ore than 93,000 children in Peru have been left orphans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For various reasons, Peru has the highest death rate due to COVID-19 per capita amongst adults, leaving many children without parents. The orphaned children experience an increased amount of domestic violence caused by frustration from the accelerated economic problems of the pandemic.
Although Peru has the most progressive children’s rights laws in Latin America, government officials lack the expertise and cooperation to pass the legislation necessary for funding caregivers who take in these children. Peruvian media often portrays children as law breakers, not as holders of rights.
Without the status of a rights holder, corporal punishment is often used as an acceptable form of punishment to compel obedience and enforce honor and authority of the patriarch as part of machismo culture.
Antonio Espinoza (Virginia Commonwealth University) explains that although corporal punishment was associated with slavery and condemned being used on free, rational men as undignified, teachers continued to use corporal punishment as a prompt, effective punishment to achieve honor and authority for the family because of the belief that children are law breakers, not holders of rights. A report by Save the Children argues that the family is the honor of the patriarch as part of machismo culture.
Machismo culture is unique to Latin America; it was a way for colonial men to survive in the New World. They had to distinguish themselves by bragging about their unique qualities to gain honor and authority and expected their wives and children to attend to these needs and expectations. By continuing this practice of using corporal punishment in schools to enforce honor and authority for the patriarch, parents, in turn, use physical violence to achieve obedience and control in their children because they see it as an effective discipline tool passed down from generation to generation.
When economic problems become worse, parents get frustrated easier and resort to corporal punishment as a quick, effective solution. Children accept this form of punishment when they misbehave because they experience it in schools too, teaching children that violence is an acceptable way to get what you want. These lessons repeat the cycle of violence through generations.
Although the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO)—the Western hemisphere branch of the World Health Organization (WHO)—is designed to address international health concerns like these especially during the pandemic, they do not link culture’s effects to health care. PAHO’s only focus on the immediate fixes to subdue the problem of domestic violence for the short-term.
When asked what the PAHO intended to do about the rising case numbers of domestic violence against children caused by the pandemic, the organization replied “...PAHO is working with partners to promote evidence-based approaches to ending school-based violence[.] [F]or example, teachers [are trained] to address harmful beliefs and social norms and to build skills in positive discipline and classroom management.”
While positive discipline will help find other ways to correct children’s behavior, it does not address the problem of ingrained machismo thinking behind this practice. PAHO does claim to be partnering with in-country organizations to “adapt INSPIRE strategies and interventions to the local context and develop evidence-based services to support parents and caregivers.” INSPIRE strategies discuss power and gender and send nurses or have group trainings to teach positive parenting rather than harsh, abusive or neglectful discipline. The problem with these strategies is that they do not teach that male honor and authority is no longer necessary. Positive discipline based on individual respect is more valuable to get along in today’s world.
The current PAHO framework needs to address the root of the rising domestic violence against children, and they cannot decrease the rising rate of this problem with short-term solutions. A strong curriculum for parents, caregivers, teachers, and government officials to learn without the fear of offending traditions is necessary to reduce this practice.
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Address Machismo Culture to Reduce Domestic Violence Against Peru’s COVID-19 Orphans
Photo by Brenda Gonzales Callapaza via Unsplash.
February 16, 2022
Domestic violence against Peruvian children orphaned by the COVID-19 pandemic is surging, likely due in part to frustration from economic problems also caused by the pandemic. Institutions seeking to combat child abuse in Peru should recognize machismo culture as a root cause, writes Jacinda Chan.
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ore than 93,000 children in Peru have been left orphans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For various reasons, Peru has the highest death rate due to COVID-19 per capita amongst adults, leaving many children without parents. The orphaned children experience an increased amount of domestic violence caused by frustration from the accelerated economic problems of the pandemic.
Although Peru has the most progressive children’s rights laws in Latin America, government officials lack the expertise and cooperation to pass the legislation necessary for funding caregivers who take in these children. Peruvian media often portrays children as law breakers, not as holders of rights.
Without the status of a rights holder, corporal punishment is often used as an acceptable form of punishment to compel obedience and enforce honor and authority of the patriarch as part of machismo culture.
Antonio Espinoza (Virginia Commonwealth University) explains that although corporal punishment was associated with slavery and condemned being used on free, rational men as undignified, teachers continued to use corporal punishment as a prompt, effective punishment to achieve honor and authority for the family because of the belief that children are law breakers, not holders of rights. A report by Save the Children argues that the family is the honor of the patriarch as part of machismo culture.
Machismo culture is unique to Latin America; it was a way for colonial men to survive in the New World. They had to distinguish themselves by bragging about their unique qualities to gain honor and authority and expected their wives and children to attend to these needs and expectations. By continuing this practice of using corporal punishment in schools to enforce honor and authority for the patriarch, parents, in turn, use physical violence to achieve obedience and control in their children because they see it as an effective discipline tool passed down from generation to generation.
When economic problems become worse, parents get frustrated easier and resort to corporal punishment as a quick, effective solution. Children accept this form of punishment when they misbehave because they experience it in schools too, teaching children that violence is an acceptable way to get what you want. These lessons repeat the cycle of violence through generations.
Although the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO)—the Western hemisphere branch of the World Health Organization (WHO)—is designed to address international health concerns like these especially during the pandemic, they do not link culture’s effects to health care. PAHO’s only focus on the immediate fixes to subdue the problem of domestic violence for the short-term.
When asked what the PAHO intended to do about the rising case numbers of domestic violence against children caused by the pandemic, the organization replied “...PAHO is working with partners to promote evidence-based approaches to ending school-based violence[.] [F]or example, teachers [are trained] to address harmful beliefs and social norms and to build skills in positive discipline and classroom management.”
While positive discipline will help find other ways to correct children’s behavior, it does not address the problem of ingrained machismo thinking behind this practice. PAHO does claim to be partnering with in-country organizations to “adapt INSPIRE strategies and interventions to the local context and develop evidence-based services to support parents and caregivers.” INSPIRE strategies discuss power and gender and send nurses or have group trainings to teach positive parenting rather than harsh, abusive or neglectful discipline. The problem with these strategies is that they do not teach that male honor and authority is no longer necessary. Positive discipline based on individual respect is more valuable to get along in today’s world.
The current PAHO framework needs to address the root of the rising domestic violence against children, and they cannot decrease the rising rate of this problem with short-term solutions. A strong curriculum for parents, caregivers, teachers, and government officials to learn without the fear of offending traditions is necessary to reduce this practice.
