title: Female-headed households contending with AIDS-related hardship in rural South Africa.
abstract: Mainstream research and the popular media often equate female-headship with household vulnerability, crisis, and disorganization. Epidemic levels of HIV/AIDS in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa compound this portrait of hopelessness. In South Africa, the impact of HIV/AIDS on households depends on race, class, and place. As female-headed households increase in number, we need to better understand how female-heads in poor rural areas contend with AIDS related challenges. We analyze qualitative interviews with 16 female heads and the members of their households in a rural community to examine the response to AIDS-related illness, death, or caring for orphaned children. Our analysis examines female-heads' financial and social resources and how these resources buffer against hardship in households affected by AIDS. We find considerable heterogeneity among rural female-headed households and their access to resources to combat AIDS-related hardship. Our findings have important policy implications both in terms of identifying individual and household vulnerabilities as well as leveraging the potential for resilience for female-heads in rural South African communities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Missouri, 420 Lewis Hall, Columbia, MO 65203, USA. schatzej@health.missouri.edu
authors.forename: Enid
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schatz
authors.forename: Sangeetha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Madhavan
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D054540:Child, Orphaned; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012424:Rural Population; D012922:Social Change; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology