Abstract
Justice on the ground is often critiqued for being male-dominated and ‘patriarchal’. This is an assumption that we want to unpack and problematise in this chapter, and through the case studies in this volume. Engaging with such assumptions is of particular interest for this volume, since our case studies reveal the complex and organic ways in which women have power and influence in relation to justice on the ground which may not be immediately obvious. This is not to say that justice on the ground isn’t as patriarchal or oppressive to women as any other system or institution in the world. But simply labelling justice on the ground as being one thing or another, misses the dynamic movement of these practices and misses the many ways in which women do exert agency and have voice. An engagement with African feminisms is helpful in providing us with a number of lenses, or simply questions, through which to read the cases discussed in this volume.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
This is not to say that in today’s world, women and men on the continent have equal access to the labour market, protected work environments (women in southern Africa are more likely to work in precarious forms of employment) or receive equal pay. It is rather to point to the different trajectories and concerns of women in different geographical locations at different times in history.
- 2.
Of course, this was also the case in ‘the west’, where, historically, Christianity has shaped the political systems of governance and justice that are dominant today.
References
Botes, A. 2000. A comparison between the ethics of justice and the ethics of care. Journal of Advanced Nursing 32 (5): 1071–1075.
Bennett, J. 2001. ‘Enough lip service!’ Hearing post-colonial experience of gender-based violence. Agenda 16–50: 88–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2001.9675998.
Coulibaly, A.S. 2015. Theorizing and categorizing African feminism within the context of the African female novel. Recherches Africaines 13 (15): 1–23.
Dosekun S. 2019. African feminisms. In The Palgrave handbook of African women's studies, ed. O. Yacob-Haliso and T. Falola. Palgrave Macmillan.
Dobson, J., D. Hensley, and M. Rastad. 2018. Toward gender diversity on corporate boards: Evaluating government quotas (EU) versus shareholder resolutions (US) from the perspective of third wave feminism. Philosophy of Management 17: 333–351.
Dulfano, I. 2017. Knowing the other/other ways of knowing: Indigenous feminism, testimonial, and anti-globalization street discourse. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 16 (1): 82–96.
Greene, B. 1998. The institution of woman-marriage in Africa: A cross-cultural analysis. Ethnology 37 (4): 395–412.
Gqola, P.D. 2001. Ufanele uqavile: Blackwomen, feminisms and postcoloniality in Africa. Agenda 16 (50): 11–22.
Grosfoguel, R. 2007. The epistemic decolonial turn. Cultural Studies 21 (2–3): 211–223.
Huff, S., D.L. Rudman, L. Magalhães, and E. Lawson. 2018. ‘Africana womanism’: Implications for transformative scholarship in occupational science. Journal of Occupational Science 25 (4): 554–565.
Koyana, S. 2001. Womanism and nation-building in Sindiwe Magona’s autobiographies. Agenda 16 (50): 64–70.
Lewis, D. 2001. African feminisms. Agenda 16 (50): 4–10.
Logan, C. 2013. The roots of resilience: Exploring popular support for African traditional authorities. African Affairs 112 (448): 353–376.
Matandela, M. 2020. Introduction: The convergence of patriarchy and democratic roll-back in the East and Horn of Africa. In Challenging Patriarchy: The role of patriarchy in the roll-back of democracy in Africa, ed. Caroline Kioko, Rosebell Kagumire, and Mbalenhle Matandela. Nairobi: Heinrich Böll Stiftung.
Mengisteab, K. 2007. Relevance of African traditional institutions of Governance. United Nations. Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa. Accessed: https://repository.uneca.org/handle/10855/3086.
Mohanty, C.T. 1988. Under western eyes: Feminist scholarship and colonial discourses. Feminist Review 30: 61–88.
Nasong’o, S.W., and T.O. Ayot. 2007. Women in Kenya’s politics of transition and democratization. In Kenya: The struggle for democracy, ed. Godwin R. Murung'a and Shadrack W. Nasong'o, 164–196. Dakar: Codesria.
Nkealah, N. 2016. (West) African feminisms and their challenges. Journal of Literary Studies 32 (2): 61–74.
Nnaemeka, O. 2003. Nego‐feminism: Theorizing, practicing, and pruning Africa’s way. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 29 (2): 357–385.
Nyamu-Musembi, C. 2007. Addressing formal and substantive citizenship Gender Justice in Sub-Saharan Africa. Internet: https://sarpn.org/documents/d0002823/Formal_substantive_citizenship_Nyamu-Musembi.pdf. Accessed 6 May 2018.
Okoth, G.O. 2020.Patriarchy and democracy in Africa: Reflections on the underlying influence of Islamic and indigenous African traditions on women participation in Kenyan politics. The Role of Patriarchy in the Roll-back of Democracy: 87.
Robinson, F., D. Engster, and H. Maurice. 2015. Care ethics, political theory, and the future of feminism. Care Ethics and Political Theory: 293–311.
Rodgers, S.T. 2017. Womanism and Afrocentricity: Understanding the intersection. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment 27 (1–2): 36–47.
Schiwy, F. 2007. Decolonization and the question of subjectivity. Cultural Studies 21 (2–3): 271–294.
Smith, A. 2011. Indigenous feminism without apology. Unsettling America Decolonization in Theory and Practice. Available at: www.unsettlingamerica.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/Indigenous-feminism-without-apology. Accessed 15 February 2021.
Snodgrass, Lyn. 2017. The sins of the father: Gender-based violence in post-Apartheid South Africa. Commonwealth Youth and Development 14 (2): 57–70.
Soetan, R.O. 2001. Culture, gender and development. A report submitted to the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), Dakar, Senegal.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wielenga, C. (2022). African Feminisms and Justice on the Ground. In: Wielenga, C. (eds) African Feminisms and Women in the Context of Justice in Southern Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82128-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82128-9_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-82127-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-82128-9
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)