Women's Activism in South Africa

Women's Activism in South Africa PDF Author: Hannah Evelyn Britton
Publisher: University of Kwazulu Natal Press
ISBN:
Category : Civil society
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Women's Activism in South Africa provides the most comprehensive collection of women's experiences within civil society since the 1994 transition. This book captures South African women's stories of collective activism and social change at a crucial point for the future of democracy in the country, if not the continent. Pulling together the voices of activists and scholars, South Africa's path to democracy and the assurance of gender rights emerge as a complex journey of both successes and challenges. The collection elucidates a new form of pragmatic feminism, building upon the elasticity between the state and civil society. What the cases demonstrate is that while the state itself may not be a panacea, it still represents a key source of power and the primary locus of vital resources, including the rights of citizenship, access to basic needs, and the promise of protection from gender-based violence - all central to women's particular needs in South Africa.

Women's Activism in South Africa

Women's Activism in South Africa PDF Author: Hannah Evelyn Britton
Publisher: University of Kwazulu Natal Press
ISBN:
Category : Civil society
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Get Book

Book Description
Women's Activism in South Africa provides the most comprehensive collection of women's experiences within civil society since the 1994 transition. This book captures South African women's stories of collective activism and social change at a crucial point for the future of democracy in the country, if not the continent. Pulling together the voices of activists and scholars, South Africa's path to democracy and the assurance of gender rights emerge as a complex journey of both successes and challenges. The collection elucidates a new form of pragmatic feminism, building upon the elasticity between the state and civil society. What the cases demonstrate is that while the state itself may not be a panacea, it still represents a key source of power and the primary locus of vital resources, including the rights of citizenship, access to basic needs, and the promise of protection from gender-based violence - all central to women's particular needs in South Africa.

Women's Activism in Africa

Women's Activism in Africa PDF Author: Balghis Badri
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1783609117
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 189

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Book Description
Throughout Africa, growing numbers of women are coming together and making their voices heard, mobilising around causes ranging from democracy and land rights to campaigns against domestic violence. In Tanzania and Tunisia, women have made major gains in their struggle for equal political rights, and in Sierra Leone and Liberia women have been at the forefront of efforts to promote peace and reconciliation. While some of these movements have been influenced by international feminism and external donors, increasingly it is African women who are shaping the global struggle for women’s rights. Bringing together African authors who themselves are part of the activist groups, this collection represents the only comprehensive and up-to-date overview of women’s movements in contemporary Africa. Drawing on case studies and fresh empirical material from across the continent, the authors challenge the prevailing assumption that notions of women’s rights have trickled down from the global north to the south, showing instead that these movements have been shaped by above all the unique experiences and concerns of the local women involved.

Women's Activism in Africa

Women's Activism in Africa PDF Author: Balghis Badri
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1783609109
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Throughout Africa, growing numbers of women are coming together and making their voices heard, mobilising around causes ranging from democracy and land rights to campaigns against domestic violence. In Tanzania and Tunisia, women have made major gains in their struggle for equal political rights, and in Sierra Leone and Liberia women have been at the forefront of efforts to promote peace and reconciliation. While some of these movements have been influenced by international feminism and external donors, increasingly it is African women who are shaping the global struggle for women's rights. Bringing together African authors who themselves are part of the activist groups, this collection represents the only comprehensive and up-to-date overview of women's movements in contemporary Africa. Drawing on case studies and fresh empirical material from across the continent, the authors challenge the prevailing assumption that notions of women's rights have trickled down from the global north to the south, showing instead that these movements have been shaped by above all the unique experiences and concerns of the local women involved.

Democracy and the Rise of Women's Movements in Sub-Saharan Africa

Democracy and the Rise of Women's Movements in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF Author: Kathleen M. Fallon
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 080189008X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Despite a late and fitful start, democracy in Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe has recently shown promising growth. Kathleen M. Fallon discusses the role of women and women's advocacy groups in furthering the democratic transformation of formerly autocratic states. Using Ghana as a case study, Fallon examines the specific processes women are using to bring about political change. She assesses information gathered from interviews and surveys conducted in Ghana and assays the existing literature to provide a focused look at how women have become involved in the democratization of sub-Saharan nations. The narrative traces the history of democratic institutions in the region—from the imposition of male-dominated mechanisms by western states to latter-day reforms that reflect the active resurgence of women’s political power within many African cultures—to show how women have made significant recent political gains in Ghana and other emerging democracies. Fallon attributes these advances to a combination of forces, including the decline of the authoritarian state and its attendant state-run women's organizations, newly formed constitutions, and newfound access to good-governance funding. She draws the study into the larger debate over gendered networks and democratic reform by exploring how gender roles affect and are affected by the state in Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. In demonstrating how women’s activism is evolving with and shaping democratization across the region, Democracy and the Rise of Women’s Movements in Sub-Saharan Africa reveals how women’s social movements are challenging the barriers created by colonization and dictatorships in Africa and beyond.

Gender, Protests and Political Change in Africa

Gender, Protests and Political Change in Africa PDF Author: Awino Okech
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030463435
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
This book brings together conceptual debates on the impact of youth-hood and gender on state building in Africa. It offers contemporary and interdisciplinary analyses on the role of protests as an alternative route for citizens to challenge the ballot box as the only legitimate means of ensuring freedom. Drawing on case studies from seven African countries, the contributors focus on specific political moments in their respective countries to offer insights into how the state/society social contract is contested through informal channels, and how political power functions to counteract citizen’s voices. These contributions offer a different way of thinking about state-building and structural change that goes beyond the system-based approaches that dominate scholarship on democratization and political structures. In effect, it provides a basis for organizers and social movements to consider how to build solidarity beyond influencing government institutions. Chapters 3, 5, and 6 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Women's Activism in Africa

Women's Activism in Africa PDF Author: Balqīs Yūsuf Badrī
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781783609123
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
An indispensable overview of women's activism and political struggles in contemporary Africa, and the ways in which the continent's women are shaping the struggle for women's rights internationally.

Movers and Shakers

Movers and Shakers PDF Author: Stephen Ellis
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004180133
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
This collection of empirical and theoretical studies of social movements in Africa is a corrective to a literature that has largely ignored that continent. It shows that Africa s social movements have distinctive features that are related to its specific history.

Women's Activism in Africa

Women's Activism in Africa PDF Author: Balqīs Yūsuf Badrī
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781350224117
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
African influences on global women's rights : an overview /Aili Mari Tripp and Balghis Badri --The evolution of the women's movement in Sierra Leone /Nana Claris Efua Pratt --Market women's associations in Ghana /Akua Opokua Britwum and Angela Dziedzom Akorsu --Tunisian women's literature of denunciation /Lilia Labidi --The Moroccan feminist movement (1946-2014) /Fatima Sadiqi --Women's rights and the women's movement in Sudan (1952-2014) /Samia Al Nagar and Liv Tønnessen --The women's movement in Tanzania /Aili Mari Tripp --The women's movement in Kenya /Regina G. Mwatha --Women organising for liberation in South Africa /Sheila Meintjes --African women activists : contributions and challenges ahead /Balghis Badri.

Women and Collective Action in Africa

Women and Collective Action in Africa PDF Author: F. Steady
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1403979499
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
This book examines women's movements and women's collective action in Africa. Steady begins her examination in pre-colonial times, moving through the colonial period to the present. She looks at the various arenas which collective action has and can influence, comparing the impact on economic growth, education, democratizations, family formation, and women's rights. Steady uses Sierra Leone as the focus of her inquiry, in order for a detailed story to illustrate larger themes, but in every area makes comparisons to different parts of Africa; the case study here guides a larger inquiry. Written as a text, the book carefully explains the theoretical ideas (e.g., all key terms are defined, and then there is a discussion of how they relate to African issues specifically) and the historical knowledge (e.g., all historical events are described, there is no assumption of knowledge of African history) necessary to understand the meaning of current women's groups. What results is a clear and comprehensive treatment of an issue which is increasingly central to understanding changes taking place on the African continent today.

African Women's Movements

African Women's Movements PDF Author: Aili Mari Tripp
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521704908
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Women burst onto the political scene in Africa after the 1990s, claiming more than one third of the parliamentary seats in countries like Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi. Women in Rwanda hold the highest percentage of legislative seats in the world. Women's movements lobbied for constitutional reforms and new legislation to expand women's rights. This book examines the convergence of factors behind these dramatic developments, including the emergence of autonomous women's movements, changes in international and regional norms regarding women's rights and representation, the availability of new resources to advance women's status, and the end of civil conflict. The book focuses on the cases of Cameroon, Uganda, and Mozambique, situating these countries in the broader African context. The authors provide a fascinating analysis of the way in which women are transforming the political landscape in Africa, by bringing to bear their unique perspectives as scholars who have also been parliamentarians, transnational activists, and leaders in these movements.