Being there and taking responsibility Male Child Support Grant beneficiaries’ constructions of their masculine and paternal identities in the light of perceived dominant gender norms

Abstract

Earlier research has shown that within South Africa, only a small minority of applicants for the Child Support Grant (CSG) are men, a group about which very little is known. This research explores how male CSG beneficiaries living in Soweto, Johannesburg, construct their paternal and masculine identities in relation to dominant gender norms on mother’s and father’s roles and masculinity. Findings based on sixteen semi-structured interviews with male CSG beneficiaries reveal that being there and taking responsibility for your children is central to fathers’ paternal and masculine identities. The majority of fathers’ attitudes are in adherence to dominant gender norms, while the majority of these fathers go against them in their behaviour, generating both negative and positive reactions from other people. Fathers’ narratives reveal struggles and ambiguities in their identity construction in relation to dominant gender norms. What becomes clear is that they are able to construct an alternative masculinity that includes both providing and taking responsibility on the one hand, and doing primary caregiving and household tasks on the other. Further attention should be given to these involved fathers, both within policy-making and academia.