African Women

Over the last century, the social and economic roles played by African women have evolved dramatically. Long confined to home and field, overlooked by their menfolk and missionaries alike, African women worked, thought, dreamed, and struggled. They migrated to the cities, invented new jobs, and activated the so-called informal economy to become Afr

Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch is professor of contemporary history and head of the Graduate Studies Program on the Third World and Africa at the University of Paris-7 Denis Diderot. A renowned historian of sub-Saharan Africa, she has taught at most of the French-speaking African universities and has held visiting positions at Princeton and Binghamton universities. Among her many publications, Afrique noire: Permanences et Ruptures (also published in English as Africa: Endurance and Changes South of the Sahara) was awarded the Aumale prize of the Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. | Beth Raps

Introduction -- Part 1: Nineteenth-Century Women -- Peasant Women -- Slave Women -- Women and Trade at the Dawn of Colonialism -- Powerful Women -- Female Identity and Culture -- Part 2: From the Country to the City -- Rural Women and Colonialism -- Part 3: Women and Urban Migration -- Women in the City from Colonization to Independence -- The Urban Condition -- Women and Trade -- Domestic Service -- Prostitution: From "Free" Women to Women with AIDs -- Women and Factory Work -- Woman and Poverty: The Future of Female Informal-Sector Employment -- Part 4: Women and Modern Life -- Women and School -- Women and Politics: Resistance and Action in West Africa -- Women and Politics: Delay in Zaire -- Women and Politics: The Wars for National Liberation -- Sexuality and Emancipation -- Conclusion: The Future