Stiwanism, feminism in an African context

Molara Ogundipe plantea en este texto cuáles son las distintas situaciones de las mujeres africanas en el contexto actual, de un África en proceso de modernización pero en que a la vez las diferentes tradiciones continúan vivas, y cuáles han de ser los proyectos emancipatorios que las mujeres deberían llevar a cabo. En este sentido, Ogundipe hace un repaso histórico y considera que las mujeres han estado siempre presentes, en primer plano y de manera activa, en los procesos de liberación del continente africano, pero sus demandas han sido siempre relegadas a un papel secundario; y, asimismo, es evidente que no hay cambio social posible en positivo cuando no se cuenta con las mujeres. Así pues, la propuesta de Molara Ogundipe consiste en una Transformación Social que Incluya a las mujeres en África, el concepto Stiwanismo (Social Transformation Including Women in Africa).In this text Molara Ogundipe raises the issue of the different situation of African women currently, in the context of Africa as a continent in the process of modernization, with different live traditions. She also focuses on the emancipatory projects that women engage in. In her review of history, Ogundipe considers that women are always present in a very active way, in the process of liberation of the African continent. However, their demands have always been relegated to a secondary role. Moreover, it is evident that no social change is possible when women are not accounted for. The core proposal of her paper is social transformation that includes women in Africa, through the concept Stiwanism (Social Transformation lncluding Women in Africa)

Gender myths and feminist fables: the struggle for interpretive power in gender and development

Gender and development has grown enormously as a field over the last thirty years. In this introduction, we interrogate the ambivalence that underpins feminist engagement with development and examine what current dilemmas may suggest about the relationship between feminist knowledge and development practice. In recent years, there has been growing frustration with the simplistic slogans that have come to characterize much gender and development talk, and with the gap between professed intention and actual practice in policies and programmes. Questions are now being asked about what has become of ‘gender’ in development. This collection brings together critical reflections on some ideas about gender that have become especially resonant in development narratives, particularly those that entail popularization and the deployment of iconic images of women. This introduction explores more closely the issues raised by such myth‐making, arguing that these myths stem from exigencies within the politics and practices of development bureaucracies, within the difficult politics of feminist engagement with development policy and practice and within feminist politics itself