Religion, culture and gender : a study of women's search for gender equality in Swaziland

Abstract

Although Swazi women's contribution to national development has been phenomenal, they like
 any other women in patriarchal societies confront an overbearing situation in which they have
 been regarded and treated as minors, both in the family and most spheres of public life. This has
 largely been due to the social construction of gender. Traditional gender-based attitudes, deeply
 ingrained in the people's mind set, not infrequently, have limited women's access to and control
 of various aspects of public life, and impinge on their rights, most especially the rights to selfdetermination
 and equal participation in the decision making process. Coupled with religion
 which influences "the deepest level of what it means to be human" (King, 1994:4) and zealous
 cultural conservatism, the Swazi women, with a few notable exceptions, experience an asymmetry
 of power due to the pervasive nature of gender. Nonetheless, the history of Swaziland bears testimony, however muted, to a legacy ofwomen's struggles to overcome gendered conditions
 imposed upon them either by taking full advantage of their spiritual endowment and charisma to
 overcome attitudinal barriers or by organising themselves into groups to work for the social
 transformation of their conditions and status.
 This study examines the Swazi women's search for gender equality. It discusses the social and
 cultural context of gender in Swaziland, the various moments in the Swazi women's quest for
 equality and its manifestations, and the push and pull effect of religion and culture. Particular
 attention is given to four organisations, namely Lutsango lwakaNgwane (loosely referred to as
 women's regiments), the Council of Swaziland Churches, the Women's Resource Centre (Umtapo
 waBomake) and Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA). The study shows that
 Swazi women have, across a passage of time, adopted different strategies, including ritual,
 economic empowerment and creation of new knowledge through promotion of gender awareness
 and social advocacy either in a womanist approach that accepts women's embeddedness in Swazi
 culture or in the liberal feminist tradition that espouses women's individual rights. However, the
 study shows that the women's movement has yet to reach the critical mass level so as to influence
 public policy and come to terms with the deconstruction of the dominant gender ideology.

Religious Studies and Arabic

D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)