Women and Power in Zimbabwe: Promises of Feminism (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780252039638)

The revolt against white rule in Rhodesia nurtured incipient local feminisms in women who imagined independence as a road to gender equity and economic justice. But the country's rebirth as Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe's rise to power dashed these hopes.

Using history, literature, participant observation, and interviews, Carolyn Martin Shaw surveys Zimbabwean feminisms from the colonial era to today. She examines how actions as clearly disparate as baking scones for self-protection, carrying guns in the liberation, and feeling morally superior to men represent sources of female empowerment. She also presents the ways women across Zimbabwean society--rural and urban, professional and domestic--accommodated or confronted post-independence setbacks. Finally, Shaw offers perspectives on the ways contemporary Zimbabwean women depart from the prevailing view that feminism is a Western imposition having little to do with African women.

The result of thirty years of experience, Women and Power in Zimbabwe addresses the promises of feminism and femininity for generations of African women.

Author: Carolyn Martin Shaw
ISBN-10: 0252039637
ISBN-13: 9780252039638
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Language: English
Published: 10/12/2015
Pages: 216
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 07/01/2016