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HOUSEHOLDS AS “EPICENTRE” OF HIGH COST OF LIVING: WOMEN’S CRITICAL ROLE INCREASINGLY BECOMING VISIBLE, SAYS THE JCTR February 2007 The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) is calling for a thorough understanding of implications of overall economic performance, in particular high cost of living on households. This understanding must extend to bringing into attention the critical role that women play in ensuring household survival. In the last two years, the JCTR has been conducting face to face interviews in the first week of each month with select households in high-density areas of Lusaka. This effort by the JCTR was designed to enhance understanding of living conditions of the people by establishing a link between the Basic Needs Basket in quantitative figures and the actual qualitative living situations of the people. The Basic Needs Basket is a monthly survey of cost of living for a family of six carried out by the JCTR in Lusaka, Livingston, Kabwe, Ndola, Luanshya and Kitwe. Some of the findings arising out of these interviews include the fact that nearly every household looked at is caring for either a dependant or a grown-up person who is not working, with most of the households being interviewed having six or more people as members. This revelation, says the JCTR, is not at all strange to the Zambian context of low levels of employment and inadequate social protection. Now during the rainy season, cases of diarrhoea are the most common illness in the high-density areas, affecting mainly children, including other family members. For example, during the interviews done in January, five of the seven families reported cases of diarrhoea. The families attributed frequency of diarrhoea cases to poor water and sanitation situations. One of the key areas of intervention that is required from government, other than ensuring that the incidence of diarrhoea is reduced, is to examine thoroughly the “health seeking behaviour” of households. Are households trusting health centres to effectively deliver their health needs (health personnel, diagnosis, drugs availability, etc)? Our interviews so far have revealed a serious loss of trust in that regard. Another finding from the JCTR is a strong confirmation of the systemic problem of households being unable to put aside money for savings. Any surplus that occurs beyond the cost of basic needs is either used to meet requests of extended families or used for some repayment of loans. Although it is encouraging that households are providing some form of social protection, it is also important to recognise that the inability to invest into a business, by first of all building up savings, is detrimental to the Zambian economy. The difficulty to invest is obviously clear when the Basic Needs Basket is brought into focus. For the month of February, the cost of basic food was K506,950. This cost does not include other items such as energy, wash and bath soap, etc. When these other items like water and housing are added, we have a basket of needs costing K1,543,650 in February. And this figure does not include transport, health, education, etc. Even more importantly, the estimates of the Basket are on a family of six but we have seen through our face to face interviews with households that they usually have more members. A more serious observation that can be made as we celebrate International Women’s day -- which falls on 08 March -- is that while there is a lot of macro-level theoretical articulation of issues by men, there is significant practical articulation of issues by women at a household level. For example, the JCTR through these household interviews has learnt with great admiration the ability of women more than men to hold families together and to initiate survival strategies in times of job losses, illness or other socioeconomic difficulties that households face. Therefore, as the International Women’s day is being celebrated, it is important to pay more attention to understanding micro-level, household dynamics in all dimensions. That way the nation will come up with interventions that will create positive changes in people’s lives. |
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