‘Iron women’ dislodging ‘provider masculinities’: Why Connell’s framework of Hegemonic Masculinities is ‘useful but unhelpful’?

Abstract

Since its introduction into the field of men and masculinities, Connell’s theoretical framework of hegemonic masculinities has been widely applied even in contexts outside the Western gender order for which it was originally intended. The framework has found application even in the context of IsiXhosa manhood in South Africa. In this paper, I seek to contest the wholesale applicability of this framework in rural and poverty-stricken contexts such as the Eastern Cape, South Africa and perhaps peel off this generalized application of hegemonic masculinities in contexts outside the Western gender order. I rely on newspaper reports, personal observations and anecdotes - as a resident in the Eastern Cape - about rural women who sell scrap metal by the roadside to illustrate the unhelpfulness of wholesale application of Connell’s framework in this context. In conclusion, I advocate for ‘dominance without hegemony’ as a more suitable theoretical framework to theorize masculinities in areas with high poverty rather than Connell’s ‘hegemonic masculinities’.