Women and Africa

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In 1978 in Kenya what percentage of private property was owned by women?
5%
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What was the effect of change in land ownership for men?
Enhanced status and land rights over women
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What was the consequence of the Rhodesia 1930 Land Appointment Act?
1/2 all land reserved for whites
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What was the significance of economic change for men?
Necessity to enter the cash economy
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What was the implication of integration into cash economy for women?
Greatly increased workload, Gambia commissioner believes 80%
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Give an example of where colonialism disrupted marriage relations
In Tonga pre-colonial women virtually autonomous over marital lands and even owned slaves --> 1940s transition complete
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What was colonialism greared towards?
Extraction of raw materials and export of manufactures to colonial nations
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Did it make sense to encourage domestic manufacture industries?
No - these industries, such as basket weaving or local artisan trades, women had relied on heavily for economic independence
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What was said in Rhodesia by the 1912 British Native Affairs Committee of Enquiry regarding the domestic manufacture industries women interested in?
"it does not seem prudent to encourage the manufacture of these articles"
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What was significant about the 1936 Native Registration Act, denying women of independent income?
Barred locals from selling wares in Salisbury
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From 1930 onwards in Gambia what could men train to be that was essentially the role of acting as manager over women?
'Agricultural technicians'
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Where does Allman tell of fleeing females?
Asante areas in 1930s
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What is one aspect that shows the role of African women in nationalism?
Role of women in the nationalist movement, in RDA, in Guinea. Non-literate women singing songs that helped mobilise the masses
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Federation of South African Women. There was a march of 20,000 women to Pretoria in 1956 in opposition of what?
The laws that restricted Africans in urban areas
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What did nationalism often give African women?
Greater political opportunity
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Who were the RDA's strongest supporters in Guinea?
Women
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How did the RDA party reciprocate women's roles in Guinea after independence?
Raised the minimum age of marriage, limited bridewealth, outlawed polygamy and banned the repudiation of wives
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According to the World Bank's possibly inflated figures what percentage of married women of childbearing age or their husbands were using contraceptives in the late 1980s?
50% Tunisia, 43% Zimbabwe, 27% Kenya but many tropical countries reported 10% usage or less
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What was the adoption of modern contraception closely correlated with?
Female education and relatively low infant mortality rates
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What did a Kenyan survey in 1989 show?
Men as well as women wanted to limit families, two motives being the expense of fee-based schooling and anxiety not to subdivide scarce land between sons
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Where was the prevalance of AIDS higher?
Towns, including perhaps 25-30% of Kampala's population
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What percentage of Ugandans infected with HIV were female, although proportion lower elsewhere?
60%
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What was the chance of infected mothers transmitting HIV to their baby?
30-40%
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In the early 1990s how many people in sub-Saharan Africa were thought to be infected with both HIV and tuberculosis?
2.4mn
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What percentage of HIV infected Africans are women?
55%
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What percentage of infections are women in US and Europe?
20%
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What percentage of processing food and hauling water and firewood did women do?
90%
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What accentuated the pressures on women, especially from male elders to leave out-migration to the more dispensable young adults?
Centrality to agricultural production and household reproduction
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What emerged as a result of new market forces and the colonial state trying to affect the forces influencing pre-existing relationships?
Different relationships emerging between individual and groups, men and women, old and yougn
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What did the Native Land Act of 1913 famously restrict the land that can be owned by Africans in South Africa to?
13% - owned communely by chiefs that the colonial state was recognising
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Where did white Afrikaaner women migrate to?
Cities such as Johannesburg
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What made migration by women to cities more difficult?
Migrating men and colonial government wanted to make harder, laws to restrict women's options
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What was the term employed by Maragoli widows to describe the practical problems arising from their widowhood?
kehenda mwoyo (worries of the heart)
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How did Maragoli widows describe the distress they endured when someone died whom they were tied to by bonds of affecting alone (young child, friend, distant relative)?
ovovereli - being in a state of sadness
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By what decade in Zimbabwe, although enforcement erratic, had legal restrictions on African women's mobility been tightened considerably?
1930s
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What did the 1936 Native Registration Act in Zimbabwe, implemented 1938, stipulate about women entering uran area?
All women without marriage registration certificates as well as married women who did not meet exemption criteria were required to obtain a pass
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Why could a pass to enter urban areas be refused to women in colonial Zimbabwe?
If the official deemed the applicant was a 'person of loose or immoral character' etc
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What did the 1942 annual report attribute overcrowding primary schools in Maragoli area to?
Raised number of girls attending formal classes
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What did widowhood provide an important impetus to?
Accumulate cash bridewealth
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Prior to 1940s in Zimbabwe how was bridewealth paid?
Animal stock that was considered male property and was received by uncles or brothers
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Starting in the 1940s in Zimbabwe how was much of bridewealth paid?
Cash
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What was significant about the move to paying bridewealth in cash?
Since cash was a volatile, less gendered and more democratic asset than animal bridewealth, widows kept most of it without much objection from male relatives
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How did people on the margins of African society take advantage of the erosion of indigenous authority structures during the early years of European occupation in Southern Rhodesia?
Women in particular challenged male control over their mobility, sexuality and productive and reproductive capacities
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What did colonial officials in Zimbabwe accuse women of taking advantage of?
the 'freedom of choice bestowed on them by the Native Marriage Ordinance'
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Government officials and older African men blamed the colonial state fro having removed indigenous laws and customs without properly replacing in Zimbabwe - what were they determined to do?
Block some of the outlets created by earlier legislation
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What were men in belgian Africa obliged to do if they had more than one wife?
Pay a supplementary tax for each wife beyond first, from second to 30th
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What was the assumption behind the supplementary tax for multiple wives in belgian Africa?
Punitive, symbolic taxation but too risky to attempt to simply eradicate deep-routed customary practices
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Who did many African 'new men' want to throw out of the cities?
Prostitutes
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What did Ngandu argue was at the base of the crisis of corruption of morals, depopulation, marital instability and venereal disease?
Polygamy and prostitution
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Why was widowhood increasingly widespread in Maragolia, Kenya after the 1930s?
High population prompted colonial officials to target men for forced labour, sending them to other parts of Kenya where they died of foregin diseases
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Colonial rule led to educated wage-earning Maragoli men in Kenya. In the 1940s why did widowed mothers want their daughters to study home economics?
So they could be competent brides
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Had many women who attended school in the 1930s in Kenya attained higher bridewealth?
No
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What was an obstacle to widows wishing to invest in their daughters' school fees?
It was mainly men who worked jobs that paid cash wages
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In Kenya in the 1940s what was the fee for primary day school?
Around 4 shillings a term
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In Kenya in the 1940s what was the fee for intermediate boarding school?
40 shillings
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In Kenya in the 1940s what was the average clerical wage?
60 shillings per month
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What did the high cost of education force Kenyan widows to do?
Turn to male relatives to obtain money, relying on the status of widowhood with men living up to societal expectations of masculinity by performing a recognized duty.
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When did officials in Kenya mount an active campaign against increased bridewealth and cash bridewealth in particular?
1940s
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In 1940s meeting about bridewealth in Kenya what did H.E. Lambert insist should form the bulk of bridewealth?
Cattle not cash
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What did district commissioners in the 1940s agree regarding bridewealth in Kenya?
Both cash and animal bridewealth should be limited. Asked chiefs to record the payments, in reality often difficult to control market
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Who flaunted cash to impress would-be brides in Kenya in the 1940s?
Military men
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How was female 'emancipation' encouraged to some degree in colonial Zimbabwe by European missionaries and colonial state initially?
Found child pledging, forced marriage and polygamy 'repugnant'
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Between 1890 and 1920 what was there legislation on in Zimbabwe?
Outlawing child marriages, placing limits on bridewealth and prohibited marriage without consent
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Where was the extent of women's rebellion against patriarchal authority in Zimbabwe particularly notable?
Goromonzi district on the eastern edge of Salisbury
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Between October 1899 and February 1905 how many cases did the native commissioner hear in Goromonzi district (Zimbabwe)?
345 civil cases
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How many of the 345 civil cases in the Goromonzi district pertained to girls who refused to marry men who had paid bridewealth?
95 cases
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How many of the 345 civil cases in the Goromonzi district pertained to wives who runaway from their husband?
65 cases
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What would happen prior to the colonial period in Zimbabwe if a woman ran away?
Husband was more likely to petition for her return even over years rather than attempt to get bridewealth back
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Why, in precolonial Zimbabwe, was a husband unlikely to seek a return of his bridewealth?
No interest in severing the ties between his wife's lineage and his own, which the return of bridewealth was bound to do
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European officials frowned upon the custom of accepting errant wives back into the fold and considered the practice morally offensive. What did they encourage African men to do?
Divorce wives who had been unfaithful to them.
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What was an example of a tension between missionaries and colonial authorities?
They provided free spaces for women
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In an attempt to protect African male authority in Zimbabwe, what did the Native Affairs Committee of Enquiry 1910-11 advise mission stations be prohibited from doing?
Giving refuge to any woman or girl who did not have guardian's permission to be there. This later became state law but missionaries challenged this by continuing to give sanctuary.
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What was the most disturbing kind of new non-customary polygamy?
Urban e'volue (evolved) or evoluant (evolving) men. Many had invested money in extra wives for want of other investment opportunities during WWII and other married for prestige and emulation of the debauchery of some Europeans
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What was significant about the way evoluants took extra women?
Evaded tax refering to them as concubines - camoflauged polygamy
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When was the first time that daughters were a valuable source of income?
1940s and 1950s
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What led to higher bridewealth in 1940s and 1950s?
Economic growth generated by the war
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In the 1940s and 1950s what kind of women had the highest payments of bridewealth?
Literate
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What was the move to an increase in the cash portion of bridewealth strongly influenced by?
Colonialism but also inflation - money of military men
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In Kenya what was the standard brideprice in the 1930s?
60 shillings and two cows
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In Kenya what was the standard brideprice in the 1940s?
As high as two hundred shillings and two cows
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What led to an intensification of the backlash against female emancipation in Zimbabwe in the 1920s?
Great Depression
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When was there chronic shortage of male labour in Zimbabwe?
1908-11, 1914-1920, 1925-1929
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The post-war recession of the early 1920s with chronic shortages of male labour forced the state in Zimbabwe to reassess African policy. What did this lead to?
Advocate reconstituted 'traditionalism' and 'tribalism'
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By the late 1920s in Zimbabwe who was acted as backbone of administrative system of indirect rule?
African chiefs, headmen and other male elders
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What was the consequence of the passing of husbands in Maragoli?
Resulted in an immediate loss in social status and economic security, which in turn increased a widow's dependence upon the patriarchal system
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Almost inevitably, in Kenya, new widows fell back upon men. In which manner did they do this?
Not to marry them but rather to challenge them to demonstrate their 'ideal' Maragoli masculinity.
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After World War II which voluntary association initiated by colonial officials to train women in home science promoted homecraft education in Maragoli?
Maendeleo ya Wanawake (Advancement of Women)
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Where was Maragoli?
Western Kenya
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What did the Advancement of Women programs teach young Maragoli women?
How to bake and sew, more efficient childcare, cleanliness in the home
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Why did many Maragoli widows encourage sending their daughters to school?
Community programs and formal schooling trained women in 'modern' ways of carrying out chores, hopeful good wives and high bridewealths
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Why did Elima Visir, widowed in the 1940s, say she sent her daughter to school? (Kenya)
"I sent my younger daughter to school because the missionaries taught her good manners. Because my daughter was clever and a good houseworker, I knew she would make a good wife..."
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By what decade were the colonial state and rural African patriarchs engaged in fullscale collaboration to control mobility and sexuality of African women?
1930s
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From the mid-1910s why did colonial officials frequently argue against legislative measures designed to promote female emancipation?
Claimed that such actions interfered with 'native' custom
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The native commissioner of Chipinga in Zimbabwe opposed legislative measures designed to promote female emancipation. Why?
In 1924 contended that dangerous ground trodden unless have support of native -> native male, and 'native custom' what male elders claimed it to be
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What was the Native Marriage Ordinance of 1901? (Zimbabwe)
Governed all non-Christian marriages between Africans, the majority of African marriages
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What did the Native Marriage Ordinance of 1901 say? (Zimbabwe)
Outlawed child pledging and required that the woman's consent obtained before marriage took place
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In 1911 report what did the Native Affairs Committee of Enquiry urge regarding pledging of children? (Zimbabwe)
Should be made criminally punishable. 1912 - recommendation incorporated into amended marriage law
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What did amendments to the Native Marriages Ordinance in 1917 mean? (Zimbabwe)
Marriages considered invalid if not registered. It was the husband's responsibility to register before women left their guardians
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Was child-pledging still an issue in 1930s Zimbabwe?
Yes
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What did Belgian and Portugese colonial regimes stand out for?
Forthright opposition to polygamy and for the types of legal measures taken to discourage and eradicate it. Catholicism important to this.
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Who held Zimbabwe?
British
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Who held Kenya?
British
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Gendered history
Way in which gender interacts with other processes, or also a history of gener
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Bridewealth
Given from the husband's family to wife's family
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What does bridewealth acknowledge?
The value lost by the parental family
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Why did missionaries and colonial officials see bridewealth as immoral?
Selling women
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What was interesting about the views of older women?
Didn't want daughters to have freedom if husbands went away - protecting bridewealth so align toolder mne
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What did the introduction of western systems do?
Reinforce traditions through education system. Girls learn to be homemakers etc; valuable to men, more like commodities than before
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1901 - Zimbabwe Native Marriage Ordinance
Women's consent required for marriage, outlawed child-pledging
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1911- Zimbabwe Native Affairs Committee of Enquiry
Urged pledging children criminally punishable
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1912 - Zimbabwe
Recommendation of Native Affairs Committee of Enquiry placed into amended marriage law
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1917 - Zimbabwe Amendment to Native Marriage Ordinance
Marriages not valid if didn't get registered
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1936 - Zimbabwe Native Registration Act
To enter urban area women w/o marriage registration and married women without exception criteria required pass, which could be refused
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1938 - Zimbabwe
Native Registration Act implemented
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What does the pattern in Zimbabwe show?
Initial period where colonial state appeared to be attempting to emancipate women, caused crisis though --> 'alliance of patriarchy' between colonial state and African tribal leaders and elite men
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Give an example of positive western involvement in Zimbabwe
Church's advocacy of gender equality - priest helped hide women escaping abusive marriages
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Growth of cash crops for export. Did women in Zimbabwe play quite large role in farming practices?
Yes but this changed with introduction of mining and migrant wage labour.
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What compounded the decrease in proportion of household income and power of women in Zimbabwe?
Ploughs, Wage labour
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Ploughs
Introduction of ox drawn ploughs from 57 ploughs to 2000 in 1937 --> Labour saving, farming itself became a more male-dominated activity
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When was there intensification of wage labour in Zimbabwe?
After Great Depression
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What decreased the ability to sell cash crops as had been used to doing in Zimbabwe?
Protectionist policies to protect white farmers, Africans can contribute 20% to exports, have to be sold through government depots --> Undermines ability to sell cash crops --> Reliance on migrant labour
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What did the unauthorised migration of women to urban areas do?
Destabilise the indirect control of colonial government
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How does Shadle interpet women?
Building on idea of alliance between older African men and colonial state, also includes older women as not all women have same interests
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What did Schmidt discuss?
How attempts to emancipate women could go wrong
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When did legislation outlaw polygamist marriage in belgian Africa?
1950
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What shows the moral crisis in belgian Africa regarding polygamy?
Single women regarded as threat, women living alone led to fears they could be prostitute. Tax on single urban women and economic incentives to persuade women to marry
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What is an interesting contradiction in the policy in Belgian Africa?
Do not want polygamy, a customary tradition, but do not want women single --> wanted western style marriages
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What would happen in Belgian Africa if African people did not have enough people to farm land?
Would be fined so by abiding by polygamy laws would be fined by the colonial state for not producing enough, contradictory effects of laws
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What was the effect of change in land ownership for men?

Back

Enhanced status and land rights over women

Card 3

Front

What was the consequence of the Rhodesia 1930 Land Appointment Act?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What was the significance of economic change for men?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What was the implication of integration into cash economy for women?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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