Father absenteeism: the socio-economic factors at play

SOUTH Africans recently acknowledged and celebrated Father's Day and numerous retail outlets capitalised on the day by advertising and selling appropriate gifts for men.

- DR SHEETAL BHOOLA

The event has always been traditionally celebrated with the various love languages which include verbal affirmations of love, the purchase and giving of a gift to fathers as well as quality time shared by children and fathers on the day.

However, in a society that is fraught with deepening economic gaps, there are sects of our society that still have not been able to enforce lifestyle changes that contribute to improved relationships between fathers and children.

Very few children in South Africa live with both their parents and there are far more single female-headed households than male-headed households.

Approximately 45% of children live with their mothers in South Africa, yet the traditional nuclear family has been the core of building a balanced individual within a functional society.

Only 31.7% of black children live with their biological fathers, compared with 51.3% of coloured children, and more than 80% of white and Indian children.

Herein we see a perpetuation of racialised capitalism and the continuation of our skewed society which was partly entrenched by coloniality and Apartheid.

However, the high percentage of Indian and white children living with their biological fathers is also influenced by socio-cultural and economic factors, but we also need to recall that the Indian and white race groups in South Africa constitute the minority population.

Therefore these statistics are utilised as an indicator of family and cultural normative practices amidst the four race groups in SA.

The benefits of both parents raising a child enhance the social and emotional development of a child but more importantly, shared parenting enables parents to give a child consistent care and emotional security.

However, as South African society progresses and adapts to new economic demands, this ideal is now becoming rare.