Family conflict and conflict resolution among Zimbabwean migrants in Greater Western Sydney

Abstract

This study assessed the main causes of conflict among Zimbabwean families in Greater Western Sydney and possible solutions. The main issues of contention were found to be: Disagreements on the management of money, changing gender roles, isolation and separation from the extended family, men's loss of breadwinner status and intergenerational cultural differences between parents and children.To gather data for this research, ten (10) semi-structured interviews were conducted with purposively sampled men, women and youths. The interviews were conducted in venues that were desirable to the participants. The interviews went for between 1 to 2 hours on each sitting. Not a single interview went for less than 1 hour or for more than 2 hours. To cater for gender equity, equal numbers of male and female participants were involved in the research project.The research results showed that most people believed the following strategies could help reduce the occurrence of conflict in the families. The need to (1) be more financially frugal, transparent and inclusive (2) strike a balance between household duties and job commitments (3) respect community elders' advice on the importance of cultural values (4) adopt strategies which encourage community interaction.The overall recommendation was that, the community must be proactive and strive to work as one on all the issues mentioned above. The older generation must aim higher and inculcate good behavioural attitudes in the younger generation. For this to be achieved, the children must be involved in community issues at an earlier stage. This can be done by having "Youths" in executive positions of a created Youth Council. This council will be elected by the Youths themselves to safeguard the interests of young people in the community but will still fall under the arms of the main community executive for understudying. This was a grand conflict resolution strategy which was put forward by the Youths representatives. It was a correct summary to the findings of this research study.

Date of Award	2017
Original language	English