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ABSTRACT
Women in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo are increasingly entering new professions partly due to an increase in higher education levels. In so doing, and as they become more visible in political and economic spheres, women are subjected to new forms of moral suspicion. While women have historically maintained a strong presence in the informal sector, such as commerce, new urban modes of employment dictate new kinds of visibility. It is within this context that notions of femininity and female virtue in Kinshasa continue to be redefined. This article explores several modes of employment for women, such as money-changing, journalism, and politics as they relate to local concepts of encadrement (supervision) and débrouillardisme (resourcefulness). Further, it also examines the threat that a woman's social network outside of her kin poses to men, as well as how women's participation in the economic sphere can motivate distrust between the genders.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the University of Chicago's African Studies Workshop participants for their comments and suggestions on earlier drafts. I am also grateful to the journal's anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 ‘The second economy here is defined as economic activities that are unmeasured, unrecorded, and, in varying degrees, illegal' (MacGaffey Citation1991: 12). Indeed, the distinction between formal and informal economy in Kinshasa is nebulous, and is in an ongoing state of definition and redefinition.
2 The move beyond the concept of ‘prostitution' has given rise to the term ‘transactional sex' (Arnfreld Citation2004; Hunter Citation2007). This is a necessary distinction, since ‘prostitution' generally characterizes men as clients who pay for sex (usually the fee is discussed upfront), while transactional sex suggests that gifts and/or money are exchanged between people in sexual relationships. Further, these sexual relationships exist on a temporal continuum – some last one night, others a lifetime. For a more fine-grained distinction among the different practices comprising the continuum of transactional intimacy in northern Tanzania, see Setel Citation1999: 104:108. See also Hunter Citation2002; Luke Citation2003; Swidler & Watkins Citation2007; Maganja et al. Citation2007).
3 This is a shared feature in other African countries, Cole discusses the value people in Madagascar place on wives staying home, and observes that even urbanites in lower classes aspire to this (Cole Citation2010: 9)
4 Urban areas have historically attracted women seeking new opportunities. The colonial city was often the only place where women could become upwardly mobile (MacGaffey Citation198Citation8; White Citation1990; Schoepf and Engundu Citation1991). In White's seminal account of prostitution in colonial Nairobi, she notes that young women moving to the city was cause for much moral panic as young women were becoming more independent especially as they accumulated more wealth (White 1990). Hodgson and McCurdy write about new categories of ‘wicked' women in the contexts of both colonial and post-colonial Africa. ‘Wicked' women are those who ‘transgress ideological boundaries such as cultural norms of respectability or material boundaries such as legal restrictions on employment, residence, marriage, and divorce' (Citation2001: 8).
5 For more on this see Hunt (1991).
6 Although village life was idealized, women coming to the city from small villages were often ‘scorned for continuing outmoded “uncivilized” practices' (Wilson Citation1982: 155). Newly arrived women were then confronted with a double bind in that they were condemned for being too ‘independent', but also for being too ‘rural' or ‘uncivilized'.
7 For more regarding Congolese women's role in nightlife see: Comhaire-Sylvain Citation1968; Gondola Citation1997; Biaya Citation1994.
8 Many Pentecostal church services feature a deliverance, or exorcism whereby those who claim to be possessed are delivered from their demons. Very often, women have temptress demons cast out of them. These demons are often blamed for ‘blocking' the woman from marriage or for her infertility.
9 In Kinshasa, when a woman gets married, she is expected to receive gifts from the groom in the form of money and material goods that the whole family might benefit from. This can range from cases of beer for the marriage reception to a flat screen television. Many Pentecostal churches are increasingly denouncing the practice of bride price, or ‘la dote' due to the economic hardships many men face.
10 Dominique Meekers and Anne-Emmanuèle Calvès have written a sociological study about the connection between romance and money in the context of Cameroun in 'Main' girlfriends, girlfriends, marriage, and money: the social context of HIV risk behaviour in sub-Saharan Africa Health Transition Review, Vol. 7 (1997) pp. 361-375.
11 Jennifer Cole's Sex and Salvation (Citation2010) describes a similar situation in the context of Madagascar.
12 One frequently hears the saying in Kinshasa, ‘c'est l'homme qui dirige' or, ‘it is the man who leads’. This is perceived locally of as a traditionally African trait.
13 Translates as: ‘I hate this profession for women'.
14 Some journalists also only appear on television, delivering the news.
15 Names have been changed for confidentiality.
16 Further, the market woman is working in what is generally regarded as a woman's sphere. Women generally do the produce shipping for households.