External publications

The Patriarchal Logic, “Encroaching” Femininity and Migrant Zimbabwean Women

Jaji, Rose
External Publications (2016)

in: Kabbo ka Muwala (The Girl’s Basket): Migration and mobility in contemporary art. Berlin: Revolver Publishing, 18–32

ISBN: 978-3-95763-343-9
Volltext/Full text

Much  of  the  rhetoric  on  gender  relations  among  Zimbabweans  implies  that  these  relations  and  the  patriarchy  upon  which  they  are  based  are  static, omnipotent and immune to
subversion, negotiation and alteration.  The  result  has  been  perpetual  and homogenizing depiction of women  as  victims  regardless  of  their  socio-economic status. The rhetoric continues  to  depict  womanhood  and  femininity as inherently cumbersome,  limiting  and  synonymous  with  blocked opportunities. Specifically focusing  on  the  nexus  between  female  migration  and  gender  relations  among Zimbabwean migrants, this article  argues  that  gender  relations  are mediated and reconfigured by transformation  in  men  and  women’s  roles facilitated by transnational mobility.  Gender  relations  in  Zimbabwe  as  they  are  structured  by  patriarchal  ideology  entail  duties  and  responsibilities;  the  societal  and  family  posi-
tions occupied by men and women are premised  on  performance  of  specific  tasks in conformity with prevailing gender  ideologies.  As  such,  the  privileges that patriarchy confers on men
are rationalized through male obligations upon which the subordination of women  thrives.  This  article  discusses  the  changes  in  gender  relations  that occur in instances where women.