CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2022
| Author | Harapi, Anila |
|---|---|
| Title | Challenges and Obstacles that Roma mothers in the Bajram Curri area in Tirana,Albania face in their parenting during the children's early childhood period |
| Summary | This paper analyzes the challenges and obstacles faced by Roma mothers in their parenting of young children (aged 0-6) in the Bajram Curri neighborhood in Tirana, Albania, where Romani families are highly represented. After examining the four basic categories of parenting styles found in psychology scholarship (Baumrind 1967; Maccoby and Martin 1983), this paper will discuss the position of Roma mothers within these styles, through the lens of their non-fulfilled basic needs as well as their position as women in society. Mehrabani defines good parents as “parents who care for and provide for their children's basic needs such as physical, emotional, safety, and protection from harm and abuse.” (Mehrabani 2021). I argue that social workers categorize parenting as good or bad based on the parenting style typology, which does not account for structural factors leading to Roma mothers’ unmet basic needs. Based on qualitative data collected by interviews with Romani mothers in Bajram Curri, I contend that due to their economic situation and traditional gender roles within family and society, Roma mothers find it difficult to fulfill their responsibilities as a parent, a circumstance that can automatically place them in the category of "bad" parents. These qualitative data have emerged from the use of IDELA (The International Development and Early Learning Assessment), a tool used in questionnaires conducted with fifty mothers with children aged 0-6 years Save the Children in Albania (2018). In addition, I held six semi-structured interviews with Roma mothers who were part of the first research to find out what socio-economic factors push mothers to adopt negligent or authoritarian parenting styles. By shedding light on systemic factors which remain unaddressed in scholarly and policy work on parenting styles., I challenge practitioners’ assumption that Romani mothers are failing parents. |
| Supervisor | Boada,Sarah,Boada; |
| Department | Romani Studies Ps |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2022/harapi_anila.pdf |
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