Continuity and Change in Family Arrangements in Tanzania and the UK - Essay Example

The Annual British Social Attitudes Report shows that British society is becoming far more tolerant in the past two decades. Traditional nuclear family arrangements with heterosexual married couples are slowly giving way to alternative arrangements, such as partners who do not live together, unmarried couples who have been cohabiting for a long time, divorced couples who have remarried and same sex partners (Ward and Carvel, 2008). The latest survey, carried out in 2006 with about 3000 participants, provides a picture of a changed family landscape, where about 70% of the participants expressed the view that there was nothing wrong in sex before marriage, reflecting a change in attitudes as compared to the Victorian era. In two salient aspects however, the report showed that some Victorian notions have persisted over the ages, i.e, adultery is still condemned as strongly as it was years ago and people still believe that alternative family arrangements may not be in the best interests of children (Ward and Carvel, 2008). Economic aspects drive the family situation to a large extent in the U.K., because of the high costs of living and this situation has only been exacerbated in the wake of the recent recessionary trends. More and more young people have begun to move into their parents’ homes after completing their University studies, because of the high cost of rental accommodation and the present high rates of unemployment. Gill (2007) has shown how adopting an ecological perspective could be helpful to disadvantaged communities and disabled individuals in deriving an innovative approach to tackling their problems. Drawing upon evidence from case studies, Gill (2007) emphasizes that applying an ecological perspective requires a focus on the whole child and the UK Government has instituted many programs and policies to enable the development of the whole child. Some of these include the Every Child Matters criterion, integrated children’s schools where the disabled and minority children work with mainstream children, as well as extended schools catering specifically to the family and learning problems associated with disadvantaged children, which produces concomitant problems like youth offending and child poverty. The child is viewed as a part of various interconnected systems such as family networks, school networks, social networks and local community networks; hence applying this perspective enables a more accurate assessment of the needs of these children. Demographics and population plays an important role in the political scenario and the framing of public policies in Tanzania. As Yaeger (1982:489) points out, a United Nations Report states clearly that the Tanzanian Government had no intention of restricting its population in view of vast areas of land in the country which are still to be inhabited. One of the problems associated with the development of a progressive policy for Tanzania’s development is the discordance between its high population growth, which interacts negatively with its modern economic growth rate, this threatening the “physical ecology” in some parts of the country and undermining all efforts to improve economic self sufficiency for the nation and the well being of the population.(Yaeger, 1982:490). One of the ecological aspects of such a high population rate has been the “cascade effect” as described by Charnley (1997). Most of the Tanzanian population works on land, producing different types of agricultural products; however, they are not garnering adequate returns on their agricultural products because of the exploitation by others. In a case study carried out on two tribal groups – the Nyakyusa and the Sukuma from the Usangu Plains of Tanzania, Charnley (1997) shows how the rise in production of cash crops caused degradation and led to resource scarcity, thereby displacing them into other areas where the same phenomenon resulted due to social and cultural aspects, namely the forced resettlement of rural populations into ujaama villages. In Tanzania, national identity arises from the development of Tanzanian socialism, which revolves around the concept of ujaama or the extended family (www.everyculture.com). One of the significant differences in Tanzanian family life in recent years is the rising trends towards favouring abortion. Tanzania was once a land where the fertility rate was high and the widespread belief was that more children brought it more income. But as a study carried out by Marchant et al (2004) shows, the existing family planning rate which was 16% was steadily on the rise, brought about by factors such as a rise in educational levels and income parity, thereby producing a desire among women for longer intervals between children or fewer children altogether, as well as a rising demand from teenage girls for abortion facilities. The major concerns of women which emerged in this study were as follows: (a) there is a need for more family planning facilities, especially in facilitating abortion (b) old fears associated with family planning methods need to be dissipated and (c) service provision was lacking majorly in two areas, i.e., regularity in supply and addressing of the fears mentioned above and as detailed further below. In Tanzania, decisions about family are mostly gendered, i.e, men dominate family planning decisions and they favour high fertility and the aspirations about the size of the family and the gender of the children. (Schuler, 2009). As Schuler (2009) also points out, when compared to the 12 sub-Saharan countries, Tanzania has the fourth highest fertility rate, at approximately 5.7 per woman. The Marchant et al (2004) study mentioned above does however indicate that the hitherto male dominated trend towards large families and early marriage may be slowly changing as women become more assertive about their reproductive decisions. Historically, women have tended to fear the dominant male and accepted his authority in the family in terms of decision making; which gives rise to fears for teenage girls about the disapproval of male family members if they choose to abort children or enter into family planning arrangements to restrict family sizes. From an economic standpoint, the Tanzanian population existing below the poverty line is about 51.1% (Tanzanias Economy, 2008). Most of the Tanzanian population works on land, producing different types of agricultural products; however, they are not getting enough returns on their agricultural products because of the exploitation by others. As opposed to this, according to an Economy watch report, “the UK economy is the 5th largest in the world and 2nd largest in Europe with GDP of US$2.279 trillion (6th largest by PPP GDP)” (Economy Watch, n. d). For families living in Britain, there is a range of benefits available to families from the State, such as child benefits, child tax credit, childcare fund in which the Government invests an initial sum to encourage parents to save money for their children, health in pregnancy grant, free vitamins, school meals, clothing and transport grants, as well as statutory maternity and paternity benefits.(Ward, 2010). From an economic perspective, living in Britain is much more expensive; but the extensive level of support available from the State On the basis of the discussion above, it may be noted that the family has been the core unit of society in both the UK and Tanzania. The extended family, i.e, the core structure of Ujaama, has been a long standing institution in Tanzania, while the traditional nuclear family was the norm in the UK. This appears to be changing in the present time, with more of UK’s young people increasingly moving into an extended family arrangement due to financial pressures in a recessionary environment. Tanzania is a male dominated society, while there are higher levels of gender equality in the U.K., but in recent years, the traditional male dominance in family related decisions appears to be under attack in Tanzania. Women are increasingly exercising their autonomy in reproductive decisions and are also willing to undergo abortions to reduce the number of children or to space them out. Economic aspects play a significant role in family equations in both countries, but in somewhat different ways. In the U.K., the recent recession and concomitant difficulties in the economy, such as unemployment and reductions in benefits have resulted in more families choosing to live in extended family arrangements, while in Tanzania the traditional ujaama is being increasingly questioned. The country also has economic difficulties which are forcing rural families to move from one location to the other, but from an ecological standpoint, the reasons for such migration differ from those in the UK, because they occur in search of arable land. In the U.K., a recent change is the application of the ecological perspective, wherein the progress of the child is monitored by taking all systems into account, which produces much better outcomes. It is important to note however, that some family aspects still remain the same in both countries. Firstly, in the UK, adultery is still frowned upon and a traditional heterosexual family unit is still favoured in terms of raising children. In Tanzania, the fact that Government policy still favours a high population through the prevailing social approval for high fertility is still a barrier to progress. References: * Charnley, Susan, 1997. “Environmentally displaced peoples and the cascade effect: lessons from Tanzania”, Human Ecology, 25(4):593-618 *Gill, Owen, 2007. “The child and family in context: developing ecological practice in disadvantaged communities”, Russell House Publishing. * Marchant, T, Mushi, A.K., Nathan, R, Mukasa, O, Abdulla, S, Lengeler, C and Armstrong Schellenberg, J.R.M., 2004. “Planning a family: Priorities and concerns in rural Tanzania”, African Journal of Reproductive Health, 8(2): 111-123. * “Tanzania”. Retrieved November 18, 2010 from: http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Tanzania.html * Schuler, Sidney Ruth, 2009. “Gender norms and family planning decision making in Tanzania: a qualitative study”, C-Change/ACADEMY FOR Educational development; retrieved November 18, 2010 from: http://www.comminit.com/ict4education/en/node/305243/cchangepicks * Yaeger, Rodger, 1982. “Demography and development policy in Tanzania”, The Journal of Developing Areas, 16(4): 489-510 * Ward, Lucy and Carvel, John, 2008. “Goodbye married couples, hello alternative arrangements”, The Guardian, January 23, 2008; retrieved November 18, 2010 from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jan/23/socialtrends *Ward, Victoria, 2010. “Child tax credit: the benefits available for British families”, The Telegraph, November 18, 2010; Retrieved November 18, 2010 from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/8041826/Child-tax-credit-The-benefits-available-for-British-families.html Read More