Historically women have often felt overwhelmed by the depth of their responsibilities, and in this day and age nothing much is changed.

In light of Women’s Month, Standard reached out to Khayaat Fakier, an associate professor of sociology at Stellenbosch University to discuss the challenges women currently face.

She says women experience social pressures to “perform a high-functioning femininity”.

These social pressures include feeling they are still responsible for the domestic sphere of a household while maintaining a full-time job.

“Historically, we [women] have been groomed into marriages where men earn money, and much more than women, the ones who are employed,” Fakier pointed out.

However, in women-headed households this pressure can be overwhelming, what with assuming the roles of the homemaker, mother and breadwinner. Not juggling these roles effectively just adds to the pressure on them, and the tendency is to spend money on domestic workers or rely on family members.

“For most middle-class women in South Africa the response is to spend money to buy them time and convenience,” Fakier explained.

This includes purchasing ready-made meals, employing domestic workers or babysitters or, in the case of poorer families, relying on other family members to assist.

“Another response in townships is for people to pay a minimal fee to create an informal creche setting,” Fakier pointed out. “In this way care is collectivised.”

However, across the spectrum, both poor and wealthier women rely on child care and domestic labour by other women and, in some instances, men also fill these positions.

The biggest challenge women currently face is that they feel they are “on their own” and they cannot rely on their partners – that is, those in hetero-normative relationships – because they do not really understand their challenges or how to be of help to them.

“Women should be supportive of other women,” Fakier conveyed as her message to women this Women’s Month.

“Most of us work, live and care under tremendous pressure and the least we can do is be empathetic of each other’s struggle.”

She is an associate professor in the department of sociology and social anthropology at Stellenbosch University.

Her research interests include feminism and the sociology of work, with a specific focus on women’s paid and unpaid work and caring for others and the environment.

She is also the Prince Claus Chair of Equity and Development (2021-2023) based at the International Institute for Social Studies in the Hague, the Netherlands.

Fakier grew up in Worcester and matriculated at Esselen Park Senior Secondary School.