Breadwinners behind bars - the lived experiences of incarcerated female breadwinners in South Africa

Abstract

Similarly to their overseas counterparts, incarcerated South African women are overrepresented among the poor, have less access to education and assume the principal burden of care and unpaid labour in the home. They are also mothers who provide and care for their children, often on their own, as female breadwinners. Yet little research exists on their lived experiences, with the dearth of research pertaining to incarcerated women not concerned with their role of breadwinning or motherhood. This qualitative, psychological feminist study endeavoured to document the narratives of a group of 17 women who are incarcerated in a correctional centre in South Africa. Data collected through life history interviews allowed for a gender-sensitive analysis of the unique challenges incarcerated women in South Africa face, and in their own words, elucidated how the gendered role of female breadwinners played a part in their incarceration. The role of female breadwinners did not act as a sole stressor, but rather occurred within a context of complex social factors that included the feminisation of poverty, gendered division of labour, as well as gender-based violence (GBV). As explicated through the women’s pathways narratives, this confluence of factors, coupled with fulfilling the dual roles of primary provider and caregiver, contributed towards their path to incarceration.