Abstract
Although South Africa's democracy is only ten years old, the country has one of the most extensive welfare systems of any developing country in the world. The Constitution provides a right to social security. A monthly grant (the Child Support Grant) paid to the primary caregiver of every poor child under the age of 14 is reaching millions of children. However, the introduction of this grant coincided with the loss of a previous grant paid to the parents of the child. In South Africa today there is no financial support for parents themselves and no recognition of or compensation for their caring work. The grant has helped many mothers to feed and school their children and may also have improved their own status in some ways. At the same time, many young mothers have come under attack by being accused of becoming pregnant to access the grant and of abusing the payments. While the roll out of the grant has been very successful, problems remain in its implementation that create barriers to access for some of the most vulnerable women and their children. This assessment of the implementation of the Child Support Grant is based on the findings of a research study discussed in this article. The article also tries to develop a gendered rights framework that can be used to improve the position of women living in poverty.
Published Version
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