From breadwinners to caregivers: Why fatherhood in SA must go beyond finances

The State of South Africa’s Father’s 2024 report revealed that only 35.6% of South African children live with their biological fathers, while 40.3% live with men who are not their biological fathers. This highlights not only a crisis of absent fathers, but also the overlooked role of “social fathers” – men who step in as caregivers without a biological tie.

The report was produced by the Tataokhona Project, a cross-institutional project housed at Stellenbosch University, which includes researchers from Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice, as well as the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI).

Beyond biology: Recognising social fathers 

Dr Wessel van den Berg, a co-author of the report, father of two and senior advocacy officer at Equimundo, outlined the report’s definition of fatherhood: “An international review of fatherhood helped shape the following definition: Fathers are male-identified adults who are most involved in the caregiving of a child, regardless of living situation, marital status, or biological relation.

“The role of a father may manifest in multiple ways: as the primary parent, as one of two primary parents, or as a secondary parent. They may be a biological, foster, or adoptive father, a stepfather, or a grandfather.”

Van den Berg says that when defining what a father is, one must also recognise social fatherhood, even including mentors, teachers, and coaches, as it offers a valuable opportunity to address the issue of men’s low involvement in childcare.

“Expanding our definition of fatherhood to include all adult men who live with and care for children unlocks an untapped resource that can positively impact gender equality, children’s development and men’s mental health.”

Read more: It’s Father’s Day — but South African society suffering profound absence of father figures

Research suggests key barriers to father involvement include:

• Cultural factors: Traditional customs such as damages (lobola-related obligations), birthrights and surname disputes.


• Masculinity norms: Rigid gender roles that define men primarily as providers rather than caregivers.


• Economic challenges: Unemployment and financial struggles that lead some fathers to disengage.


• Interpersonal dynamics: Relationship conflicts, including estrangement from the child’s mother.


• Institutional barriers: Legal and religious systems that may hinder father-child relationships.


• Social and environmental factors: Migration, substance abuse and historical influences on fatherhood roles.

Shifting understanding

Dr Mandisa Malinga, a co-author of the State of South Africa’s Fathers report and a senior lecturer in the Psychology Department at the University of Cape Town, told Daily Maverick: “Fatherhood has gone through shifts in that our understanding of what a father is and what a father is supposed to do has evolved.

“We have moved beyond an understanding of fatherhood as just centred around financial provision to seeing fathers as necessary and important to the holistic parenting, growth and development of a child.

“Fatherhood requires an integration of all parenting roles (including primary caregiving such as feeding, changing diapers, helping with homework, bathing children, etc.), along with roles such as emotional support and financial provision, which are all important for the wellbeing of children, but also the emotional and psychological wellbeing of men and fathers themselves.

“So there has been a clear shift in how we understand or think about fatherhood and the expectations towards fathers.”

Read more: Father’s rights — the complex web many are forced to navigate to access their children

Contributing in other ways

While the understanding of fatherhood has evolved in contemporary society, Malinga said current evidence suggests that fathers still do not actively participate in all of these roles.

“Fathers’ actions are not yet aligning with these shifting ideas, at least not at the scale that we would like to see. Also, other aspects of our society have been very slow to change.

“While we say that fathers should become more actively involved because it is important for them, their children, and their families, we are still struggling to challenge sociocultural ideas around gender.

“Largely in South Africa, men are still understood as the primary providers for the family, and so if they are not able to provide, rather than contribute more to other parenting roles that are then accessible to them, they tend to pull away.

“This is not just an issue with men. We have established a society where provision is an important currency and expectation we place on men, we validate and affirm men who offer financial security and often devalue those who are not able to offer such security.

“This results in situations where men feel useless when they cannot provide financial security for their children and families and are more likely to pull away than take up or continue with other caregiving responsibilities,” she said.

“Of course, this is not okay. This is not a justification for men’s actions, but it is what is happening. We need to shift how we think about what it means to be a man as a society, moving towards more gender-equitable ideas about family life and parenting.

“This way, we can see more men take up active parenting roles in their families, regardless of their socioeconomic situations. This is not easy work, but we need to do something if we want to see more men showing up for their children and families.” DM