Working Paper Abstracts - African Topics
WOMEN, WATER POLICY, AND REFORM: GLOBAL DISCOURSES AND LOCAL REALITIES IN ZIMBABWE
by Michael Madison Walker
Working Paper 287, May 2006
Abstract: This paper examines global debates over water reform and evaluates how reforms may impact
women. Water management is perceived as a critical aspect of economic development and
human well-being by development organizations and the donor community. As a result, donors
and policy makers are active in shaping how water reforms should be conceptualized and
implemented. Zimbabwe and several other countries in Southern Africa are in the process of
reforming how water is managed. The impetus for reform derives from highly variable rainfall
patterns in the region, a historical legacy of inequality in access to land and water resources and
the influence of development organizations involved in shaping countries' economies. However,
when compared to the 1980s, women are no longer seen as critical to water management by
donor agencies. This paper will critically examine contemporary water policy documents and
guiding papers to understand how women as water users are being portrayed by development
organizations involved in water reform initiatives, what affects policy proposals may have on
women's access to and use of water resources, and whether or not these documents adequately
allow for women's participation and decision-making in the formation of water policy and water
reform.
STRIKING THE
ROCK WITH IMPUNITY: THE CONSEQUENCES OF GENDERED PRACTICES IN 21ST
CENTURY SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
by Jeanne Gazel and Pat Naidoo
Working Paper 280, April 2004
Abstract: Women in Sub-Saharan Africa suffer ill effects from
a range of gendered practices, despite purported efforts by some governments
to institute gender equality. Moving beyond the cultural relativity
versus universal human rights debate, the paper examines how certain
practices-including food traditions, marriage and sexual customs,
initiation rites, legal discrimination, and economic marginalization-impact
women's health in Sub-Saharan Africa. The article argues that as women's
health is assaulted, particularly by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, entire
communities risk destruction. The paper asks readers to note how gendered
conventions in their own and others' societies compromise women's
health, and it challenges "insiders" and "outsiders" alike to work
together to make women's lives healthier in all societies.
GENDER, NATIONALISM
AND REVOLUTION: RE-ASSESSING WOMEN'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ERITREAN
LIBERATION FRONT
by Christine Mason
Working Paper 274, December 2001
Abstract: This paper is a re-assessment of the role of women
in the Eritrean national liberation struggle. As such, it challenges
the existing literature surrounding the topic and interrogates the
emphasis placed upon women who fought physically in the Eritrean People's
Liberation Front (EPLF). The bulk of this research attempts to give
voice to women who participated predominantly through non-military
means in the predecessor to the EPLF, the Eritrean Liberation Front
(ELF). Central to this research is the issue of why the role of female
EPLF combatants is prioritized over female ELF non-combatants in existing
literature and the growing nationalist mythologies of struggle, sacrifice
and national and gender liberation. This paper concludes that the
answers to such questions lie in the creation and re-creation of national
narratives that exclude dissenting voices in order to preserve an
artificial unity. As a result, it is both a denial of variegated female
experience as well as an example of the totalitarian tendencies of
national liberation ideology.
A PSYCHOLOGICAL
STUDY OF MATHEMATICS ATTITUDES AND ACHIEVEMENT AMONG FEMALE IVORIAN
STUDENTS
by Susan Frazier-Kouassi
Working Paper 268, November 1999
Abstract: Researchers from diverse fields continue to search
for clues underlying the disparity between interest and achievement
of men and women in mathematics. In Western countries, psychologists
have focused on such factors as attitudes and motives when studying
women's mathematics achievement. Relatively little attention has been
placed on women in sub-Saharan countries. For this study, 140 female
students in Cote d'Ivoire have completed an inventory of mathematics
attitudes (the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scale, 1976), and
a background questionnaire. High-achieving female students report less
anxious attitudes, more positive attitudes towards problem solving (effectance
motivation), and more positive attitudes towards the usefulness of mathematics
than do low-achieving students. In conclusion, this study discusses
future research and intervention strategies to positively affect mathematics
attitudes and achievement for female Ivorian students.
WOMEN'S CHANGING
ROLES AND STATUS IN THIEUDEME, SENEGAL: THE IMPACT OF LOCAL AND GLOBAL
FACTORS
by Coumba Mar Gadio & Cathy A. Rakowski
Working Paper 267, February 1999Abstract: This paper focuses
on the changing roles and relative decision-making power of the women
farmers of Thieudeme, Senegal. Through interviews with three generations
of women — supplemented by document research and interviews with
men and researchers — sociological notions of change and power are
combined with women's notions to tease out the details of role change
from part-time subsistence farming of hardy staples to full-time farming
and marketing of vegetables and evaluate women's decision making. This
technique also is used to compare women's perceptions of change factors
— drought, economic crisis, and a "curse" — with those identified
through historical and policy research, including pressures on customary
rights, land tenure, and markets. We conclude that women's traditional
arenas of decision-making power have expanded along with responsibilities
for farming and marketing. As a result, increased work burdens also improved
their status in the community and households and were factors in organizing
and greater autonomy. Nonetheless, women are more likely to point to stress
from increased burdens and conflicts than to conclude that change has
brought any benefits.
WOMEN'S PERCEPTIONS
OF POLYGYNY AMONG THE KAGURU OF TANZANIA
by Dominique Meekers & Nadra Franklin
Working Paper 263, August 1997 Abstract: This study examines
women's perceptions of polygyny among the Kaguru of Tanzania. Using
data from ethnographic interviews, the results show a widespread rejection
of polygynous unions among Kaguru women. Rather than passively accept
a co-wife, a Kaguru women can threaten and sometimes leave her husband
when he takes a second wife. In evaluating polygyny, Kaguru women are
mainly concerned with the impact that a diversion of resources from
the husband to the co-wife may have on their own welfare and that of
their children. Despite the fact that Kaguru women have a substantially
heavier workload than men, there are no indications that women perceive
polygyny as a means to reduce that workload by sharing it with a CO-wife
GENDER THEMES IN
CIVIL SOCIETY: ILLUSTRATIONS FROM SOUTH AFRICA
by David Hirschmann
Working Paper 256, November 1995 Abstract: This paper
introduces into the debate on the character of South African civil society
a section of gender themes. Its purpose is to suggest how issues of
relevance to women's participation and perceptions, and concepts central
to understanding gender dynamics may alter and enrich analysis and characterization
of civil society. The paper argues that women have developed different
organizational and managerial talents from men, and therefore have the
capacity to make a distinct and positive contribution to civil society.
Then, since the most urgent of the concerns raised by the women interviewed
related to violence, and particularly violence against women, the notion
of a "crisis in masculinity" will be investigated. Two conceptual
distinctions, namely that between the private and public domains and
that between practical and strategic interests, are discussed. Finally,
in drawing together some key themes of a gendered approach, the paper
will indicate how these sorts of concerns have the potential to enhance
our understanding of the complexity of civil society in a manner that
goes well beyond gender.
GENDER, AGE, AND
RECIPROCITY: CASE STUDIES OF PROFESSIONALS IN KENYA AND NIGERIA
by Gabriele Wurster & Gundrun Ludwar-Ene
Working Paper 255, February 1996 Abstract: This paper,
based on fieldwork in two African cities, shows that gender in combination
with position in the life cycle brings about major differences for women
and men in familial obligations. While in school or other training,
males and females alike are supported by networks of relatives that
span urban and rural areas and, with financial independence, the young
professionals start to reciprocate. For the advancing professionals,
however, marriage entails changes which are highly influenced by gender.
Men are expected to continue or even increase the support of their natal
family and also to invest in their home community, thus earning status
and possible formal titles. In contrast, women become members of their
husbands' families which they now have to support in addition to their
own natal family. Because this does not lead to status increase or title
holdership for women, they remain more oriented toward town; their urban-rural
connection is more person-oriented and may even end when personal rural
contacts cease to exist.
GENDER, PATRIARCHY,
AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA: THE ZIMBABWEAN CASE
by Jane L. Parpart
Working Paper 254, November 1995 Abstract: The relationship
between women's access to the benefits of development, the existence
of patriarchal structures and ideology, and the emancipation or subordination
of women is particularly difficult to assess in Africa. Continent-wide
generalizations are clearly impossible, so this paper will examine these
questions in the Zimbabwean case. It investigates the economic changes
in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, their impact on women's employment
and educational opportunities, and the degree to which patriarchal structures
and ideas/discourse have continued (or failed) to restrict women's opportunities
in economic and political spheres. Case studies on inheritance are used
as a prism to examine the benefits of economic development to challenge
patriarchal authority and control.
IMPACTS OF AIDS
ON WOMEN IN UGANDA
by Valerie Durrant
Working Paper 249, October 1994Abstract: This paper discusses
the broad impacts of AIDS on women in Uganda. An extensive literature
review and analysis demonstrate that not only is the risk of HIV-infection
and AIDS higher for women than for men in Uganda, individual and social
impacts of the disease on Ugandan society disproportionately affect
women. Both afflicted and non-afflicted women are greatly affected by
the AIDS scourge through their multiple roles as individuals, caregivers,
and mothers. Research demonstrates that AIDS in Uganda presents severe
socioeconomic implications for women as well as a higher risk for infection
due to cultural expectations, subordinate status, and patriarchy in
the society.
SURVIVAL OR EMPOWERMENT?
CRISIS AND TEMPORARY MIGRATION AMONG THE SERER MILLET POUNDERS OF SENEGAL
by Coumba Mar Gadio & Cathy A. Rakowski
Working Paper 245, September 1994Abstract: Collective
organizing has been identified in many settings as a mechanism for empowering
women. Although the impetus to organize may come through women's efforts
to meet survival (practical) needs, the act of organizing provides opportunities
to become more aware of strategic needs (those related to power and
choice). However, the potential for meeting strategic needs through
women's organizations may not be straightforward and may be conditioned
by other factors such as the links between women's organizations and
features of local culture. This paper assesses the extent to which a
millet pounders' collective in Dakar does or does not link survival
strategies to empowerment for the rural migrants who are its members.
A FRAMEWORK FOR
ANALYSIS OF GENDER AND OTHER SOCIOECONOMIC VARIABLES IN AG&NRM
by Constance M. McCorkle
Working Paper 241, March 1994 Abstract: Practical, problem-solving
analysis of gender and other socioeconomic variables for use in Ag&NRM
(agriculture and natural resource management) development has been hobbled
by biological and sociological reductionisms and by analytic disjunctions
between human and biophysical ecologies. As an alternative, this article
introduces a framework for the problem-centered analysis of biosocially
defined groups and their roles in Ag&NRM within producer communities
or socionatural regions. The framework goes beyond simple gendered divisions
of labor to also examine intra-household, household, and inter- and
supra-household groups and their access to the natural resources upon
which cropping and stockraising depend; control of the necessary techno-ecological
knowledge in the five major domains of Ag&NRM activity (resource
management, production/extraction, transformation, distribution, and
consumption/nutrition); responsibilities for supervising or administering
Ag&NRM tasks in these domains; and decision-making power in all
these realms. Examples from Africa and an extended case from stockraising
in the Andes illustrate the utility of such a framework for the successful
design, implementation, and evaluation of equitable and environmentally
sound and sustainable Ag&NRM development initiatives. The framework's
utility for training in gender analysis is also noted.
FROM THE HEART:
WOMEN AND LIBERATION IN NEW WRITINGS BY BLACK SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN
by Maureen N. Eke
Working Paper 240, September 1993 Abstract: A shorter
version of this paper was presented at the 1991 African Literature Association
Conference in New Orleans. The paper attempts to explore black South
African women's representation of their experience, apartheid, and gender
marginalization. The author acknowledges that while there are other
anthologies of stories, the current collection is unique because, as
the publishers indicate, it represents the work of women "who though
knowing that they had the skill to write, had never dreamed that they
would actually put it all in print" (Seriti Sechaba Publishers
1988:5). Moreover, the work gives these women an occasion to present
the other side of the anti-apartheid liberation story, different from
that often articulated by male writers.
LAW, WOMEN'S STATUS,
AND FAMILY PLANNING IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
by Suzanna Stout Banwell
Working Paper 237, August 1993Abstract: Domestic relations
in much of Africa are governed by a dual legal system of customary (traditional)
law and civil law, largely inherited from European colonial powers.
The interplay between these two systems has resulted in a decline in
many women's legal, economic, and social status within the family. Questions
of family size, reproductive choice, and use of family planning are
intimately connected to women's status in the home. Because access to
family planning is a necessary prerequisite to women's full and equal
participation in development, their status within the family must be
enhanced. Interventions to achieve this goal are suggested.
THE IMPACT OF EXTRUDED
CORN-SOYA BLENDS ON RURAL NJOMBE WOMEN'S TIME AND WELFARE: A MODEL FOR
PRE-PROJECT MARKETING ANALYSES
by Diana Fuguitt
Working Paper 224, November 1991 Abstract: This study
explores a conceptual framework which allows pre-project marketing analyses
to consider the impact of family consumption of a new processed food
on rural African women. General theoretical principles are synthesized
from the case studies in Technology and Rural Women: Conceptual and
Empirical Issues and applied to hypotheses concerning the proposed
introduction of extruded corn-soya products to Njombe families. Embodying
time-saving technological change, extruded products will alter Njombe
women's use of time and in turn their work burden, income, and leisure.
The actual reallocation of their time will depend on such locally-specific
conditions as available income-earning opportunities, women's preference,
women's control over their own time, and society's valuation of different
tasks. This study identifies questions which should be addressed by
marketing analysts when assessing the feasibility of introducing any
new food product to rural developing areas in Africa.
NIGERIAN WOMEN'S
PARTICIPATION IN NATIONAL POLITICS: LEGITIMACY AND STABILITY IN AN ERA
OF TRANSITION
by Kamene Okonjo
Working Paper 221, July 1991 Abstract: The political marginalization
of women in the Habe States of northern Nigeria began with the introduction
of Islam in the 11th century and was virtually completed by the Fulani
conquest of the Habe States in the 19th century (Calloway 1987:11-18).
Formal British rule, imposed early in the 20th century, reinforced this
trend in southern Nigeria by excluding women from many of their diverse
and substantial political roles. Post-independence Nigerian governments
have attempted to reverse this situation by including a limited number
of women in government. But this tokenism has neither met the need for
sexual equality of representation in government nor ensured stability
through a diversified distribution of power. Progressive but limited
action is being taken, as more serious thought is given to the problem
of eliminating the gender biases of the Nigerian political system.
CLASS AND GENDER:
SOCIAL USES OF SPACE IN URBAN SENEGAL
by Deborah Heath
Working Paper 217, October 1990 Abstract: Women play a
prominent role as traders in the central market of the regional capital
of Kaolack, a multi-ethnic, predominantly Wolof city of Senegal. This
article examines gender and class in relation to the social uses of
space that reproduce social hierarchy, while facilitating challenges
to the dominant social order. Challenges take the form of activities
such as smuggling, seen as an assertion of regional autonomy. The terms
"center" and "periphery," along with the concept
of hegemony, are used to explore tensions between structures of domination
and assertions of autonomy at both the macro and the micro levels. Wolof
cultural values linking hierarchy to physical activity are important
to this dynamic.
WOMEN, RURAL INFORMATION
DELIVERY, AND DEVELOPMENT IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
by H. Leslie Steeves
Working Paper 212, August 1990 Abstract: This paper uses
the context of sub-Saharan Africa to review literature related to women
and development communication, including (1) research on women and mass
media, (2) case studies of development communication (often mixed media)
projects, and (3) research on women and extension. It appears that mass
media studies seldom indicate implications for rural development. Case
studies of development communication projects indicate little attention
to women except in health-related campaigns. Research on women and extension
has yielded important findings but rarely cites communication theory
beyond diffusion or considers strategies other than interpersonal and
group communication. Across all categories, the emphasis is on information
transmitted to women, with less that women's empowerment via development
communication may be enhanced by a combination of strategies and by
more integrated critique and analyses.
THE ROLE OF APPROPRIATE
TECHNOLOGY IN REDUCING WOMEN'S WORKLOAD IN AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES IN
TANZANIA
by Rosebud V. Kurwijila
Working Paper 208, July 1990 Abstract: The paper presents
a brief review of the role of women in African agricultural production
in general and Tanzania in particular. The common feature is that African
women produce food using labor-demanding production tools such as the
hand-hoe. A survey of the use of appropriate technology devices in one
locality in Tanzania revealed that rural women were either generally
not aware of the possibilities that existed or they considered the available
technologies too expensive or inappropriate to their needs. To remedy
the situation the paper suggests the setting up of Rural Women Training
Centres and increasing the involvement of women professionals in the
design and dissemination of appropriate technologies for women, and
asserts that these improvements would make significant progress in the
productivity of rural women in Tanzania through the use of improved
agricultural production and crop processing implements and devices.
"TO GUARANTEE
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF WOMEN'S EMANCIPATION AS DEFINED BY THE FRELIMO
PARTY": THE WOMEN'S ORGANIZATION IN MOZAMBIQUE
by Kathleen Sheldon
Working Paper 206, May 1990 Abstract: Women in Mozambique
are represented in their government and within the ruling party, Frelimo,
by an official women's organization, the Organizaçao da Mulher
Moçambicana (OMM). In this paper OMM's history, policies, and
activities are discussed in order to gain some understanding of the
possibilities and problems concerning female and feminist organizing
for power. Despite important improvements in women's lives initiated
by the socialist government of Mozambique, basic issues of gender inequality
are not addressed. Women's issues are sometimes relegated to the "women's
organization ghetto" rather than being integrated into central
policy-making. In addition, the ongoing brutal war by South-African
backed Renamo forces has made social efforts of all kinds difficult
if not impossible. By critically assessing the advances made thus far,
we can learn from the approaches and efforts of Mozambican women in
the women's organization. Despite the limitations, there are examples
of women's empowerment in Mozambique.
THE DYNAMICS OF
FEMALE ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIGENOUS FOOD MARKETS: A CASE STUDY OF
TECHIMAN, GHANA
by Stephen Ameyaw
Working Paper 205, April 1990 Abstract: This paper focuses
on the entrepreneurial characteristics of market women in Techiman,
Ghana. It deals with the organization, socio-cultural, and psychological
variables that may influence the choices of many women. The paper suggests
an important conceptual link between rural food production, marketing
and the growth of towns. It also argues for the contribution this kind
of research can make to rural development.
FROM WELFARE TO
EMPOWERMENT: THE SITUATION OF WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA, A POST
UN WOMEN'S DECADE UPDATE AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
by Sara H. Longwe
Working Paper 204, March 1990Abstract: This paper looks
at the present stage of progress in women's development in Africa, taking
a special interest in the impact and aftermath of the Women's Decade,
and looking especially at the main directions and imperatives for improved
NGO coordination at both the national and regional levels. However,
the main thrust of the paper is that progress cannot be adequately assessed
without a critical analysis of the quality of work toward women's development
— in terms of what is demanded in the UN and Africa Forward Looking
Strategies, in terms of the purpose of development programs, and in
terms of the type of resistance to these programs.
FEMALE INTESTATE
SUCCESSION TO LAND IN RURAL TANZANIA-WHITHER EQUALITY?
by Zebron Steven Gondwe
Working Paper 202, February 1990Abstract: The paper questions
the propriety of the rules governing female intestate succession to
land among the patrilineal communities of rural Tanzania against the
backdrop of Tanzania's declared egalitarian principles. While the Tanzanian
state prohibits all forms of discrimination, including sexual discrimination,
the rules mentioned above condone sexual discrimination, but are, however,
still operative because the male-dominated state sees no urgency in
removing them from the statute book. As the rules favor men, the position
of the male-dominated state is understandable. The paper, therefore,
argues that the successful repeal of the rules can only be attained
by an aggressive campaign which must be championed by women themselves.
But for the sake of preserving Tanzania's cherished national unity,
such a campaign should enlist male cooperation whenever available and
appropriate. In a word, although agitation by women should be the driving
force of the campaign, no effort should be spared in educating both
women and men about the impropriety of the rules.
CHANGES NEEDED
IN AGRICULTURAL POLICY FOR FEMALE-HEADED FARM FAMILIES IN TROPICAL AFRICA
by Jean Due & Flavianus Magayane
Working Paper 199, December 1989 Abstract: The new structural
adjustment policies in Tanzania are encouraging increased agricultural
production through improvements in pricing and marketing policy: these
policies, with the increased foreign exchange for new transport, agricultural
machinery, and spare parts will assist in increasing production and
reducing food imports which, from 1982 to 1986, consumed 24% of Tanzania's
foreign exchange earnings. But the 25% of smallholder farmers which
are female-headed households and which consume most of their production
will not be assisted by these policies. This paper contrast the resources
and needs of this important segment of rural farming households and
suggests solutions which would be beneficial.
CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION
OF WOMEN'S ECONOMIC MARGINALITY: THE FULBE OF NORTHEASTERN NIGERIA
by Catherine VerEecke
Working Paper 195, November 1989 Abstract: During the
last few centuries, Islam has become firmly implanted in the culture
of many West African societies, and with it, Islamic ideology has been
variably interpreted to circumscribe the roles women may play. In some
of these societies, pre-Islamic (African) women's roles, including those
pertaining to trade, have been maintained, though now operating within
the confines of the ideology of purdah (seclusion). However, this kind
of transformation has not been the case among settled Muslim Fulbe in
northeastern Nigeria, in which both pre-Islamic and Islamic cultural
elements have been blended in a way that precludes many women's activities
beyond reproduction and the performance of domestic chores. In a broad
sense, this paper suggests that the recent literature on Northern Nigerian
women has failed to adequately portray the variable roles the women
play and the factors, especially the cultural ones, that condition them.
More specifically, the paper identifies the cultural and historical
elements that have shaped Fulbe women's roles into their modern day
form, the place that Islam has assumed in ramifying these tendencies,
and its repercussions for the fuller participation of Fulbe women in
public affairs and development.
WOMEN AND THE EARLY
STATE IN WEST AFRICA
by Gwendolyn Mikell & Elliott P. Skinner
Working Paper 190, July 1989 Abstract: This paper examines
the roles of women in the processes of evolution toward full centralization
in two secondary states in West Africa — the Mossi and the Akan
states. Although the developing state was being organized on a supra-kinship
basis, it is quite clear that women emerged as political actors primarily
because of their roles and statuses within kinship groups, whether based
on descent or affinity. Women contributed to the very survival of ancient
African politics and played critical roles in justification, consolidation,
and expansion of the state. Nevertheless these same kinship factors
often prevented them from ruling in their own right, or from passing
on the power to rule to their offspring and lineal descendants. In the
patrilineal Mossi case, royal women possessing the name were politically
threatening to their royal brothers. In the matrilineal Akan case, dual
leadership gave women political rights as Queen Mothers, but other structures
of the state deprived them of access to central political decision-making.
It appears that these African states, unlike many of their European
counterparts, never reached the stage in evolution when their lines
of succession were so secure that males did not fear competition from
royal females or their offspring.
DECONSTRUCTING
WAR DISCOURSE: WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN THE ALGERIAN REVOLUTION
by Miriam Cooke
Working Paper 187, June 1989 Abstract: The Algerian War
of Independence 1954-1962 has become emblematic of the incompatibility
of feminist and nationalist movements. This war represents the victory
of the colonized through the sanctioned use of violence. It also represents
the undermining of women's roles and rights, and the exploitation of
their willingness to shelve their feminist agenda in favor of participation
in the nationalist cause. This paper analyzes the Francophobe literature
on the Algerian War in order to question these myths. The women's literature
does not present women's participation as having been liberating. The
men's literature, on the other hand, indicates a growing apprehension
on the part of fathers, brothers, and husbands that their women were
no longer theirs to control. This paper attempts to reconcile the conflicting
notions of women's roles by deconstructing the myth of the post war
repression of liberated women.
ZIMBABWE: STATE,
CLASS AND GENDERED MODELS OF LAND RESETTLEMENT
by Susie M. Jacobs
Working Paper 172, August 1988 Abstract: This paper analyzes
state policies toward women in Zimbabwe and uses the land resettlement
(land reform) program as an example of how different policies affect
gender relations. Both Model A (individual family farming) and Model
B (production cooperatives) are discussed. I argue that state policies
have been ambiguous with respect to women, in some respects benefiting
and in some respects undermining their autonomy — which is, in
any case, limited. This ambiguity reflects the instability of the ruling
stratum's own position and the differing ideological influences to which
it is subject.
PARTICIPATION OF
GIRLS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION IN KENYA
by George S. Eshiwani
Working Paper 168, July 1988 Abstract: Participation of
women in education, and in science education in particular, is one key
concern in developing countries. This concern arises from the fact that
women constitute more than half the population and contribute enormously
to the socio-economic development of these countries. The purpose of
this study is to analyze the participation and achievement of girls
in science and technology education in Kenya. Data for the study were
collected through documentation analysis, interviews, and questionnaires.
The results of the study show that generally girls in Kenya are under-represented
in science and technology education, and their achievement in mathematics
and science subjects is inferior to that of boys. Rather the considering
biological explanations for this study, environmental factors were advanced
to explain sex differences.
THE CASE OF SUGARCANE
IN KENYA: PART I EFFECTS OF CASH CROP PRODUCTION ON WOMEN'S INCOME,
TIME ALLOCATION, AND CHILD CARE PRACTICES
by Eileen T. Kennedy & Bruce Cogill
Working Paper 167, June 1988 Abstract: A study was initiated
in 1984 in an area of South Nyanza, Kenya, undergoing a transition from
maize to sugarcane production. The study evaluated the effects of the
commercialization of agriculture on women's income, time allocation,
and child care practices. Results indicate that household incomes are
significantly higher in sugarcane-producing households when compared
to non-cane producers. However, the percent of female-controlled income
(although not the absolute amount) is significantly less in sugarcane-producing
households. Sugarcane-producing households spend virtually no time on
the cultivation of the cane crop and, therefore, it is not surprising
that the child care patterns of women from sugarcane- and nonsugarcane-producing
households are not different. Women from sugarcane-producing households
use more hired labor than the nonsugarcane households; this may be an
important reason why there is no increased demand for women's labor
in these households. For each of the factors examined in this paper,
cash crop production appears to have no dramatic impact.
WOMEN AND RURAL
DEVELOPMENT: STRATEGIES FOR SUSTAINING WOMEN'S CONTRIBUTION IN RURAL
HOUSEHOLDS OF ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA
by Eugene C. Okorji
Working Paper 166, June 1988 Abstract: This paper discusses
that role of women in the household and strategies for sustaining women's
contribution in rural development. Women contribute more than men in
terms of labor input in farming and are solely responsible for household
management duties; however, the income accruing to women is not commensurate
with their efforts in the household. Household income distribution is
skewed in favor of men; hence, men are erroneously believed to play
a more dominant role in rural development than the women. With the increasing
rate of rural to urban migration of youths (mostly males), coupled with
Nigeria's fast growing population, there is need to enhance women's
effort at sustaining the rural farming sector. Adoption of strategies
such as formation of women's cooperatives, introduction of modern farm
inputs, diversification of farming enterprise, and intensification of
extension services are proposed in this study.
HOUSEHOLD STRATEGIES
FOR ADAPTATION AND CHANGE: PARTICIPATION IN KENYAN RURAL WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION
by Barbara P. Thomas
Working Paper 165, June 1988 Abstract: Many rural Kenyan
women participate in women's associations as a strategy to help meet
cash and labor shortages of the household, as well as to gain access
to public goods for family members. This study draws on data from two
communities in Murang'a District, Kenya, to consider a) the patterns
of cooperation, reciprocity, and exchange which these associations facilitate;
b) the impact of this strategy on the access of women and other members
of their households to productive resources; and c) the effect of this
strategy on intra-household decision-making and resource use. Evidence
suggests that women's associations provide access to critical resources
in shirt supply — labor and capital — and to public goods.
The nature of this access varies according to both the resource base
of the community and the socioeconomic position of the household. Women's
associations are particularly useful to women in the lowest income groups
and to women who are single heads of household, by providing new opportunities
for them to earn, save, and invest, and offering them some control over
cash income.
UNDERDEVELOPMENT,
WOMEN'S WORK, AND FERTILITY IN ZIMBABWE
by Robert E. Mazur & Marvellous Mhloyi
Working Paper 164, June 1988Abstract: The nature of underdevelopment
is examined for its role in shaping the current structure of women's
work in Zimbabwe. Explicit colonial policies that alienated land, created
a system of migrant labor, and discriminated against women in formal
sector employment have an enduring legacy. The diversity of women's
roles in the peasant farming, commercial farming, urban informal and
formal sectors are examined. The limited available evidence concerning
fertility in relation to proximate determinants and women's socio-economic
status is analyzed. While women are still predominantly engaged in the
informal sector, age at marriage, women's education, working for remuneration,
and partner's education are associated with lower fertility. Despite
a precarious economic situation, the social, legal, and economic needs
of women are beginning to be addressed through popular initiatives and
government programs.
KABA AND KHAKI:
WOMEN AND THE MILITARIZED STATE IN NIGERIA
by Nina Mba
Working Paper 159, February 1988 Abstract: Successive
military governments in Nigeria from 1966 to 1986 have led to militarization
of the state accompanied by a reciprocal degree of civilization of the
military. The military has had to ally with different segments of the
civilian ruling class in order to implement state power. Since women
are not represented in the armed forces and are only marginally represented
in the civil ruling class, they are excluded from the state decision-making.
This marginalization of women's political power was similar in the colonial
state. Just as colonialism did enhance the legal and economic interest
of women, however, the military government succeeded in the enfranchisement
of women in Northern Nigeria which the first independent civil government
had rejected. The military has co-opted many more women into the state
system at subsidiary levels and is committed to the incorporation of
women into the militarized state regardless of political and cultural
resistance. The mode of women's political behavior has been constant
since the colonial period, namely militant collective action by rural
and urban market women on economic issues at the local level and lobbying
by urban elite women grouped in depoliticized voluntary associations
at the national level. Given the fusion of the two in new politicized
organizations, women may safeguard their political interests more effectively
by alliance with the militarized state.
GENDER RELATIONS
OF PRODUCTION IN COLLECTIVE FARMING IN MOZAMBIQUE: CASE STUDIES FROM
SOFALA PROVINCE
by Jean Davison
Working Paper 153, December 1987 Abstract: Gender relations
of production in Africa are often characterized by differential control
over the division of labor, decision-making, and the allocation of resources.
Mozambique, through its commitment to socialist transformation, has
taken major steps to reorder gender relations of production at all levels.
Based upon data collected in 1986, this paper focuses on changes in
women's access to land for agricultural production using two case studies
from Sofala Province — one an integrated cooperative in Dondo District
and the other a "women only" rice scheme in Beira. The paper
argues that while women have generally benefited from the redistribution
of land since independence, access to other resources and control over
decision-making vary according to the type of development project in
which women participate. Of the two projects discussed, women in the
state-sponsored cooperative have better access to the group's resources
and decision-making arenas than women in the bi-laterally aided rice
scheme.
STRANGERS IN A
STRANGE LAND: COPING WITH MARGINALITY IN INTERNATIONAL MARRIAGE
by Anne E. Imamura
Working Paper 152, December 1987 Abstract: As international
contacts increase, more and more people find themselves living temporarily
or even permanently outside their own societies. Taking two samples
of foreign women married to Nigerian and Japanese men who have returned
to live in their husband's countries, this paper explores Hughes' propositions
on marginality and its reduction. The experiences of these foreign wives
suggest that the same individuals use different mechanisms in different
situations, and that different forms of marginality call for different
reduction mechanisms.
WOMEN'S WORK AND
SOCIAL CHANGE: THE MAKING OF A PEASANTRY IN THE GOROMONZI DISTRICT OF
SOUTHERN RHODESIA, 1898-1934
by Elizabeth Schmidt
Working Paper 151, November 1987 Abstract: In the late
19th and early 20th centuries, an African peasantry emerged in Southern
Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in the vicinity of towns, mines, and European
farms. In these areas, many African households met their cash needs
through increased agricultural production and the sale of produce, rather
than through labor migration. As the primary agricultural producers,
African women played a vital role in the emergence of peasantry. As
political mechanisms employed by white settlers brought about a decline
in peasant propriety, women's labor was intensified. Countless women
responded to their lives of increasing hardship by running away to the
emerging towns, mining centers, and commercial farms. Although their
objectives were different, and often at odds, African male elites collaborated
with the colonial authorities in their efforts to regain control over
the mobility and sexuality of African women.
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
AND LIFE CHANCES: GENDER DIFFERENTIATION WITHIN A NIGERIAN ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL
by Karen L. Biraimah
Working Paper 150, November 1987 Abstract: Equal access
to education does not necessarily ensure equal educational experiences
of opportunities within the classroom. This paper examines classroom
interaction patterns within an elementary school attached to a Nigerian
university; it explores whither these interactions vary by student gender,
level in school, or teacher gender. The paper concludes with a discussion
which focuses on the impact of classroom interactions on academic achievement
and career choice.
AGENDA FOR THE
STUDY OF RURAL WOMEN IN ZAMBIA: ZARD'S PRESENTATION AT FORUM '85
by Zambia Association for Research and Development (ZARD)
Working Paper 148, October 1987Abstract: The United National
Decade for Women (1975-1985) officially ended in July 1985 with the
conference in Nairobi, Kenya. This conference, the final in a series
that began in Mexico City (1975) and continued in Copenhagen (1980),
included two separate meetings. One, the official meeting, was attended
by government delegates who drafted and voted on a women's agenda to
be implemented by the United Nations and its member states. The second,
the unofficial Forum '85, was attended by individuals and representatives
of non-governmental organizations who discussed the multiplicity of
women's concerns, forged alliances, and debated ways to enact real and
lasting change in women's lives. Among the participants at Forum '85
were members of the Zambia Association for Research and Development
(ZARD), a group dedicated to the generation and application of research
on women in Zambia. Their presentation represented a small cross-section
of Third World women's diverse voices. Yet, although it offered an agenda
specific to Zambia, the points it raised are relevant to the concerns
and interests of rural women throughout the Third World. It is with
great pleasure, therefore, that we include their presentation in the
Working Papers on Women in International Development as part of the
continuing effort to enhance understanding of the female experience
and to ensure an equitable development process.
USING MALE RESEARCH
AND EXTENSION PERSONNEL TO TARGET WOMEN FARMERS
by Anita Spring
Working Paper 144, September 1987 Abstract: Farming systems
research and extension (FSR/E) methodology has several phases (pre-diagnostic,
diagnostic, technology design, testing, and dissemination) that should
include information about the sexual division of labor, resource allocation,
income generation, and knowledge of farming practices; yet gender is
often left out of FSR/E by both researchers and extensionists. FSR/E
practitioners usually rely on extensionists to locate, interview, and
select trial cooperators. The extension staff members, who tend to be
predominantly men, target male farmers for these and other extension
activities. Therefore, there are very few women extensionists —
women who are not trained, who are concentrated in the lower ranks,
and who tend to be assigned to home economics rather than to agricultural
programs. A case study from Malawi shows that it was uncommon for women
to be included in FSR/E work as trial farmers or in recommendation domains.
The Women in Agricultural Development Project conducted diagnostic surveys
and trials that included women. It found that women could carry out
trials, that they had specific problems that needed attention, that
in one situation women tended to be low-resource farmers and fell into
a separate recommendation domain from high-resource farmers and fell
into a separate recommendation domain from high-resource male farmers,
and that male researchers and extensionists could work with women farmers.
Subsequently, an extension circular (Appendix A) was prepared that legitimized
male extensionists' work with women farmers and suggested techniques
for their doing so. Female extensionists also were encouraged to have
more agricultural training and to work with women on agricultural topics.
WOMEN FARMERS AND
FOOD ISSUES IN AFRICA: SOME CONSIDERATIONS AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS
by Anita Spring
Working Paper 139, September 1987 Abstract: This paper
reviews the major aspects of African women's contribution to food and
cash crop production and offers some suggestions to improve their participation
in intensification in the smallholder sector. An examination of the
sexual division of labor shows that so-called "traditional"
patterns have given way to expediency with women involved in all aspects
of production either routinely or when male labor is unavailable due
to a change in marital status or to out-migration. The semi-autonomous
nature of women within the household and the diverse types of households
are detailed in order to show the diverse responsibilities of men and
women for the procurement of food and other commodities. Although some
women earn a good living from agriculture and can assure family food
security and/or generate surplus sales, most women tend to be among
the lower resource farmers. This is not because they are deficient in
farming skills, but because they lack access to labor, land, credit,
training, and mechanization, especially in years of agricultural intensification.
Stereotypes about women's place often prevent planners and implementors
of development projects from incorporating women into plans and programs.
Furthermore, agricultural intensification may increase the time women
have to spend in farming without providing adequate remuneration. In
order to include women in agricultural intensification, certain solutions
are given such as disaggregating data by gender, recognizing intrahoushold
dynamics in farming research and extension, studying farming roles,
reorienting training and extension programs, mainstreaming income generation
projects, intensifying capitalization schemes, and researching the farming
enterprises associated with women.
POVERTY, WOMEN,
AND COOPERATIVES IN KENYA
by Roberta Mutiso
Working Paper 135, January 1987 Abstract: This paper presents
the background, some of the conceptual issues, and preliminary findings
of an informal survey of cooperative activities of poor women in Kenya
as a means of achieving their goals. The paper examines a variety of
contexts in which cooperation among women becomes a significant economic
variable, focusing on such questions as
(1) Do cooperatives actually help women get out of poverty?
(2) What makes some cooperatives succeed while others fail?
(3) Does the key to the success or failure of a cooperative lie in its
functioning as a resource-creation, resource-mobilization, or resource-exchange
mechanism among the members, or are other more significant kinds of
interactions and exchanges going on?
(4) How are the benefits (and liabilities) of cooperative membership
distributed among the members?
(5) To what extent do cooperatives act, subtly or not so subtly, to
reinforce status and class distinctions by reproducing these independently
within subsets of women (quite apart from their articulation in other
social structures and institutions of the wider society)?
(6) If cooperation can be shown to have a potential for alleviating
poverty, can this be capitalized on and systematically enhanced by change
agents as a deliberate development strategy more effectively and on
a larger scale than is currently being tried?
"THE WORK
HISTORY": DISAGGREGATING THE CHANGING TERMS OF POOR WOMEN'S ENTRY
INTO LUSAKA'S LABOR FORCE
by Karen Tranberg Hansen
Working Paper 134, January 1987 Abstract: This paper,
based on anthropological field research in Lusaka, Zambia, first in
1971-72 and again in 1981, concerns the sexual divisions of the labor
force and the system of social reproduction that reinforces the expectations
and behavior patterns of women and men. While race and gender were dominant
in shaping a person's work prospects during the colonial period, factors
such as regional background, ethnicity, class, education, and religion
also affected the terms on which an individual entered the labor force.
They continue to do so today. Each person's job position represents
the impact of a combination of these factors, without one alone being
determinant. Yet, even within the constraints of these factors people
make choices. Such choices come to differ as the labor market changes
and as institutions and role expectations become altered. How these
factors intersect cannot be disaggregated from statistical sources.
Indeed in Zambia very little, if any, can be read from official statistical
sources, as employment figures were not broken down by sex until the
first census taken after independence. This paper introduces the "work
history," an extended interview topically oriented to retrieve
details about the interaction of home work and petty trade with wage
work. Illustrations of such "work histories" collected from
the same women in 1971-72 and 1981 are included. The source material
in these "work histories" provides an opportunity for a dynamic
analysis of how, when, and why women have played different roles in
Lusaka's changing economy. They thus help correct the static view of
Lusaka's labor force as a male institution against which women's opportunities
have been negatively measured.
EDUCATION AND THE
EMANCIPATION OF HAUSA MUSLIM WOMEN IN NIGERIA
by Barbara Callaway
Working Paper 129, October 1986 Abstract: This paper is
about the introduction in 1976 of Universal Primary education in Nigeria.
The effect of sending Hausa Muslim girls to school on 1) popular perception
of women's proper role in an Islamic society, and 2) the girls' perceptions
of themselves and their own life prospects are the central themes explored.
READING AT HOME
IS LIKE DANCING IN CHURCH: A COMPARISON OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
IN TWO TANZANIAN REGIONS
by Donna O. Kerner
Working Paper 123, September 1986 Abstract: The failure
of Tanzania's socialist education reforms to redress regional (ethnic),
class, and gender inequality is examined from the viewpoint of family
strategies of educational investment. A comparison of the two regions,
Tabora and Kilimanjaro, reveals a contrast in the historical and material
conditions which influence values and behavior concerning education
for male and female children. Differential patterns in household budget
allocations by men and women for the education of children are seen
to vary as a result of the regionally situated class position of the
household. Directing the focus of family educational strategies to investment
in persons enables us to identify a female pattern of surplus allocation
formerly submerged in the study of male-headed households.
WOMEN AND THE STATE
IN AFRICA
by Jane L. Parpart
Working Paper 117, May 1986 Abstract: Throughout history,
African women have had a different relationship to the state than have
men. While women in certain classes and ethnic groups may have had a
greater access to the state, in general women have been under-represented
in African state affairs. In precolonial Africa, a few societies awarded
women some power, although even this tended to be informal rather than
authoritative. But during the colonial period, western gender stereotypes
combined with patriarchal traditions to reduce female power and autonomy.
Despite women's active and important role in the nationalist struggles,
decolonization has been primarily a transfer of power from one group
of men to another. Many women have reacted to this inequity by withdrawing
from the state. Others have sought solutions such as working through
influential men, joining organizations, and gaining better education
and employment. Increasingly, women from all walks of life are becoming
aware of and dissatisfied with sexual injustice in Africa. This renewed
activism is all the more important because it is occurring when many
African states have been in decline, thus reducing the power of those
who benefit from the state, namely men. Women's reproductive and productive
labor is ever more important. It is possible, therefore, that women
will be able to parlay their pivotal role in the current crisis into
a more active part in state affairs.
MEN, WOMEN, AND
MARKET TRADE IN RURAL MALI, WEST AFRICA
by Jane Sawyer Turrittin
Working Paper 114, May 1986 Abstract: A number of researchers
have demonstrated a relationship between West African women traders'
autonomy and social power (Ottenberg 1959; Cohen 1971). This paper shows
how women's bargaining power is not enhanced in a situation of market
expansion. Data is presented on emic and etic definitions of appropriate
domains of market activity for men and women and on gender differences
in access to market activity for men and women, and on gender differences
in access to market, domains of market activity, and income. Women's
savings associations (Lewis 1976) are described and analyzed in relation
to men's business management institutions. In this case, restrictions
on women's access to the market give men a business advantage. Data
are based on fieldwork in a Bambara village in 1982-1983.
THE ENVIRONMENT
OF INFANT AND CHILD MORTALITY: A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIAN VILLAGES
by Chukwudum Uche
Working Paper 111, April 1986 Abstract: This is a report
of a survey of 900 mothers under 50 years of age in two Igbo villages
in Nigeria, which were identified in an earlier survey as having very
high mortality. The present work was undertaken to decipher the factors
responsible for the high mortality. The study found that the mothers
were aware of the causes of illness and death; they spaced their births
using breast-feeding and sexual taboos. Most of them gave and received
advice about children's illnesses and the contents of such communication
emphasized the use of modern medicines. Only a few patronized traditional
healers or believed that children's death was due to recurring birth
and death of a spirit-child (ogbanje). Given their positive attitudes
towards modern health care, the explanation of the high mortality is
neither institutional nor cultural but environmental and technological,
that is, lack of clean water, toilet facilities and modern medicines.
We conclude by stressing the role of environmental conditions and affordable
and effective modern health care as a package in reducing death rates
rapidly even without further gains in income per capita. A policy in
this direction should include educational programs on the proper use
and maintenance of the facilities.
RIOT AND REBELLION
AMONG AFRICAN WOMEN: THREE EXAMPLES OF WOMEN'S POLITICAL CLOUT
by Audrey Wipper
Working Paper 108, December 1985 Abstract: This paper
presents three cases in which African women, although lacking formal
political power in their societies, organized in defiance of male and
colonial authority. The three cases are: the Harry Thuku Disturbances
in Kanyah in 1922; the Anlu Uprising in the British Cameroons in 1958-59;
and the women's War or Aba Riots in Nigeria in 1929. Although
the three examples presented are from different parts of Africa and
from different time periods, there are several commonalities including:
1) the adaptation of a traditional form of sanction; 2) relatively egalitarian
social structure with emphasis on achieved status; 3) traditionally
well-established rights and areas of jurisdiction for women; 4) traditions
of collective action; and 5) the failure of male leadership to confront
an unpopular colonial government.
LEGALIZED DISCRIMINATION
AGAINST WOMEN IN ZAMBIA
by Sara Hlupekile Longwe
Working Paper 102, November 1985 Abstract: This paper
examines the extent to which discrimination against women in Zambia
is the result of discriminatory laws. The author began to explore
this question as the result of a personal experience of discrimination,
which led to the question of whether discrimination existed only in
administrative practice, in defiance of law, or whether the law itself
was discriminatory. An examination of the Constitution reveals
that, although it provides protection against discrimination on such
grounds as tribe and race, there is no general protection against discrimination
based on sex. This means that the Constitution allows laws and
administrative practices that discriminate against women. In fact, the
Constitution itself, in the law on citizenship, provides an example
of discriminatory law. This paper does not attempt an overall
survey of all the discriminatory laws of this statute book, but considers
some notable examples of discrimination against women in the Employment
Act and in the Income Tax Act. It then goes on to consider some
examples of discrimination in the Government's administrative practice
in such areas as women's access to credit facilities, extension services,
and education. The paper also briefly considers the extent of
discrimination in customary law. It is noted that, although there
is a strong element of patriarchy in customary law, women nonetheless
had definite rights in precolonial times. It is noteworthy that,
although Zambia has recently ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, much of statutory law,
and even some of the Constitution, would have to be rewritten in order
to conform to the provisions of the Convention. The paper concludes
with a brief consideration of the line of action that Zambian women
must take if they are to make some headway against the weight of discrimination
against them.
"I'M SICK ... I'M COMING":
ILLNESS AMONG ZAIRIAN ELITE WOMEN
by Ruth Kornfield
Working Paper 101, October 1985 Abstract: Among urban
elite Zairian women, friendship networks substitute for the kin networks
that socially construct the illness episode in rural Zaire. A
participant observation study, conducted in two Zairian cities, shows
that friends make important decisions concerning the illness and act
as a therapy management group. The friendship networks are defined
by mutual rights and obligations. By their activities in the illness
episode, the friends satisfy previous obligations to the sick person
and incur new obligations towards themselves. These new obligations
further strengthen the ties among the members of the network.
WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION
IN MALAWI'S LOCAL COUNCILS AND DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEES
by David Hirschmann
Working Paper 98, September 1985 Abstract: This paper
focuses on the participation of women in two types of decentralized
agencies set up by the Malawi government, namely Local Councils and
District Development Committees. It deals with educational, economic
and attitudinal impediments that restrict women's access to these institutions
and, then, limit the effectiveness of those few women who manage to
enter the male-dominated domain of formal local politics. The
paper argues that we can learn about gender relations by focusing on
formal political institutions and, in the conclusion, attempts to demonstrate
the sort of contribution this kind of research can make.
THE "WILD,"
THE "LAZY," AND THE "MATRIARCHAL": NUTRITION AND
CULTURAL SURVIVAL IN THE ZAIRIAN COPPERBELT
by Brooke Grundfest Schoepf
Working Paper 96, September 1985 Abstract: The Lemba of
southeastern Shaba in Zaire have retained a distinctive form of matrilineal
social organization that emphasizes the social value of women.
Although they are not full equals of men in the present period, women
continue to control important resources and retain considerable autonomy.
The high status of Lemba women is correlated with greater nutritional
equality among men and women than among neighboring groups with different
social organization and lower relative status of women. Changes
taking place in the present, however, cast doubt upon the continuing
survival of the distinctive Lemba culture.
FEMALE FARMERS,
MOTHERS-IN-LAW, AND EXTENSION AGENTS: DEVELOPMENT PLANNING AND A RURAL
LUO COMMUNITY
by Betty Potash
Working Paper 90, August 1985 Abstract: This paper examines
the possibilities for and constraints to change in the agricultural
sector in a Luo community in Kenya. This community is not participating
in any major development "project" but is like most rural
communities in that the development that occurs will come from the interests
and efforts of the people themselves, will be based on information available
to them, and will be under the normal administrative apparatus of government
agricultural extension agents and community development officers.
The research examines particularly the major role of women in agriculture
and the division of labor that allots women major responsibility for
the support of themselves and their children. The author outlines
national policies and programs, analyzes their potential impact on women,
and suggests modifications in the provision of assistance to the women
who are responsible for agriculture production.
WOMEN AND SMALL-SCALE
FARMING IN GHANA
by Maria Carla Roncoli
Working Paper 89, July 1985 Abstract: This paper starts
from the perspective of the international debate on Women in Development
of the Seventies and focuses on a specific instance of this issue, that
is, the implications of rural development for women in Ghana.
The author examines the position of women in traditional societies with
regard to their access to the means of productions and the changes brought
about by the commoditization of the economy and the incorporation of
such groups in the national society. The analysis points out that
the process of "development" has negatively influenced women's
opportunities for economic improvement and self-determination, and terminates
with a recent example of the impact of planned "development"
on women as small-scale farmers. This example is the MIDAS Project,
implemented by USAID in Ghana between 1976 and 1981 for the development
of small-scale agriculture, with particular emphasis on credit, fertilizer,
improved seeds, small-farm system research, marketing and extension
service.
AFRICAN WOMEN AND
DEVELOPMENT: GENDER IN THE LAGOS PLAN OF ACTION
by Jane L. Parpart
Working Paper 87, May 1985 Abstract: The Lagos Plan of
Action is the first document by African leaders that recognizes the
centrality of women to the development process. It raises important
questions about the status of women and calls for real change.
Gains are being made, but the problems facing women will not disappear
with good intentions or even specific projects. Sexual equality
challenges one of the most fundamental aspects of human society —
the sexual division of labor. To encourage change, development
plans must acknowledge the link between women's problems and society.
While the Plan goes further than any previous African document towards
recognizing this fact, it still underestimates the difficulties facing
advocates of sexual equality in Africa and elsewhere.
WOMEN'S CONTRIBUTIONS
TO FARMING SYSTEMS AND HOUSEHOLD INCOME IN ZAMBIA
by Jean M. Due & Timothy Mudenda, with Patricia Miller & Marcia
White
Working Paper 85, May 1985 Abstract: This paper examines
women's contribution to farm household income on small farms in three
areas of Zambia. Data collected from a sample of 112 women show
that females contribute more than half of the hours of agricultural
labor done by their households as well as more than four-fifths of the
hours of household labor. In addition, females contribute more
than half of the average household's off-farm income (gained from wage
labor and small-scale trading). When net farm income is allocated
on the basis of hours contributed and this is added to off-farm income,
females generate 55% of the average household's cash income.
BRIDEWEALTH REVISITED:
SOCIALIZATION AND THE REPRODUCTION OF LABOR IN A DOMESTIC AFRICAN ECONOMY
by S.P. Reyna
Working Paper 80, February 1985 Abstract: This essay suggests,
on the basis of information from Barma in Chad and a number of other
societies, that marriage ceremonial, of which bridewealth forms a part,
may under certain conditions partially socialize younger men into their
mature economic roles. Further, insofar as bridewealth performs
this function, it contributes to the reproduction, in a Marxist sense,
of labor in these economies.
BUREAUCRACY AND
RURAL WOMEN: ILLUSTRATIONS FROM MALAWI
by David Hirschmann
Working Paper 71, November 1984 Abstract: Many Malawian
civil servants will readily admit that women in many cases are responsible
for most work related to food production and that they are vital to
the rural economy. Yet by the time government programs emerge, and are
executed, they generally reflect a far more limited evaluation of the
role of women, as homemakers. This paper provides documentary
evidence of the restrictive nature of these policies, and then sets
out to suggest explanations for this, giving primary attention to bureaucratic
attitudes and perceptions. It notes, for example, the paucity
of women in policy-making positions, "patriarchal" attitudes
(and some of the ways they are justified) among male civil servants,
and the effects on rural women of negative official attitudes towards
"non-progressive" peasant farmers in general.
HOW DO RURAL WOMEN
PERCEIVE DEVELOPMENT? A CASE STUDY IN ZAMBIA
by Jean M. Due, Timothy Mudenda, & Patricia Miller
Working Paper 63, August 1984 Abstract: In this study
112 farm and 30 market women were interviewed almost 20 years after
Zambia gained independence to ascertain whether or not these women perceived
development occurring, whether they had influenced its path, and what
kinds of development would most assist them. Women also were asked
what amount of time they contributed to farming (or their market activities)
and to household tasks. Results showed that farm women contributed
53% of the total agricultural labor on their farms and 82% of the household
labor. Fifty-one percent of the farm women and 57% of the market women
believed that development had occurred in the areas where they lived
and, of this group, 88% believed they had benefited from this development.
Only one-third of the farm women and one-half the market women, however,
believed they had "influenced" the direction of development.
When asked what kinds of development would most assist them, the farm
women's responses were farm improvements, credit, clinics, wells, and
transport. Of the 53 responses describing farm improvements, 20
wanted labor saving devices (oxen and ploughs, tractors for hire), 14
wanted higher farm prices, 9 lower input prices, and 6 more cattle.
The market women wanted improved markets, cooperatives for women, and
clinics.
WOMEN'S POLITICS
AND CAPITALIST TRANSFORMATION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
by Kathleen Staudt
Working Paper 54, April 1984Abstract: The modern state
artificially divides society into public and private spheres, actively
creating that reality through both political participants and policy
itself. This paper reconstructs that process, focusing first on
the pre-colonial relevance of "women's issues," and then early
colonial policies and programs which defined women's issues outside
the public agenda. Following that, the paper outlines the partial
extension of that public agenda to include women on certain terms, but
in the name of domestic feminism. The final part of the paper
analyzes how public-private distinctions are maintained through political
activities and demands which accommodate themselves to those state-imposed
boundaries, both nationally and in the name of international feminism.
Throughout the paper, public-private distinctions are discussed in terms
of how they create the proper setting for capitalist transformation
and the long-term interests it serves.
FEMALE WHITE COLLAR
WORKERS: A CASE STUDY OF SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT IN LUSAKA, ZAMBIA
by Ilsa Schuster
Working Paper 29, August 1983Abstract: Much recent research
centers on the failure of policies to incorporate women in the development
process. While at the national level this assessment may be accurate
in Zambia and elsewhere, it overlooks genuine achievements in specific
instances. Offered as a case study of success, this paper describes
the creation of a class of female white collar workers in Zambia, made
possible by Zambian government manpower training policies. It
details the impact of employment opportunities in the modern economic
sector on the daily lives and social position of those women who achieve
the new status.
MARGINALITY AND
INDIVIDUAL CONSCIOUSNESS: WOMEN IN MODERNIZING AFRICA
by Deborah Pellow
Working Paper 28, July 1983Abstract: Following the pioneering
efforts of the sociologists Park and Stonequist, this paper focuses
upon two questions germane to the explication of the "marginal
man" theory: whether marginality is an ascribed characteristic
and whether the sociological limits of applicability of the theory go
beyond those of cultural or racial contact. Focusing upon African
cities, it is suggested that marginality is engendered by social circumstances
but triggered by individual consciousness; only the individual aware
of exclusion can become the "marginal man." Moreover,
male/female interaction, in its hierarchical ordering, can serve as
a basis for marginality. As women gain privilege in social, economic,
and political areas previously reserved for men, they are regarded as
competitors and experience the discrimination similar to that leveled
at minority group members. The paper concludes that African women's
marginal status may not only be a consequent of social change but an
antecedent as well, thereby making such carriers of marginality agents
of change.
URBAN MUSLIM WOMEN
AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN NORTHERN NIGERIA
by Catherine M. Coles
Working Paper 19, March 1983Abstract: This paper analyzes
the processes of social change in Kaduna, Nigeria, utilizing the approach
of role theory and is based upon research conducted among Muslim Hausa
women in 1980-81. The context is a high density, low income area
of the city in which Hausa live in frequent contact with residents of
other ethnic and religious backgrounds. Various roles of adult
Hausa women are described as they are defined by Hausa actors; examples
of individual adjustments to stress or conflict among roles and of role
change over successive generations are provided. Analysis of behavior
patterns suggests several strategies widely used by adult women dealing
with role conflicts involving conjugal seclusion and norms for other
roles. From this analysis suggestions which recognize the distinctiveness
of behavior patterns from cultural norms are formulated for use in social
and economic development.
MALE AND FEMALE
CAREER LADDERS IN NIGERIAN ACADEMIA
by Eleanor R. Fapohunda
Working Paper 17, January 1983Abstract: The purpose of
this paper is to investigate whether the pattern of sexual wage differentials
among academics at the University of Lagos in 1980 was primarily due
to overt sex discrimination on the part of university authorities or,
rather, was a reflection of academic productivity differences.
Information concerning economic and status characteristics of the University
of Lagos Academic Staff for four faculties in 1980 was provided by the
administration. The sample included the entire female staff of
the Faculties of Science, Social Science, Arts, and Education, a total
of 36 women, and a random sample of every third male recorded by the
administration in these faculties, a total of 82 males. In 1981,
15 of the 36 women in the sample also were interviewed in depth. Quantitative
analysis of academic rank differentials by gender attributed 89 percent
of the gross difference to a variation in average productivity characteristics
by gender and only 11 percent to employer discrimination. Analysis
of the qualitative data showed how the social definition of women's
roles and the structure of families affected the female scholars' productivity.
CYCLES OF DEPENDENCE
AND INDEPENDENCE: WESTERNIZATION AND THE AFRICAN HERITAGE OF LUSAKA'S
YOUNG WOMEN
by Ilsa Schuster
Working Paper 7, June 1982 Abstract: Kinship relations
of educated and uneducated women change in the passage from childhood
to adolescence, young adulthood, and maturity. Socioeconomic and
demographic changes have caused a widening of kinship networks and individualizing
the uses to which the kinship network is put in contemporary life.
Women who achieve economic autonomy change from childhood dependence
to early adult independence to mature interdependence. Economically
dependent women, overwhelmingly the poor and uneducated, remain lifelong
dependents on blood kin. Brittle marriages and the absence of
state welfare benefits ensure the survival of blood kin ties as the
major form of social security for both educated and uneducated women.
WOMEN'S WORK IN
THE INFORMAL SECTOR: A ZAMBIAN CASE STUDY
by Bennetta Jules-Rosette
Working Paper 3, January 1982 Abstract: This article examines
women's occupational careers and socioeconomic adjustment in Lusaka,
Zambia, an area marked by high rates of urban migration and restricted
opportunities for formal employment among women. The exclusion
of women by virtue of education and opportunity from the urban wage
labor force has resulted in the creation of alternative occupational
options in the informal sector, including self-employment as petty traders,
craft producers, and small entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial activities
initiated by unemployed squatter women in the city are usually intended
to fulfill economic needs on a temporary basis and reflect a pattern
of commercialization of "traditional" skills. An in-depth
analysis of these women's socioeconomic adaptations in the Zambian case
suggests an important conceptual link between urban and rural development
processes and emphasizes the necessity for policy planning that takes
into account the short-term entrepreneurial options that migrant women
generate in the urban context.
Women and International Development Program
209 International Center
East Lansing, MI 48824-1035
Tel: 517.353.5040
Fax: 517.432.4845
Email: wid@msu.edu
© 2009 Michigan State University Board of Trustees. East Lansing, MI 48824 MSU is an affirmative-action, equal oppurtunity employer