Zimbabwe’s poverty and child sexual abuse

Abstract

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a serious scourge that affects all countries globally. While there are myriad factors contributing the prevalence of CSA in Zimbabwe, poverty is arguably one of the major underlying issues and root causes of most of these factors. Over the past two decades, Zimbabwe has gone through an unprecedented economic meltdown; fewer resources are being channelled towards child protection leading to the decline in standards of living for children. Consequently, children are left vulnerable to poverty which exposes them to the risk of CSA. This paper discusses a number of poverty-related factors that are contributing to CSA in Zimbabwe. A qualitative study approach was adopted, and data were collected from 38 participants and four key informants who were selected using theoretical and purposive sampling, respectively. In addition, 300 court files of CSA cases were also reviewed. Notwithstanding other circumstances leading to CSA, findings showed that poverty-related vulnerabilities, such as adverse living conditions, rurality, child labour and migration, exposed children to CSA. The paper ends by discussing the policy and social work practice implications and recommendations in view of the findings.

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“…Mtetwa and Muchacha (2013) recommend safeguarding the rights of the most vulnerable by taking an interest in the political situation of the communities in which they work. Muridzo and Chikadzi (2020) argue that social work should involve itself with global, regional, and local policy issues as this will help address casual factors. Mupedziswa (2000) argues that this starts in the classroom and literature used in training social workers in the continent.…”

Child sexual abuse in Ghana: A multi‐methods exploratory study

“…Badoe, 2017;Banwari, 2011;Nlewem & Amodu, 2017). Within the scientific discourse, single parental absence and absence of both parents are associated with the experience of sexual violence victimisation in adolescent girls (Kidman & Palermo, 2016;Muridzo & Chikadzi, 2020). When the absent parent is paternal, challenges related to family poverty, financial difficulties and food supply are pronounced.…”

“…However, maternally related absence is usually linked with a loss of nurturing, support and companion for the children (Kidman & Palermo, 2016). Research has shown a strong relationship between poverty and sexual crimes (Banwari, 2011;Muridzo & Chikadzi, 2020). Families experiencing poverty are likely to live in a deprived community, and children and adolescents who find themselves in such situations experience less parental supervision, lack of financial support and are at an elevated risk of involvement in child labour (Wrigley-Asante et al, 2016).…”