Constructions of femininity in the context of sexual relationships among women living in the rural Eastern Cape province, South Africa

Abstract

The goal of this thesis was to explore constructions of femininity in the context of women's sexual relationships and women's vulnerability to HIV infection and Gender Based Violence. This drew from female research participants' experiences and perceptions of womanhood and considered their socioeconomic conditions, networks, sexual practices and experiences in relationships of women, as well as prevailing gender norms at the community level. Understanding constructions of femininity will shed light on what aspects of femininity make women vulnerable to HIV or Gender Based Violence (GBV) and contribute to the development of effective prevention interventions. Drawing on ethnographic methods, I conducted participant observation, in-depth interviews, focus groups over a period of 4 months among adult women living in the Mpondoland area of the rural Eastern Cape province in South Africa. The data consists of 40 in-depth interviews with 26 women, 4 focus group discussions with over 40 women and field notes. Infonned consent for the interviews, focus groups, and audio recording were obtained prior to collecting data. The data was transcribed and translated verbatim from IsiXhosa to English. Thematic analysis was conducted inductively and yielded four major themes namely, community expectations and perceptions, women's self-perceptions and what sort of women they were, social background, aspirations, and sexual relationships and sexual practices. Ethical approval was obtained for the study and participants gave infonned consent. The findings show the ideal femininity emphasised notions of female dignity, perseverance, respectfulness, obedience, constructiveness and sexual passivity, all accessible to women through marriage. Being married was widely associated with female success and emphasised women uphold practices and ideologies to benefit the husbands and the affinal family. Being married was highly valued and the married femininity ideal occupied the top of a hierarchical order among other femininities. In a context of low rates of marriage, unmarried women carved their own version of femininity: the modified dignified femininity drawing on the ideal feminine attributes. Within the modified dignified unmarried femininity were the idikazi, isifebe, and the adapted modern girl models of femininities. The idikazi femininity was associated with dating married men, female multiple partnering and transactional sex, exchanging sex for money and other resources and upheld notions of dignity which were not present in the isifebe model. The isifebe model is an accentuated version of idikazi marked by the preoccupation with eating men, for sex and material benefits, and was involved high levels of risk-taking in the context of female multiple partnering and transactional sex. The adapted modern girl femininity focused on acquiring fun, money and material resources from men, but its operation varied from rural to urban settings. Urban women’s version of the modern girl emphasised partying and drinking and avoidance of sex with men who financed their fun, ukulahla. In the rural version of the modem girl put less emphasis on avoiding ukulahla. The findings indicated that in addition to hierarchical configurations of femininity, there was fluidity, facilitating women's oscillation between femininities depending on their marital status, harmony in intimate relationships, socioeconomic conditions and aspirations. Femininities were shaped within a context of unequal gender relations and power between men and women and subjugation of women. Negative male behaviour such as male multiple partnering and infidelity, lack of financial support to families and children and some forms of intimate partner violence were prevalent and nonnative, but women lacked effective resources to stop these. However, women's agency and resilience were visible in the creation of livelihoods with the contribution of social networks. Women's strife for success involved competition among women which highlighted female acquiescence and complicity with male power within a dominant patriarchal gender order. Female sexuality was restricted such that married and unmarried women survived by portraying conservative public images while exploring more sexual attitudes and expressiveness in private discourses with other women and sexual relations with male partners. Female multiple partnering and transactional sex with casual partners were among the ways women's sexuality was explored and women sought to keep these private. This thesis supports Connell’s theory on constructions of femininities: the ideal femininity is tailored to the existing hegemonic masculinity in a local setting, exists among other femininities, has no hegemony over them as with masculinity due to its construction based on subordination to male power, but it marginalises and stigmatises other femininities that do not conform with the current gender order on ideal femininity. The thesis has also advanced our understanding of the dimensions and manifestations of femininities in the context of rural Mpondo women and their HIV and GBV risk. Marriage is the main attribute for women’s access to ideal femininity and places married women at the top of the hierarchy to perpetuate tolerance and complicity with male gender power. Though ideal, the married femininity is the most undermined and subordinated but other femininities draw from its values - even ideal femininity itself is unattainable to married and unmarried women alike. Fluidity in femininities enables women to oscillate between ideal femininity, dignified unmarried femininities including the risky models of femininity thus positioning women differently with regards to HIV and GBV risk. The findings demonstrate how constructions of femininity intersect with women’s health risks and human rights violation at a micro-community level, and women’s resilience, risk-taking and agency in the context of adversity for love and/or survival.