“You know how men are”: the gendered nature of support during pregnancy in South Africa – an exploratory convergent mixed method study

Male partner support during pregnancy has been linked to positive outcomes and can enhance women's rights to reproductive health and well-being. Such involvement can, however, have gendering effects. In addition, the role of other men in pregnancy support is under-researched. In an exploratory convergent mixed methods study, we investigated the gender dynamics evident in pregnant women's reporting of, and stories concerning, support from male partners and other significant men. We administered the Pregnancy Supportability Research Kit in two health districts of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The closed-ended information questionnaire component was completed by 558 women, and open-ended information narrative interviews were conducted with 40 women. In the quantitative data, 12.1% of women indicated that they received no support from their partners, which, in the qualitative data, was reportedly underpinned by abandonment, paternity denial and abuse. Just under one in five (18.7%) reported that their partners were somewhat supportive. Qualitative data revealed men reluctantly taking on feminised tasks such as cooking, judgementally sharing pregnancy information, and providing support inconsistently. Of the 69.2% reporting supportive partners, emotional support was mentioned most frequently. In relation to support provided by significant others - people living in the same household, family members living outside the household, and friends - women were reported as significantly more likely to provide support than men. These findings point to the importance of nuanced understandings of the gendered dynamics in men's support during pregnancy, particularly in programmes that engage men in confronting and undermining negative gendered norms.