Social assistance and dignity: South African women’s experiences of the child support grant
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Date
2015
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Routledge
Abstract
Many women interact with the South African social security system in relation to the Child Support
Grant (CSG), which is social assistance payable for children living with low-income caregivers.
This paper explores women’s accounts of how the CSG serves to protect and respect dignity, a
foundational value in the South African Constitution. Drawing from focus groups and in-depth
interviews with female CSG recipients of working age, it is argued that whilst the experience of
using the CSG does protect dignity in certain important respects, other aspects including the
application process, the small amount of the grant and negative discourses associated with the
status of being a CSG recipient were experienced by many as erosive of dignity.
Description
Keywords
Social assistance, South Africa, Dignity, Child support grant, Women’s experiences
Citation
Wright, G. et al. (2015). Social assistance and dignity: South African women’s experiences of the child support grant. Development Southern Africa,32(4), 443–457. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2015.1039711