Causes and Consequences of Sexual Abuse and Resilience Factors in Housemaids Working in Addis Ababa: A Qualitative Inquiry
Abstract
This study explored the resilience of sexually abused female housemaids in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The study employed exploratory qualitative methods, using in-depth and key informant interviews to collect data. The participants were one broker, one counselor, and eight purposively selected housemaids who were young, single female migrants with impoverished family backgrounds. Among the eight study participants, four experienced rape, one faced attempted rape, and the remaining three had their private body parts touched without their consent. Contexts that enhanced possibilities of sexual abuses, as expressed by respondents, include drinking of perpetuators, absence of wives from the home, lack of well-defined boundaries to the sector, and tricked with false promises. As a result, study participants faced emotional disturbance, distrust, hopelessness, job insecurity, unsafe abortion, unwanted pregnancy, and contracted HIV. The major strategies used by sexually abused housemaids to become resilient identified were normalizing the problem, disclosing, religious coping, personal values, and setting positive life goals. The study calls for service providers, professionals, policy makers, and legal agencies to recognize the issue of sexually abuse in housemaids as fertile ground for intervention research and practice.References
Abiy, K. (2002, April). Ethiopian child domestic workers in Addis Ababa: A rapid assessment. Paper presented at the meeting of International Labor Organization, Geneva.
Addisu, F. (2001). Domestic labor: The problems of rural female domestic servants in Danga Woreda, Awi Zone. Addis Ababa University: School of Gender Studies, Unpublished Thesis.
Ahmed, S. (2007). Post-traumatic stress disorder, resilience and vulnerability. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 13, 369-375.
Amnesty International. (2006). Indonesia, exploitation and abuse: The plight of women domestic workers. Retrieved on August 19, 2008, http://web.amnesty.org.
Anderson, B. (2000). Doing the dirty work? The global politics of domestic labor. London and New York: Zed Books.
Charney, D.S. (2004). Psychobiological mechanisms of resilience and vulnerability: Implications for successful adaptation to extreme stress. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 195–216.
Dumont, M., & Provost, A. (1999). Resilience in adolescents: Protective role of social support, coping strategies, self-esteem, and social activities on experience of stress and depression. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 28 (3), 343-363.
Endeshaw,Y., Gebeyehu , M., & Reta, B. (2008, March). Assessment of trafficking in women and children in and from Ethiopia, International Organization for Migration.
Ethiopian Civil Code, XVI, Proc. 42/1993, Art. 3(1).
Faith, H., David, V., Mark, D., Jean, M., & Matsolan, A. (2008). Resilience in sexually abused women: Risk and protective factors. Journal of Family, 23, 81-88.
Gunnestad, A. (2003). Resilience: A new approach to children at risk in Southern African situation. In A. Gunnestad (Ed.), Children’s rights in early childhood education. (pp. 235-242). Trondheim: Queen Maud’s College.
International Labor Organization. (2000). ABC of women workers' rights and gender equality (ISBN 92-2-110844-9.SFR20). Report V, International Labor Conference, 89th Session, ILO, Geneva.
International Labor Organization. (2002). Decent work and the informal economy, Report VI, International Labour Conference, 90th Session, ILO, Geneva.
Kifle,A. (2002, July) Ethiopia, Child Domestic Workers in Addis Ababa: A Rapid Assessment, International Labour Organization.
Leather, P., & Lawrence, C. (1999). The social psychology of violence and aggression in workrelated violence: Assessment and intervention. London: Rutledge.
Lyon, E. (2002). Welfare and Domestic Violence Against Women: Lessons from Research. The National Online Resource Center on Violence against Women (VAWnet). Applied Research Forum.
Meyer, J. (2000). Summaries of the root causes of sexual assault. Retrieved on May 3, 2009 from www.ecasa.Org.
Moors, A. (2003). Migrant domestic labor: Trans-nationalism, identity politics and family relations. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 45 (2), 386-395.
Motesi, M. (1990). The best kept secret: Violence against domestic workers. South Africa: Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation.
Netsanet, F. (1999). Sexual harassment against women: The law and practice in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa University: Law Facility, Unpublished.
Niaz, U. (2006). Role of faith and resilience in recovery from psycho-trauma. Pak Journal of Medicine Scientific Learning, 22 (2), 204 – 207.
Ondimu, K. (2007). Workplace violence among domestic workers in urban households in Kenya: A case of Nairobi city. East Africa Social Science Research Review, 23 (1), 38-61.
Original, W., Emebet, K., & Mellese, D. (2004). Violence against women in Addis Ababa. Berchi: The Annual Journal of Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association, 5, 104-145.
Ramirez-Machado, J. (2003). Domestic work, conditions of work and employment: A legal perspective. Paper presented on a meeting in International Labor Office. Geneva.
Richard, M., & Grinnell, J. (1997). Social work research and evaluation: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Itasca, IL: F.E. Peacock.
Ritchie, J., & Lewis, J. (Eds.). (2003). Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students and researchers. New York: Sage.
Rutter, M. (1990). Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. In J. Rolf & A.S. Masten, (Eds.). Risk and protective factors in the development of psychopathology. (pp. 70-88). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Saleebey, D. (2000). Power in the people: Strengths and hope. Advances in Social Work, 1(2), 127-136.
Selamawit, T. (2007). Denial of rights, human rights abuses and violence against domestic workers in some selected areas of Addis Ababa. Thesis at Addis Ababa University: School of Gender Studies, Unpublished.
Tomasevski, K. (1993). Women and human rights. New Jersey: Zed Books Ltd.
Ullman, E., & Brecklin, R. (2003). Sexual assault history and health-related outcomes in a national sample of women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 27(1), 46-57.
Ubido J., & Scott-Samuel, A. (2011). Populations at risk of mental health problems amongst working age adults. Merseyside Mental Health Needs Assessment. Liverpool Public Health Observatory. Observatory report series number 86.
United Nation Development Fund for Women. (2005). Facts and figures: Sexual violence in non conflict situations. Retrieved on March 3, 2009 from, www.unifem.org/campaigns/november25/facts_figures_3.php.
West, M. (2006). Sexual violence in the lives of African American women: Risk, response and resilience. The National Online Resource Center on Violence against Women (VAWnet). Applied Research Forum.
World Health Organization. (2004). Women‘s rape and sexual abuse. Retrieved on March 3, 2009, from www.who.int/ violence injury prevention
World Health Organization. (2005). WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence against women: Summary report of initial results on prevalence, health outcomes and women’s responses. Geneva, World Health Organization.
Copyright (c) 2018 Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) after publication in EJSS.
