Navigating Womanhood in Contemporary Botswana

Stephanie S. Starling (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

200 Seiten

2025
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
978-1-350-35672-6 (ISBN)

Noch nicht erschienen (ca. März 2025)
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Exploring the social construction of womanhood in Tswana culture, this book questions how gendered expectations are shifting in the context of a rapidly changing environment. Seismic social change is underfoot in Botswana, and gender relations are in flux. The government’s enactment of extensive legal reforms, national programmes, and international instruments has gone a long way towards ensuring gender equality on an official basis. However, conventionally defined gender roles continue to present major obstacles for women.

This book explores what it means to be a woman today in Botswana. The concept of womanhood as a mark of status and responsibility is interrogated, and the social consequences of failing to meet the criteria for womanhood are explored. Stephanie S. Starling considers the multiple and often contradictory burdens women face, the strategies they employ, and the sacrifices they make to meet their obligations. Caught between traditional expectations and modern desires, women share stories of agency, creativity and struggle in defining their own paths. A reflexive account of the fieldwork is presented. confronting the ethical challenges of cross-cultural research from a feminist standpoint.

Stephanie S. Starling is Chief of Staff at Justice Defenders, an NGO providing legal practice, education, and training to prisoners in Africa. She was previously Head of Research for a major data journalism studio specialising in international development trends.

Abstract
Acknowledgments
Chapter One – “Inferior in every way to a man”: Women in Botswana
Chapter Two – Research Design and Methodology in Cross-Cultural Interviewing
Chapter Three – “If you look at a woman you see a mother”: Achieving Womanhood
Chapter Four – “I keep on feeling like they take advantage”: The Costs of Womanhood
Chapter Five – “The life of women has changed very, very much”: Womanhood in Transition
Chapter Six – “No men ever worked harder than Batswana women”: Conclusions
References
Appendix: Participant Details

Erscheint lt. Verlag	20.3.2025
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Gender Studies
ISBN-10	1-350-35672-7 / 1350356727
ISBN-13	978-1-350-35672-6 / 9781350356726
Zustand	Neuware