‘<i>Kids sold, desperate moms need cash</i>’: Media representations of Zimbabwean women migrants

Mawadza, Aquilina; Banda, Felix

doi:10.2989/16073614.2016.1201773

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…There is rampant political scapegoating in South Africa in which foreign nationals, particularly those from Africa, are seen as flooding the country, taking people’s jobs, and overwhelming the public healthcare system ( Mawadza and Crush, 2010 ; Crush and Tawodzera, 2014 ). Often expressed in the popular discourse, South African nationals believe foreigners ‘use up’ state resources and that they bring diseases when they come to South Africa ( Crush and Tawodzera, 2014 ; Vearey et al, 2017 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The media has a role in spreading false information that migrants are too many, that they are traveling to South Africa for health-seeking purposes, overburdening the South African public health system, and, in this way, they have shown to be instrumental in framing discourses that fuel xenophobia in South Africa ( Danso and McDonald, 2001 ; Cruch, 2008 ; Mawadza and Crush, 2010 ). Labeled as “aliens,” “illegals,” and “foreigners,” migrants are perceived as “bringers of disease and crime, takers of jobs or consumers of ‘our’ resources” ( Mawadza and Crush, 2010 , p. 363). These terms permeate public discourse, fuelling xenophobia and anti-foreigner sentiments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Do black women’s lives matter? A study of the hidden impact of the barriers to access maternal healthcare for migrant women in South Africa

Jaiswal,

Núñez Carrasco,

Arrow

2024

Front. Sociol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundStudies on the barriers migrant women face when trying to access healthcare services in South Africa have emphasized economic factors, fear of deportation, lack of documentation, language barriers, xenophobia, and discrimination in society and in healthcare institutions as factors explaining migrants’ reluctance to seek healthcare. Our study aims to visualize some of the outcome effects of these barriers by analyzing data on maternal death and comparing the local population and black African migrant women from the South African Development Countries (SADC) living in South Africa. The heightened maternal mortality of black migrant women in South Africa can be associated with the hidden costs of barriers migrants face, including xenophobic attitudes experienced at public healthcare institutions.MethodsOur analysis is based on data on reported causes of death (COD) from the South African Department of Home Affairs (DHA). Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) processed the data further and coded the cause of death (COD) according to the WHO classification of disease, ICD10. The dataset is available on the StatsSA website (http://nesstar.statssa.gov.za:8282/webview/) for research and statistical purposes. The entire dataset consists of over 10 million records and about 50 variables of registered deaths that occurred in the country between 1997 and 2018. For our analysis, we have used data from 2002 to 2015, the years for which information on citizenship is reliably included on the death certificate. Corresponding benchmark data, in which nationality is recorded, exists only for a 10% sample from the population and housing census of 2011. Mid-year population estimates (MYPE) also exist but are not disaggregated by nationality. For this reason, certain estimates of death proportions by nationality will be relative and will not correspond to crude death rates.ResultsThe total number of female deaths recorded from the years 2002 to 2015 in the country was 3740.761. Of these, 99.09% (n = 3,707,003) were deaths of South Africans and 0.91% (n = 33,758) were deaths of SADC women citizens. For maternal mortality, we considered the total number of deaths recorded for women between the ages of 15 and 49 years of age and were 1,530,495 deaths. Of these, deaths due to pregnancy-related causes contributed to approximately 1% of deaths. South African women contributed to 17,228 maternal deaths and SADC women to 467 maternal deaths during the period under study. The odds ratio for this comparison was 2.02. In other words, our findings show the odds of a black migrant woman from a SADC country dying of a maternal death were more than twice that of a South African woman. This result is statistically significant as this odds ratio, 2.02, falls within the 95% confidence interval (1.82–2.22).ConclusionThe study is the first to examine and compare maternal death among two groups of women, women from SADC countries and South Africa, based on Stats SA data available for the years 2002–2015. This analysis allows for a better understanding of the differential impact that social determinants of health have on mortality among black migrant women in South Africa and considers access to healthcare as a determinant of health. As we examined maternal death, we inferred that the heightened mortality among black migrant women in South Africa was associated with various determinants of health, such as xenophobic attitudes of healthcare workers toward foreigners during the study period. The negative attitudes of healthcare workers toward migrants have been reported in the literature and the media. Yet, until now, its long-term impact on the health of the foreign population has not been gaged. While a direct association between the heightened death of migrant populations and xenophobia cannot be established in this study, we hope to offer evidence that supports the need to focus on the heightened vulnerability of black migrant women in South Africa. As we argued here, the heightened maternal mortality among migrant women can be considered hidden barriers in which health inequality and the pervasive effects of xenophobia perpetuate the health disparity of SADC migrants in South Africa.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do black women’s lives matter? A study of the hidden impact of the barriers to access maternal healthcare for migrant women in South Africa

Jaiswal,

Núñez Carrasco,

Arrow

2024

Front. Sociol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Media representations of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants: a meta-analysis of research

Seo

Kavakli

2022

Annals of the International Communication Association

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Malevolent Trespassers or Benevolent Guests

Ogunkunle

Ojebuyi

2020

Handbook of Research on the Global Impact of Media on Migration Issues

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Migration, a phenomenon where different factors compel people to move from one location to a new location, has remained an intrinsic feature of the human world. Many studies have been conducted on media portrayal of migrants, little scholarly attention has been paid to the dominant image of African migrants in the news media. Therefore, this study, deploying agenda-setting and framing theories, attempted a meta-analysis of the existing studies on media portrayal of African migrants with a view to establishing the dominant image of the migrants as reported by the media. Twenty-five journal articles on portrayal of African migrants purposively selected through online search were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Findings reveal that the media portrayed African migrants via negative lens with the use of ubiquitous derogatory frames which include: aliens, foreigners, purveyors of social ills, vagrant, criminals, chaotic and hopeless. These dominant negative images of Africa and African migrants portend a great danger to globalisation and global economic integration. The realisation of comprehensive globalization and global economic integration will remain elusive as long as the media continue to give more prominence to the negatives of migration than the positives. Therefore, the media agenda, in all climes, should be used to positively influence public agenda and policies as regards migration.

show abstract

‘Kids sold, desperate moms need cash’: Media representations of Zimbabwean women migrants

Cited by 4 publications

References 16 publications

Do black women’s lives matter? A study of the hidden impact of the barriers to access maternal healthcare for migrant women in South Africa

Do black women’s lives matter? A study of the hidden impact of the barriers to access maternal healthcare for migrant women in South Africa

Media representations of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants: a meta-analysis of research

Malevolent Trespassers or Benevolent Guests

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About