Why are young girls trapped in cycles of poverty?

We need to have a brutal conversation about poverty and acknowledge an uncomfortable truth: sometimes, our own people perpetuate it – not always consciously, but we add to the never-ending cycle.

We must start asking the difficult questions. Why are women and young girls from disadvantaged backgrounds so quick to fall pregnant, not just once, but many times?

Back home, the Eastern Cape is plagued by extreme poverty and yet the rate at which women are continuously pregnant is just horrific.

Walk through the poorest informal settlements and the scenes are no different: women and young girls who are barely adults are already mothers to three or four children.

And in many households, there are seven or more people, with the majority, if not all, unemployed – not by choice.

But there’s no proper support system and absent fathers, leaving the burden to fall on the family. For the lucky ones, boyfriends rely on sporadic odd jobs to scrape by.

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This is not just an economic crisis; but a cycle of brokenness, trauma and sometimes neglect, recycled by poor judgment and actions.

We need to confront this uncomfortable reality: disadvantaged people lack sexual discipline.

And I am only referring to the ones who still choose to have more than one child. The truth is some women have no business getting pregnant, let alone having unprotected sex at all.

And let’s be clear, this isn’t about policing women’s bodies, regulating their choices or gatekeeping sex for a certain group or class. I am, and always will be, pro-positivity – but damn.

Why are you bringing innocent children into a vicious cycle of poverty and hardship, where their chances of escaping are slim? That’s the question that has been flooding my thoughts over the last week.

This is not coming from a place of privilege or judgment. My family is far from wealthy and I’m also conscious that I’m in a better position than many of these young girls.

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But precisely because of that, I would not have children in circumstances where I can’t provide for them.

Is it ignorance? It can’t simply be a lack of awareness: free condoms are available in public health institutions and pretty much everywhere – and the information is out there.

So why aren’t people using them?

Is it something deeper? Is it a mindset that is shaped by years of living in poverty?

It’s devastating when you witness how poverty strips away dignity. It’s not about not having money, but how poverty has reduced their self-worth, their sense of purpose and the belief that their lives cannot be different.

And that hits me.

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I’m not as concerned about the older women. They’ve seen life and probably carry their regrets. What troubles me is that the young girls are following in their footsteps.

It’s the young girls growing up with the belief that there’s nothing better waiting for them, that the cycle they were born into is all there is. It’s the mentality that says, “I have nothing to lose” – and that is far more dangerous. Perhaps that should be our starting point.

These girls have their whole lives ahead of them, yet they are falling into the same patterns. The potential they have is being wasted.

How did we, as a society, allow it to happen? More importantly, how do we reverse it?

We can’t continue to stand by, watching young girls lose themselves in the same cycle of poverty and hardship that has trapped generations before them.