CULTURAL ISSUES AND

CURRENT CONTROVERSIES IN
AFRICAN WOMANIST
DISCOURSE
Ms. Zamalotshwa Mncube
[email protected]
 AFRICAN WOMANISM

• "Africana womanism" is a term coined in the

late 1980s by Clenora Hudson-Weems,
intended as an ideology applicable to all
women of African descent. It is grounded in
African culture and Afrocentrism and focuses
on the experiences, struggles, needs, and
desires of Africana women of the African
diaspora.
•Imbokodo VS Soft woman (living a soft life)
 WOMEN IN AFRICAN
SOCIETIES
• There is no gain saying the obvious that women have played leadership roles in the
development of various African societies from pre-colonial days till now.
• Even though the patriarchy system in Africa cannot be denied, yet, the African
woman possesses the power that binds the society together.
• In traditional African society, the survival of the family and the future of marriage
depended a great deal on the African woman.
• Thus, the African woman played a key role in the education and the teaching of
children social, ethical and moral values which were part of the cultural standards
for evaluating proper societal behaviour.
• Even in contemporary Africa where most women are now more equipped and
empowered, the traditional care-giving, home-making and nurturing roles of
women in the African family which formed the basis of their identity as wives and
mothers are gradually been abandoned, as they have become increasingly
involved in new roles and relations outside the home.
 WOMANHOOD IN TRADITIONAL
AFRICA
• No degree of stereotyping against women existed in traditional Africa.
• The women possessed the power to organize the family and society at
large.
• An enormous task and responsibility was placed on womanhood.
• The responsibility of both men and women, in traditional Africa, was seen
as complementary (codependence and balance existed).
• Gender had it’s role and responsibility which helped in the formation and
upkeep of the family structure
• Society’s sustainable development depends a great deal on a solid family
structure.
 COLONIALISM – IT’S IMPACT ON
GENDER INEQUALITY
• There has always been always been the nature of difference between men and women, right
from the inception of human society.
• Gender inequality is an inherent nature of all human societies.
• Records of history show that in traditional Africa, gender roles were complementary of each
other.
• In precolonial Nigeria, for example, women had roles they played in economics, commerce, and
politics. They excelled in various endeavors.
• St Clair (1994) states that upon contact with Europeans, indigenous people in Africa were
confronted and interacting with a society that had significantly different moral and value
system from their own.
• According to him, the European perspective of gender roles was fundamentally that women
were subordinate to men and that their roles were less important because they were confirmed
within the family unit.
• What this signified is that Western influence restricted women’s participation in Africa’s social,
economic, and political affairs.
 WOMEN IN
CONTEMPORARY AFRICA
• The last three decades, following the independence of all
African nations from colonialism, have witnessed a
dramatic improvement.
• The education of female children is invested in.
• Early marriages have reduced.
• Women are occupying all professions
• The first female African president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
of Liberia

• What has happened to the care-giving, home making, and

nurturing?
 MARRIAGES
• Marriage rates in South Africa, particularly among young
Africans, are very low and have declined even further
during the post-apartheid period.
• In 2008, for example, just less than a quarter of African
women aged 20 to 45 years were married, while white
women of the same age cohort were almost three times as
likely to be married
• At the same time, rates of cohabitation among young
African women and men have risen considerably in recent
years.
• Racial differences in marriage rates in South Africa
typically have been linked to the disruptive effects of
apartheid policies on the socio-economic life of Africans.
 MARRIAGES
• More recently, studies have made reference to another possible reason
for low and declining marriage rates among Africans; that is, that
marriage for young African couples has become too financially onerous,
particularly in the context of high rates of male unemployment in the
post-apartheid period.
• The payment of ‘ilobolo’ has been commercialised which has caused
further constraints.

• The role of a wife in contemporary Africa?

 MARRIAGE
• Increasingly, notions of romantic love and emotional intimacy are important criteria for
selecting a spouse.
• Changes in patterns of courtship, the growing importance of Christian wedding
ceremonies, and trends toward establishing urban residences with nuclear household
organization symbolize and reinforce an emerging model of marriage that emphasizes the
personal relationship between husband and wife

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of this shift?

• How has the woman’s role changed?
 DIVORCE
• Marriage, an institution that used to be stable, is no longer steady
• What are some of the factors that are perceived as contributing to the above statement

• The relationship between female education and divorce is found to be positive

• The newly formed family size (lesser children)
• The extended family structures that no longer functions effectively
• A shift towards the nuclear family system characterized by less involvement of members in
the resolution of marital conflicts
• Wives are less depended on their husbands – economically and socially
• It argued by some scholars that, perhaps the most important factor in the increase in
divorce throughout the twentieth century has been the greater social acceptance of
divorce.
• Relaxation of negative attitudes toward divorce among various religious denominations

• Unemployment – the inability to find work being perceived as a disruptive force

 MOTHERHOOD
• In many societies, motherhood is wrapped in many cultural and
religious meanings
• cultural as in what the society thinks a mother should be, that is,
some elements associated with a mother
• religiously, it what the practiced faith of a particular society
attaches to motherhood
• Motherhood in some quarters is seen as a sacred and powerful spiritual
path for a woman to take
• Motherhood has been viewed by many in different lights and presented
in diverse ways
• Religions all over the world whether Christian, Judaic, Hindu and Islam
accord very important place to motherhood, it is widely an exalted
realm for the woman hence religious imagery sentimentalizes and
idealizes motherhood
 MOTHERHOOD IN AFRICAN
SOCIETY
• While mothers are revered as creators, as providers, cradle rockers, nurturers, and goddesses,
they also inspire awe because they are known to wedge huge powers in their children's lives.
The idea of self- sacrifice emphasizes the centrality of motherhood in African society.
• Motherhood in Africa is seen as a God-giving role and for this reason it is sacred
• Feminists in Africa, while conceding that motherhood may at times operate in an oppressive
manner, have tried to read other meanings to motherhood, meanings that are empowering
for women
• Motherhood forms a big part of a woman’s identity. Should these be separated?
• Many non-mothering women experience feelings of rejection and low self-esteem

• Adrienne Rich posits that although the reality of motherhood is experienced by women, the
institution is ably controlled by men, because the experience is being interpreted by men and
the structure they control
 BARRENNESS
• In Africa culture, any marriage that is not blessed with children is not yet considered to have
achieved its aim (Oforchukwu 2000).
• This was also the case in the First Book of Samuel, where Hannah was taunted for being
childless. This book explains, her rival would taunt her to annoy her because Yahweh had
made her barren.
• In South African gatherings of celebration, it would cheerfully be sung “uzothi wabonani
mfaz’ongazalanga”
• Infertility in marriage is considered something bad in marriage, because without children, the
name of the family will disappear.
• It is unfortunate that it is the woman who is blamed for childlessness (Mbiti, 2007)
• Mbiti writes “Unhappy is the woman who failed to get children for, whatever qualities she might possess,
her failure to bear children is worse than committing genocide: she has become the dead end of human
life, not only for the genealogical tine but also for herself”.

• How is a woman’s choice of living a childfree life accommodated?

 POLYGAMY
• Some scholars may say the truth is that polygamy was to do with status and wealth. The more
wives a man had the more his wealth grew. Why? Because it was women and their children who
worked the land
• High levels of infant mortality may also be a factor; when many children do not survive past
the age of five a family needs more than one child-bearer to be economically viable.
• Then there is war. When a lot of men die, having more than one wife boosts the population
most swiftly. The more wives a man had the more military and political alliances he could forge
• Even for women, polygamy in ancient times was not always disadvantageous. Through
polygamous marriages women in precolonial Africa often had greater personal autonomy. As
new wives joined a compound, older ones could focus on their trading

• In the modern day context

• Looking at some of the factors that are said to have influenced the origins of polygamy, does it
have a place in Africa today?