It takes a village to raise a child, but the village is ruined Care and family policy in South Africa

Abstract

All people are in need of care at some point in their life. Although families and kin used to provide care in all societies, the division between family and work life have led to new care arrangements. In today’s societies not only families but also the state, the market and non-profit organisations are involved in care. The internal dynamics between these sectors are explained in certain welfare literature as a “care diamond” where local conditions determine the prominence of the different sectors in this care diamond. Welfare states in the North, the East Asian developmental states and Latin America have all followed distinct paths in providing care to individual family members. The social policies implemented in Africa are sometimes lead along these paths but have met with limited success. The logic of the care diamond is used in this article to focus on specific South African policy initiatives related to care and families. Although certain care policies are directed towards individuals regardless of family structures, specific family policy directions in South Africa are still stuck in outdated idealised family forms. Furthermore, the gender dynamics that are prominent in all care relationships are largely ignored in family and related policies on care. Even more disastrous is that the intersections between gender, class and race have been lost in the policy discourses.