Single Mothers in South Africa and Germany in Formal Employment Contexts
A Case Study on the Relationship Between Education, the Re-Conceptualisation of the Role of Women and the Influence of Social Networks
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17169/ogj.2021.128Keywords:
Education, Family, Single Mothers, Social Networks, Social PolicyAbstract
Many studies dealing with the situation of single mothers focus, in particular, on the negative consequences of this way of life. This qualitative study presents the results of a comparative empirical analysis carried out in the Republic of South Africa and the Federal Republic of Germany, in which 25 single mothers employed in the formal labour market participated. Besides the different historical and socio-economic backgrounds and conditions of both countries, the interviewees demonstrate distinct similarities. These similarities will be discussed on the basis of three key themes: personal and social networks as a resource, the re-conceptualisation of the role of women as well as the relationship between education and current life situations.
References
Amaoteng, Acheampong Yaw (2007): Towards a conceptual framework for families and households. In: Amaoteng, Acheampong Yaw/Heaton, Tim B. (Ed.): Families and households in post-apartheid South Africa: Socio demographic perspectives. Cape Town: Human Science Research Council, 27–42.
Baines, Donna (2007): Doing anti-oppressive practice. Building transformative politicized social work. Canada: Fenwood Publishing. doi: 10.1080/10428232.2010.523674.
Biel, Melha Rout (2002): Sozialarbeit auf dem afrikanischen Kontinent: Möglichkeiten und Grenzen europäischer Sozialpädagogik. Marburg: Tectum.
Boecker, Michael (2018): Teilhabe von Menschen mit Behinderungen unter neoliberalen Produktionsbedingungen. Eine kritische Reflexion struktureller Exklusion im Rückgriff auf Bourdieus Konstruktion des sozialen Raums. In: Teilhabe, 57 (2/2018), 78–84.
Bourdieu, Pierre (1976): Entwurf einer Theorie der Praxis. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Bourdieu, Pierre (1982): Die feinen Unterschiede: Kritik der gesellschaftlichen Urteilskraft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Bourdieu, Pierre (1983): Ökonomisches Kapital. In: Kreckel, Reinhard (Ed.): Soziale Ungleichheiten. Göttingen: O. Schwarz & Company, 183–198.
Brown, Catrina (2007): Discipline and desire. Regulating the body/self. In: Brown, Catrina/Augusta-Scott, Tod (Ed.): Narrative therapy: Making meaning, making lives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 105–132. doi: 10.4135/9781452225869.
Broussard, C. Anne/Alfred, L. Joseph/Thompson, Marco (2012): Stressors and Coping Strategies Used by Single Mothers Living in Poverty. In: Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, 27(2), 190–204. doi: 10.1177/0886109912443884.
Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend (2014): Familienreport 2014. Leistungen, Wirkungen, Trends.https://www.bmfsfj.de/resource/blob/93784/e1e3be71bd501521ba2c2a3da2dca8bc/familienreport-2014-data.pdf (11.09.2020).
Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (2016): Datenreport 2016. Ein Sozialbericht für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Bonn: bpb.
Crow, Graham (2008). Thinking about families and families over time. In: Edwards, Rosalind (Ed.): Researching families and communities: Social and generational change. London: Routledge and Francis Group, 11–24.
Freire, Paulo (1993): The Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London: Penguin.
Frye, Isobel (2007): The ‘second economy’ as intellectual sleight of hand. In: Africanus. Journal of Development Studies, 37(2), 175–190.
Gatter, Frank Thomas (1984): Der Kongo und der Wettlauf um Afrika: Zur Vorgeschichte der Berliner Konferenz. In: Hinz, Manfred O./Patemann, Helgard/ Meier, Arnim (Ed.): Weiss auf Schwarz. 100 Jahre Einmischung in Afrika. Deutscher Kolonialismus und afrikanischer Widerstand. Berlin: Elefanten-Press, 124–126.
Härkönen, Juno (2018): Single-mother poverty: how much do educational differences in single motherhood matter? In: Nieuwenhuis, Rense/Maldonado, Laurie C. (Ed.): The triple bind of single-parent families. Resources, employment and policies to improve well-being. Great Britain: Policy Press, 31–50.
Holborn, Lucy/Eddy, Gail (2011): First steps to Healing the South African Family. Johannesburg: South African Institute of Race Relations.
International Monetary Fund (2018): Report for Selected Countries and Subjects. Database. April 2018. https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2018/01/weodata/index.aspx (11.09.2020)
Jaehrling, Karen/Erlinghagen, Marcel/Kalina, Thorsten/Mümken, Sarah/Mesaros, Leila/Schwarzkopf, Manuela (2011): Arbeitsmarktintegration und soziökonomische Situation von Alleinerziehenden. Ein empirischer Vergleich. Deutschland, Frankreich, Schweden, Vereinigtes Königreich. Forschungsbericht im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Arbeit und Soziales. https://www.bmas.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/PDF-Publikationen-DinA4/fb420-alleinerziehende.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2 (11.09.2020).
Lenze, Anne/Funcke, Antje (2016): Alleinerziehende unter Druck. Rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen, finanzielle Lage und Reformbedarf. Bertelsmann Stiftung. https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/Projekte/Familie_und_Bildung/Studie_WB_Alleinerziehende_Aktualisierung_2016.pdf (11.09.2020).
Liebel, Manfred (2017): Postkoloniale Kindheiten. Zwischen Ausgrenzung und Wiederstand. Weinheim, Basel: Beltz Juventa.
Marlow, Christine R. (2012): Research Methods for Generalist Social Work [5th Ed.]. Brooks/Cole: Cengage Learning.
Martin, Jeanett/Alber, Erdmute (2015): Familien in Afrika. In: Hill, Paul B./Kopp, Johannes (Eds): Handbuch Familiensoziologie. Wiesbaden: VS-Springer, 147–178. doi: 10.1007/978-3-658-02276-1.
Mattes, Robert (2015): South Africa’s emerging black middle class: A harbinger of political change? In: Journal of International Development, 27, 665–692. doi: 10.1002/jid.3100.
Mayer, Wolfgang/Metzger, Franz/Wilhelmi, Jürgen (1985): Schwarz-Weiss-Rot in Afrika. Die deutschen Kolonien 1883–1918. Puchheim: IDEA.
Nel, Hanna (2015): An Integration of the livelihoods and asset-based community development approaches. A South African case study. In: Development Southern Africa, 32(4), 511–525. doi: 10.1080/0376835X.2015.1039706.
Nieuwenhuis, Rense/Maldonado, Laurie C. (Ed.) (2018): The triple bind of single-parent families. Resources, employment and policies to improve well-being. Great Britain: Policy Press, 31–50. doi: 10.2307/j.ctt2204rvq.
Nkosi, Busisiwe/Daniels, Priscilla (2007): Family strength: South Africa. Marriage & Family Review, 41, 11–26. doi: 10.1300/J002v41n01-02.
OXFAM International (2017): Why the majority of the world’s poor are women. https://www.oxfam.org/en/even-it/why-majority-worlds-poor-are-women (14.09.2020).
Patel, Leila (2015): Social welfare and social development in South Africa. South Africa: Oxford University Press.
Pence, Alan/Nsamenang, Bame (2008): A case for early childhood development in sub-Saharan Africa. In: Working Papers in Early Childhood Development No. 51. The Hague: Bernard van Leer Foundation.
Peukert, Rüdiger (2012): Familienformen im sozialen Wandel. [8th Ed.] Wiesbaden: VS-Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-531-19031-0.
Raniga, Tanusha. (2018): Poverty alleviation, social protection policy and sustainability of economic development co-operatives: Voices of women residing in Bhambayi, Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa. In: Social Work/Maastskaplike Werk, 54(4), 395–406. doi: 10.15270/54-4-668.
Raniga, Tanusha/Mthembu, Maud (2016): Family resilience in low income communities. A case study of an informal settlement in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In: International Journal of Social Welfare, 26(3). doi: 10.1111/ijsw.12243.
Sewpaul, Vishanthie (2005): Feminism and globalisation. The promise of Beijing and neoliberal capitalism in Africa. In: Agenda, 64, 104–113. doi: 10.1080/10130950.2005.9674602.
Sewpaul, Vishanthie/Pillay, Anitha (2011): Households and family structures. A baseline study among primary school learners in Chatsworth, South Africa. In: Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk, 47(3), 287–297. doi: 10.15270/47-3-130.
Statistisches Bundesamt (2017): Kinderlosigkeit, Geburten und Familien. Ergebnisse des Mikrozensus 2016. https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Haushalte-Familien/Publikationen/Downloads-Haushalte/geburtentrends-tabellenband-5122203169014.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=3 (14.09.2020).
Statistics South Africa. (2019). Inequality trends in South Africa: A multi-dimensional diagnostic of inequality. Pretoria, South Africa. https//www.statssa.gov.za (10.10.2020).
Tembo, Mwizenge S. (1988): The traditional African family. Unpublished Manuscript. Bridewater College. https://wp.bridgewater.edu/mtembo/articles/the-traditional-african-family (14.09.2020).
The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency (2019): https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sf.html (14.09.2020).
Träger, Jutta (2009): Familie im Umbruch. Quantitative und qualitative Befunde zur Wahl von Familienmodellen. Wiesbaden: VS-Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-531-91362-9.
Treanor, Morag C. (2018): Income poverty, material deprivation and lone parenthood. In: Nieuwenhuis, Rense/Maldonado, Laurie C. (Ed.): The triple bind of single-parent families. Resources, employment and policies to improve well-being. Great Britain: Policy Press, 81–100. doi: 10.2307/j.ctt2204rvq.
Triegaardt, Jean (2009): Pursuing a social development agenda in the context of globalisation. A South African perspective. In: Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk, 45(1), 1–9. doi: 10.15270/45-1-217.
Twikirize, Janestic M. (2014): Indigenisation of social work in Africa: Debates prospects and challenges. In: Spitzer, Helmut/Twikirize, Janestic M./Wairire, Gidraph (Ed): Profession social work in East Africa. Towards social development, poverty reduction and gender equality. Austria: Fountain Publisher, 75–90. doi: 10.1111/ijsw.12175.
Vreeman, Rachel C./Gramelspacher, Anna Maria/Gisore, Peter O./ Scanlon, Michael L./Nyandiko, Winstone M. (2013): Disclosure of HIV status to children in resource limited settings: A systematic review. In: Journal of International AIDS Society, 16, 1–12. doi: 10.7448/IAS.16.1.18466.
Wolf, Angelika (2006): Verändert Aids die soziale Konzeption des Kindes in Afrika? In: Eckart, Wolfgang U./Kneuper, Elsbeth (Ed.): Zur sozialen Konzeption des Kindes: Forschungen und Perspektiven verschiedener Wissenschaften. Herbolzheim: Centaurus Verlag/Media UG, 135–153. doi: 10.1007/978-3-86226-832-0_9.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
All contributions in Open Gender Journal are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. You may freely make use of the corresponding texts in accordance to the conditions of the license (License contract, generally understandable version). There is no exclusive transfer of usage rights ("copyright transfer"). Open Gender Journal does not charge authors any costs for publication (so-called Article Processing Charges, APC) or submission (so-called Submission Charges). Authors are encouraged to share their contributions in other places, such as repositories.
