Women and Politics in Africa
AFS 4905 Section 9645x
- Office: 435 Grinter Hall
- Semester: Fall 2005
- Office hours: Monday 2 – 4 p.m.
- Class meetings: MAT.
5: T-4th period (10:40-11-30), R 4th and 5th periods (10:40-12:35) - Tel. 392-2183 - Professor: Dr. Agnes Ngoma Leslie
- Email: aleslie@africa.ufl.edu
Course Description
This course will explore the role and interaction of women in African society and the state, from pre-colonial times to the present. We will explore how women interact with political structures and how they mobilize themselves to impact the state, society, and legal systems as well as regional and international systems. The course will examine how different political systems affect women’s participation and how women organize themselves in different political cultures. Thus, we will study African women’s participation in the political arena, their challenges and struggles for their rights and their impact on their countries’ laws and policies. We will draw on examples of individual activism and women’s movements in different countries.
We will also examine women’s involvement as voters, politicians, organizers and policy makers, the challenges they face in running for political office and how they influence politics once in office. This class will be taught as a colloquium. Each student will make one presentation and lead a class discussion, and students will be expected to participate and contribute to the discussions.
Grading
Students grades will be based on attendance and participation in class discussions, quizzes, tests and class presentations based on the readings and videos as follows:
- Attendance and participation = 20 % (any absences will require a suitable explanation);
- Leading one class discussion and synthesizing the readings = 20 % (2 pages, typewritten);
- Two quizzes based on readings presentations and documentaries = 40 %;
- Final comprehensive test = 20 %.
Assigned Reading
- Reading Packet (available at OBT Textbooks): Women and Politics in Africa, Part I and Part II.
- Textbook: Goetz, Anne Marie and Hassim, Shireen, No Shortcuts to Power: African Women in Politics and Policy Making. 1988. New York: Zed Books.
Weekly Readings
Week 1 - August 25
- Course introduction, class presentation assignments.
Week 2
- August 30
- “You have Struck A Rock,” Women in the Struggle Against Apartheid.
- September 1. Video: Flame – Women in Armed Struggle – Zimbabwe.
WOMEN IN PRE-COLONIAL SOCIETIES
Week 3
- September 6
- Gwendolyn Mikell – Introduction – The Crises of Gender and State (Readings, pp.1 -33).
- September 8
- Ifi Amadiume – Women’s Achievements in African Political Systems: Transforming Culture for 500 Years (Readings, pp. 51 – 61)
- Women Leaders in African History – Nzinga of Angola: About 1581 – 1663 (Readings, pp. 63 – 73).
Week 4
- September 13, 15
- Holly Hanson – Queen Mothers and Good Government in Buganda: The Loss of Women’s Political Power in Nineteenth-Century East Africa, pp. 75 – 84.
- Yaa Asantewa:About 1840/1860-1921. (Readings, pp. 69-74).
WOMEN IN NATIONAL LIBERATION STRUGGLES
Week 4
- September 20, 22
- Rosemary Mpuku Nyaywa – Mama ‘Unip’ Julia ‘Chikamoneka’: The Fearless ‘Mad Africa Girl’ Readings, pp. 85-106.
- Asserting Women’s Liberation within National Liberation: The Case of the South African Women’s Movement. (Readings, pp. 143 – 166)
WOMEN’S MOVEMENTS AND ACTIVISM
Week 5
- September 27, 29
- Women’s Movement in Botswana (readings to be provided).
- Women’s organizations and Movements: Sometimes Autonomy but often no Unity. Readings, p. 167.
- Gisela Geisler - African women in/and Politics: Issues and Reality, (Readings, p. 121).
WOMEN AND ELECTORAL SYSTEMS
Week 6
- October 4, 6
- Sheila Meintjes and Mary Simons - Why Electoral Systems Matter to Women. (Readings, p. 243.)
- Amanda Gouws – Women as Political Participants: The Gender Gap in Voting Behavior. (Readings, 233).
- *First Quiz*
WOMEN IN THE POLITICAL SYSTEM
Week 7
- October 11, 13
- Women’s Political Effectiveness: A Conceptual Framework, Goetz.
- Introduction: Women in Power in Uganda and South Africa, Goetz & Hassim.
- Kenyan Women in Politics and Public Decision Making, Maria Nzomo
WOMEN AS LEGISLATORS
Week 8
- October 25, 27
- Women’s Legislative Activities Inside Parliament: Trends and Directions
- Representation, Participation and Democratic Effectiveness: Feminist Challenges in South Africa
- “Women Break into African politics.” http://www.afrol.com/articles/12204
Week 9
- October 18, 20
- Into the Trenches: Women Legislators and their constituencies
- The Gender Dynamics of Intra-party Politics
- Inonge Mbikusita Lewanika: “Facing the Challenges of Politics”. (Readings, pp. 107-120).
Week 10
- Nov. 1, 3
- Representation, Participation and Democratic Effectiveness: Feminist Challenges to Representative Democracy in South Africa, Hassim, (Readings, pp. 81-109.
- The Problem with Patronage: Constraints on Women’s Political Effectiveness in Uganda. Goetz,(Readings, pp. 110-139).
- *Second Quiz*
WOMEN IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Week 11
- Nov. 8, 10
- Democratizing Local Government: Problems and Opportunities in the Advancement of Gender Equality in South Africa. Likhapha Mbatha, (Readings, pp. 188- 212.
- Gender Equity and Local Democracy in Contemporary Uganda: Addressing the Challenge of Women’s Political Effectiveness in Local Government. Josephine Ahikire. (Readings, pp. 213 -238).
WOMEN AND ISLAM
Week 12
- Nov. 15, 17
- The Political Empowerment of Women. Barbara Callaway and Lucy Creevey (Readings, pp. 251).
AFRICAN WOMEN IN THE INTERNATIONAL SPHERE
Week 13
- Nov. 22
- These weeks will look at how African women’s activism on the international arena. Examples in West, Southern and East Africa. (Readings to be announced)
- November 24
- No Class. Thanksgiving.
Week 14
- Nov. 30, Dec. 2
- Readings online: http://www.wanep.org/programs/wipnet.htm
Week 15
- Dec. 7
- *Comprehensive Test*
The professor reserves the right to make changes in the syllabus in order to meet the course’s objectives
