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Social assistance and dignity: South African women's experiences of the child support grant

Author

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  • Gemma Wright
  • David Neves
  • Phakama Ntshongwana
  • Michael Noble

Abstract

Many women interact with the South African social security system in relation to the Child Support Grant (CSG), which is social assistance payable for children living with low-income caregivers. This paper explores women's accounts of how the CSG serves to protect and respect dignity, a foundational value in the South African Constitution. Drawing from focus groups and in-depth interviews with female CSG recipients of working age, it is argued that whilst the experience of using the CSG does protect dignity in certain important respects, other aspects including the application process, the small amount of the grant and negative discourses associated with the status of being a CSG recipient were experienced by many as erosive of dignity.

Suggested Citation

  • Gemma Wright & David Neves & Phakama Ntshongwana & Michael Noble, 2015. "Social assistance and dignity: South African women's experiences of the child support grant," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 443-457, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:deveza:v:32:y:2015:i:4:p:443-457
    DOI: 10.1080/0376835X.2015.1039711
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Nokuthula Ngubane & Pranitha Maharaj, 2018. "Childbearing in the Context of the Child Support Grant in a Rural Area in South Africa," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(4), pages 21582440188, December.
    2. Rochelle Beukes & Ada Jansen & Mariana Moses & Derek Yu, 2017. "Exploring the Eligibility Criteria of the Child Support Grant and its Impact on Poverty," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 134(2), pages 511-529, November.
    3. Hajdu, Flora & Granlund, Stefan & Neves, David & Hochfeld, Tessa & Amuakwa-Mensah, Franklin & Sandström, Emil, 2020. "Cash transfers for sustainable rural livelihoods? Examining the long-term productive effects of the Child Support Grant in South Africa," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    4. Stumbitz, Bianca & Lewis, Suzan & Kyei, Abigail A. & Lyon, Fergus, 2018. "Maternity protection in formal and informal economy workplaces: The case of Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 373-384.
    5. Tehila Refaeli & Michal Krumer-Nevo, 2021. "Mental Distress during the Coronavirus Pandemic in Israel: Who Are the Most Vulnerable?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-13, December.

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