Submission ID 118295
| Issue/Objective | Family violence drives millions of young people globally to life on the streets, many of whom have- and raise children in the streets. In Kenya, family violence is exacerbated by street life and underpinned by gender inequities. Parenting programs that engage men can challenge harmful gender norms and reduce family violence. To co-create a parenting program with and for parents in street situations to reduce violence and enhance family health and wellbeing, this community-based participatory action research sought to first understand the gendered parenting practices, experiences, and aspirations of fathers and mothers in street situations in Eldoret, Kenya. |
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| Methodology/Approach | With leadership from a Parent Advisory Group, Steering Committee, and field research team with lived experience in the streets, in-depth interviews and demographic surveys were conducted with 20 mothers and 20 fathers in street situations. Data was analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis alongside a participatory co-analysis involving three co-analysis workshops with the Parent Advisory Group (n=10) and one with community stakeholders (n=28). Gender Structure Theory helped situate community-driven findings within the interplay of gender, parenting, and structural disadvantage. |
| Results | Parenthood was considered a transformational pathway to 'a better life', for reasons that differed by gender. Entry into parenthood was perceived as a survival mechanism offering social and economic protection (mothers), a transformation to adulthood (fathers), and a source of identity and respect amidst social exclusion and disenfranchisement (both). Parenting practices followed socially prescribed gender roles underpinned by extreme poverty and the pursuit of survival, however some fathers and mothers traversed these gendered responsibilities, demonstrating resistance to a harmful gendered order. Parenting practices were largely driven by the aspiration to provide their children a better life than they have lived, and participants believed that parenting support for both fathers and mothers would help them achieve this end. |
| Discussion/Conclusion | Co-creating parenting support with and for parents in street situations in Kenya may disrupt the gender order that maintains and perpetuates gender inequity underpinning family violence in alignment with parents' goals. However, parenting support must not be at the expense of women's safety and autonomy, nor in isolation of structural changes (e.g., housing, human rights protections). |
| Presenters and affiliations | Kathleen Murphy University of Oxford Sheila Kirwa Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare Reuben Kiptui Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare Frances Gardner University of Oxford Jamie Lachman University of Oxford |
