1st Edition
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary African Women
The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary African Women highlights the achievements and progress being made by African women across a wide range of sectors in society. Without glossing over the very real challenges which women in Africa continue to face, this landmark handbook demonstrates how women across the continent are deploying their agency to achieve notable progress in areas as diverse as:
• Pandemics
• Climate Change
• Science & Technology
• Entrepreneurship
• Higher Education
• Youth & Older People
Challenging prevailing narratives and stereotypes about African women, this handbook provides a more positive perspective into African women’s progressive actions for sustainable development. It will be an essential read for readers across the fields of gender, environment, political science, history, development studies, religious studies and African Studies.
SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Anna Chitando, Eunice Kamaara and Ezra Chitando
Chapter 1: Contemporary African Women: An Appreciation
Anna Chitando, Eunice Kamaara and Ezra Chitando
SECTION 2: EMPOWERING IMAGES OF AFRICAN WOMEN IN LITERARY WORKS
Chapter 2: ‘Like flowers blooming from an ice bucket’: Contemporary Anglophone Cameroonian Women Writers
Naomi Nkealah
Chapter 3: Sex, Resistance and Agency: (Queer) Young Women in Selected North African Novels and Films
Gibson Ncube
Chapter 4: African Women’s Autonomy as Represented in Selected African Literature
Clemence Rubaya
Chapter 5: Interrogating the Contradictory Portrayal of Women in African Drama Using Uche Nwaozuzu’s Ajari and Ebibi
Godstime Eze, Favour Ayozie and Somtochukwu Metu
SECTION 3: AFRICAN WOMEN NAVIGATING MULTIPLE PANDEMICS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Chapter 6: Women, Spirituality/Religion, and Pandemics in Africa
Eunice Kamaara
Chapter 7: Feminine Wisdom as a Resource for Facing Pandemics in Africa
Anthony Okeregbe and Muyiwa Falaiye
Chapter 8: Catholic Religious Women and COVID-19: Tracing the Role of Sr Astridah Banda -A Dominican Religious Sister - in Curbing the Pandemic in Zambia
Nelly Mwale and Tomaida Milingo
Chapter 9: Christian Women and the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria
Jessie Fubara-Manuel, Yossa Way and Emma Wild-Wood
Chapter 10: Women’s Leadership in the Face of COVID-19: The Case of Agnes Mahomva in Zimbabwe
Mutsawashe Chitando
Chapter 11: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s Rhetorical Leadership: The Fight to Rebuild Liberia, Empower Women and Conquer Ebola
Julia A. Spiker
Chapter 12: Young African Women’s Responses to the Impact of Climate Change
Ngozi Nwogwugwu and Elizabeth Oluwafunmiso Ngozi
Chapter 13: Catholic Women Navigating the Challenges of Climate Change in Rural Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe: An Appreciative Inquiry Approach
Milcah Mudewairi and Caroline Dimingu
SECTION 4: DEFYING THE ODDS: AFRICAN WOMEN IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS
Chapter 14: Overcoming Difficulties as a Woman Scientist in Africa
Jennifer Thomson
Chapter 15: The Trajectory of Rwandan Women in Science and Technology: From the Colonial Period to the Digital Era (1894 – 2023)
Liberata Gahongayire and Innocent Iyakaremye
Chapter 16: DePatriarchalizing the Media Coverage of Science in Uganda: Recovering Women’s Voices
Ivan Nathanael Lukanda, Gerald Walulya, Nakiwala Aisha Sembatya and Amon Ashaba Mwiine
Chapter 17: African Women and Leadership in Science Academies
Jacqueline Kado
Chapter 18: Eastern Market Women Activism in Colonial Nigeria: A Historical Perspective
Grace Atim
Chapter 19: Globalization and African Women: Challenges and Opportunities
Josephine Mukabera
Chapter 20: Pathways to Power: Religiosity, Economic Opportunities, and IlParakuyo Maasai Women
Lucy W. Massoi and Parit O. Saruni
SECTION 5: AFRICAN WOMEN IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP, ACADEMIA AND POLITICS
Chapter 21: Thriving in New Lands: Migrant Women Doing Business in South Africa
Vivian Ojong and John Mhandu
Chapter 22: Church Women and Entrepreneurship: A Case Study of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe, Western Diocese
Mbongeni Proud Dube
Chapter 23: The Role of Young Women in Promoting Economic Development in Africa
Cherifa Klaa
Chapter 24: Women in Higher Education Management in Africa: Trends, Policies and Practices
Elizabeth A. Owino and Donald Lwala
Chapter 25: An Unbalanced Equation: Exploring Gender Disparity among Academics in Southeast Universities, Nigeria
Abel T. Ugwu and Ngozika Anthonia Obi-Ani
Chapter 26: Women’s Political Participation and the Place of Patriarchy in Political Institutions in Osun State, Nigeria
Abidemi Abiola Isola
Chapter 27: Young Professional Women’s Performative Agency in Challenging Media (Mis) Representations of Women in Politics: The Case of Zimbabwe
Kuziwakwashe Zigomo
SECTION 6: AFRICAN WOMEN THRIVING IN HISTORICAL TIMES, OLDER AGE, DIPLOMACY AND RELIGION
Chapter 28: Empowering Images of Older Women in African Literature
Pepetual Mforbe Chiangong
Chapter 29: Women’s Experiences of Growing Older in a Rural Economy in Ghana
Abdul-Aziz Seidu, Joshua Okyere and Bright Opoku Ahinkorah
Chapter 30: The Role of Elderly Women in Botswana: A Perspective from African Theological Feminist Gerontolgy
Tshenolo Jennifer Madigele
Chapter 31: Young African Women’s leadership in Religious Studies and Theology: A Review with Special Reference to the School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Lindiwe Princess Maseko
Chapter 32: Aluta Continua! African Women Theologians’ Contributions to Inclusive Theological Education: Towards the African Union’s Agenda 2063
Moses Iliya Ogidis
Chapter 33: Calling the Church to Account: A Theological Response to the Silent Pandemic of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women in Nigeria’s Mainline Evangelical Churches
Henry Marcus Garba and Moses Iliya Ogidis
Chapter 34: African Women in Diplomacy and the Quest for Gender Justice
Primrose Z.J. Bimha
Biography
Anna Chitando (PhD) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Languages and Literature, Faculty of Arts, Culture and Heritage Studies at the Zimbabwe Open University. She holds a Doctor of Literature and Philosophy in English from the University of South Africa. Her research interests include African literature, children's literature, peacebuilding, and gender studies.
Eunice Karanja Kamaara, a professor of Ethics with over thirty-year experience in transformative research for holistic health development, holds a Master of Science in International Health Research Ethics and a doctorate in African Christian Ethics. She co-directs the African Character Initiation Programme (ACIP), a community participatory organization which mentors adolescents to lead with character values for holistic health and wellbeing. ACIP is recognized by the World Health Organization among the Top 30 Africa Health Innovations http://innov.afro.who.int/innovators/professor-eunice-kamaara-25 She also co-directs the Chaplaincy Training Centre at Mo University/Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital which mainstreams spirituality in teaching, research, and care in hospital settings.
Ezra Chitando serves as Professor of History and Phenomenology of Religion at the University of Zimbabwe. He is also extraordinary professor at the Desmond Tutu Centre for Social Action, University of the Western Cape, South Africa and Knowledge Management Advisor at Faith to Action Network.
