Author Description

Product Description This book examines women's movements and women's collective action in Africa. Steady begins her examination in pre-colonial times, moving through the colonial period to the present. She looks at the various arenas which collective action has and can influence, comparing the impact on economic growth, education, democratizations, family formation, and women's rights. Steady uses Sierra Leone as the focus of her inquiry, in order for a detailed story to illustrate larger themes, but in every area makes comparisons to different parts of Africa; the case study here guides a larger inquiry. Written as a text, the book carefully explains the theoretical ideas (e.g., all key terms are defined, and then there is a discussion of how they relate to African issues specifically) and the historical knowledge (e.g., all historical events are described, there is no assumption of knowledge of African history) necessary to understand the meaning of current women's groups. What results is a clear and comprehensive treatment of an issue which is increasingly central to understanding changes taking place on the African continent today. Review 'Here is yet another remarkable intervention by Filomena Steady, adding to her widely used scholarship on gender and feminism. Using Freetown, Sierra Leone, as a detail, Steady unfolds the agenda of an array of local women's organizations comparing them to their counterparts at regional, continental and international levels. Eloquently and persuasively, Steady demonstrates how women have utilized collective action to influence development. She advocates the building of alliances with other movements continentally and internationally for the transformation of a corporate controlled global economy, without which gender justice is an illusion.' - Micere Githae Mugo, African American Studies, Syracuse University 'Women and Collective Action in Africa fills an important space in the women's movements l