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© Kamla-Raj 2003 Stud. Tribes Tribals, 1 (1): 59-67 (2003)
Empowered Women and the Need to Empower Men: Gender Relations and Food Security in Black South African Households
Stefanie Lemke
International Development and Environmental Research, Justus-Liebig- University of Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Strasse 10D, 35394 Giesen, Germany E-mail : stefanie.lemke@onlinehome.de, stefanie_lemke@hotmail.com
Key Words Gender and power relations; singlehood for security; social networks; household food security.
Abstract Poverty, food insecurity and the high incidence of HIV/AIDS are among the most pressing issues in South Africa. Many families are disrupted, due to continuous migration, poverty and increasing societal violence, leading to the re-organisation of households and changing intra-household relationships. The article investigates gender and power relations within households and their effect on the food and nutrition situation. It is shown that certain female-headed households and also households based on partnership relationships, despite more limited resources, often achieve a better or an equal situation than households headed by men. Women increasingly prefer to be independent from men, whom they often consider an economic liablity. Households headed by women have several ways of closing the gap between their income levels and that of more privileged household categories, such as social networks of kin and neighbours, using credit at local shops and engaging in occasional jobs. It is concluded that families, whatever their state, continue to make use of their kinship links, which is also one of the most important coping strategies for survival. With regard to development, it is suggested that men need to be empowered and reaffirmed as men, to give them the means to change wrong perceptions of their role as men in the household.
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