Mothering through and in Violence: Discourses of the ‘Good Mother’

Domestic and family violence research recognises mothering is impacted by and implicated in abusive relationships and increasingly attends to the negative impacts of domestic and family violence on children, whether or not they are direct targets of perpetrator abuse. Contemporary research also situates the undermining of the mother/child relationship as common in abusive relationships. Bringing together data from two projects – one investigating the experiences of women with disability, and one focused on women experiencing family violence from their adolescent children – we examine a further way in which mothering is impacted by family violence. While there were distinct challenges for each group of mothers, we argue that adaptable and damaging discourses of the ‘good mother’ impact mothers in situations of domestic and family violence. We argue that unchallenged accounts of ‘good’ mothers as fully responsible for their children animate persistent discourses of mother-blame. These discourses should be understood as a gendered driver of domestic and family violence.

Maternal Health Care Seeking Behavior of Peri-Urban Women With Disability in Busiro South, Wakiso District, Uganda: a Community Based Study

Background: In Uganda women with disabilities attend antenatal care (ANC) while pregnant, however, majority of these deliver from the hands of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) due to due to fear of being mistreated by skilled birth attendants. We explored the determinants of the maternal health seeking behavior of women with disability in Busiro health sub district (HSD), Wakiso district, Uganda.Methods: A community based cross-sectional study involving quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection was conducted among 182 participants. Quantitative data were collected from disabled women, and qualitative data from six key informants (midwives and in-charges) at selected health facilities in Busiro HSD, Wakiso district. Logistic regression was used to determine the factors influencing the decision to seek maternal health care services (ANC and delivery at health facilities) among women with disability. Qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis.Results: The findings revealed that 82.3% of women with disability attended ANC during pregnancy, and of these, 80.8% delivered their babies at health facilities. Attendance of ANC by the women with disability was influenced by parity (having 1-3 children) (AOR 7.7; 95% CI: 0.249-239.040), mode of delivery-normal delivery verses caesarian section (AOR 2.6, 95%CI: 0.296-22921), place visited during pregnancy TBA visa vie public health facilities (AOR 4.5, 95%CI: 0.922-22.576), and distance to the health facility being less than 5 Kilometres (AOR 2.3 95% CI: 0.695-7.661). Conclusion: There is need to intensify awareness of the use of skilled health workers during pregnancy and child birth to women with disability in the communities so as to improve uptake of maternal health care services.

Justice perspectives of women with disability: An Australian story

The article explores the meaning of ‘justice’ for women with disability who have experienced and reported violent crimes, typically, sexual assault and family violence. It contributes to the small body of literature that considers justice as articulated by those who have experienced violence and represents the only published research that brings to the fore perspectives on justice from the viewpoint of women with disability. Based on interviews and focus groups with 36 women with disability in the Australian states of Victoria and New South Wales, it explores these women’s ‘justice’ ideals and the gap between those ideals and the responses they received from the service and criminal justice systems. Mostly, the women’s desired outcomes in response to reports of violence were focused on recognition of what had occurred, an acknowledgement of their rights and status, and a pathway to security and safety. These desires related to justice were linked to being able to leave a situation of danger, retain custody of children, have access to care and advocacy services and gain a sense of safety or, sometimes, simply survive. The women’s desires underline how inadequate the typical narrow criminal justice response is in meeting the ‘justice’ ideals and needs of women with disability because it is focused on establishing the guilt or otherwise of the defendant and on any subsequent punitive sanctions. These women’s experiences and insights highlight the impact of discrimination and inequality on both justice as an ideal and justice as it is experienced.