When skills aren’t enough — empowering girls and women means tackling the ‘mindset of poverty’

There is a growing focus on gender-based violence and female equality in South Africa. However, to efficiently address these issues we must first address the concept of self-endowment. Having choices and realising one’s own power in making those choices is the measure of true empowerment.

Conscious choices are hard to make if one is not able to evaluate options, weighing them against potential outcomes and assessing risks. But mindsets cannot be shifted without support structures, structures that are unavailable to the vast majority of young girls and women growing up in South Africa.

A South African story

Imagine being a 14-year-old girl. You live in a township. Your home has two small rooms and is made of corrugated iron. Your household consists of eight people: you, your older brother, his pregnant girlfriend, two younger brothers and a sister, your granny and your older sister’s four-year-old son. You have no running water or electricity. Food is cooked on a paraffin stove and water is collected from a nearby tap next to the communal toilets.

Your granny’s pension grant feeds the family, but there never seems to be enough food to go around. Your older sister works as a domestic in another province; she sends money every month, but this may soon stop since she’s five months pregnant, and the family she works for doesn’t want live-in children. She’s optimistic – her new boyfriend wants a son of his own and has promised to take care of her and the baby, yet you’re doubtful.

The father of your nephew, her older child, made the same promise, paid in the beginning, but your family hasn’t heard from him for the past two years, and you hear rumours that he has a child with his new girlfriend. Your brother is a good person; when he has work, he buys sweets and biscuits for the family. He loves his girlfriend; you hear them behind the curtain at night, and he never beats her. He hasn’t had work for a while, and when you ask his girlfriend how they’ll manage with the baby, she tells you not to worry – when the baby comes, the government will give her a R350 child grant, and she’ll even have enough to buy airtime for her cellphone.

Your mother died last year; she was sick for a long time and was your best friend. While walking with her to the clinic to fetch her antiretrovirals, she’d often talk to you about her hopes and dreams for your future. Together, you’d dream – you’d work in an office, wear nice clothes, build a brick house and take care of the family. She was always proud of your hard work and good grades at school. This year, you’re no longer top of the class; you’ve missed too many days.

Your grandmother isn’t well; she tells you her heart and body ache because she’s outlived seven of her nine children. Her eyes are failing, so you have to help more at home. When you have your period, you’re too embarrassed to go to school because the blood often runs through the folded rags you use. There’s nowhere private to change. You’re too embarrassed to talk to anyone about this, even your favourite teacher, who encourages you to get past matric.

As each year progresses, classes get harder, and there’s no one to help you with homework at home. Your teacher asks about your father – if he’s able to help your family financially. You tell her that he works somewhere in the mines and that before your mother got sick, he’d send money and visit yearly. But after she got sick, the family stopped hearing from him. You and your family don’t know where he is; even the woman he has two children with doesn’t know where he is.

The challenges faced by young girls and women

Your uncle is the head of the family; he lives next door with your aunt and their five children. When your aunt has to work, you often help look after the two youngest children. They often play in the courtyard between the houses with your sister’s boy and your younger siblings. One day, you’re doing the washing when your uncle tells you to get him some beer from the local corner shop. You reach for the money in his hand, and he firmly grabs you, drops the money, then lifts your dress. You’re paralysed with fear and confusion; you giggle submissively, and he seems pleased and loosens his grip. With his hand down, you sprint for the money and run to the corner shop.

On the way to the shop, you pass your mother’s old friend. She asks why the hurry; what’s wrong? She’s always been kind to you, so you tell her. She looks sad and hugs you, telling you to avoid being alone with your uncle but not to cause him any trouble since he’s the head of your family. She ends by saying that you’re now a woman and that men will want you.

As you leave the corner shop, you hear loud music behind you. A car stops, and the driver rolls down his window and calls you. You know him; he has many girlfriends. A girl in your street went out with him, and he gave her money and a cellphone. He asks if you want a ride; you shyly decline and rush away with the bag of beer.

The story is fictional but reflects the reality of millions of young girls and women living in South Africa, trapped in home environments that offer little to no support, safety or encouragement, growing up repeating the same destructive cycles in their own lives.

The need for mentorship and support structures

To implement lasting change, it’s not enough to invest in skills creation programmes and projects. We must also take into account the mental aspects of social upliftment. Learnerships, courses and job creation projects are not enough to create long-term impact or help people transform their lives if attention is not given to the home environment or mental aspect of poverty.

The “mindset of poverty” refers to a set of beliefs and attitudes that perpetuate poverty and limit socioeconomic mobility. Common characteristics include:

• Limited sense of possibility: Individuals may feel that their circumstances are fixed and that they have limited control over their future;
• Short-term focus: Prioritising immediate needs over long-term goals can make it challenging to plan for the future;
• Risk aversion: Fear of failure can prevent individuals from taking risks that could potentially improve their circumstances; and
• Lack of self-efficacy: Individuals may feel that they are not capable of achieving their goals, leading to low motivation and self-doubt.

Creating hope and a happy ending

Young girls and women need to gain the power and confidence to set personal boundaries and say “NO”. This can happen when support structures and communal places of safety are created. We need support structures in the form of local community groups/programmes focusing on holistic mentorship and mental development. Well-equipped community centres staffed by competent social workers offering anything from a meal and access to Wi-Fi, to homework assistance and trauma counselling are a must. Holistic mentorship programmes will help to build confidence and address inequalities created by the mindset of poverty. Only when these structures are available in communities will the girl in our story have a happy ending.

Grim statistics

The following statistics highlight the challenges faced by young girls and women in South Africa:

• Teenage pregnancy: 19.2% of girls aged 10 to 19 have experienced pregnancy;
• Access to education: seven million girls miss up to 60 school days a year because of a lack of access to sanitary products;
• Sexual violence: About 39% of South African girls experience some form of sexual violence as minors; and
• Unemployment: The unemployment rate for young women in South Africa is 57%, compared with 49% for young men.

Sources: The World Bank, Inkululeko, Health E-Org, Africa Unwind, Department of Science and Technology, Harambee, Statistics South Africa. DM

Ann-Lene Olivier is the MD and co-founder of an NPO.