Full Description
Ifi Adadiume contrasts the collectivist, humanist culture of traditional African matriarchal heritage with the corrupt and oppressive culture of the imperialism that is the heritage of contemporary elite-led women's organizations. Amadiume examines the activities of such organizations in Nigeria, making comparisons with those in Britain and South Africa as well as in international movements; looking at Beijing International Women's Conferences, she explores internationalism as an instrument of class reproduction.
Here Amadiume provides a detailed account of the structures and workings of local government in Nigeria and Britain as she raises theoretical and policy issues about civic groups, civil society and the nature of the late twentieth-century state. Finally, she draws lessons from her own experiences working in local government to suggest measures for true gender equity and the democratisation of politics in our increasingly multicultural and multiethnic societies.
Bringing Amadiume's groundbreaking insights to a new generation of readers, this Essential Amadiume edition asks hard questions of modern feminist movements that are still too-often sidelined in Western-centric debates.
Contents
Foreword to the Essential Amadiume Edition
1. Introduction.
2. African Women: Present Realities and Which Way Forward?
3. A History of Class Transformations: Contemporary Women's Organizations in Nigeria.
4. Class Contestation in NCWS and Other National Women's Organizations.
5. Class and Gender Dynamics in Professional Women's Organizations: Rhetoric and Practice.
6. Gender and Class in Campaigns and Civil Discourse.
7. Class and Gender in Child Abuse.
8. Women's Healthcare and Discourses on Reproductive Health.
9. Gender, Class and Voices: Women and the 1986 National Political Debate.
10. Women in Local Government: A Comparison.
11. Gendering Grassroots Democracy: The Women's Committee System.
12. Class Corruption and Women's Mobilization: The Cult of the First Lady.
13. The Politics of Women's Committees in a Multicultural and Multiethnic Society: Lessons from Britain and South Africa.
14. Conclusion.
