ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sociol.
Sec. Migration and Society
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1607624
This article is part of the Research TopicInterconnected Lives: Experiences and Resilience of Transnational Families in a Shifting Global LandscapeView all 12 articles
Mothering away from home: Experiences of Zimbabwean domestic workers in South Africa
Provisionally accepted
- Johannesburg Business School, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
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Many women leave their homes in Zimbabwe in the hopes of finding work in South Africa. In this study we investigated the experiences of Zimbabwean transnational mothers working as domestic workers in South Africa with a specific focus on how they navigate motherhood while separated from their children. We conducted semi-structured interviews to explore the visitational, financial, and emotional aspects of their separation. We used thematic analysis to interpret the data, which revealed three key themes, namely, (a) infrequent homecoming shaped by structural barriers, (b) vulnerabilities and unseen challenges of children left behind, and (c) transnational mothering. The findings highlight the emotional tax and structural constraints of mothering across borders. The study calls for a more culturally grounded understanding of parenting, specifically transnational mothering.
Keywords: Domestic worker, ambiguous loss, transnational mothering, Emotional challenges, Financial challenges, visitational challenges, Zimbabwe, South Africa
Received: 06 May 2025; Accepted: 04 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shamase and Sekaja. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lusanda Sekaja, Johannesburg Business School, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
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