Women and political participation in Africa: Broadening the scope of research

WorMDevelopment, Vol Printed in Great Britain.

Women and Political Participation in Africa:

19, No. 12, pp. 167%1694. 1991. 0305-750x/91 $3.00 + 0.00 Pergamon Press plc

Broadening the Scope of Research

DAVID HIRSCHMANN The American University, Washington, DC

Summary. -The article argues for a more flexible and inclusive approach to research on women and the state in Africa and, in particular, women’s political participation. Inter ulia it suggests moving away from restricted Western definitions of politics, from overly aggregated notions both of “the state” and of “women,” and from too centralized a focus on government; and moving to include a greater appreciation of informal organizations, unusual modes of participation, uneven tradeoffs and even manipulated politics. Its concern is to ensure that we do not overlook or close off those narrow spaces of participation which may, by default, have been allowed to women, or which women may have fashioned for themselves.

1. INTRODUCTION

The concern of this article is women’s political participation in Africa. Its purpose is to suggest a broader, more comprehensive and inclusive scope of research. While its primary concern is neither with consequences of participation, nor with theory, its rationale is that the data generated by broadening the scope of research will contribute both to a fuller understanding of consequences and more accurately informed theory.

Taken overall the study of women in politics in Africa has received considerably less attention than have women’s roles in the economy or in society. Those who have studied the role and predicament of women and the nature of gender relations in African politics have tended to focus on specific political organizations or activities. Not many have given sustained or systematic attention to comprehensive national studies, or profiles, of political participation by women. Based on their findings, their assessments of the nature of women’s participation have been somber in the extreme. For example, Howard concluded:

The consequences of the contemporary crises for women in Commonwealth Africa are that their economic opportunities in both the rural and urban sectors are declining and that they are increasingly scapegoated as the cause of economic disintegra- tion. Politically, the entrenchment of corporatist one-party states and military regimes means that what little participation was opened to women at

independence is being eroded. As the economic crisis deepens in the 1980s Africans may respond by retreating into low-level subsistence agriculture, in which the bulk of the work is done by women. If corporatism develops into fascism the scapegoating of women will intensify. The meaning of the crisis of the 1980s for women in Commonwealth Africa is less political representation and fewer economic opportunities, more political repression and more work.’

This assessment of women in politics coincides with what Robertson refers to as the “pessimistic view, held by Africanist women scholars regard- ing the overall predicament of most African women.“’ The purpose of this article is not to set Howard’s conclusion up as a foil, nor is it to criticize the conclusion. It is clear to this author, based on personal research fnd the literature in general, that the thrust of this argument appears to be essentially valid. The purpose rather is to argue that, at this stage in the study of women and politics in Africa, it behooves scholars, before continuing to draw conclusions, to move away from standard Western liberal notions of what politics is about and where politics begins and ends, and to seek a more inclusive and flexible notion of politics than the one implied in Howard’s argument.

The material on which this article is based - and this includes illustrations, ideas, analyses and suggested methods - derives from the author’s work on women in Malawi in 1983 and 1984, and from the writings of scholars working in a variety of African countries. No claim is made as to the

1679

1680 WORLD DEVELOPMENT

originality of all of the individual suggestions - as will be made clear, many of them derive from the work of others - but a case is being made that in combination they will contribute to a fuller, more comprehensive understanding of the complex interaction of women and the state in Africa, and in particular women’s political participation. This article is intended to be suggestive and illustrative in nature rather than conclusive.

The argument will proceed in four steps. The first part will stress the need to unpackage the state and relate its component parts to different categories of women. The second and most detailed part will pursue and illustrate this line of argument by attending to various levels of the unpackaged state to which women of different categories may have access. The third will be concerned with modes of participation which may be unusual to, or ignored by, the outside observer seeking manifestations of participation. The final section will discuss some of the implications of these suggestions for research and practice.

2. UNPACKAGING THE STATE

For a start there is a need to unpackage the “state.” There is a sense in which the state is sometimes in danger of becoming no more than an abstract characterization which alters in response to the particular question asked about it. For example, in answer to the question as to its relations with dominant classes it may be more or less “autonomous”; in assessing its capacity to carry out its policies it may be a “hard” or “soft” state; in response to a question on its economic policy it may be a “predatory” state; in relation- ship to gender it may be a “patriarchal” state; it may have two faces, have a long arm, be overdeveloped, suspended, swollen, unsteady and so on. Each of these characterizations has validity within the theoretical framework being applied, and provides a significant, even essential, basis for further detailed research.

For example, one may characterize the Malawi state in the following ways. It is dominated to an unusual degree-even for one-party states - by one man. When things are going well for the state it is relatively autonomous from external class influence, largely because its policy directions accord with class interests. When things are going less well - as with the economic crisis of the late 1970s and early 1980s - its dependence, for example on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, becomes more patent. It is a hard state, insofar as it has had a central concern for law, order and control, a

clarity of direction in aiming at narrow economic growth, and a readiness to rely on cruelty where the leader deems necessary. Insofar as it has made a substantive impact on the economic, occupational and demographic structures of the society, in dramatically expanding the plantation sector at considerable cost to the peasant sector, it may also with reason be referred to as a predatory state.’

In such circumstances the openings for political participation are unlikely to be meaningful for most men or women. For women the limitations are even more severe since men dominate the bureaucracy at all levels, the military, the Central Executive of the Party, the directorships of parastatals, etc. Men also rely on the substantive educational, status and experiential advantages that they have established and an ideological patriarchal dominance to sustain that control.

Having characterized a state in this manner, it then becomes necessary to reiterate that the state is also a set of agencies and processes which need to be listed, understood and dealt with in concrete and specific terms; and further that all these agencies may not be in complete accord on all aspects of policy making and implementation or identical in terms of access to the public in general or women in particular. As Berry has warned, “Ministries of agriculture, rural development agencies, parastatals, etc., clearly are not monolithic entities, whose staffs act consistently and cooperatively in pursuit of single. well- defined sets of goals”; and these goals need not always be the exploitation of the peasantry and the servicing of the international bourgeoisie.’ While the impact of Africa’s bureaucracies does invariably seem to have these effects, Berry’s call to avoid “facile generalizations” should be noted. There is a need to bring together the abstract and broad notions of the state with the concrete and specific realities of the state apparatus.5

It is also necessary not to juxtapose the present political predicament with the participation opened up to women at the time of independence. The comparison assumes that it was political independence alone, and the birth of the postcolonial state, that gave women the opportunity of participating, overlooking any traditional, communal. kinship or religious types of participation or channels of influence which may still be of some use to some women.” It also overlooks the possibility that with the suppres- sion of formal means of political expression for 25-30 years, women are likely to have created some alternate ways of pursuing their interests and articulating their views.

One also needs to take care not to credit the African state with more power than it is likely to

WOMEN AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION 1681

have or necessarily wishes to have. Spalding observed how “bureaucratic enclaves” and “economic elites” limit the powers of the corporate state in Mexico.’ There are numerous other limits on the African state: ethnic groups, religious societies, professional associations, “second economy” and smuggling networks, a sometimes unpliable peasantry, foreign donors, foreign bankers and investors, to name some of the more obvious ones. Distance from the capital, poor roads, the rising price of imports and fuels and diminished national budgets are in themselves enough to limit the implementation and enforcement capacity of poor states. As will become evident, too, even in a system as highly controlled as Malawi’s, the president tolerates very limited participation if only at the very edges of the policy-making process: in some situations it serves his purposes well. African political leaders, of necessity, not choice, have to delegate considerable responsibility for project formulation, planning, budgeting, and aid negotiation to civil servants.

It is necessary therefore to ensure that the state is not too simply abstracted into a homogeneous unitary entity, one that is always or equally consistent in policy application and enforce- ments. It would be necessary in most countries to recognize that there is a presidency, a parliament, a bureaucracy consisting of numerous ministries with differing ideologies and missions, a party, parastatal organizations of a variety of kinds, commercial, industrial and marketing, a military and a judiciary, and that decentralized versions of all of these operate in parts of the country where predicaments and cultures vary, and where impacts upon, and responses of, women may differ.

3. LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION

As Robertson reminds us, “the time for studies of undifferentiated ‘women’ has long passed.“* Therefore just as we need to unpackage the state, so too should we disaggregate the category of “women.” If one then focuses upon the different institutions and levels of the state machinery and the different categories of women. and attempts to dovetail these levels and categories one may begin to construct national profiles of women’s political participation.

The ordering of the points of access to women’s participation which follows is based on a combined hierarchical notion of class (of women) and centrality of access to state institutions (and therefore of potential political influ-

ence) which tend, not by chance of course, to coincide.

(a) Key women

Given the extreme personalization of political decision making in much of Africa, the potential “manipulation” of a leader by his wife, or a strategically located woman, may be one of the most direct and strategic forms of political pressure possible in the circumstances. Two such examples may be the reported influence of the respective wives of the late first president of Kenya and the present president of Zambia.

In Malawi, a quirk of history, rather than some considered policy decision reflecting concern for women, has put a woman, Cecilia Kadzamira, in an extremely powerful position. Given the one- man nature of Banda’s rule, and the very limited number of people who have influence with the president, her access to him is of singular significance. Banda, who is not married, promoted his receptionist/nurse to the position of “official hostess” to the president to undertake the diplomatic responsibilities normally assigned to the wife of a head of state. Unlike most other prominent figures in Malawi whose political careers have been relatively short-lived, she has remained very close to the president. Her material wealth, ceremonial stature and political influence have all grown substantially. She has assumed the role of leading lady, taking on the title of “Mama” suggesting that she has become the symbolic mother of the nation, and equating herself with the wives of Kenyatta of Kenya and Kaunda of Zambia.

She is widely assumed to be the closest political confidante of the president, and particularly as he gets older, to have considerable, possibly even a dominant, influence on his decision making. (He is about 90 years old.) It is speculated that she or a close member of her family may succeed (or attempt to do so) when Banda dies, or that she may be the “king maker” when the question of succession arises. If Banda has lost some of his mental alertness, as some rumors have it, she may already be the most powerful political figure in the country. If he is still in control of all of his faculties, as other rumors claim, then she is probably the second most important politician in Malawi.

What this means for Malawi’s women is very difficult to assess. In Malawi few people have definite information on how policy decisions are arrived at by the president. Given that Cecilia Kadzamira is a member of the superelite, the top-most layer of Bujra’s “state ruling class,“”


benefiting amply from the direct exploitation of peasants and cheap farm labor, it is highly unlikely that she would be involved in pushing forward the interests of the mass of poor women farmers, and there is no evidence that she is doing so. Rumor has suggested that she may have been responsible for persuading the president to increase the number of women in parliament (discussed below) and of ending the party beauty competitions, long recognized as abusive of the women who were required to participate. She has provided a new political focus on women by establishing a national women’s development organization. She is also likely to be more responsive to donors suggesting an emphasis on women’s projects and education than would a man with her influence. It is otherwise highly improbable that her presence will make much of a positive contribution to the majority of women.

(b) Women in the bureaucracy

Outside of a leader’s small network of party and personal advisers. the bureaucracy is probably the most important actor influencing, making and implementing public policy. Staudt’s recent comparative study illustrates the useful- ness of analyzing bureaucracies for understanding women and politics.“’

Even in a tightly controlled operation such as Banda oversees, it is likely that the bureaucracy will have a significant impact on policy making. Of course, when the president decided he wanted a new capital, a new international airport, a new elite high school, or a particular pricing policy or agricultural policy, there was little the bureaucracy could do to stop him. As the economy becomes more complex, as trade, aid and investment decisions and negotiations become more detailed and more problematic, and as the demands for data and statistical and technical analysis grow, however, the Malawi civil service has taken an ever-increasing responsibility for policy formulation, and in reality, policy making. The enhanced role of multilateral lending agencies pursuant upon the economic crisis of the late 1970s and early 1980s and the aging of the president have accelerated this process. It is therefore appropriate to investigate the participation of women in the civil service.

There was at the time of research a paucity of women in policy-making and planning positions. All principal secretaries were men, as were all deputy secretaries except for the Vice- Chairperson of the Public Service Commission. There were no professional women in such key policy-making agencies as the Treasury, the

Economic Planning Division, the Development Division, the Rural Development Division, and the National Statistics Office. There were no women district commissioners. Taking account of all ministries, a very small number of women (perhaps 10) had some direct influence on policy making, and they were mainly restricted to the “traditional” responsibilities of home economics, adult literacy, social welfare, health and education. ”

Despite these limitations women in the civil service were actively engaging their male coun- terparts in a debate about the future role of women in the bureaucracy and policies toward women. In the Ministry of Agriculture, for example, the new Women’s Programs Office actively pressed for a package of policy changes relating to training, extension, and credit services to women farmers and for broader responsibilities for women extension officers. Workshops were organized to inform both male and female officials of changes in approach to women farmers, and to strengthen women’s ability to operate more effectively in the Ministry. At another level, an ad hoc interministerial committee on Women’s Affairs had been formed and was negotiating with senior officials on a wide range of issues affecting women’s issues in the civil service. This author’s assessment at the time was that their impact would be limited. The women were vastly outnumbered and outranked, and the attitudes of their male colleagues were not going to facilitate rapid changes. Neverthe- less these women were fully aware that they could and should work for improved opportunities for women, and of the possibilities of building coalitions among themselves and making use of consultants and donors as allies in creating pressures for change.” On a visit to Malawi in 1990. I found that some limited progress had indeed been made in organizational and programatic terms. A few women had been promoted to senior positions. The civil service had established a women’s coordinating council. Project, program and evaluation documents also showed an enhanced awareness of women and development. Some of these changes will certainly be dealt in Spring’s forthcoming book on Malawi. ”

Clearly, as middle-class professionals these women were primarily interested in their own and other women’s advancement within the civil service. For the time being at least, however, it appeared that a more positive attitude and more helpful policies to women in general was assisting their own career objectives. For example, if they could achieve a greater emphasis on women farmers in the Ministry of Agriculture, their


position as women civil servants in the ministry would also be enhanced. Projects for women, and donor support for those projects, also assist their interests. Moreover, the issues being raised by these women certainly included the interests of rural women. Interestingly, while these women were ready to form alliances with foreign donors and consultants, they seemed unenthu- siastic about cooperating with women in the party. This reluctance would result partly from an understandable concern about party interven- tion in public administration. It would also relate to class; in general women civil servants come from a higher income and educational level than do the women in the party.14

(c) Women in parliament

At the opening of the February 1981 session of the Malawi parliament, the president, without warning, and true to his unpredictable nature, announced that he was dissatisfied that there were only eight women in Parliament and he proceeded to appoint another 24. (The constitu- tion which allowed him to make 15 appointments had to be altered retroactively.) As a result there were 32 women out of 96 ordinary members of parliament, which must have made for one of the highest proportions in the world. (One may speculate on why he did this. Was it at the behest of the “official hostess,” as suggested above? Was it window dressing or tokenism? But for whose benefit? His contribution to the Decade of Women? An enlightened gesture to donors? He gave no explanation.)

Parliament in Malawi is very much a peripheral political institution. It is ritual in almost pure form. There is, however, a short question time each day which enables MPs to ask cabinet ministers about projects or problems relevant to their own constituencies. Senior civil servants informed me that ministers took these questions seriously and urged them to investigate so as to include responses of some kind in the ministries’ program proposals. It was also clear that more experienced MPs were more determined and persistent in their questioning. These questions did not relate to any significant national policy issues, but they did permit MPs to influence minor matters of allocation, location and choice of projects. They took place at a level of policy making where the president permitted MPs some leeway. In addition to making MPs feel that they were participating politically, it helped keep ministers alert to avoid embarrassment.

No information on the socioeconomic status of the women MPs was available. The fact, how-

ever, that they were required to be reasonably fluent in English - all MPs have to pass an English competency test - and the logic of the situation would suggest that they were middle to lower middle-class women at the time of appointment. The appointment would itself raise their income and status level immediately. At the time of research most of the women had not served in parliament long enough to make any informed judgement on their overall impact in terms of serving gender or class interests.

Hansard Parliamentary records for one parliamentary session indicated that the sort of questions women asked did not differ in any marked way from those of men, and dealt with the following issues: clinics, roads, housing, offices for civil servants in the districts, buses, tele- phones, chibuku (local beer) taverns, Malawi Young Pioneer bases, and girls’ boarding schools. While clinics, taverns and girls’ schools appear to be closer to women’s interests, the record shows men asking about these matters as well. Like the men, women too were not asking any key policy questions affecting the majority of the people, men or women.”

(d) Women in the political party

During my research party officials (who were men) effectively prevented study of the League of Malawi Women, the women’s wing of the Malawi Congress Party. Although the president had granted permission for the research, party officials refused to answer questions. (One official put it this way: “You have permission to ask questions, but we don’t have permission to answer them.” Another one pointed out that if a researcher were to “misreport” anything his career would be over.) Ever since he came back to Malawi in 1956 to lead his party, Banda has consistently and insistently spoken about raising the status of “his” women. He established the Women’s League, and required the presence of large numbers of women at all functions, dressed in party uniforms, singing and dancing in praise of the president. He also builds houses for top party women in each district, takes a group of leading women with him on his annual trip abroad (where among other things they visit the British bank where he keeps his account), has purchased aircraft to transport these women to political meetings, has appointed them to parliament, and has called on the party to encourage the election of women to committees of various kinds and rural communities to send their daugh- ters to school.

During interviews, a number of civil servants


said that women did play an important role at the party’s annual National Conventions. There was no way of testing this. They explained that when women strongly opposed a policy they could put a stop to it. When pressed for examples, they gave the same one. It related to a plan for the distribution of health centers. Women had argued that since men never carried sick children to clinics they had no idea of the burden. The Convention accepted the women’s argument. “The women insisted, and they got their way.” Health clinics are not a priority investment area in Malawi, and therefore the significance of even this one example should not be overestimated. From most accounts. it would appear that the Women’s League fits the model of a fully incorporated body unable to represent women’s interests in an independent manner.”

Other scholars have carried out more substan- tial research on this type of organizations elsewhere in Africa. For example, Geiger noted how Umoja Wa Wanawake Wa Tanzania moved from an early focus on uniting women for the national struggle, through a period of attention to “women’s development,” to a position which in terms of the language employed, saw women as requiring a specific kind of liberation, particularly from exploitation and certain customs and traditions. Despite the change in language, and some attempts by the organization to assist the economic advancement of women, her conclusion is a pessimistic one.

Many of the U. W. T.‘s failings rest with the unwillingness of the Tanzanian Government to move from rhetoric to concrete action in addressing the issue of unequal gender relations in Tanzanian society. More specifically, there has been an unwillingness to confront the issue of women’s subordina- tion and lack of control over their own labour power in the rural family or household.”

In noting impediments to the effectiveness of women’s party organizations, Wipper refers to the issue of class and the problem of representation. She notes that in the 1970s many of the national leaders of Maendeleo ya Wanawake were related to Kenya’s political elite and therefore it was not in their self-interest to oppose government policies.

Charity balls, first nights, embassy rcccptions. donations to charity and jaunts to UN agencies to talk about the problems of Third World women auggcstcd that the national executive was out of touch with rural women, and developing a lifestyle far closer to that of the European clitc than to the rural people.‘”

Bujra, who sees this type of organization as an instrument of class control serving petty

bourgeois interests, nevertheless says it should not be dismissed out of hand:

such organizations. in bringing women into communication with each other, can provide arenas of struggle. within which women who are poor and subordinated can speak out and exert pressure on those who enjoy the rewards of post colonial society. I”

(e) Decentrulized agencies

Whether it relates to the bureaucracy, the party, or the elected or selected legislative system, it is also essential to get away from a national-level only focus. As one moves away from the confines of the capital city one may find that there is some limited room to maneuver at the provincial, district and village levels. A number of authors have pointed to the potential significance for women of the subnational or local level. Jaquette refers to women’s economic and political skills at this level, and observes “that neighborhood and other decentralized institutions which have survived and still function in this age of concentration of power are often women’s groups.“” O’Barr writes:

With the imposition of the nationalist form and the increasing bureaucratization of society that accom- panies modernization. politics is separated from other realms of social activity and local initiatives give way to national control. African women have heen most politically active when political institutions have been fused with social and economic ones, and where the political arena was communal rather than distant. Thus the process of change itself conflicts with the areas of political expcrtisc African women have possessed.”

Given the type of development implementation and welfare delivery emphases of local government agencies, one does come closer to a fusion of politics, economics and community at this level. Given too the characteristic limitations placed on women’s mobility, Shaul argues that these lower levels of government may be more accessible to a wider community of women than the central level: and she confirms that in the West this is where women have tended to make their first political contributions:

Many of the problems that concern women about the quality of life such as schools. child cart and social services arc affected by local decisions. Their interest and expertise is already sufficiently dcvcl- oped to be ready to hold public office

In addition women are less likely to encounter resistance to participation in local government than in other levels because local governments appear closer to family concerns.”


Women are also less likely to encounter resistance because these issues are less important and therefore less threatening. Based on what little is known about women in subnational tiers of government, we do not yet have cause for optimism. Yet combining O’Barr’s arguments with those of Sham, there does appear to be a case for giving more attention to the local level.

Newbury’s account of a women’s tax revolt in Eastern Zaire is illustrative in this regard. Pushed too far by the exaction of a variety of tolls and taxes, women cassava producers combined to press their grievances on the local Collectivity Chief and then influenced the ensuing local council election to their advantage. She notes that by comparison with the geographically and hierarchically more distant Zone Commissioner and Chef de Poste, the local Collectivity officials live in the rural community, “are more accessible targets for discontent, [and] more susceptible to the reproach of local people who may view them as traitors.”

Ironically, then, the current policy of “decentralization” may generate heightened political consciousness among peasants who previously hesi- tated to act [and] brings the line of confronta- tion to the level of the household and the local authority.”

Bratton’s study of the local politics of rural

development in Zambia also serves the purpose of this article well. He observed in one location that the three women on the Village Productivity Committee were more vocal and influential than the headman would have outsiders believe. On the other hand, he found that at the next level up, that of the Ward Development Committee, women were having very little impact.21

The immediate theoretical implications of these examples are not clear. nor do they suggest that the results of exploring women’s participation at decentralized levels will necessarily appear more positive. They do point, however, to the possibility of the nature of women’s participation varying from one level of government to another, and the need for greater specificity.

Decentralization in Malawi involves a combination of limited devolution of power to local councils (urban and district), deconcentration of the central ministries’ responsibilities to field agents, and of the Malawi Congress Party and its two wings (Youth and Women’s) to regional and district levels and below. At the district level there are district development committees which are intended to serve as “development fronts” bringing together the party and civil service, the center and the districts. In practice their main

purpose is to initiate and supervise minor development projects in accordance with central government policies and budget allocations.

In total there are 24 district councils, two city councils, two municipal councils and six town councils, divided into 625 wards. At the time of research 568 (87.7%), were represented by men, 30 (4.8%), by women and 47 (7.5%) were vacant primarily because nominees had failed to satisfy the education requirements. In urban councils women held 16.7% of positions while in the district councils they held 1.6%. There were regional differences too: in the Northern Region women filled 0.7% of the available seats, in the Central Region 4.9%, and in the Southern Region 6.8%.

Overall it was clear that despite a campaign by the party to encourage the election of women, very little headway had been made except, and then only in a modest way, in urban areas. In response to questions about this problem, women councillors blamed the lack of educated women, the lack of experienced women, and the negative attitudes of men at all levels as the three principal impediments to greater representation. They also argued that women lacked confidence, were afraid, were not interested and lacked encouragement; that people still did not recognize that women were able to serve as councillors; and that it was said to be in the nature of Malawi society that women had too many other responsibilities - as wife, as mother, and worker -to have time to be a councillor. These women also felt that their effectiveness on the councils was limited because they were so much in the minority, they lacked time to participate fully, and their male colleagues did not take them seriously.

The district development committees are com- posed of district level party leaders (the party, the Women’s League and the Youth League), other local political figures.(local council representatives and MPs) and government officials representing the more developmentally oriented ministries such as Agriculture. The district commissioner is chairperson. Three different categories of women serve on these committees: there are usually three representatives of the Women’s League of the party, the district women MPs and one or two government officials such as a community development assistant. Most of these committees have 24-36 members, 4-6 of whom were women. Since these are not elected positions, numbers will not increase until the party and the civil service agencies alter their appointment and promotion policies. (The idea of appointing a women district commissioner, one senior male civil servant commented, was out of


the question. “It would be too much of a shock for the community.“)

These women felt themselves facing problems very similar to those mentioned by the women councillors: their small number, attitudes of men, and too many outside responsibilities. They also wanted more trained women from central government to sit on these committees in order to give the technical and administrative support which male officials failed to provide.

These observations on women in Malawi’s decentralized institutions say something - if only in a limited way - about the questions of class and gender. Two categories of women may be discerned. They are the local councillors, MPs, and civil servants on the one hand, and the party or League women on the other. The former represent middle-class women, the latter a continuum of upper level peasantry and lower middle-class women. The former have the advantages of better education, work experience and higher income, but lack close contact and empathy with rural women, and are less closely connected with the party. The latter suffer because of lack of education and urban experience, but are in closer contact with the mass of women and have the support of the party. Yet, overriding the differences, are the similarities in their experience as women attempting to involve themselves in local politics. Both groups described similar kinds of prejudices and obstacles which limited the impact they could make. Primarily as a consequence of the attitudes of their male colleagues, both experienced a common sense of discrimination and expressed a common need for support of more women colleagues.2s

They also demonstrate regional differences, in particular the greater reluctance in the Northern Region to elect or appoint women to committees of any kind. These regional disparities are widely attributed within Malawi itself to religious, cul- tural and attitudinal differences; and in particular local observers point out that the North is primarily partilineal and patrilocal, whereas the Center and South are predominantly matrilineal and matrilocal. Certainly arguments have been made by scholars that the nature of the lineage and residence systems could have some affect on political roles. Writing of neighboring Zambia for example, Sutherland concludes that matrilineal systems and uxorilocal residence patterns gave women, particularly older women, greater autonomy.” In Malawi these differences of lineage and residence are reinforced by different densities of population, degrees of urbanization and agricultural practices.

(f) Women at the village level

At the village level at least four different patterns of community participation were dis- cernible in Malawi. The Lilongwe Land Develop- ment Program, the largest of the old type expensive integrated rural development projects, exemplified one pattern. Participation was based on a series of committees operating through no less than five tiers - village, section, unit, group and headquarters. This structure was too ela- borate and not replicated elsewhere. The experience was that in open elections women were not chosen for the village committees, and as each level drew proportionately from the level below they were consequently excluded from all levels of committees. At the lowest level only 50 out of 14,400 members (.35%) were women. The Pro- ject Authority therefore required that just under 25% of all members (a total of 4320 members) be women. As a result women were also being elected to higher levels.

The Karonga Agricultural Development Divi- sion, in the north of the country, exemplified the second pattern of village participation. In this case the Project Authority did not set out to establish a network of local committees, leaving it to ministries and voluntary organizations to establish the usual array of committees such as literacy, school, party, church and self-help committees. The experience in the area was that women were almost entirely overlooked. A number of field workers who operated in the two districts covered by the project reported that in the North women played no role at all on most committees (there was only one woman local councillor in the whole Northern Region) primarily because of the attitudes of men toward women in this part of the country.

A third pattern can be found in areas (and examples were given in the Central Region) where village level committees either did not exist or were inoperative. The Malawi Congress Party has made determined, sustained and gene- rally effective efforts to penetrate the country- side, but there are parts of the country that have not complied with party requirements. Obviously here neither men nor women participate in any kind of public decision making.

The area around the old capital, Zomba, provides the fourth pattern. This was a “non- project, general extension area”; that is, there was no large infrastructural, marketing and training program, only a rather thinly spread extension service operating on a modest recur- rent budget. On the basis of interviews with women farmers in the area some tentative observations about the participation of women could


be made. Both the party’s presence and self-help project activity were real. Almost all the women interviewed knew about and had participated in a project. (It is possible that some women felt compelled to give positive answers to some of these questions. But it should also be pointed out that the party is severe and methodical in its drives for membership and participation in project activities.) Just over half of the women (who knew enough to respond) said that special committees had been established for undertaking the projects. Meetings were usually called before a project was initiated. In the main, committees were appointed before, and not elected at, these meetings. The meetings were used to inform people of what was going to take place and what their responsibilities would be; they were not called for discussion, suggestion or selection of projects. In general, some women, usually three or four, were appointed to the project committees, but these were usually Women’s League officials. Women were not among the main speakers at meetings. The pattern of proceedings normally included at least one woman, in most cases the chair of the Women’s League. Very seldom would a woman from the audience speak. The participation of women in project formulation appeared extremely limited. Some inter- viewees commented that where women were strongly opposed to a project they could in effect veto it, since they were required to do most of the work. They were also able to influence the way in which the projects were implemented: for example, work schedules and final choice of location.27 These projects are, of course, micro- affairs, and even where successful, have little to do with broad trends of development.

(g) Extension and women

The point of contact between citizens and government field agents represents a further peripheral area of potential influence on local policy making and implementation. The most important example of this is the connection between agricultural extension officers and farmers. Contacts with community development officers and homecraft workers are also relevant. In theory at least there is the possibility of women farmers influencing policy affecting who gets access to resources and services, whose problems are researched and solved, the types of programs delivered and recruitment for training.

Field agents, usually underpaid and poorly supported, the rather fragile extremities of the state, sometimes have “participation” included in their terms of reference. Participation is what

development (as contrasted with public) management is supposed to be largely about. Here is a point of contact between people and the state; joint activities of some form will take place: meetings will be held, committees will be formed, activities will be undertaken. How democratic these will be, who will participate, who will benefit, and how all this will impact on women are questions that need to be investi- gated.

As far as extension and women are concerned the evidence from Africa thus far is not promis- ing. Due, Spring, Staudt and this author,2R among many, have commented on the discrimination against women farmers in this regard and on the paucity of women extension officers. Lack of extension advice and of access to credit have led in Staudt’s terms to an “unmotivated” (rather than an “uncaptured”) female peasantry.2y Nevertheless there are lessons to be learned. For example, Staudt has looked at the operation of class and gender at this level in western Kenya: with reference to women farmers obtaining and influencing access to government resources and in terms of articulation of interests. She notes, inter alia, the division between the better-off women who articulate interests to government agents and the poorer women who are effectively excluded from access to them. “The extent to which organization leadership is dominated by women of different class is critical in determining organization issues and political styles.““” One must also assume that ethnicity, as “situational” and “relative” as it may be, will also be relevant at this level of competition for attention and resources.3’

Based on interviews with women farmers in the Zomba district of Malawi, it became possible to delineate five characteristics of the sort of household which was likely to attract extension officers’ attention and the credit package which accompanied extension seruices. (a) The household must already have sufficient land to be self- reliant and able to produce a surplus for sale. (b) It must be a joint household, that is, both the husband, who will be the head of the household, and the wife must be present. (c) The household will need to have some cash income - from permanent off-farm work, or steady sale of produce, or derived from an earlier accumulation of capital. (d) The household must be willing to grow improved varieties of maize pure stand (instead of local maize using intercropping practices). (e) The household must be willing to take a risk, that is, feel confident that it can repay the credit even if the crop fails.

In terms of the possibility that the point of contact between extension agents and women


farmers might provide the opportunity for the latter to participate in a minor way in influencing policy, and gaining access to official resources, these requirements excluded the overwhelming majority of women in the area. They discrimin- ated against women household heads (in formal terms. about 35% of our sample, in practice about 4.5%).” The restrictions also meant the likely exclusion of all poorer farmers, and the discrimination involved had implications for both gender and class. This approach to rural credit is prototypical of what Lewis refers to as an “extractive mode of development,” both in regard to the role assigned to women and in the manner male profits are dictated by official rather than by market forces.

Such schemes are predicated on a given level of profit in a given form, obtained through a hierarchy of state, scheme management, and male household heads; women’s labor is assumed to be an asset of the male head of household.3’

4. MODES OF PARTICIPATION

Going beyond the formal levels of government, and the conventional methods of participation, it is recommended that researchers give attention to less formal, less conventional and less direct modes of political participation.

For example, more attention needs to be given to informal or nonformal political participation. Chazan writes that the tendency by all to observe departicipation in African politics, particularly in the areas of voting, elections and representation in formally established bodies, overlooks the reality of nonformal politics. She points to two kinds of nonformal participatory structures: voluntary organizations of the interest-group type such as trade unions and womens’ organizations; and ascriptive organizations such as ethnic and kinship associations. Aside from being separate from the formal political structures, the key characteristics of these organizations are that their bases are defined in the group, they are voluntary, limited in geographical scope and therefore subnational and local in nature; and some of them at least are an outgrowth of traditional forms of political association. She notes their growth in Ghana and Nigeria. and their increasingly politicized activities including lobbying, contacting individuals, strikes, demon- strations and even violence.3” On this point, Staudt observes that “Africa is the world region with the most extensive female solidarity organizations.“”

Scholars have come to various conclusions as to the effectiveness of these kinds of organiza-

tions. Strobel, writing on Women’s Associations in Mombasa, Kenya, is unimpressed by their effectiveness. and sees them essentially still as organizations of rather than for women.” Cessay-Marenah is relatively positive in her assessment of 40 Women’s Cooperative Thrift and Credit Societies in the Gambia. While she acknowledges men’s ability to seriously disadvan- tage women. she also observes that rural women are very adept at thinking for themselves, and will put a stop to any programs which the government proyoses but which they feel are not in their interest:’ Robertson too speaks positive- ly of womens’ cooperative movements in parts of West Africa.3x Steady, in focusing on Protestant Women’s Associations in Sierra Leone, recog- nizes that “the more diverse the ethnic composi- tion of a women’s association the more inclined it is toward developing a female consciousness and agitation for the improvement of the status of women”; this, she argues, is likely to be true of the United Church Women of Sierra Leone.3” Charlton concludes that this type of organization is too severely handicapped and will “seldom overturn the general conditions that confine women to second place.“‘”

Effective or not, voluntary women’s organizations represent a major organized response by some women to their social, economic and political predicament, and therefore deserve attention. “Effective or not” may be a phrase that requires some discussion. For there is a danger that scholars may come to equate women’s political participation of which they disapprove with meaningless political participation or no participation at all. Let us take the two examples, referred to above, Geiger’s on Umoja Wa Wanawake Wa Tanzania and Wipper’s on Kenya’s Maendeleo ya Wanawake. The validity of their negative assessments is not being ques- tioned. But it may lead to at least a minor misassessment of the nature of women’s participation.

To be taken seriously - these two assessments imply - women’s political participation is ex- pected to meaningfully combine both gender exclusive and class inclusive outcomes; that is, it needs to liberate and advantage women - as a category of people who are subordinated - socially, politically and economically, and to do so with respect to all classes of women, particularly the rural poor. Such an expectation of course, makes sense: it is one of Africa’s most fundamental challenges. But it is a tall order. A requirement of conformity to that standard may lead to conclusions which render women politically passive when more detailed gradations relating to participation may be more accurate


and insightful. They may fail; or be ineffective; or achieve something positive by chance or for the wrong reasons; or reap minor or token rewards only; or look after their own career or class interests; they may even damage other women’s interests.

One may be critical, but observers should analyze the undertaking for what it is. Strobel’s distinction between organizations of women rather than fou women may in some situations be more accurately represented as a distinction between organizations of and for women of a particular class as opposed to organizations of and for women in general.

Chazan, in her article discussed earlier, mentions but does not expand on the idea of “manipulated political participation.““’ Although we should recognize it for what it is, manipulated political participation should not be dismissed from an analysis of women’s participation. Politics in any situation, certainly in Western industrialized countries, is characterized by manipulation, patron-client connections, unequal relationships of power and uneven distribution of tradeoffs. Returns of sugar, matchboxes, handbags, visits to the capital, .or small business preferences may not amount to much in the view of an outside observer, but scholars should not overlook them in explaining political processes.

We should also give closer and more careful attention to what might appear to be unusual modes of political participation such as the evocation of the supernatural and talking through men, and also hissing (to show opposi- tion), ululating (to show approval), rumor- spreading and the use of song. La Pin has described how the African woman’s voice may occasionally turn strident. “Mocking verse, work songs, political ballads, satirical tunes and songs for women’s societies have long given ample expression to the aches particular to the female sex. ‘42

A few examples from Malawi may illustrate this point. One input into party decision making is said to occur during the women’s praise singing to the president. In between repetition of verses about Banda’s achievements women occasionally insert into their songs a request for help with something, or a complaint or criticism about the behavior of a local party or government official; the president apparently does react to such interjections. Vaughan’s documentation of village womens’ songs during the 1949 famine confirm that social and political commentary is not a new phenomenon in the songs of Malawi women.‘”

At yet another level of party activity, a local candidate selection meeting in the Northern

Region, women were observed participating in a limited manner. Candidates were proposed and then supported by those who nominated them. The candidates were all men, as were the proposers. A small group of women sat quietly on the side. From time to time they would hiss and that was said to end the chances of the particular candidate under discussion.

A final pair of examples relates to tradeoffs at the local level of party operations. As in Kenya,” the Malawi government has allowed a multinational corporation to produce chibuku, a factory-made version of the local traditional beer. This step has obviously meant a cut into the profits of women, the principal producers and sellers of homemade alcoholic beverages. There was nothing women could do to stop this. Women in the party, however, did respond by insisting that, since beer production was women’s traditional responsibility, they should run the chibuku taverns set up by local councils. This suggestion was accepted. Therefore while the overall impact of this multinational venture is disadvantageous to women brewers, a few select women were in a position to take advantage of it.

Women who take the chair of the Women’s League at the village level are given preferences in the brewing and sale of liquor, particularly of a very potent gin, kachasu, which is officially illegal in the urban areas. These advantages may be seen as minor returns for political support, but they probably compare favorably with the sugar and matches which women in western Kenya have received in response to their backing of certain candidates.

It is also important to note that rhetoric of a president, however manipulative its intentions, may unintentionally allow women small spaces for participation. Banda’s declared commitment to tradition provides an example. His combination modern president-paramount, chief-estate owner leadership style and his selective continua- tion and manipulation of traditional culture are intended to enhance his legitimacy and control over his subjects. Yet, as we have seen, his great emphasis on song and dance and praise singing, all by women, has nevertheless opened up a very limited opportunity for access.

Banda is also well known for his long-standing, consistent and public emphasis (ever since his return to colonial Nyasaland in the late 1950s) that the status of women should be raised. Opening an agricultural show in 1968 he told his audience that before his return

women were trampled down by everbody everybody Nobody thought anything about women except to make them cook for them. That’s all. The Nyasaland National Congress did not want


women. So I made up my mind even before I came that I was going to do something about my women, Therefore whenever I see my women happy and singing and dancing with their heads high it makes me very happy, very, very happy.‘5

Women are highly visible in large numbers at all public gatherings, dancing and singing in praise of the president, and the party/government controlled newspaper, The Daily Times, devotes a fair amount of attention to women. “Women: An Influence for Social Change” ran a typical editorial headline. The editorial went on to extol the virtues of a recently completed home management course for the wives of 29 members of parliament.” This program is. of course, indica- tive of the reality behind the rhetoric: Banda’s concern is control and paternalism. and the effects of government policies are usually to increase the burden and the domestication of women. Elsewhere I have characterized this state as “avuncular” - this accords with one of Banda’s titles, Nkhoswe Number One of all Malawi’s women (an nkhoswe is a traditional guardian uncle of a woman during her marriage) - and with the image of a benign-sounding uncle, the impact of whose deeds are in practice exploitative of women.”

Nevertheless the rhetorical commitment and the fact that it was being declared long before the Decade of Women was even thought of needs to be kept in mind. Banda has attempted to do a few meaningful things for women particularly in formal education, but the assistance has mainly been symbolic and for the party faithful only. Nevertheless his repeated promises to protect them have occasionally allowed women in song to complain of abuses; while his continuing calls for raising women’s status have sometimes, and subtly, been used by women in the civil service. By itself it would be of little support, but when combined with economic efficiency arguments, and those of attracting donor resources, Banda’s rhetoric adds a third useful dimension to the women’s case. It also facilitates those donor interventions which attempt to integrate women more advantageously in development.

Formalism - which characterizes Banda’s Malawi - may also provide an unintentional space for women’s participation. Banda insists on the regular and formal operations of institutions and the strict following of procedures. He requires parliament, district councils, district development committees, and all sections and levels of the party to meet regularly. Agenda are prepared, members make speeches and records are kept. The purpose is not representation and participation, but control, symbolism and legitimacy. Yet the fact that they continue to operate

is noteworthy, and they open up in a very restricted way, an arena in which women may be able to make minor contributions to policy making.

Finally, one should also keep in mind the possibility of women using situations and coincidental alliances to make ad hoc improvements in their situation. The individual political input of “key women” who, for one reason or another, maybe as wives of cabinet ministers, find themselves strategically located to make an impact has been mentioned. Women civil servants are also sometimes in a position to forge or make use of such alliances. Although the attention given to women’s issues thus far has been at best sporadic, nevertheless the potential for working alliances between women nationals and women in international agencies to jointly overcome some of their separate political weaknesses is certainly worth observing.

In Malawi women civil servants were making use of the Decade of Women, sympathetic donors, the president’s statements about women, the country’s food production problems in some areas, and their own career ambitions to press their male colleagues for changes in policies toward women. None of these alone would be of much use; but in combination they were being employed to some effect. A second example comes from an agricultural project in the Southern Region. Here a combination of the threat of famine, soil too poor to make cash crops a profitable undertaking, overcrowding, the absence of men, a dynamic British woman agricultural officer, and the sympathetic ear of a senior woman officer in the British Overseas Development Administration, resulted in a more creative, flexible and positive approach to deliv- ering extension and credit packages to women farmers.

Newbury’s example from Eastern Zaire seems to provide a similar combination of dire circumstances and supportive alliances. Increasing dependence of the women on trading in an economy over which they had no influence, dramatically declining terms of trade for their products and a blatantly corrupt, frustrating and exploitative set of taxes confronting them on a daily basis all served to create a difficult situation. Their own earlier communal form of cooperation was now enhanced by their common awareness of exploitation, their joint membership in a Catho- lic support group and the presence in their area of an unusually supportive group of Catholic priests and missionaries. Finally decentralization provided them with a local official and a local council on whom they could focus their attention.“x


5. CONCLUSION: INTERSTICES OF POWER

The closing arguments of the previous section dealt with potential spaces for participation by women which might be created unwittingly by political leaders. The thrust of this conclusion concerns those small spaces - points of access, locations of opportunity, unusual methods - and the need to take great care not to overlook them or unintentionally close them off.

For some years now scholars have been making strongly supported arguments that we acknowledge the “multifaceted realities” of Third World women which defy the Western tendency to bifurcate society into rigidly divided spheres, one predominantly male, the other predominantly female. Rather than compart- mentalize the world into public/private (or public productive/private service or productive/ reproductive or workplace/household or formal/ informal) spheres they call for an understanding which accepts some overlap or crossover or interweaving of the two spheres. The distinction, according to Tiano, should be reconceptualized as a continuum rather than a dichotomy. Some survival strategies of women, she suggests, may exist at the “interstice” between the public and the private sphere.4y At a conceptual level, these scholars are calling for more careful attention to these unclearly defined spaces of potential influence.

We will enhance our understanding of these spaces of participation further by constantly refining our notions relating women to power and politics. Jaquette refers to Bourque and Warren’s warning “to observe the distinction between a group’s exercise of power and a group’s development of strategies to limit the power exercised upon it.““” Robertson indicates a need to differentiate between female influence and participation which directly threatens the political hierarchy and that which might not.s’ O’Barr suggests two further important sets of distinctions. The first is between power and authority.” African women often have power (they are As who can get Bs to do something) but they often lack authority, the culturally accepted beliefs that they have a legitimate right to power.” The second distinction is between in- direct modes of political participation, such as withdrawal, evocation of the supernatural, or manipulation through males, and direct modes such as selecting leaders, holding elected or appointed office and wielding resources for desired ends.s2 Finally, by way of example, Sudarkasa stresses the need to distinguish between status and influence dependent on con-

jugal relationships from those dependent on con- sanguineal relationships.53

Davis cautions against the possibility of limit- ing these spaces through culturally determined prejudgments of women’s predicaments. She acknowledges serious limitations on Moroccan women but asserts that the outsider’s perception of those limitations may itself become a significant obstacle to those women’s progess. As an example, she observes that separate socialization of the sexes is a traditional practice which places restrictions on women, but argues that that same institution also strengthens women through the operation of multigenerational female groups.5’ Along similar lines, Jiggins warns that communication between the researcher on women and the women researched (an “interface of knowledge systems”) too needs careful attention. Her example is of potential for misunderstanding caused by a researcher’s concern with the measurement of time, and a rural woman concerned rather with the measurement of “readiness. “55

Time and patience may therefore be of considerable importance in researching participation by women. Jaquette discusses women using female networks and kinship groups to gain economic advantage or ensure community survival.” Oberler shows how women use indigenous mechanisms, such as woman-to-woman marriages, to secure access to public resources and legitimize material accumulation.” Davis describes how women force their husbands to do things by “hanging out the dirty wash,” that is, making private family information public.” Women may also talk through men in order to influence public decisions, and men may “hide behind women” in situations in which men are more vulnerable to retribution than women.‘” All of these are examples of the interweaving of the public and private spheres in practice, and all of them would take time to discover.

We also should take care that when theorizing about women and the state we do not overlook the sometimes untidy complexities of the state, and so ignore access points for participation. Theories of the state need to be structured and characterizations of the state drawn. But we also need to unpackage the state and recognize the numerous levels and agencies of government that are in operation and require study. If we then disaggregate women by class in the first instance and also by region and ethnicity and relate different categories of women to different levels of the state we will produce a more thorough and comprehensive assessment of the complex relations of the women and the state.

A less normative approach to the type of


political participation which may be focused upon will also broaden the realm of activity that can legitimately be studied. Women may be observed looking after their own class, occupa- tion group and private interests. The acceptance that manipulated and uneven politics should also be researched broadens the scope further. It allows us to deal with politics as group contract in which the reason for participation is limited to specific group benefits. and of politics as private contract where the benefits from dealing with the state are directly personal. It also permits of the notion that political participation may have become no more than one element in a survival strategy of a woman peasant to go along with farming, trading, and brewing beer. A case is not being made to eschew normative judgements on the nature or consequences of a particular mode of participation. Rather an argument is being made that such judgments should not limit a full exploration of all aspects of women’s participation.

Realistically, it must be acknowledged, that the sort of fringe participation, marginal influ- ences, coincidental alliances and minor decision

making which the suggested methods of investi- gation keep revealing all operate at the intnsfices of state power. It does appear that for the time being it is to these interstices that researchers of women’s political participation in Africa will find themselves giving attention. Seemingly we are limited to asking whether women are managing to broaden these narrow spaces and lengthen the short intervals of influence, or whether the spaces of political participation and therefore of potential influence are being closed off. Yet within the very restricted confines of these questions it would appear - and the purpose of this article has been to suggest - that there is a broad array of levels at which, and means with which, women may operate politically. These need to be more fully, flexibly and creatively explored before we draw final conclusions - of comparative value across countries and time - on women’s overall political participation in Africa. Not only will such research enhance the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the data generated, but it should help inform and refine evolving theories about women and the state in Africa.

NOTES

I.

2.

3.

4.

5 _

6.

I.

x.

9.

10.

11.

Howard (19X5). p. 2X7.

Robertson (19X7), p. 115; see also p. 120.

Samata (1985). pp. 41-57.

Berry (lYX3). p. 12-13.

See Hirschmann (19X7). p. 469.

See, for example. Sudarkasa (19X6), p. 91.

Spalding (1981). pp. 13Y-162.

Robertson (lY87). p. 12X.

Bujra (IYXh). p. 135.

Staudt (lYY0).

Much of my own material on Malawi used in this article dcrivcs from research carried out in preparation of two reports for the Economic Commission for Africa. See Hirschmann (1984a); and Hirschmann (1984b).

12. Hirschmann (1990).

13. Spring (forthcoming).

14. Hirschmann (lYX4b). This information was

questionnaire sent out to all women on district development committees and district councils.

15 Malawi Hunsard (198.3).

16 Howard (1985). pp. 2X7-296.

17. Geiger (1082). pp. 45-65, quote from p, 59.

18. Wipper (1984). p. 7X.

19. Bujra (1986). p. 137.

20. Jaquette (lY82), p. 2X2.

21. O’Barr (19X4).

22. Shaul (lYX1).

23. Newbury (19X4). pp. 51-52.

24. Bratton (1980). particularly pp. 63-64.

25. Hirschmann (1985) and (19X6).

26. Sutherland (198X), p. 400.

27 Hirschmann and Vaughan (19X4), chapter 0.

2X. Due (19Xx). p. 342: Spring (19X8). p. 412: Staudt (19X7), pp. 37-5.5; and Hirschmann and Vaughan

obtained from responses given in interviews and to a (1984). chapter 8.

. WOMEN AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION I693

29. Staudt (1987). 45. Malawi Government Film (196X)

30. Staudt (1979), p. 495. 46. Daily Times, September 19, 1984. p. 4

31. Worseley (1984). p. 242. 47. Hirschmann (1990)

also

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

32. Hansen (198X). pp. 11 l-126, makes a convincing case that enumerators, by measuring the frequency at

4X. Newbury (19X4).

one time, underestimate the proportion of women who will be household heads at some time in their lives. See

49. Tiano (1984), pp. 1 l-28; Sudarkasa (1986), p. 99;

Hirschmann and Vaughan (19X4). chapter 2. Jaquette (1982), p. 280; and Robertson (1987). pp. 125-126. Tiano makes the suggestion of a “continuum” on p. 11.

50. Jaquette (19X2), 281. p.

51. Robertson (19X7), 106. p.

52. O’Barr (19X4). 141 and pp. 152.

53. Sudarkasa (19X6). 96. p.

54. Schaefer Davis (19X9).

Lewis (1984). p. 182.

Chazan (19X2). pp. 169-190.

Staudt (19X6). p. 199.

Strobe1 (1982), p. 211.

Cessay-Marenah (1982). pp. 289-295

Robertson (1987). p. 119.

Steady (19X2), p. 237.

Charlton (1984). p. 217.

Chazan (1982).

La Pin (19X4), p. 102.

Vaughan (1987). pp. 3&37.

Howard (19X5), p. 289.

55. Jiggins (198X). 52-53. pp.

56. Jaquette (19X2), 280. p.

57. Discussed by Staudt (1987). p. 45.

5X. Schaefer Davis (19X9), p. 5.

59. Newbury (1984). 46. p.

REFERENCES

Berry, Sara, “Agrarian crisis in Africa? A review and an interpretation,” paper presented to the US Afri- can Studies Association Conference (Boston: 1983).

Bratton, Michael, The Locai Politics of Rural Develop- ment. Peasant and Party - State in Zambia (Han- over. NH: New Hampshire University Press. 1980).

Bujra, Janet, “Urging women to redouble their efforts, Class, gender and capitalist transformation,” in Claire Robertson and Iris Berger (Eds.). Women and Class in Africa (New York: Africana Publishing Company, 1986).

Cessay-Marenah, C., “Women’s cooperative and credit societies: An element of women’s programs in the Gambia,” in Nancy Hafkin and Edna Bay (Eds.), Women and Work in Africa (Boulder. CO: West- view, 1982).

Charlton, Sue Ellen. Women in Third World Develop- ment (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1984).

Chazan,‘Naomi, “The new politics of participation in trooical Africa.” Comzmrative Politics. Vol. 14. No. 2 (1982). pp. 169-190.’

Daily Times (September 19, 1984). p. 4. Due. Jean M., “Intra-household gender issues in

farming systems in Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi,”

in Susan V. Poats, Marianne Schmink and Anita Spring (Eds.), Gender Issues in Farming Systems Research and Extension (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1988).

Geiger, Susan, “Umoja Wa Wanawake Tanzania and the needs of the rural poor,” African Studies Review, Vol. 25, No. 2 and 3 (1982).

Hansen, Art, “Correcting the underestimated frequency of head-of-household experience for women farmers,” in Susan V. Poats, Marianne Schmink and Anita Spring (Eds.). Gender Zssues in Farming Systems ‘Research and Extension (Boulder, CO: Westview, 198X).

Hirschmann, David, “The Malawi case: Enclave politics. core resistance, and ‘Nkhoswe No. I’,” in Kathleen Staudt (Ed.), The Bureaucratic Mire: Women’s Programs iA Comparative Perspective (Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 1990).

Hirschmann, David, “Early post-colonial bureaucracy as history: the Case of the Lesotho Central Planning and Development Office. 1965-1975,” The Inter- national Journal of African Historical Studies. Vol. 20, No. 3 (1987).

Hirschmann, David, “Women’s participation in


Malawi’s local councils and district development governments around the world,” Mimeo (The committees,” Planning and Development, Vol. 13, Hague: International Union of Local Authorities, No. 1 (1986), pp. 43-52. 1981).

Hirschmann, David, Women, Planning and Policy in Spalding, R. J., “State power and its limits: Corpora- Malawi (Addis Ababa: United Nations Economic tism in Mexico.” Comparative Political Studies, Vol.

14, No. 2 (1981). ’ Commission for Africa, African Training and Research Center for Women, 1984a).

Hirschmann, David, “Women in local councils and district development committees in Malawi,” Report prepared for the ECA (Zomba: ECA 1984b).

Hirschmann, David and Megan Vaughan, Women Farmers of Malawi. Food Production in the Zomba Districf (Berkeley, CA: University of California, Institute of International Studies, -1984).

Howard. Rhoda. “Women and the crisis in Common- wea!th Africa,” International Political Science Review, Vol. 6, No. 3 (1985).

Jaquette, Jane S., “Women and modernization theory: A Decade of feminist criticism,” World P0litic.s. Vol. 34, No. 2 (1982).

Jiggins, Janice, “Problems of understanding and communication at the interface of knowledge systems,” in Susan V. Poats. Marianne Schmink and Anita Spring (Eds.), Gender Issues in Farming Systems Research and Extension (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1988).

La Pin, Deirdre, “Women in African literature,” in Margaret Jean Hay and Sharon Stichter (Eds.), African Women South of the Sahara (London: Longmans, 1984).

Lewis, Barbara, “The Impact of development policies on women,” in Margaret Jean Hay and Sharon Stichter (Eds.). African Women South of the Sahara ,” (London: Longmans, 1984).

Malawi Government Film, Chiradzulu Agricultural Show I968 (September 1968).

Malawi, Hansard. Official Verbatim Reports of the Debates of the Nineteenth Session: Second Meeting of Parliament (Zomba: Government Printer, 1983).

Newbury. Catharine, “Ebutumwa Bw’Emiogo: The tyranny of cassava. A woman’s tax revolt in Eastern Zaire,” Canadian Journal of African Studies. No. 18 (1984).

O’Barr. Jean, “African women in politics,” in Margaret Jean Hay and Sharon Stichter (Eds.), African Women South of the Sahara (London: Longmans, 1984).

Robertson, Claire, “Developing economic awareness: Changing perspectives in studies of African women, 19761985,” Feminist Studies, Vol. 13, No. 1 (1987).

Samata, Abdi, “The predatory state and the peasantry: Reflections on rural development in Somalia.” Africa Today, 32 (1985).

Schaefer Davis, Susan, “Impediments to empower- ment: Moroccan women and the agencies,” paper to AWID Conference (Washington DC: 1989).

Sham, Marnie S., “The status of women in local

Spring, Anita, Agricultural Development in Malawi: A Project for Women in Development (Boulder, CO: Westview, forthcoming).

Spring, Anita, “Using male research and extension personnel to target women farmers.” in Susan V. Poats, Marianne Schmink and Anita Spring (Eds.), Gender Issues in Farming Systems Research and Extension (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1988).

Staudt, Kathleen, The Bureaucrafic Mire: Women’s Programs in Comparative Perspective (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990).

Staudt, Kathleen, “Uncaptured or unmotivated’? Women and the food crisis in Africa,” Rural Sociol- ogy, Vol. 52, No. I (1987).

Staudt, Kathleen, “Stratification: Implications for women’s politics.” in Claire Robertson and Iris Beraer (Eds.). Women and Class in Africa (New York: Africana Publishing Company. lY86).

Staudt. Kathleen, ‘Class and sex in the politics of women farmers.” Journal of Politics, Vol. 44. No. 2 (1979).

Steady. F. C., “Protestant women’s associations in Freetown, Sierra Leone,” m Nancy Hafkin and Edna Bay (Eds.), Women and Work in Africa (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1982).

Strobel, M., “From Lelemama to lobbying: Women’s associations in Mombasa, Kenya,” in Nancy Hafkin and Edna Bay (Eds.), Women and Work in Africa (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1982).

Sudarkasa, Niara, “The status of women in indigenous African societies.” Feminist Studies, Vol. 12. No. 1 (lY86).

Sutherland, Alistair J., “The gender factor and tech- nology options for Zambia’s subsistence farming systems,” in Susan V. Poats, Marianne Schmink and Anita Spring (Eds.), Gender Issues in Farming Svstems Research and Extension (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1988).

Tiano, Susan. “The public-private dichotomy: Theore- tical perspectives on ‘women in development’.” Social Science Journal, Vol. 21, No. 4 (1084).

Vaughan, Megan, The Story of an African Famine. Gender and Famine in Twentieth-Century Malawi (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987).

Wipper, Audrey, “Women’s voluntary associations,” in Margaret Jean Hay and Sharon Stichter (Eds.), African Women South of the Sahara (London: Lbngmans. 1984). .

Worselev. Peter. The Three Worlds: Culture and World Development (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1984).

Documents

Women and political participation in Africa: Broadening the scope of research