Sex, Gender, Becoming - PULP

Five /
Agency amidst adversity:
Poverty and women’s
1
reproductive lives Kammila Naidoo
1. Introduction
This paper examines the way in which changing structures, socioeconomic
and domestic realities are shaping reproductive dynamics in
South Africa. More specifically, it considers the social context of
child-bearing in a particular area, Winterveld, and probes the ways in
which motivation for bearing children is affected by the combined
effects of domestic violence and economic insecurity. As such, the
paper draws on the vignettes and nuances of a case study. Case
studies are used in different ways by various authors: either to
develop generalisations, albeit ‘fuzzy generalisations’, 2 or sometimes
to criticise, challenge or draw attention to some of the limitations of
existing assumptions. 3 This case study is used to raise discussion on
the relevance of an alternative argument in demography. It is also
used to focus attention on the difficulties women face, and the
actions they take to contend with them, in social environments
experiencing high levels of poverty. The paper aims to (1) offer insight
into how deteriorating socio-economic conditions might influence the
nature of fertility transition in developing countries and (2) illuminate
how micro-demographic studies of fertility behaviour could
complement or offer more in-depth understandings of the numerous
issues influencing women’s lives and shaping their reproductive
histories.
2. Background
Until the 1960s, the demographic transition theory remained the
dominant paradigm in demography. In his paper written in 1945,
Population: the long view, Frank Notestein put forward the view that
fertility transition took place in terms of stages accompanying the
processes of modernisation and industrialisation. It was maintained
1
This is an edited version of the article: ‘Reproductive dynamics in the context of
economic insecurity and domestic violence: a South African case study’ (2002) 37
Journal of Asian and African Studies 376.
2
M Bassey Case study research in educational settings (1999).
3 S Reinharz Feminist methods in social research (1992).
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