Teenage fathers and masculinity in South Africa

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Monday I)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Challenging conventional constructions of gender, activism and accountability

Proposal

Parenthood is traditionally essentialised as motherhood, de facto mirroring a similar trend whereby gender is synonym for woman (Oyěwùmí, 2005). Subsequently, teenage pregnancy is a tangible source of concern for girls, especially in the Global South, as it occurs during those years generally devoted to formal schooling. Men remain, however, partially excluded by this line of enquiry for a number of reasons. Mostly, it is not clear whether they are teenagers themselves, and therefore at a similar stage of development, or adults. Moreover, they are, physically and culturally, less tied to pregnancy and childrearing, and therefore potentially less impacted by a child.

This trend has just recently started to be reversed, with a developing body of knowledge on masculinity being produced in South Africa (Swartz and Bhana, 2009; Morrell, Bhana, Shefer, 2012; Bhana and Nkani, 2014; Mkhwanazi and Bhana, 2017). This work often relies and builds on the concept of hegemonic masculinity (Connell, 1995; Jewkes and Morrell, 2017; Ratele, 2016) and frames young men’s identities against a backdrop where gender dynamics are mostly directed to the oppression of women. Within this scenario, and in relation to pregnancy and parenthood, men are often depicted as the absent others, those who can have a choice on whether to embrace fatherhood or not (Richter and Morrell, 2006).

This study departs from that position to claim that gender is mutually constructed. Informed by unstructured interviews and focus groups with 15 young fathers living in Durban (South Africa), it puts young people's voices and perspectives at the centre of the research project. The aim is twofold. On one hand, we wish to illuminate the positions identified above with first hand recounts: How do young fathers use parenthood to construct their identities? On the other hand, we aim to extend and stretch existing frameworks in order to accommodate and facilitate the development of new theoretical spaces, where it is possible to articulate alternative notions of masculinity.

The findings discussed here point to tensions between culturally dominant notions of heterosexual masculinity connected to provider status but leading to frustration with shortcomings in this sphere. The stereotype of young fathers as reckless and irresponsible has obscured a caring aspect of masculinity that shines through our data. Moreover, findings identify mothers of young fathers as key in shaping new orientation to fatherhood: this aspect reinforces both vertical and horizontal relationships, while weaving in with local norms connected with seniority.

Giving visibility to alternative masculinities (Enderstein and Boonzaier, 2015) that enable young men to actively negotiate their identity in order to embrace fatherhood contributes to shifting social norms which put women at disadvantage and disassociate men from fatherhood. A more actual and sustainable understanding of how gender identities are negotiated around childcare can benefit both women and men by opening up new possibilities for both. For example, giving visibility to young fathers as reliable and caring others may also benefit young women by enabling them to pursue their aspirations educationally and professionally.

Authors

• Francesca Salvi, University of Portsmouth

• Deevia Bhana, University of KwaZulu-Natal