Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945

by Cherryl Walker (Editor)

Until recently our understanding of southern African society was impoverished by the lack of attention paid to the key part played by women in the unfolding of its history. The author shows how fundamental gender has been in shaping the experience of women in Southern Africa, but emphasises that gender cannot be studied in isolation from race or class. North Indiana U Press

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sociologist Cherryl Walker edited the volume Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945 in 1990. The book was published before the fall of apartheid South Africa. The book has thirteen essays, not including the introduction. Cherryl Walker wrote three essays for the book. Walker wrote the introduction to the volume. Walker also wrote an essay entitled “Gender and the development of the migrant labor system” (Walker 168-196). This essay covers the era from around 1850 until 1930. Walker also wrote the essay “The Women’s Suffrage Movement: The Politics of Gender, race, and Class” (Walker 313-345). The book has a section on “notes and reference” (Walker 346-380). The book had an index compiled by Judith Shier. Nine of the professors involved in the volume worked in South Africa when the volume. This includes the Sociologist Cherryl Walker. Professor Anne McClintock, a literature studies professor, wrote for the volume taught in the United States. One of the professors in this volume taught in the United Kingdom. one professor in this volume taught in Norway. Walker writes, “A gap of a different sort that needs to be addressed concerns the identity of the researchers who have contributed to this book, all of whom are white” (Walker 5). The book is a thought-provoking view of how historians view women and gender in the field of history of Southern Africa in the early 1990s.