FATHER PRESENCE IN RURAL SOUTH AFRICA: HISTORICAL CHANGES AND LIFE COURSE PATTERNS

Abstract

We use data from our fieldwork in South Africa to describe the patterns of co-residence and social connection between children and their fathers in a rural population in South Africa, and to investigate the changes in those patterns over the years from 1982 to 2002. We conclude that: (1) even in the youngest cohort, more than 70 percent of children in this population have social connections to their fathers, (2) reliance on father and child being either co-resident or members of the same household severely underestimates the level of social connection children have with their fathers; and (3) the pattern of connection between children and their fathers has changed dramatically since the mid 1980s. The percentage of children whose fathers are migrant workers has declined, while the percentages actually co residing with their fathers and with fathers in other households increased. We argue that these changes can only be understood in the context of changes in South Africa's articulation with the global economy.

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