'Men These Days, They Are a Problem': Husband-Taming Herbs and Gender Wars in Rural Zimbabwe

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Periodical article

Title:	'Men These Days, They Are a Problem': Husband-Taming Herbs and Gender Wars in Rural Zimbabwe
Author:	Goebel, Allison
Year:	2002
Periodical:	Canadian Journal of African Studies
Volume:	36
Issue:	3
Pages:	460-489
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Zimbabwe
Subjects:	gender relations Shona marriage rural women traditional medicine Development and Technology Women's Issues Health and Nutrition Cultural Roles Marital Relations and Nuptiality Health, Nutrition, and Medicine
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/4107333
Abstract:	Examination of the micro-relations of gender as expressed through the phenomenon of husband-taming herbs ('mupfuhwira') reveals that while marriage is the most important economic strategy available to women in rural Zimbabwe, it comes burdened with struggle, especially over control of household budgets, and precariousness, evidenced in women's vulnerability to divorce. Five basic questions underlie the analysis: What are 'husband-taming herbs'? Why do women use them? Why do healers provide them? How do women get them? What are the risks and benefits associated with the herbs? The article is based on interviews conducted in February-April 1998 as part of a larger project involving nearly three years of fieldwork and addresses the situation for Shona women in Sengezi Resettlement in Wedza District. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in French. [ASC Leiden abstract]