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Findings from the research
Timor Leste 2009-2011
University of New South Wales and Alola Foundation
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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
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Participants had an average of 5.6children
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Our data show that of thosewho were angry in 2004,
around 60% remained angry
and 40% recovered by 2010.
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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".
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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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