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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Farmers, Hunters, and Gold-Washers: A Reevaluation of Women's Roles in Precolonial and Colonial Zimbabwe
Author:Schmidt, ElizabethISNI
Year:1988
Periodical:African Economic History
Volume:17
Pages:45-80
Language:English
Geographic terms:Zimbabwe
Great Britain
Subjects:gender relations
Shona
colonialism
women
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Women's Issues
Labor and Employment
Historical/Biographical
economics
agriculture
Cultural Roles
Sex Roles
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/3601334
Abstract:This article explores the impetus behind the changing gender division of labour and the implications of these alterations for Shona women in the Goromonzi District of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) from the late 19th century through the 1930s. It shows that the changes wrought by the colonial political economy were, over the long term, extremely damaging to African women. Although the intensification of women's agricultural labour and their involvement in cash crop production initially helped to keep their households intact, the legislative attack on the African peasantry ultimately precluded survival on the basis of agricultural production alone. By the 1920s, male household members were increasingly forced to enter the migratory labour force. As their wages surpassed the sale of produce in terms of contribution to household income, men's standing within the household increased, while that of women declined. In many instances, economic and social marginalization went hand in hand. Notes, ref.
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