Feminist Knowledge | Bibliography: African Women's Studies I

Labour, Economy and Development  

Conservative perceptions of the need to “develop" Africa, especially in the seventies and eighties, shaped a receptive market for work produced under the rubric of Women in Development.  Snyder and Tadesse's African Women and Development: A History (1995) offers an extremely detailed description of the evolution of development programmes from their inception in the mid-seventies to the mid-nineties. The period covered therefore charts the abortive legacy of early development models established in the seventies and it maps the initiatives from the late eighties that sought to remedy past failures. This work is likely to prove an important guide because of its extensive use of interviews with important role players, its references to and analysis of key documents and its discussion of central projects.

Radical scholarship challenges Women In Development (WID) approaches by critiquing both gender and class oppression. This body of work ranges from primarily theoretical interventions and comprehensive studies of general trends in Africa, such as Jane Parpart's highly influential Women and Development in Africa: Comparative Perpectives (1989) and Robertson's anthology, Women and Class in Africa (1986), to detailed case studies like Harris' The Political Economy of the Southern African Periphery: Cottage Industries, Factories and Female Wage Labour in Swaziland Compared (1983).

Many scholars, influenced by radical politics, Marxist analysis and militant feminism, have articulated innovative redefinitions of “development". Demonstrating that gender and social change in Africa are connected to historical and global processes, works ranging from the detailed case study, Divided Sisterhood: Race, Class and Gender in the South African Nursing Profession (Marks, 1994) to Women and Class in Africa (Robertson and Berger, 1986), a volume of essays dealing with a range of contexts, offer radical models for critiquing and contextualising gender oppression. At the same time, they focus carefully on local patterns and complex social histories. Works like these are noteworthy for their emphasis both on gender politics at the micro-level and on global politics and macro-economic processes.  

Abidi, S. Ed. 1990. Ugandan Women in Development. Kampala: Foundation for African Development.

Adesina, J. 1992. Labour Movements and Policy-Making in Africa. Working Paper. Dakar: CODESRIA

Afonja, S. 1990. "Changing Patterns of Gender Stratification in West Africa", in Tinker, I. ed. Persistent Inequalities: Women and World Development, New York: Oxford University Press.

African Development Bank. 1990. Policy Paper on Women in Development. Abidjan: African Development Bank.

Africa Regional Coordinating Committee for the Integration of Women in Development. 1988. Changing Socio-Economic Conditions of Women in Africa in the Context of the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women: Sectoral Analysis of Political Participation, Education, Employment and Law. Addis Ababa: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

African Training and Research Centre for Women and International Labour Organization. 1991. "The Impact of Africa's Economic Crisis on Women", in Adedeji, A., Rasheed, S. and Morrison, M. eds. The Human Dimension of Africa's Persistent Economic Crisis. London: Hans Zell.

Agbassy-Boni, R. B. 1995. "Women in Agriculture in Africa: Policies and Realities", in Opar, D. ed. Sustainable Agriculture for Africa: Issues for Policymakers. Nairobi: African Academy of Sciences.

Agbola, T. 1990. "The Nature of Women's Involvement in Housing Development: A Survey of the Literature." African Urban Quarterly, 5, 3/4 August/November:178–186.

Ahonsi, B. 1995. "Gender Relations, Demographic Change and the Prospects for Sustainable Development in Africa." Africa Development, 20, 4:85–114.

Altorki, S. and El Sohl, C. F. Eds. 1988. Arab Women in the Field: Studying Your Own Society. New York: Syracuse University Press.

Badri, B. 1990. "A Profile of Sudanese Women", in The Long-Term Perspective Study of Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington, DC: World Bank.

Bantebya, G. 1992. "The Role of Women in Petty Commodity Production and Commerce: A Case Study of Rural Peasant Women." Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review, 8, 2.

Carloni, A. 1990. "Women in FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) Projects: Cases From Asia, the Near East and Africa", in Staudt, K. ed. Women, International Development, and Politics: The Bureaucratic Mire. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press:227–246.

DAWN. 1987. Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era, 80–81. Nairobi: Dawn.

El-Bushra, J. and Pankhurst, H. 1994. "Past Projects and Future Policies", in Yngstrom, I. ed. Gender and Environment in Africa: Perspectives on the Politics of Environmental Sustainability. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, Centre of African Studies.

Gladwin, C. Ed. 1991. Structural Adjustment and African Women Farmers. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.

Goebel, A. and Epprecht, M. 1995. "Women and Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Testing the World Bank and WID Models with a Lesotho Case study." African Studies Review, 38 (April):1-22.

Gordon, A. 1991. "Economic Reform and African Women." TransAfrica Forum, 8 (Summer):21-41.

Guyer, J. 1987. "Women's Role in Development", in Berg, R. and Whitaker, J. eds. Strategies for African Development. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Hafkin, N. and Bay, E. 1976. Women in Africa: Studies in Economic and Social Change. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.

Harris, B. 1993. The Political Economy of the Southern African Periphery: Cottage Industries, Factories and Female Wage Labour in Swaziland Compared. London: St Martin's Press.

Ihonvbere, J. 1995. "Economic Crisis, Structural Adjustment and Africa's Future", in Thomas-Emeagwali, G. ed. Women Pay the Price: Structural Adjustment in Africa and the Caribbean. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press.

Imam, A., Pittin, R. and Omole, H. 1989. Women and the Family in Nigeria. Dakar: CODESRIA.

Ismail, E. 1982. Social Environment and Daily Routine of Sudanese Women. A Case Study of Urban Middle Class Housewives. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag.

Kanyoro, R. A. Ed. 1991. Women and the Economy: Making Connections: Economics and Women's Lives. Geneva: Lutheran World Federation, Office for Women in Church and Society.

Khasiani, S. Ed. 1991. African Women as Environmental Managers. Nairobi: ACTS Press.

Konings, P. 1989. “Women Plantation Workers and Economic Crisis in Cameroon”, in Jain, S. and Reddock, R.  eds. Women Plantation Workers: International Experiences. Oxford/New York: Berg.

Koopman, J. 1992. "Neo-Classical Household Models and Modes of Household Production: Problems in the Analysis of African Agricultural Households." Boston: Boston University, African Studies Center. Working Paper Series 166.

Lewis, B. 1988. “Getting Women on the Development Agenda”, in Glickman, H. ed. The Crisis and Challenge of African Development. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.

Longwe, S. 1990. “From Welfare to Empowerment: The Situation of Women in Development in Africa: A Post-United Nations (UN) Women's Decade Update and Future Directions.” East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University, Office of Women in International Development (WIN). Working Paper, 204.

Mackenzie, F. 1995. "Selective Silence: A Feminist Encounter With Environmental Discourse in Colonial Africa", in Crush, J. S. ed. Power of Development. London/New York: Routledge.

Mackintosh, M. 1989. Gender, Class and Rural Transition: Agribusiness and the Food Crisis in Senegal. London: Zed Press.

Mahmoud, F. 1991. African Women: Transformation and Development. London: Institute for African Alternatives.

Manuh, T. 1990. "A Study of Selected Voluntary Development Organizations in Ghana", in Association of African Women for Research and Development (AAWORD). Women as Agents and Beneficiaries of Development Assistance. Dakar: AAWORD.

Manuh, T. 1994. "Ghana: Women in the Public and Informal Sectors Under the Economic Recovery Programme", in Sparr, P. ed. Mortgaging Women's Lives: Feminist Critiques of Structural Adjustment. London/Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Zed Books.

Manuh, T. 1994. "Ghanaian Women, Economic Crisis and Access to Resources", in Yngstrom, I. ed. Gender and Environment in Africa: Perspectives on the Politics of Environmental Sustainability. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, Centre of African Studies.

Maramba, P., Olateru-Olabegi, B. and Webanenou, R. T. N. 1995. Structural Adjustment Programmes and the Human Rights of African Women. Harare: Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF).

Marks, S. 1994. Divided Sisterhood: Race, Class and Gender in the South African Nursing Profession. London: Macmillan, New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Mayoux, L. 1990. African Women in Co-operatives: Towards a Realistic Agenda: Report of a Conference Organized by the Institute for African Alternatives. Addis Ababa. 12–16 June 1989. London: Institute for African Alternatives.

Mbilinyi, M. 1984. "Women in Development Ideology: The Promotion of Competition and Exploitation.” The African Review, 11, 1 (Fall).

Mblinyi, M. 1993. "Struggles Over Patriarchal Structural Adjustment in Tanzania." Focus on Gender 1, 3:13-18.

Mhone, G. African Women Workers, Economic Reform, Globalization, AIDS and Civil Conflict. Geneva: International Labour Organization.

Mugyenyi, M. 1992. The Impact of Structural Adjustment Programmes on Ugandan Rural Women in the 1980s: Prospects for Empowerment in the New Decade. Paper  Presented at the First International Conference on Women in Africa and the African Diaspora, July 13-18, 1992, Nsukka, Nigeria. Indianapolis: Association of African Women Scholars (AAWS), Indiana University, Women’s Studies Program. Volume 7.

Muhammed, S. I. 1989. “Women, the Family and the Wider Society”, in Imam, A., Pittin, R. and Omole, H. Women and the Family in Nigeria. Dakar: CODESRIA.

Nelson, N. 1981. African Women in the Development Process. London: Frank Cass and Co.

Nzomo, M. 1988. "Women, Democracy, and Development in Africa", in Oyugi, W. ed. Democratic Theory and Practice in Africa. London: James Currey. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.

Nzomo, M. 1989. "The Impact of the Women's Decade on Politics, Programs and Empowerment of Women in Kenya." Issue: A Journal of Opinion, 17:9-17.

Nzomo, M. 1995. "Women and Democratization Struggles in Africa: What Relevance to Post-Modernist Discourse?" in Marchand, M. and Parpart, J. eds. Feminism/Postmodernism/Development. London: Routledge.

Ogunleye, B. 1993."Local Initiative: Key to Women's Voice in Global Decision Making for a Healthy Environment in Africa." Women and Environments, 13 Winter/Spring:15–17.

Ogunsheye, O. et al. Ed. 1988. Nigerian Women and Development. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press.

Oppong, C. Ed. Sex Roles, Population and Development in West Africa: Policy-Related Studies on Work and Demographic Issues. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.

Pala, A. 1981. "Definitions of Women and Development: An African Perspective." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 9:9–13.

Palmer, I. 1991. Gender and Population in the Adjustment of African Economies: Planning for Change. Geneva: International Labour Organisation.

Pankhurst, H. 1992. Gender, Development and Identity: An Ethiopian Study. London/New Jersey: Heinemann.

Parpart, J. Ed. 1989. Women and Development in Africa: Comparative Perspectives. Maryland: University Press of America.

Perchononok, N. 1985. “Family, Class and Modes of Production: Notes on the Material Bases of Women’s Oppression”, in Imam, A., Pittin, R. and Omole, H. 1985. Women and the Family in Nigeria. Dakar: CODESRIA.

Quaye, R. K. 1993. "The Political Economy of Food and Hunger: The Dialectics of Reproduction and Production: The African Experience." Scandinavian Journal of Development Alternatives, 12, 1 March:5–14.

Roberts, P. and Williams, G. 1991. "Democracy and the Agrarian Question in Africa: Reflections on the Politics of States and the Representation of Peasants' and Women's Interests", in Cohen, R. and Goulbourne, H. eds. Democracy and Socialism in Africa. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.

Robertson, C. 1987. "Developing Economic Awareness: Changing Perspectives in Studies of African Women, 1976–1985." Feminist Studies, 13, 1 Spring:97–135.

Robertson, C. and Berger, I. 1986. Women and Class in Africa. New York: Africana Publishing Company.

Scott, C. 1995. "From Modernization Theory to the ‘Soft State' in Africa", in Scott, C. V. Gender and Development: Rethinking Modernizaton and Dependency Theory. Boulder/London: Lynne Rienner.

Snyder, M. Ed. 1995. African Women and Development: A History. London: Zed Press; Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.

Ssenkoloto, G. M. Ed. 1983. The Roles of Women in the Process of Development. Douala, Cameroon: Pan-African Institute for Development.

Staudt, K. 1987. "Women in Development: The Bureaucratic Mire." TransAfrica Forum, 4, 3, Spring:43–52.

Stitchter, S. and Parpart, J. Eds. 1988. Patriarchy and Class: African Women in the Home and Workforce. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.

Tadesse, Z. 1991. "Coping With Change: An Overview of Women and the African Economy”, in O'Rourke, N. ed. Future for Women in Development: Voices From the South. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: North-South Institute.

Tadria H. 1987. "Changes and Continuities in the Position of Women in Uganda", in Wiebe, P. D. and Dodge, C. P. eds. Beyond Crisis: Development Issues in Uganda. Kampala: Makerere Institute of Social Research.

Thomas-Emeagwali, G. Ed. Women Pay the Price: Structural Adjustment in Africa and the Caribbean. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press.

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). 1988. The Impact of the Economic Crisis on the Vulnerable Groups in African Societies: Women. Addis Ababa: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). 1989. Guidelines for the Incorporation of Women's Concerns in National Development Plans. Addis Ababa: ECA.

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). 1989. Status and Prospects of Population Policies in ECA Member States. Addis Ababa: ECA. African Population Studies Series 10.

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). 1991. “Abuja Declaration on Participatory Development: The Role of Women in Africa in the 1990s." Canadian Association of African Studies Newsletter, Fall:17–34.

Wanyonyi, B. W. 1991. "Co-Op Development in Africa: A Women's Perspective." Review of International Co-Operation, 84, 4:46–51.

Wilson, F. and Ramphele, M. 1989. Uprooting Poverty. Cape Town: David Philip.

World Bank. 1990. Women in Development: A Progress Report on the World Bank Initiative. Washington, DC: World Bank.

Yngstrom, I. Ed. Gender and Environment in Africa: Perspectives on the Politics of Environmental Sustainability. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, Centre of African Studies.