Maybe it´s the way I´ve been brought up? - A study on South African young women´s preconditions and future goals in post apartheid society

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this Minor Field Study is to investigate how young women in two different South African schools experience their growing up conditions as well as their future goals and dreams. I will try to find out if they are experiencing either upward or downward social mobility.

Method Observations, document studies, informal dialogues and study visits are part of the ethnographic method which helped me understand and gather information about the South African context. Semi-structured open-ended interviews were used to gain deeper insight in the girls’ situation, their opinions and views.

Results To most of the girls, having a career was important. Having a career means you succeeded in life. Hence, the girls approached the term career from different angles. The white girls felt they had to carry out what is expected of them, while as I quite often saw the black girl as more proud and happy about the situation, being in the ”school with opportunities”.

These girls experienced different kinds of life. The black girls travelled miles back and forth to go to the school, being laughed about by some people in the townships as well as in the schools. Some of the white girls had been home schooled by their mothers and were not used to suchnoise. My results show that many of the white girls in the post-apartheid society experienced downward mobility, while as many of the black girls experienced upward mobility.