PATRIARCHY IN FAMILY CARE- GIVING: EXPERIENCES OF FAMILIES OF CHILDREN WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

Objective: To know the effects of children with intellectual disability (ID) on
families in Pakistan with special focus on the experiences of mothers living in
nuclear and joint families.
Methodology: This was qualitative study in which qualitative methods were
employed for this study. Data was collected from parents and family mem-bers of children with intellectually disability. Participants from the diverse
socio-economic features were selected from the three rehabilitation centres
for children with intellectual and physical disability in Peshawar and Haripur
districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. A total of 58 respondents were in-terviewed including 30 in-depth individual interviews (IDIs) with parents hav -ing children with ID and 4 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with a total of 28
parents (7 participants in each FGD). Both mothers and fathers participated in
this study for ensuring equal gender ratio.
Results: Women in the families were suffering more as compare to men due
to socially assigned role of primary care of the children. Women were facing
social exclusion, stress/ fatigue due to role strain, rejection in the form of
family breakdown and work-family conflict due to gender imbalance in role
performances. Moreover, families were also prone to displacements and so-cial hazards like beggary, child labour and drop out of normal female children
from schools due poor institutional role in child support and rehabilitation.
Conclusion: Patriarchy promotes uneven distribution of roles for men and
women in the families having children with ID which causes more agonies
for mothers and other female members of the house as compared to male
members of the family.