Defining absent, unknown and undisclosed fathers in South Africa

Abstract

The absence of fathers in African black families is high. Therefore research to understand how this impacts identity formation, the economic survival of households and generally how the phenomenon is understood by those who experience this absence, has been on the increase in South Africa. Nevertheless, there is little agreement on the meaning of the term, father absence. In an attempt to correct this, a study was undertaken in Mpumalanga provinces in South Africa among women aged 14 to 36. Through domain analysis of narratives collected from 20 the young women, this article provides multiple conceptualizations of father absence as experienced by the young women. The various categories emerging from the data provide the following types of understandings of father absence: absent and unknown; absent but known; absent and undisclosed; and unknown and deceased. From a detailed discussion of these understandings, this article shows that the concept father absence is embedded in socio-economic and political contexts and therefore it is complex, and thus should be defined with care. It is thus hoped that the conceptualization provided here will allow researchers and practitioners to better understand the phenomenon of father absence.

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