 50 petroleum hawkers from each of the selected four wards and taking the said

average, the entire sample size amounted to 200.To administer questionnaire, 50 respondents were

selected randomly. The procedure applied was that “Yes” and “No” were written into 60 places on


98

papers which were kept in a bag for each respondent encountered to select. If he/she selects “yes”,

he/she automatically became a research subject, while a “No” selector was not.

Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient technique was used to establish relationship principally between

drug abuse and youth violence. The randomness of the data and the sample size also occasioned the

choice of Pearson’s technique. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 was

used to analyse the data.

Results and Discussion

Hypothesis Ho1 sought to establish whether higher levels of drug abuse among petroleum hawkers

could be employed to explain their increased involvement in violent activities.

The mean score for drug abuse was 11.08, with a standard deviation of 2.35. The involvement of

petroleum hawkers in violent activities had a mean value of 19.50 and a standard deviation of 4.74.

When Pearson product-moment Correlation was applied to the data, an r value of 0.167 was

observed. The significance value of the test was however 0.032, which was lower than 0.05 (which

was the level of significance employed in this research). This implied that drug abuse and violent

activities by petroleum hawkers were significantly correlated; any apparent relationships could not be

explained as being due to chance alone. The results of this test are presented in Table 1.1 below.

Table 1: Results of Pearson product-moment Correlat ion test for Hypothesis H o1

Experiment

No

Variables Pearson r

Significance

value Inference

Action on

hypothesis X1 X2

1 drug

abuse

involvemen

t in violent

activities

0.167 0.028

Statistically

significant

difference

Reject Ho1;

Accept H A1

Mean value

(standard

deviation)

11.08

(2.35)

19.50

(4.74)

Source: Author’s analysis of research data, (2009)

The positive value observed implied positive linearity between the variables. This suggested that

abuse of drugs by petroleum hawkers would likely be accompanied by higher levels of involvement in

violent activities and vice versa. The very low r value observed implied that the abuse of drugs among

petroleum hawkers and their involvement in violent activities did not appear to be strongly related.

However, drug abuse patterns of petroleum hawkers could be applied to explain up to 2.8% of

variations in the incidences of violent activities involving petroleum hawkers. This result is not

consistent with Jenny (1999) whose study found robust relationship between drug use and violence;

in fact 44 percent of respondents attributed their violent activities to alcohol and other substance use,


99

it is however consistent with studies like Spencer,( 2000) which revealed that the association

between both was mild.

Further, most of the respondents were unemployed (141 or 85.5 %). It was clear from the data that

petroleum hawkers had no steady source of income outside hawking petroleum products. Where

respondents acknowledged of having a second source of income, such sources were only there to

“supplement” the sale of petrol. Apart from ‘elders’ (those in hawking business for upward of 10 years

and have stable family and other apprentices working under them), that hardly complain of their

employment status, most petroleum hawkers complained of their unemployment status. This data

supports Baron (1999) (1997) Inciardi (1979) studies all implicated unemployment as prevalent

among drug users.

Pearson product-moment Correlation, when applied to the data, yielded a negative r value of -0.078

for association between poverty among petroleum hawkers and increased likelihood of their

involvement in drug abuse. In the case of the association between poverty among petroleum hawkers

and increased likelihood of their involvement in violent activities, an r value of -0.288 was observed.

The results of the Multiple Linear Regression included a computed F value of 7.402 and test

significance value of 0.001. These results implied that poverty among petroleum hawkers was

significantly related to their involvement in drug abuse and violent activities.

The respondents also seem to be violent. For instance 104 or 63 percent of respondent reported to

have ever hit and injured someone in the last one year. Though, only 75 or 45.5 percent of the

respondents reported to have ever committed such offence under the influence of alcohol or any

substance of abuse. So their violent acts may be due to other factors but not directly due to drug

abuse.

Gangstarism and learning may be the factors that propelled petroleum hawkers to violence as they

both do not only correlated at .217, but also with violence activities at .456 significant level, precisely

when P≥ 0.01. This current paper reinforces the fact that petroleum hawkers were gangsters whose

violent activities were related to conforming to the sub-cultural norms. It was observed that petroleum

hawkers within areas like Mega station in Tudun Wada ward, Total filling station in Makera ward and

Kpakungu motor park were more violent than others. This was due to the fact that hawkers in these

areas mentioned above live in groups where a lot of learning and imitations take place. In fact,

petroleum hawkers in these areas have stable leadership and attain regular meetings. Campbell and

Muncer’s (1989) study also supports the assertion that peer group influence was a potent factor in

sub-cultural groupings and their delinquent behaviours, which included violence.

Again, the violent activities of the respondents as showed by the data conformed to the type of gang

Fagan (1989) called the entrepreneurial. That is, youth who were concerned with attaining social


100

status by means of money and the things money can buy. Petroleum hawkers can do anything to

ensure the petrol business was not threatened. That is why petroleum hawkers constitute a group

from whom peace loving residents of Minna keep safe distance. Their threat to social order has no

mate as far as the city of Minna is concerned.

Conclusion

The petroleum hawkers are violent in nature and drug abusers as well. However, their violent

activities are directly linked to peer group influence and gangsterism than it is to drug abuse. The

paper has brought to the fore, the issue of petroleum hawkers, not just as a sociological entity with a

penchant for violence, but also as an emergent gang harmonized by business and violence.

References

Blau, J.R and Blau P. M.(1982).The cost of inequality: Metropolitan structure and violent crime. America Sociological Review Vol. 47 No.1 PP 114-129

Barry S and Pual G. (1994). Alcohol and Homicide: Interviews with Prison Inmates in Journal of Drug Issues, Winter/Spring Vol.

24 issue1/2 p 143 – 164. Blalock, H.M. (1972). Social Statistics. New York: McGraw Hill. Campell A. and Muncer S. (1989). Them and Us: A comparison of the cultural context of American Gangs and British

Subcultures in Deviant Behaviour, 10:271-288. Casley, D.J. and Lury, A.A. (1984). Data collection in Developing Countries. Oxford: English Language Book

Society/Clarendon Press. Clinard, M.B and Meier, R.F (1995). Sociology of Deviant Behaviour. Texas:, Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Effiom D. O. and Effiong U. U. (2005). Violent Behavior Teendencies among Post Primary school Youths: A Reflection of the

Social Environment in The Nigeria Academic Forum A Multidisplinary Journal Vol. 8 No 2 May, 2005. Ezekiel A.O. and Emmanuel A. (2008). Economic Reform, Living Condition and Urban Violence: A Situational analysis in NASA

Proceedings of National Conference held at Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto Pp 352 – 371. Fagan, J. (1989). The Social Organization of Drug Use and Drug Dealing Among Urban Gangs. Criminology Vol. 27 No. 4,

1989, pp. 633 – 663. Ibrahim, M (nd). An Empirical Survey of Children and Youth in Organised Armed Violence in Nigeria: Egbesu Boys,

OPC and Bakassi Boys as a Case Study.Abuja:Centre for Democracy and Development Igbinovia, P.E (2003) The Criminal in All of Us Whose Ox Have we not taken. Abuja: National Universities Commission

Inaugural Lectures Series pp. 191 – 278. Inciardi, J.A (1979) .“Heroin Use and Street Crime”, in Crime and Delinquency. Vol. 25, pp. 335 – 345 in Maguire, M.

(Ed)(1996) Street Crime: Dartmouth Sydney. Jenny, C. (1999) “Crime Indicators for Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Criminal Justice and Behaviour September Vol. 25 No. 3 pg.

283. Merton,R.(1969). Social Structure and Anomie. In W.L.Wallace (Ed.) Sociological Theory: An Introduction .London:Heineman

Educational Books Ltd. Spencer, D. (2000). Drug Involvement, Lifestyles, and Criminal Activities among Probationers. Journal of Drug Issues, Summer

2000, Vol. 30 No. 3 p. 593, 27p.


101

A Socio-economic Study of Informal Sector Workers of Dhaka City

Md. Nazmul Alam *

Abstract: Informal sector is a very important area of the economy for any developing country; it is a growing occupational sector for the less skilled people, living both in urban and rural areas. Considerable amount of employment are ensured by this sector. What is specific to the informal economy is the absence of rights and social protection of the workers involved in it. Living in extensive poverty; exploited, with no place to go for protection; lacking access to basic social services; no basic safety conditions at work; holding little or no hope that life can be better; struggling on a daily basis just to survive, they are street vendors, wage labourers working in small enterprises on a regular, casual or contract basis; unpaid workers including family workers and apprentices, home-workers, paid domestic workers and more; and a smaller number are the owners of tiny enterprises. This study concentrates on the workers and their work life and living standards.

Introduction

When the rural migrants and urban dwellers are not provided enough job opportunities by the modern

sector, they find employment in small scale, micro level production and distribution of goods and

services in the informal sector. According to the ILO (1998: June), the informal sector consists of

“small scale, self employed activities, mostly at a low level of organization and technology with the

primary objective of generating employment and incomes”. These activities are usually conducted

without proper recognition from the authorities and escape the attention of the administrative

machinery responsible for enforcing laws and regulations.

Kith Hart’s (1973) introduced the terminology “informal sector”, based on a research in a low-income

neighborhood in Ghana. Hart argued that informal sector provided a wide range of low cost, labor

intensive, competitive goods and services and recommended that the Kenyan government should

promote the informal sector (ILO, 1972: 223-32). Kabra (1995), noted thirty terms including the

survival sector, non-structured sector, and transitional activities which have been and/or are currently

used to describe the informal sector. Amin (2002), compiled several terms which have been used to

represent the informal sector/economy by different authors. Despite the heterogeneity of the informal

economy, workers of the informal sector can be grouped into several basic employment categories, (i)

Employer (ii) Self-employed and (iii) wage workers (Chan, 2005:20)

In 2003, the International Conference of Labour Statisticians adopted guidelines to expand the

definition to include informal employment. Under the new definition, the informal economy is seen as

comprised of all forms of “informal employment” – that is, employment without formal contracts (i.e.,

covered by labour legislation), worker benefits or social protection – both inside and outside informal

enterprises (Chan, 2005:23).

* Senior Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, HIV and AIDS Programme, ICDDRB. [email protected]


102

There are many debates about the definition & characteristics of the informal sector. Bryan Roberts

(1976) observes two characteristics signifying to the informal activities.

• They are labor intensive;

• They avoid formal state supervision and regulation.

These two characteristics combine to reduce substantially the input costs of goods and services,

thereby cheapening the price of the outputs. Long and strenuous hours contributed by the individual

owner, by unpaid kin and others, absence of state supervision and regulation, greater ease in

avoiding taxation, avoiding rigidities of labor legislation, rare payment of official minimum wage and

inadequate access to health insurance, unemployment compensation, and old age pension1

characterize the sector.

Methodology of the Study

In consonance with the conceptual framework, an in-depth interview schedule was constructed to

collect data from the primary sources. In acquiring the accurate story of the relevant cases a checklist

was also made as a technique of data collection. Empirical data were collected from field study. This

study was conducted in various areas of Dhaka city, where there is an existence of informal sector.

The main focuses of this study are the condition of the workers of the informal sector and their life and

working condition. Target groups for this study were selected based on the following criteria:

(1) Age of the young worker and for the adult worker the entering age in the job.

(2) Workers in various workstations, which are mainly unregulated, family owned, unregistered

and unaware of their rights.

(3) workers who are vulnerable and do not have any kind of facilities such as job security,

training, hazards insurance, retirement pension etc

(4) Workers who lack formal/institutional skill and knowledge\education to be able to enter in a

formal job market.

(5) Socio-economic background of the Workers (lack of education, low social and economical

status).

Mixed methodology has been used in this study. Sampling and case study methods have been

pursued to collect the data from the field. The study has used a purposive random sampling. Mixed

instrument has been used for identifying problems in this study. These include questionnaire, case-

study methods and In-depth interviews. A total of 154 samples were drawn from six different areas of

Dhaka city, these samples were drawn from six different types of occupation sectors.

Socio-economic characteristics of workers in the In formal sectors in Dhaka city

Workers in the informal economy are the workers of unregulated and unprotected sector – by far the

majority of all workers in the world. Because they lack protection, rights and representation, they

1 http://www.gdrc.org/informal/1is_characteristics.html


remain trapped in poverty; the protection of workers in the formal economy is threatened under the

impact of global deregulation, even while the workers in

global production and marketing chains.

Most of the informal sector workers are very young. The study found

to 6-18 age group and among them

a common phenomenon for the workers of informal sectors

force by the respondents is 9 years

Figure

As a result of joining at an early age, the level

shows 39 percent of the respondents have no education

education and only 6 percent

education is the reason of not getting a better job. As

necessary educational requirements to get a job in the formal sector.

the reason of not going to school and

their family another 22 answered

workers to join at an early age in the informal sector

lone reason drop outs take place in the education system.

the family interest another 18 percent

There is always the question, is the wage of the informal sector enough? The answer is “NO”. Income

levels are very low and they almost live hand to mouth. In most situations, workers get less then

minimum wages, specially the apprentices

not receive any wage. The average income of the workers in the

average monthly savings are Taka

of the workers is not always enough to provide meals but they manage it somehow by living

marginally. Thirty-nine percent repo



impact of global deregulation, even while the workers in the informal economy remain integrated into

global production and marketing chains.

Most of the informal sector workers are very young. The study found, 52 percent

group and among them 35 percent are 6-13 years of age. Joining at a very early stage is

a common phenomenon for the workers of informal sectors. The average age of joining

9 years .

Figure 1: Joining age in the work force

As a result of joining at an early age, the level of education is very low for the informal workers; data

of the respondents have no education at all while 28 percent

only 6 percent reported that they attend secondary level of education.

s the reason of not getting a better job. As 26 percent reported, they do not have the

necessary educational requirements to get a job in the formal sector. The workers were asked about

the reason of not going to school and 35 percent responded said that they needed

22 answered that their parents did not send them to school. The main cause for

workers to join at an early age in the informal sector was to support their family income (

ts take place in the education system. About 21 percent start

18 percent did not have any primary earner.

s the wage of the informal sector enough? The answer is “NO”. Income

evels are very low and they almost live hand to mouth. In most situations, workers get less then

minimum wages, specially the apprentices who work long hours alongside the adult workers but do

not receive any wage. The average income of the workers in the informal sector is

aka 165 only. With an average family member of 5


percent reported that they take loan from their relatives very often.

56%

29% 9%6% Age 6-9

Age 10-13Age 14-17

103


the informal economy remain integrated into

, 52 percent workers belonging

ing at a very early stage is

verage age of joining the labour

of education is very low for the informal workers; data

28 percent attended primary

they attend secondary level of education. Lack of

reported, they do not have the

The workers were asked about

ed to work to support

their parents did not send them to school. The main cause for

to support their family income (30%), for this

started working to serve

s the wage of the informal sector enough? The answer is “NO”. Income

evels are very low and they almost live hand to mouth. In most situations, workers get less then

work long hours alongside the adult workers but do

informal sector is Taka 2639 and

5 people, the income


rted that they take loan from their relatives very often.


104

Figure 2: Income and savings of the respondents

Low income and savings associate with the burden of hard work in the life of the informal sectors

worker. The study found in most cases they have to work 10+ hours (58.4%) each and every day, 46

percent has reported that they work almost 7 days a week, they get only half a day as holiday. If the

pressure of work is too much or during business season, then there is no holiday2. They only have the

opportunities of governmental holidays, however holidays and vacation mainly depends on the

temperament of the employer or the owner.

There is no formal training facilities for the workers, 82% claimed that they were trained as

apprentices. None of the respondents in this study ever had any governmental or private institutional

training (except two car workshop owners). The apprenticeship period in the informal sector is very

important in order to gain skill and experience. Endurance of most apprenticeships depends on the

employer and the ability of the apprentice. Faster an apprentice learns, the sooner he promotes

himself as a paid worker.

This study found that most workers have to spent 5-7 years as an apprentice (34%). The minimum

period of apprenticeship is 2-3 years. Another common fact, the appointment system in the informal

sector is not official. There is no formal contract system, all contracts are based on verbal (informal) or

kinship based. Also advance payment sometime becomes the indicator of an ensured job. Due to

informal contract system informal sector is an easy entry for the young and underage workers.

Respondents were asked the reason for employing children and 47 percent answered that they are

obedient workers and work for less or no money. Twenty-three percent reported that they employ

young children because parents make the request.

In general the study found that workers in the informal sector have no training, no safety precaution.

They do not get the needed holidays and have to work 10-12 hours every day. The workers of the

2 For the car workshop and welding workshop almost every month is business season. They only get half holidays in Fridays.

23

9 20 11

17 21

1

19

2

9

10

1

1

9

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

No savings

<100

100-250

251-500

500+

no income <1000 1000-2500 2501-5500 5501-7500 7501-10000 10000+


105

informal sector are the most exploited and they are not in a position of enjoying any decent work

condition.

In terms of the occupational hardship, the workers of the informal sector face all kinds of hardships in

their daily life. Low wage, limited occupational mobility, no job insurance, no pensions or medical

support for the benefit of the workers. They are the most vulnerable segment of the working society.

For a better living, most of the respondents (74%) wishes to go abroad for a better life, 14% wishes to

start their own business.

The Living Standard Index (LSI)3 shows the hardships of the workers’ day to day life. The study found,

only 9 percent respondents with the high living standard.

Figure 3: Living standards and occupation category of the respondents

As the government and the labour rights do not affect the informal sectors, the workers also do not

get much deserved facilities which are present in the formal sector. The study showed that only 15

percent respondents were aware of some rights. A worker in the informal sector knows about the

trade union and labour rights but they are not in any position of getting those facilities from their

owner.

Informal sector workers do not have any decent work4. This study follows the seven dimensions of

indicators for the measurement of decent work5; (i) Labour market security, (ii) Employment security

(iii) Job security (iv) Work security (v) Skill reproduction security (vi) Income security (vii)

Representation security.

3 LSI indicates the quality of living standards of the people. It measures the livening standards. LSI is based on several indicators; education, income, savings, groceries purchasing facilities, frequency of meal taking, food satisfaction, medical treatment facilities, necessary facilities and utensils. For the construction of the index, fixed values have been assigned for each of these indicators. 4 The concept of “Decent Work” was defined in terms of four major pillars: Basic labour rights, Employment rights, Social protection and Social dialogue. (Director-General’s Report: ILO, 1999). 5 Anker, R, I Chernyshev, P Egger, F Mehran and J Ritter (2002): “Measuring Decent Work with Statistical Indicators”, International Labour Office, Geneva

7 85

14

7

1

11

63

14 15

4

12

19

3 3

19

1 2

0

5

10

15

20

Low (0-23) Medium (24-35) High ( 35+)

Car workshop Engineer workshop Welding

Scavenging Transport helper Street vender

Footware Industry Battery recharge workshop


Figure

The study found, 54 percent respondents have low level of decent work dimension score. Only

percent respondents have high level of decent work indicators. These decent work indicators are not

only necessary for the adult workers; it is applicable for young and child workers too. However, the

study found that child workers are in the lowest segment that

Moreover, the worker of the informal sector not only works in unsafe, hazardous environment, but

they also do not get any medical treatment

Seventy-eight percent Interviewed respondents complained that if they face an occupational hazard

the owner only provides them first aid, after that they have to bear the expenses of treatment by

themselves. Sometimes severe accident puts a worker out of duty for several weeks, becau

which a worker may lose his job.

This phenomenon is also responsible brining

that they were forced to enter the labour force because the primary earner had an accident. When

medical attention is required

pharmacy/pharmacist, 18 percent goes to charity hospitals and 16 percent attend government

hospitals. Shockingly, almost 35 percent

doctors.

Figure 5

7.1

16.2

2.6

13.6

14.3

1.9

5.8

11

5.8

3.24

Labour market security

Employment security

Income security

Work security

Skill generation security

Legal security


Figure 4: Decent work dimension level

respondents have low level of decent work dimension score. Only

respondents have high level of decent work indicators. These decent work indicators are not


study found that child workers are in the lowest segment that has low level of decent work index.


they also do not get any medical treatment other than getting some compensat

iewed respondents complained that if they face an occupational hazard

them first aid, after that they have to bear the expenses of treatment by

themselves. Sometimes severe accident puts a worker out of duty for several weeks, becau

his job.

This phenomenon is also responsible brining in the notion of child labour as 39% respondents

they were forced to enter the labour force because the primary earner had an accident. When

required, 24 percent responded reported that they go to local

, 18 percent goes to charity hospitals and 16 percent attend government

35 percent go to traditional healers like hekimi,

Figure 5 : unsafe working environment

46.1

72.7

38.3

57.8

46.1

90.9

31.8

24.7

27.9

22.7

36.4

16.2

22.7

13.6

14.3

9%

19%

37%

35%

No propr training

No proper medical treatment

No protection gear

No measure to prevent accident

106

respondents have low level of decent work dimension score. Only 5

respondents have high level of decent work indicators. These decent work indicators are not


has low level of decent work index.


compensation for accidents.

iewed respondents complained that if they face an occupational hazard

them first aid, after that they have to bear the expenses of treatment by

themselves. Sometimes severe accident puts a worker out of duty for several weeks, because of

39% respondents said

they were forced to enter the labour force because the primary earner had an accident. When

responded reported that they go to local

, 18 percent goes to charity hospitals and 16 percent attend government

, kabiraji or footpath

90.9

High

Medium

Low

Very low

No propr training

No proper medical

No protection gear

No measure to prevent accident


107

About accommodation pattern, 68 percent reported to live in rented house among them 55 percent

are semi pacca (walls are made of brick, roof is tin shed), 22 percent live in sublet houses, among

which 51 percent live in tin shed (roof and walls) houses. Only 2 respondents reported that they live in

their own houses.

Conclusion

The study has presented clearly, the condition of the respondents in the informal sector. It can be

concluded that the workers in the informal sector do not enjoy a better life. They lack all the

opportunities and facilities a better life can offer. Most workers in the informal economy work in

precarious and unsafe conditions, without sanitary facilities, potable water or proper waste disposal.

Every year, more than 2 million people die of work-related accidents and diseases. In many

developing countries, death rates among workers are five to six times those in industrialized

countries. More than 160 million workers fall ill each year as a result of workplace hazards. The

poorest and least protected – often women, children and migrants – are among the most affected.

In work they are abused, exploited, in life they are burdened, they have no pension scheme, no

retirement policy, no accident insurance, not even a simple formal contract. With the verbal, informal

contract and massive supply of labour, there is always a chance of losing the precious job. It is true

that the informal economy/sector is the life line for the urban poor and those with less or no skill, but

the condition the workers work in is not very comfortable. They lack many of their fundamental rights.

Still they can live their lives with the help of informal sector. The informal economy embraces a

multitude of dispersed operational units and activities. Key differences between the formal and

informal economy can be traced form the letter of appointment, working hours, wage rate and

availability of legal provisions. In the informal economy, people work based on verbal contract without

a letter of appointment. Workers of the formal economy have fixed wage rate and fixed working hours

where as informal economy has uncertain wage rate and uncertain working hours. Non-existent or

poor level of legal protection in the informal economy increases the probability of exploitation of the

worker.

Reference:

Amin, A.T.M.N (2002), “The Informal Sector in Asia from the Decent Work Perspective”, Employment Paper, ILO, Geneva Anker, R, I Chernyshev, P Egger, F Mehran and J Ritter (2002): ‘Measuring Decent Work with Statistical Indicators’. working paper. 02 Policy Integration Department, Statistical Development and Analysis Group, International Labour Office, Geneva Blunch, N. H, Sudharshan Canagarajah , Dhushyanth Raju (2001) , “The Informal Sector Revisited: A Synthesis across Space and Time “, Social Protection Unit , Human Development Network , The World Bank. Carr, M. and M.A. Chen (2002) “Globalization and the informal economy: how global trade and investment impact on the working poor,” ILO Employment Sector Working Paper on the Informal Economy, No.2002/1. Chen, A. M. (2005), “Rethinking the Informal Economy: Linkages with the Formal Economy and the Formal Regulatory Environment”, EGDI and UNU-WIDER, Research Paper No. 2005/10 Hart, K. (1971), “Informal Income Opportunities and Urban Employment in Ghana”, in: R.Jolly et al. (eds.): Third World Employment: Problems and Strategy, Harmondsworth: Penguin.


108

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc90/pdf/rep-vi.pdf. ILO (2002) “Decent work and the informal economy,” Report VI, International Labor Conference, 65th session, Geneva, Thomas, jim (2002) “Decent work in informal sector: Latin America” Employment Paper, ILO, Geneva. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, Statistical Yearbook 2001, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, Report on Child Labour survey 2002-2003 , Dhaka, Bangladesh. Morshad, S.M “Child labour: Bangladesh scenario”, Labour, BILS, July-Sep’ 99 V.6, 2nd year, 3rd issue. Karmakar, R (1994), “Child workers in informal sector, A Dhaka city scenario”, Radda Bernan, Save the children Sweden, Dhaka, Bangladesh.


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