Abstract
ABSTRACTCare for AIDS orphans in southern Africa is frequently characterized as a “crisis”, where kin-based networks of care are thought to be on the edge of collapse. Yet these care networks, though strained by AIDS, are still the primary mechanisms for orphan care, in large part because of the essential role grandmothers play in responding to the needs of orphans. Ongoing demographic shifts as a result of HIV/AIDS and an increasingly feminized labor market continue to disrupt and alter networks of care for orphans and vulnerable children. This paper examines the emergence of a small but growing number of male caregivers who are responding to the needs of the extended family. While these men are still few in number, the strength of gendered ideologies of female care means that this group of men is socially, if not statistically significant. Men continue to be considered caregivers of last resort, but their care will close a small but growing gap that threatens to undermine kin-based networks of care in Lesotho and across the region. The adaptation of gender roles reinforces the strength and resilience of kinship networks even when working against deeply entrenched ideas about gendered division of domestic labor.
Highlights
When I first met him, Ntate1 Thabiso was in his mid-40s, though his illness conveyed a frailness beyond his years
Care for AIDS orphans in southern Africa is frequently characterized as a “crisis”, where kin-based networks of care are thought to be on the edge of collapse
The preference for grandmother care continues to dominate the rural landscape in Lesotho
Summary
When I first met him, Ntate Thabiso was in his mid-40s, though his illness conveyed a frailness beyond his years. The strength of gendered ideologies of female care means that this group of men is socially, if not statistically significant These male caregivers are, impacted by the same population pressures as women of their age group; younger cohorts of fathers and uncles have been depleted by AIDS mortality and elderly HIV-free grandfathers are dying of old age. While fathers were expressing only a theoretical willingness to care, this indicates both women’s role in perpetuating gendered divisions of labor, as well as the possibility that men might be open to performing this highly feminized domestic work This analysis is based on over two years of ethnographic and archival research conducted between 2009 and 2015. The sample for this research was a criterion-based purposive sample (Patton, 1990), whereby participants were chosen based on meeting a specific criterion – in this case, they were all involved in the care or placement of orphaned children, with a focus on the absence of grandmothers
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