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    The impact of Coronavirus on the rural households headed by African women “breadwinners”: anthropological case study Of Mkhambathini in Kwa-Zulu Natal.
    (2022) Goqo, Nontokozo Fundiswa.; Kgari-Masondo, Maserole Christina.
    The literature surveyed for this study reveals that there is a gap in academia about studies on rural African women breadwinners’ experiences during the Coronavirus pandemic. The study was undertaken to investigate and understand the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on rural African women and also to determine the strategies they used to cope during the era of the pandemic. The study employed a qualitative research method and a case study design. Guided by ethical considerations in research, semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from 30 African women between 20 to 60+ from KwaZulu Natal province, Pietermaritzburg in Mkhambathini municipality that were recruited through the purposive and snowballing sampling and the generated data is analysed thematically. The theoretical framework employed in the study is family systems theory, social capital theory, and coping theory. The symbiotic relationship of these theoretical frameworks revealed the impact of COVID-19 which is nuanced and complex on African women in rural households. Secondly, the study revealed a prevalent Eurocentric analysis of the experiences of rural communities especially rural African women who are homogenized as if their lives are static. Narratives of rural women revealed that they never felt intimidated by being breadwinners in their households. The study also revealed that the impacts were felt differently by diverse women as some experienced more hardships than others but they never gave in to marginalisation due to the impacts of the pandemic. These women worked hard and used their agency to navigate the ramifications of the pandemic by creatively starting businesses to navigate and escape the economic hardships that came with Coronavirus pandemic as many of them lost their jobs or their working hours curtailed. They also used creative financial management of the little money they received from welfare funds, businesses, or pension funds to ensure resilience during this era of the pandemic. Hence the recommendation of the thesis is the decolonisation of anthropological studies by ensuring that studies about women especially the previously colonised and poor experience social justice and are studied from within their own context and are not homogenised. The recommendations propose that economic and welfare policies responses must be immediate and consider the concerns of women.