harmonia Iha famalia

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Findings from the research

Timor Leste 2009-2011

University of New South Wales and Alola Foundation



Acknowledgements

y The women of Timor Leste, particularly those whocontributed to this study

y The agencies and services that support women and theirfamilies

y The Minister Dr Martins and the Ministry of Healthy Alola Foundation, Teresa Verdial, Angelina Fernandez,

Elisa Savio, Natalino Tam, Zulmira Fonseca, Veronica

Correia, Antonio Pinto, Lazaro Lelan Sila.y UNSW and Australian Research Council (ARC) team:y Derrick Silove, Susan Rees, Rosamund Thorpe and

Anthony Zwi, Kuowei Tay



y

The Harmonia Iha Famalia project wasdeveloped by the Psychiatry Researchand Teaching Unit (PRTU), University

of New South Wales, and the AlolaFoundation, Timor Leste, to explorethe causes and manifestations of a high

level of anger identified amongst women (Silove et al., 2009).



Objectivesy A key objective of the study was to identify

and document the social and psychological

factors that placed women at risk of anger,and the effects of anger on the wellbeing of

women and their families.

yThe study was guided by a theory in whichthe effects of trauma and injustice can bemade worse by contemporary hardships.



Traumas aff ecting womeny Women were targeted by the Indonesian

army in order to undermine and destabilise

the resistance movement, as well as todamage family relationships and theTimorese society.

ySince independence domestic violence hascontinued to be a widespread form of

trauma and violence.



Methodologyy A mixed method approach (predominantly

qualitative) was used. We recruited women

from the existing epidemiological data basefrom our 2004 survey (the East TimorMental Health Epidemiological Needs

Survey - ETMHENS).y We used in-depth qualitative interviews

y A measure for anger

y A measure for depression



SampleyFrom the database of 664 women

participants, 177 were identified ashaving explosive anger at baseline(Silove et al 2009). We interviewed

63 women with anger and 13 women without anger at baseline.



Sampley 76 participants

y 42 women from rural Hera

y

34 from urban Becora.y The age ranges were: 21-30 years (31.2%), 31-40

years (22.1%), 41-50 years (22.1%) and 51 years andover (24.7%).

y Over 80% were married, and 15% were widowed.85% of the women did not receive an incomeand/or were involved in subsistence farming. Theremaining 15% were involved in small business or

farming for income to support the family.



Representativenessy The study is undertaken in Hera and Becora.

y Representativeness is most important for studies

reporting on prevalence and not so relevant forqualitative studies exploring contextual factors andtheir relationships.

y The key factors identified by women are common anduniversal, that is, they are found throughout Timor

Leste.y As a qualitative study this indicates that we have

attained a transferable study, and the findings arerelevant toTimor Leste.



Participants had an average of 5.6children



Our data show that of thosewho were angry in 2004,

around 60% remained angry

and 40% recovered by 2010.



AngeryOf those who were angry in 2004, around

60% remained angry and 40% recovered.

y Anger was seen as a significant problem by the majority of women who identifiedexperiencing this problem.

y Anger affects women on a spectrum, with asmall number 4-6% having very severeanger.



Severe pathological

Anger attacks,including violenceagainst others and

damage to property.

Pervasive feelingsof anger causing

significantpersonal and/orfamily problems

Frustration andresentmentcausing no

significant harmor disability



Connected meta-themesy Poverty and adversity.

y Domestic violence, spousal relationship

problems, alcohol and patriarchy.y Persecution, trauma, loss of family members and

feelings of injustice

y Socio-economic development, education and employment for women.

y Children, parenting problems and coping with theburden of too many children.

y Problems accessing health services



Employment

y We identified the factors that helped women who had

recovered from experiencing anger.y One of the central factors helping women recover was

income generation.

y In this presentation we are focusing on the

relationship between work and mental wellbeing, astrong theme from our study.



Employmenty Unemployment was a major issue that women identified as

a cause for anger.

y Many husbands were unemployed and more pressure wason women to find income.

y Without adequate income women could not provide for the

family .

y There was not enough food or the means to send childrento school



Income, anger and violencey Women were at risk of conflict and violence as a result

of household income pressure that is, not enough

money for food.

y This contributes to the risks of living in patriarchalsocieties where women are blamed if the household is

not managed in a way the husband and family think itshould be.



Poverty and raising a familyy A dominant theme related to women's

experience of anger was the hardshipassociated with managing the burdenof raising a family and maintainingtheir marriage in conditions of extremepoverty.



Food, clothing and unemploymenty An important factor leading to anger was

the general burden of work that fell on

women in a context where there wasinadequate income, including insufficientaccess to food and clothing.



A participant explained:y "Generally women are angry because we have a

lot of house work. We have a lot of children butwe dont have enough to support them. My youngest son stopped his study since last year because no money to buy shoes and uniform.He was very angry at me and my husband including all my brothers. I dont know when he

can go to school again. What I know aboutanger in families in East Timor is that fightingbetween husband and wife is because of dealingwith many children and daily needs."



Lia

yLia was commonly cited as a problembecause financial and resource stressmeant that Lia was unaffordable. Insome cases families were borrowing togive Lia, providing an additionalpressure to pay back the loan.



Domestic violencey Domestic violence and relationship problems were identified as causes for women's anger.Poverty was widely reported as exacerbatingrelationship stress.

y A risk factor is traditional patriarchal attitudesin society where women are expected to meetthe needs of men, including providing food

under severely restrictive economic conditions.y A combination of traditional values and

poverty is placing women at risk of domestic violence.



Traditional views and violence

against womeny A participant highlighted the connection

between men's anger and the role expectationsof women, resulting in domestic violence.

y " Men are sometimes angry because before or after work there is not enough food or drinkslike coffee prepared for them. When he comesback home from work he feels tired and sees alot of mess at home and this makes him angry,talking a lot and treating the wife badly".



Educationy Most of the women involved in our study were

unemployed, illiterate or semi-literate and had not

attended secondary school. A participant emphasisedthe limitations for women if they are illiterate, and theconnection with feelings of anger:

y "I feel angry and thinking too much because life is very

hard here. I am getting bored staying at home all thetime, nothing to do but in my heart I have to acceptthis condition as a result of an illiterate person."



Unemployment and Angery "I think anger problem mostly happens to

men and women who do not have a job. But

in this village there is no existing program tomake people reduce their anger."



The reality f or womeny Many women felt that the daily demands on

them to support the family prevented theirparticipation in education, employment ordevelopment.

y A participant said " A lot of women now are in parliament, but I myself didnt feel like involvingin the development of this country because I have no job. We know nothing about the process of development in East Timor becausewe are busy finding ways to survive our family."



Employment and povertyy If women have access to income they can reduce

poverty, care adequately for their children and can

improve their capacity to engage in the development of the country .

y Our study indicates that income for women is centralto womens empowerment, to their safety and

psychological wellbeing.y Women in our study identified the problems or

challenges with them gaining education andemployment



Barriers to income generation f or

womeny Not being able to pay back small loans for business

y No programs available to assist women into work

y Not being able to access existing programs because of lack of child care

y Not being able to access programs because of lack of support from husbands

y Not being able to access programs because of the needto focus exclusively on the household and particularly being able to feed the family.



Social and economic factors in

mental health contextyThe study indicated that anger amongst the

majority of affected women could be

alleviated by addressing important socialand economic factors.

y Attention by policy makers and relevantagencies to alleviate poverty-related

pressures at the household level is required to address the problem of anger amongstwomen in Timor Leste.



In summary:yP overty, the burden of the household and

the risk of anger disorder can be reduced

for women by supporting womens role inthe labour market, and mens role inhousehold chores and childcare.P rogrammes for changing gender roles to

facilitate gender equality are essential toimproving the lives of women and children(Bedford and Jakobsen 2008).



We have identif ied some pro jects relevant

to women, income and development

Literacy programs

Womensrights withrespect toproperty

ownership,labour code,

traditionsand

customs

Community LearningCentres

Womens Working

Centre

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