How can we create harmonious families without domestic violence?

This month’s inequality question focused on the question: “How can we create harmonious families without domestic violence?”

We received over 100 responses and the discussion was viewed more than 340 times!

The children we support in Uganda were just as excited as ever to lead the discussion with friends all over the world.

There were some recurring themes such as education on violence, harsher punishments, and mutual respect for different family members.

Let’s have a look at some of the comments…

Some people thought we should focus more on the law and education to deter people from violence…

• “Strong laws against those carrying out violence and also education on how to be a good parent/partner” – Joanne, UK
• “Family education on how to be a good family for those who are struggling” – Woodhaven School, UK
• “Perpetrators of violence should be punished. Any person who is violent against another person should be punished severely so that he/she learns from that.” – Alfred, Uganda

Many people wanted to focus on changing the way families interact with each other…

• “I think a lot comes down to learning empathy. If we learn to think of others and put ourselves in their shoes we are less likely to blame and get angry at them. It’s not easy as a lot of domestic violence is hidden. So it needs education in school, the community and through the media to encourage people to seek support and talk about what is happening within their family.” – Nicola, UK
• “Using affirmative words at home. Avoiding harsh and negative words when creating positive discipline.” – Odongo, Uganda
• “Acknowledging each other’s talents and abilities as well as differences. Brothers and sisters are different in all aspects, they need to respect each other in all their divergent nature” – Joseph, Uganda
• “Maintaining a loving relationship between parents. Parents are role models to their children. Children emulate what they see their parents do. If children grow up in violent families seeing their parents beating one another they are more likely to do the same when they grow up. But if they grow up seeing love between their parents, they uphold the same values when they grow up.” – Muteto, Uganda

Other interesting comments discussed structural reasons behind why domestic violence occurs…

• “We need to look at the power relationships in our communities. Globally power held by a few people who in the majority are men. They want to keep hold of this power by any means necessary such as exploiting workers, starting wars, keeping the wealth for themselves. We need to change this by learning how to share power and wealth to benefit everyone. We need to have 50 women and 50 men in parliament, teach all children in schools about the causes and effects of domestic abuse. Raise strong girls and compassionate boys”
• “Inequality and unequal power imbalances breed domestic violence in many homes. I believe that with education of girls and improved equality we can achieve families free from domestic violence.” – Faith, Uganda
• “Families are the heart of the communities. We must honour them and give them time so they grow in proper way. When there is domestic violence many times it is father. There needs to be punishment and also training classes through punishment on better anger dealing.” – Zhang Wei, China

In conclusion…

In this month’s discussion, we have seen many fascinating answers on why domestic violence occurs, and different ways it could be reduced.

We hope to receive more comments in the discussion next month. Thanks again for sharing your ideas and we look forward to seeing you soon!