Women in Africa

"A cornucopia of historical & contemporary information about the life of women south of the Sahara.... An essential work." Choice "[A] pathbreaking effort.... Fills a conspicuous gap in African studies." Foreign Affairs

Sustainable development has traditionally neglected the contributions of women until recently. Government and institutions in developing countries, as well as foreign aid agencies, are just beginning to realize the important roles filled by women as farmers, entrepreneurs, food providers, educators, and role models in developing countries and are attempting to integrate women into nongovernmental organization projects and voluntary organization programs. According to James and his contributors, women should not be just acknowledged, they must be included in the planning, construction, implementation, and operation of development schemes in Africa in order for development to be successful and widespread.

This book traces the history of women's political involvement in Southern Africa, in anti-colonial struggles and against apartheid, analyzes the post-colonial outcomes and examines the strategies that have been employed by women's movements to gain a foothold in politics. It looks in detail at the experiences of women both in and with the women's wings of political parties through the early years of independence up to today, discusses the successes and failures of national machinery for the advancement of women and analyses the activities of women's movements over time. Extensive material from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa is compared and juxtaposed, as women politicians and women's movements learned from each others' experiences over time. The study also critically addresses the uneasy relationship between the women's movements and the state, and between women activists and women politicians as they have negotiated cooptation, integration and exclusion. Based on an extensive literature review and innumerable interviews with women politicians and activists as well as fieldwork, and spanning half a century and half a continent, the historical depth and geographical spread of the study put it in a class of its own.

Women have historically provided vision and leadership to African countries and are now being recognized as pivotal to the overall sustainable development of Africa. In many cases, however, this recognition has not resulted in the empowerment of African women, who still face great discrimination. This edited volume explores the contributions women have made to all phases of development--planning design, construction, implementation, and operation--and the obstacles they have had to face. Besides analyzing the current situation and identifying trends, the contributors also make recommendations for policy reform and for future planning.

Global Dimensions of the African Diaspora collects selected essays from the First and Second African Diaspora Institutes and other essays. This revised second edition, with broader geographical scope than the first edition, places greater emphasis on historical and sociopolitical analysis. New essays that examine the African experience and slavery in the Mediterranean, the black experience in Brazil, African religious retentions in Latin American countries, and essays by women that focus on the experience and contributions of African women of the diaspora address significant areas omitted in the first volume.