"Secure the bag": Young women's agencies toward better versus bare realities during COVID

ABSTRACT

Young women in township spaces aspire towards lifestyles that demonstrate affluence, a different socio-economic reality than the scarcity characterising their socio-economic space. The better lifestyles these young women aspire to, contrary to their current realities, are challenging to attain due to the unemployment underlying the livelihoods of many young women. For some young women, the experiences of unemployment intersect with other socio-economic factors such as early sexual exposure, teenage pregnancies, school dropout and experience of motherhood escalating their financial difficulties. The discussion here is drawn from a study through Ethnographic observations of young women in two South African townships. The discussion elicits a comprehensive account of young women's economic hardships in which they navigate their socio-economic realities. The discussion demonstrates that young women are active agents whose inspirations and instrumentalities struggle against the dire socio-economic conditions that characterise their township space. The awareness of their immediate conditions serves to fuel their dreams towards better realities, making them resourceful in their financial approaches which are sometimes vulnerable. The young women's resourcefulness is however impacted by the Corona virus outbreak and the resultant lockdown regulations in a way that affects how they draw from their agencies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)