Parental absence: Intergenerational tensions and contestations of social grants in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-540
Author(s):  
Mokoene Ziphora Kearabetswe ◽  
Khunou Grace
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Child Support ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Labour Migration ◽  
Family Responsibilities ◽  
Parental Absence ◽  
Poor Households ◽  
The Guardian

Most recently, the role of grandmothers has been highlighted as significant in the lives of their grandchildren in South Africa. Studies have previously highlighted the contribution the Old Age Grant makes in contexts of poverty, orphanhood and the migrant labour system. Similarly, studies on the Child Support Grant (CSG) have illustrated its contribution to the well-being of children and families in general. However, missing in these examinations has been an understanding of how the CSG is contested in contexts of parental absence due to internal labour migration. Through a thematic content analysis of qualitative interviews with members of migrants’ families, this article illustrates that in the context of internal labour migration, family responsibilities shift in ways that make unemployed grandmothers who do not receive the Old Age Grant vulnerable. This vulnerability is manifested through a tension in familial relationships. This tension stem from the contestation of the CSG by young labour-migrant mothers, the guardian (grandmother), and the beneficiaries of the CSG. The article concludes that these tensions result from continuing socio-economic struggles experienced by poor households.

Child Support Grants in South Africa: A Pathway to Women's Empowerment and Child Well-being?

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
LEILA PATEL ◽  
TRUDIE KNIJN ◽  
FRITS VAN WEL
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Child Support ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Care Givers

AbstractDespite the growth of cash transfers to reduce poverty, promote child and family well-being and women's empowerment, the gender dynamics and impact of social protection remains poorly understood. We hypothesise that poor female care-givers receiving a cash transfer for their children are better able to contribute to the material and social well-being of their children than female care-givers who do not receive a cash transfer. This paper reports results of a household survey in one of the poorest wards in Johannesburg, South Africa. Structural equation modelling is used to analyse the data. We found that cash transfers increase women's individual income, which is in turn positively associated with increased financial independence, decision-making power over financial resources and decisions about children's well-being. Beneficiaries were more actively engaged in care activities with their children. There are two implications for the insertion of gender and care into social protection policies. First that it is not necessary to attach behavioural change conditions to social protection policies in order to stimulate female care-givers to be more engaged in developmental activities with their children. Second, there is no risk of promoting a maternalistic model of care or ‘maternalism’ in the South African context as the transfer contributes to both women's individual incomes and their financial decision-making power.

scholarly journals Protocol for a prospective evaluation of postpartum engagement in HIV care among women living with HIV in South Africa

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. e035465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Psaros ◽  
Amelia M Stanton ◽  
C Andres Bedoya ◽  
Nzwakie Mosery ◽  
Shannon Evans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Retention In Care ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Hiv Care ◽  
Research Committee ◽  
Human Research ◽  
Women Living With Hiv ◽  
Living With Hiv

IntroductionKwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa (SA) has the highest prevalence of pregnant women living with HIV in the world. Pregnancy and the postpartum period offer opportunities to engage women in HIV care, to prevent perinatal transmission and to optimise maternal and infant well-being. However, research suggests that remaining engaged in HIV care during this time can be challenging.Methods and analysisWe are conducting a 5-year prospective cohort study among pregnant women living with HIV in KZN to estimate the rates and factors associated with attrition from HIV care during this critical period. To determine who is most likely to fall out of care, we are examining a range of relevant variables informed by a socioecological model of HIV care, including individual, relational, community and healthcare system variables. We are enrolling 18–45-year-old women, at 28 weeks or more of pregnancy, who are living with HIV and currently taking antiretroviral therapies. Participants complete quantitative assessments at baseline (pregnancy) and at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months postpartum. A subset of women and their partners are invited to complete qualitative interviews to further explore their experiences in HIV care. The main study outcomes are suppressed HIV RNA and retention in care at each study assessment. Our understanding of the factors that drive postpartum attrition from HIV care will ultimately inform the development of interventions to facilitate continued engagement in postpartum HIV care.Ethics and disseminationThis protocol has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee (Medical) at The University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, SA) and the Partners Human Research Committee at Partners HealthCare (Boston, Massachusetts, USA). Site support and approval were obtained from the District Hospital and the KZN Provincial Department of Health. Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed manuscripts, reports and both local and international presentations (Ethics Registration #170 212).

scholarly journals Post-trauma coping in the context of significant adversity: a qualitative study of young people living in an urban township in South Africa

BMJ Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. e016560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel M Hiller ◽  
Sarah L Halligan ◽  
Mark Tomlinson ◽  
Jackie Stewart ◽  
Sarah Skeen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Young People ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Black South African ◽  
Low Middle Income Countries ◽  
Increased Risk

ObjectiveCompared with knowledge of the post-trauma needs of young people living in developed countries, little is known about the needs of those in low-middle-income countries. Such information is crucial, particularly as young people in these environments can be at increased risk of experiencing trauma, coupled with less available resources for formal support. The aim of this study was to explore post-trauma coping and support-seeking of young people living in a high-adversity settlement in South Africa.DesignSemistructured qualitative interviews analysed using thematic analysis.SettingAn urban settlement (‘township’) in Cape Town, South Africa.Participants25 young people, aged 13–17 years, who had experienced trauma. Events included serious car accidents, hearing of a friend’s violent death, and rape, and all reported having experienced multiple traumatic events. All participants identified as black South African and spoke Xhosa as their first language.ResultsSocial support was considered key to coping after trauma, although the focus of the support differed depending on the source. Parents would most commonly provide practical support, particularly around safety. Peers often provided an avenue to discuss the event and young person’s emotional well-being more openly. Outside of social support another key theme was that there were numerous community-level barriers to participants receiving support following trauma. Many young people continued to be exposed to the perpetrator of the event, while there was also the realistic concern around future traumas and safety, community stigma and a perceived lack of justice.ConclusionThis study provides insight into how young people cope and seek support following trauma when they are living in a context of significant adversity and risk. Overall, most young people identified helpful sources of support and thought talking about the event was a useful strategy, but concerns around safety and trust could impede this process.

The Normative Nature of Depression Among Impoverished Mothers of Color: “. . .going around this big old circle . . . it always remain the same”

2019 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert H. Keefe ◽  
Rebecca S. Rouland ◽  
Sandra D. Lane ◽  
Carol Brownstein-Evans ◽  
Christopher R. Larrison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Relationship Violence ◽  
Family Responsibilities ◽  
Health Gap ◽  
Mothers Of Color ◽  
Low Income Mothers ◽  
High Crime

Perinatal depression among impoverished mothers adds an enormous burden to their family responsibilities, which are often further stressed by living in high-crime communities. Thirty impoverished mothers of color living with depression were interviewed about the difficulties they face raising their children. Qualitative interviews about living with depression revealed four themes: recognizing their own depression, feeling isolated, experiencing violence, and living with depression. This article examines how neighborhood and relationship violence, intermittently involved fathers, and isolation contribute to the mothers’ depression. Social workers working with depressed, low-income mothers of color can benefit from understanding the mothers’ lived experience and the barriers the mothers face while trying to achieve well-being for themselves and their children. This study fits within the “Close the Health Gap” area of the Grand Challenges for Social Work.

“I do not Have Anything Else, Bra”: The Hardships of Day Labourers in East London, South Africa, and the Implications for Developmental Social Welfare/Work

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mzukisi Xweso ◽  
Derick Blaauw ◽  
Catherina Schenck
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
South African ◽  
Phase 1 ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
The Social

The social work profession has seen significant changes in approach, with more focus on developmental social welfare in response to structural injustices, poverty, inequality, well-being and development. Day labouring is a global phenomenon and typical of the South African informal sector. This study analyses the hardships of day labourers in East London to reflect on developmental social welfare and its relevance for informal workers in South Africa. A sequential explanatory research design and a mixed-methods approach were adopted. In phase 1 (quantitative), 131 participants were interviewed. In the second phase qualitative interviews were conducted with 18 participants at six different hiring sites. The findings reveal that day labourers work under conditions in which even their basic human rights cannot be guaranteed. Failure to take decisive steps to ensure that their rights are upheld amounts to turning a blind eye to the gross exploitation of one segment of society by another. An inclusive, appreciative and participatory approach is needed to facilitate strategies to integrate informal workers such as day labourers into initiatives that are designed to grant social justice to groups who continue to be marginalised and to live in abject poverty more than two decades after the official demise of apartheid.

The Perpetuation of Gender Norms and White Hegemonic Patriarchy in the South African Defence Force as Represented in André van der Merwe’s Moffie (2006)

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Nolen Fortuin
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Novel ◽  
White Family ◽  
White Children ◽  
White Masculinity ◽  
Party Government ◽  
Compulsory Military Service ◽  
The Military

With the institution of compulsory military service in South Africa in 1948 the National Party government effected a tool well shaped for the construction of hegemonic masculinities. Through this, and other structures like schools and families, white children were shaped into submissive abiding citizens. Due to the brutal nature of a militarised society, gender roles become strictly defined and perpetuated. As such, white men’s time served on the border also “toughened” them up and shaped them into hegemonic copies of each other, ready to enforce patriarchal and racist ideologies. In this article, I look at how the novel Moffie by André Carl van der Merwe (2006) illustrates hegemonic white masculinity in South Africa and how it has long been strictly regulated to perpetuate the well-being of the white family as representative of the capitalist state. I discuss the novel by looking at the ways in which the narrator is marked by service in the military, which functions as a socialising agent, but as importantly by the looming threat of the application of the term “moffie” to himself, by self or others.  

Can SPLUMA Play a Role in Transforming Spatial Injustice to Spatial Justice in Housing in South Africa?

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeannie Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Spatial Planning ◽  
National Development ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Spatial Development ◽  
Land Use Management ◽  
Spatial Justice ◽  
Spatial Environment

Our spatial environment is one of the most important determinants of our well-being and life chances. It relates to schools, opportunities, businesses, recreation and access to public services. Spatial injustice results where discrimination determines that spatial environment. Since Apartheid in South Africa epitomised the notion of spatial injustice, tools and instruments are required to transform spatial injustice into spatial justice. One of these is the employment of principles of spatial justice. While the National Development Plan (NDP) recognised that all spatial development should conform to certain normative principles and should explicitly indicate how the requirements of these should be met, the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act 16 of 2013 (SPLUMA) contains a more concrete principle of spatial justice. It echoes aspects of both the South African land reform programme and global principles of spatial justice. Essentially section 7(a) of SPLUMA entails three components: (1) redressing past spatial imbalances and exclusions; (2) including people and areas previously excluded and (3) upgrading informal areas and settlements. SPLUMA directs municipalities to apply the principle in its spatial development frameworks, land use schemes and, most importantly, in decision-making on development applications. The aim of this article is to determine whether the application of this principle in practice can move beyond the confines of spatial planning and land use management to address the housing issue in South Africa. Central to housing is section 26 of the Constitution, that has received the extensive attention of the Constitutional Court. The court has not hesitated to criticize the continuing existence of spatial injustice, thus contributing to the transformation of spatial injustice to spatial justice. Since planning, housing and land reform are all intertwined not only the role of SPLUMA, but also the NDP and the myriad other policies, programmes and legislation that are attempting to address the situation are examined and tested against the components of the principle of spatial justice in SPLUMA.

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