Browsing by Subject "motherhood"

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    Before, behind, and beyond bars: motherhood among previously incarcerated women in the Western Cape
    (2025) Briscoe, Rebecca Fullerton; Spedding, Maxine; Malinga, Mandisa
    In South Africa, women are a minority of the prison population, but their numbers have significantly increased since 2000, with many being mothers. Despite this rise, the experiences of incarcerated women are under-researched and misrepresented, limiting the knowledge and understanding of these women's narratives of their incarceration and the situations that landed them there. Using an intersectional feminist framework and semi-structured interviews, this study explored how 18 incarcerated mothers in the Western Cape conceptualise and experience motherhood before, during, and after incarceration. The findings of this paper, focus on women, especially mothers, who have been incarcerated, the circumstances which led them to be imprisoned, their family dynamics and their hopes and expectations for their release. Also highlighting the negative impact of South Africa's unequal socio-economic landscape on mothering practices and the increase in criminal behaviour. By challenging patriarchal ideologies and focusing on the voices of participants, this research aims to inform policy and practice makers on how to better support previously incarcerated mothers by revising or creating new frameworks or policies, which will contribute to opening broader discussions on South African mothers who offend. In-prison programmes should be implemented for incarcerated mothers and their families to assist them with supporting one another by focusing on family involvement and support. These programmes should aim to help families cope with having a loved one incarcerated but also to assist in how best to reintegrate the imprisoned woman back into society and back into the family dynamic.
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    Denied motherhood: forced sterilisation of HIV-positive women as a violation of their human rights
    (2012) Apiko, Philomena; Smythe, Dee
    Forced sterilisation of HIV positive women has recently been focussed on in Southern Africa where reports of women who had been sterilised in government hospitals without their consent was made public.2 Sterilisation is defined as a surgical procedure whereby a person could be rendered incapable of fertilisation or reproduction3 by blocking of the sex organs.4 Forced sterilisation is sterilisation that occurs without the consent and knowledge of the patient. For the purposes of this paper forced sterilisation will include instances where the HIV-positive woman was sterilised during a caesarean section (c-section) and was not made aware of the procedure. It will also encompass instances where women were coerced against their will by health officials to undergo sterilisation.
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    How does AIDS illness affect women's residential decisions? Findings from an ethnographic study in a Cape Town township
    (2009) Bray, Rachel
    This paper explores the nature and consequences of residential decision-making for women on treatment for AIDS illness in a poor urban settlement in South Africa. Drawing on ethnographic data collected over a two-year period, it points to the subtle shifts in ‘householding’ practices and kinship relationships prompted by women's individual experiences and understanding of their HIV status, illness and treatment. Women's decisions to move or to arrange that other family members move can be explained by pre-existing threats to individual wellbeing or family residential security. But an HIV diagnosis can intensify a mother's thoughts and actions in relation to residential and emotional security, in particular on behalf of her children. In a context where extended periods of childcare by rural relatives is common, mothers with AIDS illness may gather all their children in their home to offer direct care, achieve intimacy and facilitate disclosure. They are likely to avoid making frequent contact with, and demands on, their elderly parents. Siblings are favoured as co-residents and confidants in disclosure, but their long-term support is contingent on reciprocity. Partners, where present, are valued for economic, social and emotional security. Women attempt to balance their children's nurturing, in the short and long term, with care of the self. Their efforts do not always succeed and can incur high costs to their wellbeing and relationships with their children.
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    How does AIDS illness affect women's residential decisions? Findings from an ethnographic study in a Cape Town township
    (National Inquiry Services Centre (NISC), 2009) Bray, Rachel
    This article explores the nature and consequences of residential decision-making for women on treatment for AIDS illness in a poor urban settlement in South Africa. Drawing on ethnographic data collected over a two-year period, it points to the subtle shifts in "householding" practices and kinship relationships prompted by women's individual experiences and understandings of their HIV status, illness and treatment. Women's decisions to move or to arrange that other family members move may be explained by pre-existing threats to individual well-being or family residential security. But an HIV diagnosis can intensify a mother's thoughts and actions in relation to residential and emotional security, in particular on behalf of her children. In a context where extended periods of childcare by rural relatives is common, mothers with AIDS illness may gather all their children to their home to offer direct care, achieve intimacy and facilitate disclosure. They are likely to avoid making frequent contact with, and demands on, their elderly parents. Siblings are favoured as co-residents and confidants in disclosure, but their long-term support is contingent on reciprocity. Partners, where present, are valued for economic, social and emotional security. Women attempt to balance their children's nurturing, in the short and long term, with care of the self. Their efforts do not always succeed and can incur high costs to their wellbeing and relationships with their children.
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    'We are actually raising South Africans''. Raising immigrant families: The parenting experiences of Zimbabweans in South Africa
    (2019) Finos, Shuvai T.; Tame, Bianca
    South Africa is the most popular international destination for Zimbabwean migrants escaping the economic crisis of their country. It has been estimated that by 2016, one and a half million Zimbabwean nationals were living in South Africa. However, little research explores the lived experience of Zimbabweans in South Africa in the context of family. This is despite scholars highlighting an increase in family migration from Zimbabwe to South Africa in recent years. This study explores the parenting experiences of immigrant Zimbabwean parents raising their children in South Africa. Specifically, it investigates the ways in which raising children in a different country and cultural context influences parents’ understanding of and approaches to parenting. Nine Zimbabwean mothers and fathers living with their spouses and children in Cape Town participated in a qualitative study, with semi-structured interviews. Data was collected and analysed using thematic analysis. The study found that the participants’ overarching experience of parenting was that they were ultimately raising ‘South Africans’. Participants framed their children’s ‘South African-ness’ positively, identifying the children as cosmopolitan and empowered, which they celebrated. However, they also lamented the children’s loss of identity as the most problematic aspect of ‘South African-ness’. To navigate the resultant tensions, participants relaxed some of their existing beliefs while simultaneously implementing measures to reinforce some non-negotiable values and beliefs in their children. This dissertation argues that while parents’ understanding of parenting is strongly rooted in their cultural background and values, they adapt their parenting styles and practices according to what they calculate will enable their families to thrive. The study adds to the body of knowledge on immigrant Zimbabwean families who have become part of South African society. This is especially relevant in light of the South African government’s laudable initiatives towards regularising the stay of Zimbabweans in South Africa, such as the Dispensation of Zimbabweans Project (DZP) of 2009 and its successive permits. This study can therefore contribute to the body of knowledge that informs the ways in which South Africa can continue to respond to the reality of migration from Zimbabwe.