Teen-aged pregnancy and
parenthood in South Africa
Nolwazi Mkhwanazi PhD
Dept. of Anthropology, Wits
Outline
• Ideas of teenagers and teenage pregnancy
• Evolution of research on teenage pregnancy in
South Africa
• Ideological bias behind the research
• What we know about teenage pregnancy
The politics of reproduction
• Perceptions of teenagers inform
representations of teenage pregnancy
• Representations of teenage pregnancy are
social constructions
Adults and children
Childhood
Adulthood
childhoods
Nurtured childhood
Nurturing childhood
Inventing adolesence
• Puberty no longer
corresponds with
adulthood.
• a time of self-discovery,
anxiety,
experimentation,
vulnerability and of not
yet being ready for
adult responsibility.
Teenage pregnancy
• Teenage pregnancy = Euro-American human
developmental perspective.
• Idea is that childbirth should occur after 19
years
• marriage
Early studies
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Anthropologists
Pregnancy out of wedlock
Issue of illegitimacy
Urbanisation
Teenage pregnancy
• Medical professionals,
demographers,
psychologists,
economists
• Negative causes and
deleterious social,
economic and physical
consequences
The official school
Causes of teenage pregnancy
• poverty
• lack of contraceptive knowledge
• lack of self-esteem
• absence of father figure
• dysfunctional family patterns
• desire for love
• domestic violence
• child sexual abuse
• earlier onset of menarche
The official school
Consequences
• the disruption of schooling
• socio-economic disadvantage
• negative obstetric outcomes
• inadequate mothering
• relationship difficulties
• the neglect and abuse of the child
The revisionist perspective
• Late 1980s - 1990s
• an adaptive choice for
some poor adolescents
who see little advantage
in delaying pregnancy
• Rational & conscious
decision teenagers make
in relation to their
circumstances
• Agency
Revision arguments
1. Education not a route to social mobility
2. Strong value placed on demonstrating
fertility
3. Marriage and childbirth = separate issues
• Sex ed and contraceptives not helpful if
teenagers do not see a need to prevent
pregnancy
• Need varied career opportunities as an
incentive to avoid pregnancy
The feminist perspective
• 1990s to 2000s
• Local values = obstacles to women’s
empowerment
• Fear of GBV results in women not practicing
safer sex even though they are aware of the
consequences of not doing so.
Teenage pregnancy and gender
• Teenage pregnancy is a gendered
phenomenon
• Common denial of paternity
• Teenage girls bear the stigma and shame of
early parenthood
• Girls and women are often the primary
caregivers
Current discourse
• “Teenage pregnancy undermines the
Department’s efforts to ensure that girl
children remain in school, in order contribute
towards a quality of life for all, free of
poverty” (Motshekga 2009:3)
Recent research
• Focus on the experiences of pregnant
teenagers and teenage mothers in schools.
• Books and Babies: Pregnancy and Young
Parents in Schools edited by Robert Morrell,
Deevia Bhana and Tamara Shefer
• Pregnant learners and parenting learners
Books and babies
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•
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Qualitative and quantitative
School principals
Guidance and life orientation teachers
Questionnaires with learners
Pregnant learners and parenting learners
Books and babies
• Only a third of learners return to school after
giving birth
Books and babies
• Only a third of learners return to school after
giving birth
• a great majority of learners are involved in
care work, whether this is as biological
parents or as substitute parents
Books and babies
• Only a third of learners return to school after
giving birth
• a great majority of learners are involved in care
work, whether this is as biological parents or as
substitute parents
• Supportive attitudes and practices are critical to
minimising the negative impact that early
childbearing can have on the educational and
professional development of pregnant learners
and parenting learners.
Books and babies
• Men as providers and women as caregivers
• Girls should complete schooling but no babies
on school premises
• Men should have a loving relationship with his
child but should not be involved in childcare
What do we know today
• Poverty is a cause and consequence of
teenage pregnancy
What do we know today
• Poverty is a cause and consequence of
teenage pregnancy
• Teenage pregnancy results in a higher
probability of adverse life outcomes
What do we know today
• Poverty is a cause and consequence of
teenage pregnancy
• Teenage pregnancy results in a higher
probability of adverse life outcomes
• The majority of teenage mothers wish they
had delayed childbirth
What do we know today
• Poverty is a cause and consequence of
teenage pregnancy
• Teenage pregnancy results in a higher
probability of adverse life outcomes
• The majority of teenage mothers wish they
had delayed childbirth
• Teenage pregnancy is a socially embedded
phenomenon.
What do we know today
• Poverty is a cause and consequence of
teenage pregnancy
• Teenage pregnancy results in a higher
probability of adverse life outcomes
• The majority of teenage mothers wish they
had delayed childbirth
• Teenage pregnancy is a socially embedded
phenomenon
• Teenage pregnancy rates are declining