South Africa is on the “brink of becoming a fatherless nation” and more needs to be done to correct this and “redress the public ridicule of men who perform roles traditionally performed by women,” say researchers.
Speaking at a seminar held by the Human Science Research Council (HSRC) this week, senior HSRC researcher, Dr Tawanda Makusha, said the country had an alarmingly high father absenteeism rate – second only to Namibia in southern Africa.
According to Andre Lewaks of Sonke Gender Justice and MenCare, a global fatherhood campaign, nearly half of the country’s children grew up without their fathers and 5 million women are single mothers.
In response to this, the HSRC established the Fatherhood Project.
“It was aimed at discussing the cultural barriers and perceptions which limit men’s involvement in reproductive health, housework and care for children,” said Makusha.
He said there was evidence of men’s failure to support their children or even acknowledge them.
This, coupled with the high rate of sexual and physical violence against women and children perpetrated by men, created a general sense of suspicion about the motives of those men who did want to be involved in childcare.
“With all these negative images and perceptions of men in South Africa, there is a sense of giving up on men, and excluding them from parenting programmes. There are limited skills and training for men in pre- and post-natal care, early childhood development and home-based care,” he said.
Lewaks recommended there be stronger emphasis on early intervention, instead of statutory intervention.
This was in reference to amendments to the Mainten-ance Act recently passed in Parliament which would see fathers who defaulted on child support payments blacklisted and their credit blocked. This, he said, would have implications on their ability to secure jobs, for example.
He, however, praised the White Paper on Families which would deal with positive parenting and fatherhood programmes, paternity leave and a national fatherhood strategy.
HSRC’s Tracy Morison said research had shown that men spent an average of a mere nine minutes a day involved in childcare.
“Women perform the bulk of societal care work.
“In heterosexual families marital patterns, living arrangements and the pervasiveness of HIV/Aids suggest that women are likely to end up responsible for caring for their children, both financially and otherwise,” she said.
“As women have moved into the formal sector of employment, the level of care for their children has not been affected. They bear the double burden of earning and caring, the double-shift,” said Morison.
She also noted the gender bias in childcare, saying, “parenting for women is an expectation, while for men it may be a choice. There are insidious little cues about who is really the parent.”
These included baby changing rooms being in the women’s public toilets, said Morison.
Makusha said looking forward, the HSRC would need to conduct research which “challenged the stereotypes that link men to evolutionary masculinity, portray men’s innate incapacity – men can’t do this – and present the ‘inexpressive male’ who is emotionless.”
This was important in lobbying for change in paternity leave and the involvement of fathers throughout early days and the benefits for the children, women and men themselves, said Makusha.