- Title
- A comparative analysis of land, labour and gender in a communal area and fast track farm in Zvimba Rural District, Zimbabwe
- Creator
- Chinomona, Perpetua
- ThesisAdvisor
- Helliker, K.D.
- Subject
- Uncatalogued
- Date
- 2024-04-03
- Type
- Academic theses
- Type
- Doctoral theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434612
- Identifier
- vital:73089
- Identifier
- DOI 10.21504/10962/434612
- Description
- This thesis provides a comparative analysis of gender, land, and labour between two different types of farming sites in rural Zimbabwe, namely long-established communal areas and the more recent Al fast track land reform resettlement areas. More specifically, the focus is on Kanzou Village and Stratford fast track resettlement farm respectively, located in Zvimba District in Mashonaland West Province. The study focuses on the period from the year 2000, the year in which the fast track resettlement programme was launched by the government. The thesis examines in particular the status and experience of women with regard to land acquisition, access and security as well as the division of labour (including assets, inputs and labour-time) in the spheres of production (i.e., agriculture) and social reproduction (i.e., the domestic sphere). This includes highlighting the power relations existing between men and women in both spheres, in the light of prevailing systems of patriarchy. Analytically, the thesis is framed in terms of feminism, drawing upon the complementary insights of Third World feminism and socialist feminism. In seeking to capture the perspectives and practices of men and women in the two sites, the fieldwork for the study entails a qualitative methodology. The findings of the research demonstrate the existence and relevance of patriarchal systems with respect to land and labour in Kanzou Village and Stratford fast track farm, with key commonalities appearing across the two sites with reference to the multiple ways in which women are disadvantaged and disempowered. Therefore, gender bias and inequality in land and labour are exhibited by the fact that men have, for instance, easier access to land, less involvement in labouring activities, control over a higher proportion of household income and a disproportionate level of power in the household. At the same time, there are certain differences between Kanzou Village and Stratford fast track farm around questions of gender, land and labour, but these are differences in degree rather than kind. Perhaps more important in explaining the differences between the two sites, and indeed differences within each site, are other variables. These variables include marital status, form or marriage (for example, customary or civil marriages), age and gender. By considering these variables as well, the thesis shows the importance of unpacking the notion of ‘woman’ to reveal the variegated and differential experiences of different categories of women in rural Zimbabwe.
- Description
- Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2023
- Format
- computer, online resource, application/pdf, 1 online resource (306 pages), pdf
- Publisher
- Rhodes University, Faculty of Humanities, Sociology
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Chinomona, Perpetua
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)
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RU Department of Sociology
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | CHINOMONA-PHD-TR24-09.pdf | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |