AfricaBib 
bibliographic database
| Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | 'Sharing my bed with the enemy': wives and violent husbands in post-colonial Swaziland |
| Author: | Simelane, Hamilton Sipho |
| Year: | 2011 |
| Periodical: | Journal of Contemporary African Studies (ISSN 0258-9001) |
| Volume: | 29 |
| Issue: | 4 |
| Pages: | 493-512 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Swaziland - Eswatini |
| Subjects: | domestic violence gender relations gender division of labour |
| External link: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02589001.2011.601045 |
| Abstract: | This article examines the historical background of domestic violence in Swaziland. It argues that colonialism produced numerous changes in Swazi socioeconomic configurations, which had a profound bearing on postcolonial developments. One of these changes was the integration of Swazi women into wage employment in response to the growth of capitalist economic enterprises. Research on this development has been neglected so far and little is known about the dynamics that drove indigenous Swazi women into wage employment. The paper argues that these dynamics are located in the exigencies of colonial policy that negatively impacted on the economic performance of areas occupied by the indigenous Swazi. Women's integration into wage employment was a contested issue whereby Swazi men, families, indigenous chiefs, the monarchy, and colonial administrators attempted to frustrate female participation in wage employment. Domestic violence can therefore been seen as a product of a crisis in masculinity. The paper also discusses women's reactions to domestic violence, demonstrating that the victims were not passive sufferers but employed various survival strategies. Bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract, edited] |
