Social assistance and dignity: South African women's experiences of the child support grant

Abstract

Many women interact with the South African social security system in relation to the Child Support Grant (CSG), which is social assistance payable for children living with low-income caregivers. This paper explores women's accounts of how the CSG serves to protect and respect dignity, a foundational value in the South African Constitution. Drawing from focus groups and in-depth interviews with female CSG recipients of working age, it is argued that whilst the experience of using the CSG does protect dignity in certain important respects, other aspects including the application process, the small amount of the grant and negative discourses associated with the status of being a CSG recipient were experienced by many as erosive of dignity.

Maternity protection in formal and informal economy workplaces: The case of Ghana

“…Although not specifically focusing on MP and employer-employee relationships, there is an increasing body of literature on social protection at the community or kinship level in Africa and Asia that explicitly recognises that it comprises both formal and informal mechanisms (Hebo, 2013;Mendola, 2010;Verpoorten & Verschraegen, 2010). Informal social protection builds on traditional cultural values of mutuality, community solidarity and reciprocity and related custom-based institutions which remain strongly embedded in African culture (Mupedziswa & Ntseane, 2013;Wright et al, 2015;Hebo, 2013;Keikelame & Swartz, 2017;Amdissa et al, 2015;De Coninck & Drani, 2009) and other parts of the Global South (e.g. Mohanty, 2011).…”

Gendered differences in AIDS and AIDS-related cause of death among youth with secondary education in South Africa, 2009–2011

“…Females, in particular those who are poor, marginalised or uneducated have limited access to healthcare resources, relating to more adverse health outcomes (Chauke, Munzhelele, & Maiwashe, 2015 ). Also females who suffer higher rates of unemployment, are also both affected and infected by HIV/AIDS and also assume the role of primary caregivers to children and the elderly (Chauke et al, 2015 ; Mncwango & Luvuno, 2015 ; Wright, Neves, Ntshongwana, & Noble, 2015 ). Within this context of numerous social plights, their individual health outcomes suffer and this explains the higher probability of dying over males in the population.…”

(Re)formulating the Social Question in Post-apartheid South Africa: Zola Skweyiya, Dignity, Development and the Welfare State

“…15 He concluded that "much more needs to be done" to reverse the degradation and marginalisation of the poor. 16 Through his "encounters" with the poor, Skweyiya learnt something that researchers subsequently confirmed: Social grants were very important in sustaining dignity (see, especially, Wright et al 2014Wright et al , 2015.…”