PONE-D- PONE-D-20-24827

“You see this thing is hard… ey, this thing is painful”: The burden of the provider role and construction of masculinities amongst Black male mineworkers in Marikana, South Africa

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Sikweyiya,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Although this manuscript holds great promise, it must undergo a major revision before it can be resubmitted to PLOS ONE for another review.

Please submit your revised manuscript by JUNE 30, 2021. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

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If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Kathleen Ragsdale

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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2. Please include additional information regarding the interview guide or script used in the study and ensure that you have provided sufficient details that others could replicate the analyses. For instance, if you developed a guide as part of this study and it is not under a copyright more restrictive than CC-BY, please include a copy, in both the original language and English, as Supporting Information.

3. Thank you for stating the following in the Acknowledgments Section of your manuscript:

"This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health and the South African Medical

 Research Council (R01 MH106600) as well as NIH Fogarty Grant (D43TW011308-01. The

content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official

views of the National Institutes of Health or the South African Medical Research Council."

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #2: N/A

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The present manuscript addresses a very interesting area of inquiry into masculinities among Black male mineworkers in Marikana, South Africa. The current version of the manuscript, however, needs to be improved. This manuscript:

1. Is well structured and is analytical with comparative analysis conducted.

2. Needs improvement to ensure better reflection and synthesis.

3. Needs to be reviewed by a copyeditor

The introduction is well written. However, there is a need for the authors to see if information/description on the 2012 protest and social unrest is to be included in this manuscript. If yes, then the findings and discussions should reflect the impact of the incident on the mineworkers.

Descriptions in the methods sections could be improved. In-depth interviews with a small sample of respondents would have resulted in findings which should be richer in content than what presented in the findings section. I believe this could be because the data for question number 5-7 (in the attached interview guide) is not presented in this manuscript.

The discussion section summarizes and reflects back the findings. The authors further supported their arguments with past studies. However, this section could benefit more if theories/concepts of masculinities (eg. by Connell or by theorists on African masculinity/gender) were explicitly used to explain (also by means of agreeing or refuting etc.) the patterns in their findings and that from the literature. Overall, the authors need to take a step back and improve their Results and Discussion section.

Specific comments

L154: Any differences observed between the respondents based on their age, relationship status, and/or ethnic group? Findings presented based on men’s intersecting identities would be interesting to see if there are any similarities differences in findings due to these intersectionality.

L175: Why use theoretical sampling technique? The technique is used for theory building in the grounded theory method. Kindly justify if this is the case. Otherwise, purposive sampling technique is fine.

L177: Since this is a sensitive topic, do you want to omit 'lay counselors'. I imagine there may not be many who are working with the mineworkers and they could be potentially identified?

L180/187-188: Need findings and discussion to reflect this.

L199: If codes/themes were derived from the interview guides, then consider not stating that you used an 'inductive' approach.

L202 – 205: Consider revising the statements - What you are doing here is analyzing the transcripts, assigning codes to data and phenomena to express it in the form of concepts.

L207: Are these references of the 'similar published studies' or of publications on qualitative research which suggests to make such comparisons? If it’s the latter, consider making it explicit in that statement.

L222: Consider removing references from past studies in your Results sections. By having a rich description of the findings alone will enable you to compare the findings with past studies and provide an understanding using theories of masculinities. Also, consider only inserting one or two (preferably short) quotes which reflects each themes/sub-themes in the Results section.

L268-274: Remove the question by the interviewer. An example for you to consider “Ey, you are not recognized [if you are not married, built a house and have a family], you know they do not……”

L416-424: Please check the use of quotations and quotations within quotations - according to the format of PLOS One

L564-568: Consider paraphrasing/summarizing the direct quote

L573: Why personal communication? Can this be replaced with any research?

Reviewer #2: See attachment - Peer Review of PONE-D-20-24827 - “You see this thing is hard… ey, this thing is painful”: The burden of the provider role and construction of masculinities amongst Black male mineworkers in Marikana, South Africa”

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Kimberly Kelly

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: 2021 - PLOS ONE-African men and migration.docx

PONE-D-20-24827R1

“You see this thing is hard… ey, this thing is painful”: The burden of the provider role and construction of masculinities amongst Black male mineworkers in Marikana, South Africa

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Sikweyiya,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

As you will see, the reviewers are positive about the work and the revisions, and minor revisions are requested. 

Please submit your revised manuscript by Mar 20 2022 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Vanessa Carels

Staff Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

********** 

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #2: N/A

********** 

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

********** 

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The authors have revised the manuscript and adequately addressed the comments raised in the previous round of review.

Reviewer #2: The authors have returned a thorough, thoughtful review that fully addresses the reviewer‘s comments. In particular, the impact of the 2012 mine strike is thoroughly woven into the findings and selection of quotations. There is a more thorough overview of both empirical literature and conceptual frameworks, and theory is woven into the findings in a much more comprehensive matter. This in turn helps establish a clear contribution of the work.

There are a few minor revisions that are still needed.

The authors should consistently use ‘mine work’ or ‘minework.’ The spelling varies throughout the paper.

The word mistress appears on page 13. Please change it to non-marital partner or non-marital sexual partner, as the authors have done throughout the rest of the paper.

The order in which the authors indicate they will discuss the findings are not in the same order in which the findings were actually discussed. Specifically, the second and third themes are switched around.

The sections on provision as an escapable burden and hopes for alternatives for family are very short. In fact they are really too short to fully make the authors’ points. In contrast, the discussion is four pages, The discussion should summarize the findings and explain the significance of the reader. Actual findings should appear above the discussion.

With these changes, I believe the paper will be close to ready for publication.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: Yes: Surendran Rajaratnam

Reviewer #2: No

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

“You see this thing is hard… ey, this thing is painful”: The burden of the provider role and construction of masculinities amongst Black male mineworkers in Marikana, South Africa

PONE-D-20-24827R2

Dear Dr. Sikweyiya,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Miquel Vall-llosera Camps

Senior Editor

PLOS ONE

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

**********

2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: N/A

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: No

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The authors have adequately revised their article based on the comments provided in the past reviews. The article can now be considered for publication by the editor.

**********

7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: Yes: Surendran Rajaratnam