Denied and disputed paternity in teenage pregnancy: topical structural analysis of case studies of young women from the Eastern Cape Province

Abstract

There is a systematic absence of studies of denied paternity as experienced by young women in South Africa. This phenomenon is mentioned in publications as if it were a minor inconvenience that should be accepted by those affected. This paper is based on the topical structural analysis of case studies whose narratives were collected using face-to-face, semi-structured interviews conducted in a small rural town in the Eastern Cape province in South Africa. The findings show that denial and disputes of pregnancy by the participants’ boyfriends took different forms. The men implicated temporised by expressing disbelief about the news of the pregnancy, relocating and rejecting responsibility. Participants believed that denial of their pregnancy was a punishment for being careless, not taking contraceptives and falling pregnant. Constant worry from the unresolved paternity left the participants distressed. Resolution in most cases was not, as expected, followed by the man honouring payment of compensation. Reliable means of ascertaining paternity, other than paternal resemblance, such as DNA testing, should be made affordable and accessible in public health facilities to facilitate quicker recourse.

Keywords:

• denied disputed paternity
• distress
• Eastern Cape
• young mothers
• pregnancy
• South Africa

Acknowledgements

Mzikazi Nduna received mentorship support for writing of this paper from the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society (IASSCS).

Notes

1. Sometimes used interchangeably with mistimed, unwanted or unintended, see O’Reilly (2009).

2. Intlawulo refers to a cultural practice where a man acknowledges responsibility for making a female pregnant by pledging cattle to her family.

3. ‘Fatherless’ in this paper refers to a putative father who may be known to the mother but unknown to the child maybe because he rejected paternal responsibility.

4. The names of all the participants are pseudonyms. Given that they are a subset of a larger group but come from the same communities and so could be identifiable, the authors took particular care to conceal other details that might reveal their identity, such as relatives’ and friends’ names.

5. An unsweetened undiluted soft drink concentrate.

6. In South Africa, any woman of any age can get an abortion by simply requesting with no reasons given if she is less than 12 weeks pregnant.

7. She purposefully did not use contraceptives to fall pregnant by him.