Raising children in a violent context: An intersectionality approach to understanding parents' experiences in Ciudad Juárez

Abstract

Children and parents’ daily lives are rarely highlighted in coverage of drug wars. Using 16 interviews with parents in the Mexican border city of Juárez in 2010, we examine how drug violence impacts families with a focus on intersections of gender and social class. Related to mobility (the first emergent theme), fathers had increased mobility as compared to mothers, which caused different stresses. Material hardships heightened mothers’ isolation within the home, and mothers more often had to enforce children’s mobility restrictions, which children resisted. Related to employment (the second emergent theme), fathers took on dangerous jobs to provide for the family while mothers had fewer options for informal employment due to violence. In sum, men and women faced different challenges, which were intensified due to class-based material disadvantages. Conformity with traditional gender expectations for behavior was common for men and women, illustrating the normalization of gender inequality within this context.

Applying an intersectionality lens to examine health for vulnerable individuals following devolution in Kenya

“…Geographic location may intersect with other dimensions, such as poverty, limited education and age to further limit employment opportunities, which can lead residents to undertake jobs with negative health implications. This is in keeping with findings from an intersectionality analysis of violence in Mexico, where lack of alternative opportunities led men (in this context gendered expectations meant that men were obligated to provide financially for their families), to take jobs which placed them at increased risk of exposure to violence [40]. As photovoice respondents highlighted, living in an informal settlement did not result in equal exposure to risk factors for ill health.…”

Social Determinants of Health that Influence the Uptake of the PMTCT Program

“…Most women in our study knew their HIV status only after their husbands had been diagnosed as HIV+ or the sickness or death of their husband and/or children; this because of low health literacy. The majority of HIV+ women who are coming from poor families with low education are less likely to get adequate information and even delay receiving the information from HCPs [29]. Furthermore, lack of HIV literacy may result in the misconception of HIV disease and prevent HIV+ women accessing the PMTCT services.…”

Mortalidad evitable en los estados de la frontera del norte de México: posibles implicaciones sociales y para los servicios de salud

“…En los últimos años México se ha constituido en un país productor de drogas (heroína, mariguana y metanfetaminas), de tránsito para la cocaína y, como resultado de la creciente disponibilidad de sustancias ilegales y de un entorno social favorable, un país consumidor de drogas, particularmente en los estados del norte de México que funcionan como corredor para el paso de la droga, particularmente para el mercado norteamericano [27]. De los costos sociales, la violencia es la característica dominante entre diferentes grupos de población [28][29][30][31]. La presencia de variaciones de muertes evitables por violencia por estados en el norte de México es indicativa de que el fenómeno se ha presentado con mayor magnitud en unos (Chihuahua y Baja California) que en otros (Coahuila y Nuevo León).…”