WOMEN AND POLITICS IN AFRICA
Professor: Dr. Agnes Ngoma Leslie
Email: aleslie@ufl.edu
Tel. 392-2183
AFS 4330 Section: 1F49
Semester: Fall 2013
POS 4931, section 11DH
Office: 435 Grinter Hall
Class meetings:
Office hours: Monday 2 – 4 P.M.
MAT. 0003: T-4th period (10:40-11-30)
R 4th and 5th periods (10:40-12:35)
Course Description
This course explores the status and role of women in African society and the state,
from pre-colonial times to the present. We will explore from historical times to the
present, the roles that women have played in the political sphere how they interact with
political structures and how they mobilize themselves to impact the state, society, and
legal systems at local, national, regional and international levels. The course will
examine how the different political and social environments impact the participation of
women in the political sphere. Thus, we will study African women’s participation in the
political arena, their challenges and struggles for their rights and their impact on their
countries’ laws and policies. We will draw on examples of individual activism and
women’s movements in different African countries. We will also examine women’s
participation as voters, politicians, organizers and policy makers, the challenges they face
in running for political office and how they influence politics once in office. Lastly, we
will analyze African women’s participation in the regional and international sphere.
Class Philosophy
This class will be taught as a colloquium. Each student will make one
presentation and lead a class discussion. All students will be expected to do the readings
and participate in the discussions.
Grading
Students’ grades will be based on attendance and participation in class discussions,
quizzes, term paper, tests and class presentations based on the readings and videos as
follows:
1) Attendance = 10 % (any absence will require a suitable explanation);
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2) Participation = 10 %
3) Leading one class discussion and synthesizing the readings = 20 % (4 pages,
typewritten);
4) Two quizzes based on readings presentations and videos = 40 %; (20% each)
5) Term paper on one of the assigned topics = 20 %.
With the exception of the final paper, all writing assignments will be returned to students
with comments before the final week of class. The professor reserves the right to make
changes in order to meet the course objectives.
Assigned Readings
1. Reading Packet (available at Target): Women and Politics in Africa
2. Textbook: Goetz, Anne Marie and Hassim, Shireen, No Shortcuts to Power:
African Women in Politics and Policy Making. 2003. New York: Zed Books.
Disabilities
Students with disabilities who require classroom accommodation should first register
with the Dean of Students Office who will provide them with the necessary
documentation.
Weekly Readings
Introduction
Week 1 – August 22. Course introduction.
Week 2 - August 27.
1) Ifi Amadiume – Women’s Achievements in African Political
Systems: Transforming Culture for 500 Years (Readings)
August 29
1) Gwendolyn Mikell – Introduction – The Crisis of Gender
and State (Readings, pp.1 -33).
2) Amina Amama – Talking about Feminism in Africa:Online:
http://www.wworld.org/programs/regions/africa/amina_mama.htm
Class – reading/presentation assignments
WOMEN IN PRE-COLONIAL SOCIETIES
Week 3 - September 3
1) Women Leaders in African History – Nzinga of Angola: About 1581 – 1663
(Readings, p. 69).
2) Yaa Asantewa of Asante: About 1840/60-1921 (Readings)
September 5
1) “Swaziland - Labotsibeni/Gwamile Mdluli: The Power Behind the Swazi
Throne 1875-1925.” GININDZA, THOKO. (Readings)
2) Holly Hanson – Queen Mothers and Good Government in
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Buganda: The Loss of Women’s Political Power in Nineteenth-Century East
Africa. (Readings)
WOMEN IN NATIONAL LIBERATION STRUGGLES
Week 4 – September 10
1) Rosemary Mpuku Nyaywa – Mama ‘Unip’ Julia ‘Chikamoneka’:
The Fearless ‘Mad Africa Girl’ (Readings, p. 91).
September 12
1) Asserting Women’s Liberation within National Liberation: The Case of the
South African Women’s Movement. (Readings p. 171).
Video – “You have Struck A Rock,” Women in the Struggle Against
Apartheid.
WOMEN’S MOVEMENTS AND ACTIVISM
Week 5 – September 17
1) Women’s Rights in Botswana – Onnalena Doo Selolwane. (Readings, p.139)
September 19
2) Women Building Peace: The Liberian Women’s Movement (Readings):
http://www.womenforwomen.org/news-women-for-women/assets/files/criticalhalf/CH_december07_final%20file.pdf
Women’s Peace Movement in Liberia – Pray the Devil Back to Hell:
www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/full-episodes/pray-the-devil-back-to-hell/
3) Wangari Maathai - Greenbelt Movement in Kenya – Maathai (Readings)
The Green Belt Movement: The Story of Wangari Maathai, Mia
McDonald.
http://cms.yesmagazine.org/issues/media-that-set-us-free/the-green-belt-movement-thestory-of-wangari-maathai
First Quiz: September 24.
WOMEN AND ELECTORAL SYSTEMS
Week 6 – September 24 – First quiz
September 26
1) Sheila Meintjes and Mary Simons - Why Electoral Systems Matter to Women.
(Readings, p. 287.)
2) “Quotas as a ‘Fast Track’ to Equal Representation for Women,”Dahlerup,
Drude and Lenita Freidenvall. 2005. International Feminist Journal of
Politics, 7:1.
Week 7 - October 1
1) Gisela Geisler - African women in/and Politics: Issues and Reality (Reading
Packet)
October 3
1) Inonge Mbikusita Lewanika: “Facing the Challenges of Politics”. (Readings,
p. 113).
2) Julie Ballington & Richard E. Matland - “Political Parties and Special
Measures: Enhancing Women’s Participation in Electoral Processes”
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WOMEN IN THE POLITICAL SYSTEM
Week 7 – October 8
1) Women’s Political Effectiveness: A Conceptual Framework, Goetz.
(Book, p. 29).
October 10
1) Amanda Gouws – Women as Political Participants: The Gender Gap in Voting
Behavior. (Readings, p. 277).
2) Introduction: Women in Power in Uganda and South Africa, (Goetz & Hassim.
p.1-28).
WOMEN AS LEGISLATORS
Week 8 – October 15
1) Hassim, Shireen. (2003). “Representation, Participation and Democratic
Effectiveness: Feminist Challenges to Representative Democracy in South
Africa”, (Goetz p. 81=109)
October 17
1) Gender, numbers and substance: Women parliamentarians and the ‘politics
of presence’ in KwaZulu-Natal - Suzanne Francis;
muse.jhu.edu/journals/transformation/v070/70.francis.pdf
2) The Politics of Engagement: Women Transforming the Policy Process –
Domestic Violence Legislation in South Africa ((Goetz, p. 140).
Week 9 – October 22
1) Into the Trenches: Women Legislators and their constituencies (Readings packet)
October 24
2) Case Study: Rwanda. Rwanda: Women Hold Up Half the Parliament
http://www.idea.int/publications/wip2/upload/Rwanda.pdf
3) Has Senegal's gender parity law for MPs helped women?
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/nov/15/senegal-gender-parity-law-mps-women
Guidelines on writing term paper
Week 10 – October 29
1) “The Effect of Increased Women’s Representation in Parliament: The Case of
Rwanda. Devlin, Claire and Robert Elgie:
http://pa.oxfordjournals.org/content/61/2/237.full
October 31
2) The ‘Lost Clause’: The Campaign to Advance Women’s Property Rights in
the Uganda 1998 Land Act. (Goetz, p. 160)
WOMEN IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Second Quiz November 5
Week 11 – November 5
1) Democratizing Local Government: Problems and Opportunities in the
Advancement of Gender Equality in South Africa. Likhapha Mbatha,
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November 7
2) Gender Equity and Local Democracy in Contemporary Uganda: Addressing
the Challenge of Women’s Political Effectiveness in Local Government
Josephine Ahikire.
WOMEN AND ISLAM
Week 12 – Nov. 12
1) Senegal – Gender Parity:
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/nov/15/senegalgender-parity-law-mps-women
November 14
1) Senegal: Contending with Religious Constraints (Readings)
2) Changing Politics from Below? Women Parliamentarians in Morocco:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13510340701398352#preview
AFRICAN WOMEN IN THE INTERNATIONAL SPHERE
Week 13 – Nov. 19
1) African Women and the African Union’s Protocol:
law.wlu.edu/deptimages/.../Frans%20Viljoen.pdf
1) Examples of Female African leaders: roles and impact: Class participation
Nov. 21
Iibrary presentation - research
Week 14 - November 26
November 27-30 Thanksgiving – No classes
Week 15 - December 3 – Term papers due
Term paper due: December 3
Grade Point Scale:
A = 90 or above, A- = 87-89, B+ = 84-86, B = 80-83, B- = 77-79, C+ = 74-76, C = 70-73,
C- = 67-69, D+ = 64-66, D = 60-63, D- = 57-59, E = 56 or below
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