Intergenerational trajectories of inherited vulnerabilities amongst young women refugees in South Africa

Abstract

There is a paucity of scholarship examining the situated vulnerabilities of young women refugees who are either born in (second generation) or young children/adolescents on arrival in their host country (“1.5 generation”) and how these may impact intergenerational vulnerability or resilience. Based on qualitative research carried out in eThekwini (formerly known as Durban), South Africa amongst young women refugees (18–24 years) we highlight the issue of “inherited vulnerability”, examining how vulnerabilities can be transmitted across the refugee generations due to legal, economic and social structures which produce and maintain situations of inequality, rendering young women vulnerable to violence, exploitation and negative sexual and reproductive health outcomes. Ending the legal limbo in which they live and ensuring access to education and employment opportunities would help break the cycle of intergenerational precarity and support resilience of these young women as they transition to adulthood in South Africa.