Product details
Edition: 1st Edition
First Published: 2025
eBook Published: 22 May, 2025
Pub. London
Imprint: Routledge
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003221586
Pages: 572
eBook: ISBN9781003221586
Subjects: Area Studies, Development Studies, Environment, Social Work, Urban Studies, Education, Global Development, Health and Social Care, Humanities, Language & Literature, Politics & International Relations, Social Sciences
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter | 24 pages
Introduction
The Study of Women and Gender in Africa
Part I | 112 pages
African Women in History
Chapter 1 | 32 pages
Women in Precolonial Africa
Chapter 2 | 20 pages
Colonialism and Women in Africa
Chapter 3 | 20 pages
Women and Apartheid in South Africa
Chapter 4 | 11 pages
The Status of Women in Contemporary Africa
Chapter 5 | 27 pages
African Feminisms and Women's Movements Through History
Part II | 149 pages
Social Lives and Livelihoods
Chapter 6 | 25 pages
Changing Conceptions of Motherhood in Africa
Chapter 7 | 17 pages
Marriage, Polygamy, and the African Woman
Chapter 8 | 19 pages
African Women and Education
Chapter 9 | 18 pages
African Women's Economic Activities
Chapter 10 | 15 pages
African Women in Science and Technology
Chapter 11 | 22 pages
Racism, Gender, and African Women
Chapter 12 | 15 pages
African Women and Religion
Chapter 13 | 16 pages
Women and Popular Culture in Africa
Part III | 73 pages
Bodies and Being
Chapter 14 | 19 pages
African Women and Gendered Sexualities
Chapter 15 | 16 pages
Women's Health in Africa
Chapter 16 | 18 pages
Women and Sex Work in Africa
Chapter 17 | 18 pages
Gender-Based Violence in Africa
Part IV | 134 pages
Political and Social Agency
Chapter 18 | 39 pages
African Women and Politics
Chapter 19 | 30 pages
African Women, Conflict, and Peacebuilding
Chapter 20 | 22 pages
African Women Writers
Chapter 21 | 23 pages
African Women, Agency, and Social Media
Chapter 22 | 18 pages
African Women and Migration
Book Description
This book introduces readers to the rich and diverse experiences of women across the African continent, covering their socio-cultural, political, and economic realities from the precolonial era right up to the modern day.
In many precolonial African societies, women were empowered and considered to be important participants in the social structures and political systems that managed their communities, but during the colonial era, women were often marginalized. Now, across the continent, women are reasserting their agency. This book explores the various ways in which gender has been constructed in different African cultures across history and how this has impacted the lived experiences of women. The book encompasses a broad range of topics, including history, health, sexualities, gender-based violence, motherhood, education, economic activities, science and technology, religion, popular culture, politics, peacebuilding, feminism, literature, social media, and migration. Engaging and compelling, this book invites us to think again about the changing roles, identities, and contributions of African women across time and space.
It is the perfect introduction for any student of gender or African studies, as well as for anyone looking for a reader-friendly guide to the subject.
About the Authors
Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, USA. Falola has published over a hundred books and is the recipient of twenty honorary doctorates as well as several lifetime achievement awards.
Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso is Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Brandeis University, USA and Vice-President of the International Studies Association (ISA, 2024-25). She is the co-editor of the three-volume Palgrave Handbook of African Women’s Studies (2021), and has published several other books on African women, gender, refugees, and knowledge production in Africa.
