The Micro-Politics of Poverty and Inequality: Implications for the Real “Hidden Abode of Production” in South Africa

Almost two decades since South Africa celebrated its political freedom; unemployment, poverty and inequality remain undeniably high. The dominant narrative by most South Africans is “awukho umsebenzi” and “asinamali” – there is no work and we do not have money. South Africa’s transition to democracy in 1994 was thus flawed, as it did not bring about economic emancipation for the majority of its people. More than three in every ten South Africans are unemployed. Neoliberal policies and the welfare system, aimed at addressing economic failures of the apartheid state, have had limited success.

High levels of unemployment and inequality that followed South Africa’s entry into the global economy have shifted the focus of survival and economic activity from the factory to the household. In the absence of an effective welfare state, the poor have retreated to the household and adopted diverse livelihood activities. Contrary to views held by traditional economics, households are not just places of consumption and leisure but significant places of production and the provision of services, especially in the context of unemployment and poverty. The household has become the only site of stability for most people as well as their only means of survival – the real “hidden abode of production.” Most households, however, are fragile; they lack resources and are unable, therefore, to effectively alleviate and cushion the effects of unemployment, poverty and inequality.

What emerges, are particular implications for gender relations, gender identities and household dynamics. New patterns of male domination and female subordination intensify, often riddled with conflict. Intergenerational conflict also intensifies in a context where access to income and time use becomes a source of conflict rather than cooperation. Conventional theories of gender relations and households are challenged in this new social and economic context.