SWOP: Society, Work and Development Institute

A Gendered Analysis of the Crisis of Social Reproduction in Contemporary South Africa

Year: 
2009
SWOP authors: 
Dr Khayaat Fakier
SWOP authors: 
Prof. Jacklyn Cock
Author(s): 
Fakier K & Cock J

This paper argues that African working class households are the sites of a crisis of social reproduction in contemporary South Africa. Through a gendered analysis of five townships in Emnambithi the paper demonstrates that African working class women are the shock absorbers of this crisis.  While feminist scholars point to a growing crisis of social reproduction as a global phenomenon, the South African material illustrates how this is experienced in the South by poor women.

Publication details: Fakier, K. and Cock. J. 2009. A Gendered Analysis of the Crisis of Social Reproduction in Contemporary South Africa. International Feminist Journal of Politics. 11(3): 353-371.

Download the article.