Gender roles in agricultural knowledge in a land resettlement context: the case of Mupfurudzi, Zimbabwe

Abstract

The present paper discusses the social construction and reconstruction of gender roles in relation to agricultural knowledge claims in a land resettlement area. Many women were politically active in the war of liberation where the land question dominated the agenda. However, at independence this question was framed in terms of race, and gender issues were sidelined. Despite the fact that women were not resettled in their own right, they are not simply victims of the system but manoeuvre within the system to gain advantages. This paper discusses strategies that women use to challenge the males in their families and the resultant conflicts and contradictions. It also discusses decision-making, investments and poverty as concepts and practices that can illuminate the gendering and gendered nature of knowledge in resettlement schemes. Claims of knowledge by both men and women are in the final analysis claims to the ownership of household and family resources.

Acknowledgments

This paper is the result of research funded by the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO) and was presented at the 16th International Sociology Association Conference in Durban, South Africa, 23–29 July 2006.

Notes

1 By ‘wrapper’ the speaker meant the piece of cloth that women tie around their waist on top of their everyday clothing, usually of sufficient length to reach to their feet.