Search results

"This anthology gives a historically aware overview of the political and economic issues facing African women since Independence. It incorporates gender and transnational theory in its theoretical discussion of African women from the perspective of political economy. The three main themes are African feminism, women and work, and women and politics. The issue of women's control over labor is central, as is a comparative perspective of women's political movements. Written by Africans and Africanists, this significant and much-needed work is an examination of these themes and a critical evaluation of materialist thought on the political and economic aspects of African women's studies"--Publisher's description.

This anthology gives a historically aware overview of the political and economic issues facing African women since Independence. It incorporates gender and transnational theory in its theoretical discussion of African women from the perspective of political economy. The three main themes are African feminism, women and work, and women and politics. The issue of women's control over labor is central, as is a comparative perspective of women's political movements. Written by Africans and Africanists, this significant and much-needed work is an examination of these themes and a critical evaluation of materialist thought on the political and economic aspects of African women's studies.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Introduction -- Part One Nineteenth-Century Women -- 1 Peasant Women -- Women, Family, and Household -- Daily Life -- Beasts of Burden: The Tswana Example -- Gender and the Hierarchy of Work -- From Production to Reproduction: The Role of Marriage -- 2 Slave Women -- Slaves, Marriage, and Social Hierarchy -- Slave Women in Central Africa -- Was Every Woman a Slave? -- Women and Slavery in South Africa -- 3 Women and Trade at the Dawn of Colonialism -- Trade: A Tradition Rooted in West Africa -- Trade: A Forgotten Tradition in East Africa? -- 4 Powerful Women -- Women Chiefs -- Queen Mothers and Female Regents -- Eminent Women of Ancient Times -- 5 Female Identity and Culture -- Women and Religion -- Women in the City -- Part Two From the Country to the City -- 6 Rural Women and Colonialism -- The Twentieth-Century Trend: Cash-Cropping for Men, Subsistence for Women -- Access to Land -- The Future: Women's Revenge? -- 7 Women and Urban Migration -- In the Beginning: Colonial Migration -- Migration After World War II -- City Women Today -- Part Three Women in the City from Colonization to Independence -- 8 The Urban Condition -- Deterioration or Progress? -- Between Value Judgments and Reality: Independent Women and Free Women -- 9 Women and Trade -- West African Market Women -- Businesswomen in Central Africa -- The Special Case of the Cloistered Hausa Wives -- 10 Domestic Service -- Domestic Service in South Africa: A New Kind of Bondage? -- Domestic Service in Tropical Africa: Competition from Men -- 11 Prostitution: From "Free" Women to Women with AIDS -- Origins -- Miners and Prostitutes: South Africa -- Nairobi's Female "Entrepreneurs -- Prostitution in Islamic Milieus -- Free Women in the Cities of Central Africa

Environmental degradation is emerging as a major policy concern in Kenya; the first casualties of it are women whose tasks involve them in continous interaction with natural resources. This book argues that women play an important role as environmental managers, for example in food production and conservation of soil, water, forests and wildlife. Their involvement, however, has not been adequately reflected in legislation, policies and programmes dealing with environment and development. The authors stress that efforts to achieve sustainable development are not likely to succeed unless they take into account this factor. (DÜI-Hff)