Parenting Journal · Volume 1 · Issue 5 · Licensed source edition
A descriptive study to explore working conditions and childcare practices among informal women workers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: identifying opportunities to support childcare for mothers in informal work
Originally published 2019-10-25 · BMC Pediatrics
BMC · DOI 10.1186/s12887-019-1737-7 ↗
Working-family evidence
Work, care and the whole person.
Maps childcare arrangements, work conditions and food insecurity, showing how family and workplace support can fail despite regular paid work.
Directly examines work and family life, parenting, caregiving or employment policies for families.
Editorial reading guide · Collaboration
Does a parent have a dependable care arrangement—or only a series of difficult compromises?
Maps childcare arrangements, work conditions and food insecurity, showing how family and workplace support can fail despite regular paid work.
Study context
247 informal traders and domestic workers in urban and rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Age / stage: Mothers of children under two years.
Read with three questions
- How did traders and domestic workers differ in taking children to work?
- Who provided care and how often were fathers involved?
- What do the income and food-insecurity findings add to a discussion of childcare support?
Keep the limits in view
Purposive and snowball sampling limit population inference; cross-sectional self-reports cannot establish the effect of a particular childcare or employment benefit.
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Christiane Horwood; Lyn Haskins; Laura Alfers; Zandile Masango-Muzindutsi; Richard Dobson; Nigel Rollins (2019). A descriptive study to explore working conditions and childcare practices among informal women workers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: identifying opportunities to support childcare for mothers in informal work BMC Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-019-1737-7
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