A case study of women's households, sanitation and care in Zwelitsha, an informal settlement section in Stellenbosch Municipality

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study highlights the experience of black African women living in poor households on the margins of Franschhoek and their efforts in navigating poverty against the backdrop of 'development in Langrug. Having garnered considerable media-attention as a site of successful informal settlement upgrading, Langrug has become a 'celebrity community. In the context of recent sanitation upgrading interventions, this study investigates networks of care and social reproduction in women's households in Zwelitsha, Langrug's most recently-settled section.The study employs a mixed-methods approach to provide a comprehensive account of care. The findings illustrate that poor sanitation conditions and material poverty affect the level of care women can rely on and provide in the household and in the community. This thesis argues that the story of successful development in Langrug is far removed from the reality of the daily lives of many young and unemployed women who reside in Zwelitsha. Despite the significant contributions women make to their households and the community, many women are excluded from accessing the benefits of development. It is women who are well-connected who are able to access the resources and opportunities provided by community benefactors such as community leaders, non-governmental organisations and the state. Moreover, I argue that sanitation upgrading projects in Langrug, which rely primarily on the unpaid and underpaid work of poor women in the community, do not challenge the distribution of power and resources nor the gendered division of care work, and are therefore not transformative. To compensate for the absence of poor sanitation conditions, the care practices of women make up an 'infrastructure of care that sustain and maintain poor households in difficult circumstances.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University