10.1007@978 3 030 42827 3

Contributions to Political Science
Sharon Adetutu Omotoso Editor
Women’s
Political
Communication
in Africa
Issues and Perspectives
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11829
Sharon Adetutu Omotoso
Editor
Women’s Political
Communication in Africa
Issues and Perspectives
123
Editor
Women’s Research and Documentation
Center, Institute of African Studies
University of Ibadan
Ibadan, Nigeria
ISSN 2198-7289 ISSN 2198-7297 (electronic)

ISBN 978-3-030-42826-6 ISBN 978-3-030-42827-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42827-3
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar
or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from
the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained
herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard
to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To Prof. Bolanle Awe; a matriarch, mentor
and mother of African women’s research for
her undaunted commitment to women’s
wellbeing in Africa whose immense interest in
my career propels me to go on.
Preface
Political renaissance has improved awareness and participation of African women

and women of African descent in politics. Women’s political involvements in
public and private spheres have often been misunderstood, misinterpreted, mis-
represented and criticized. In the same vein, the proliferation of mass media outlets
including the social media has presented various political actors and their activities
for scholarly scrutiny and pragmatic reformulation particularly in continental
contexts for sustainable development.
In pursuance of the goals of enriching the Gender Studies Program at the
Institute of African Studies, my classes raise issues on topics including histories and
philosophies of feminism, ethics and development, identity and gender in perfor-
mance studies and media policies in Africa. Students are quick to point out the
connections between women’s activities and political communication, an area of
study that is fast flourishing in African politics research, hence requiring relevant
and well-researched texts.
This book is informed by an earlier co-edited book: Political Communication in
Africa published by Springer in 2017. Findings from 2017 opened up conversations
around women’s political actions and inactions, hence the need to produce this
edited volume on women’s political communication. The effort is geared toward
widening the scope of the burgeoning discourse of women’s political communi-
cation, theoretical groundings of their politics and practical implications of working
theories in women’s perspectives. Contributors have delved into history, philoso-
phy, literature, law, advertising and public policy, peace and conflict among others
to show how a range of activities, speeches, gestures and scholarships do com-
municate politics whether in the ‘inner room,’ ‘the open room’ or the ‘other room’.1
Contributors have shown that regardless of what the rooms are called, women do
communicate politics in their own unique ways even in state houses, parliamentary
rooms or the classrooms.
1
The concept of the ‘other room’ is drawn from the Nigerian President, Mohammadu Buhari’s
assertion that “I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and
my living room and the other room.” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37659863.
vii
viii Preface
This book re-establishes how the personal is political and how feminine gestures
could be interpreted in political contexts. While the work is not exhaustive of the
various dimensions to women’s political communication, it teases peculiar trends
on the continent and how they connect with global political communication dis-
courses. Everyone interested in inclusive governance and critical continental con-
texts of communication will find the book very useful.
Through the various seminars and workshops at the Institute of African Studies,
University of Ibadan, colleagues and students have contributed immensely to the
ideas foregrounding this book and I remain grateful to them.
Ibadan, Nigeria Sharon Adetutu Omotoso

Acknowledgements
I am indeed grateful to all the chapter contributors for their commitment to the
success of this project. I acknowledge the entire team of the Women’s Research and
Documentation Center (WORDOC) and my graduate students at the Gender Studies
and Cultural and Media Studies Programs of the Institute of African Studies,
University of Ibadan, Nigeria. I sincerely appreciate staff and volunteers of the
Center for Applied Ethics and Political Communication in Africa (CAEPOCOM
AFRICA) where various projects and suggestions at their in-house seminars
have encouraged the commencement of this book project. I thank all those who
worked with me to review and constructively prepare the manuscript and of course
Ralph, Adeoluwanimi, Ewaoluwanimi and Toluwanimi for their perseverance and
understanding.
Lastly, I remain grateful to the following organizations with whom I have
worked on Gender, Media and Political Communication projects: NELINA
FOUNDATION AFRICA, NATO Strategic Communication Center of Excellence
(NATO STRACOM COE), UNESCO and Council for the Development of Social
Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA).
ix
Contents
Women’s Recipe for the African Policom Stew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Sharon Adetutu Omotoso and Ololade Margaret Faniyi
“Down with Bridewealth!” The Organization of Mozambican Women
Debates Women’s Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Kathleen Sheldon
Women of Marikana in the Media: Decolonial Analysis of Gendered
Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Dikeledi A. Mokoena
Women Emancipation and the Politics of Biography in the Narratives
of Dr. Bola Kuforiji-Olubi of Nigeria and Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya
of Uganda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Adedoyin Aguoru
ZANU–PF Women’s League and the (Re)configuration of Political
Power in Influencing Succession Politics in Zimbabwe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Lungile Augustine Tshuma
Political Communication Among Female Candidates and Women
Electorates in Zambia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Sam Phiri
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Political Communication into Liberia
Presidency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Ayo Elebute and Suleiman Ocheni
Africa’s First Ladies: Communicating Political Thought in Nigeria . . . . 119
Ayo Elebute and Obasanjo Oyedele
xi
xii Contents
Working Behind the Scenes: Rethinking Peace and Development

in the First Lady Illusory Continuum of Afropolicom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Osagioduwa Eweka
Acada-Activism and Feminist Political Communication in Nigeria . . . . . 155
Contributors
Adedoyin Aguoru University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

Ayo Elebute Mass Communication Programme, Bowen University, Iwo, Nigeria
Osagioduwa Eweka Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of
Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Ololade Margaret Faniyi Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Nigeria
Dikeledi A. Mokoena The University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Suleiman Ocheni Resource Centre for Arts, Culture and Communication
Development, Ibadan, Nigeria
Sharon Adetutu Omotoso Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Nigeria
Obasanjo Oyedele Mass Communication Programme, Bowen University, Iwo,
Nigeria
Sam Phiri University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia
Kathleen Sheldon UCLA Center for the Study of Women, Los Angeles, USA
Lungile Augustine Tshuma Department of Journalism, Film and Television,
University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
xiii
Women’s Recipe for the African
Policom Stew
Sharon Adetutu Omotoso and Ololade Margaret Faniyi
Research on political communication hereinafter referred to as “policom” is being

increasingly pursued, considering the power play between political actors, people and
media. Conceptualizing political communication, a fundamental tool that has been
synonymous with political activities since its inception, Mcquail (1992: 472) asserts
political communication as all the processes of information involved in institutional-
ized political activities, i.e., the transmission, exchange and search by political actors,
media and people. These participants are interdependent and policom embodies the
processes in which they construct meaning about political practices (Schuetz 2009:
757). Within such peculiarities is the need to study political communication within
continental locale prior to any globalized study, giving rise to studies in African
political communication (Afropolicom). We must establish that Afropolicom is con-
structed on a grounded philosophy and worldview which prioritizes African histories,
cultures and values (for more extensive reviews, see Omotoso 2013, 2017). Afropoli-
com embodies the peculiarities and heritage of the continent in its political processes.
Consequently, Eweka et al. (2017) argue that it will be impossible to borrow concepts
from Western political communication to explain and engage Afropolicom.
This intellectual exercise rests on an argument that African political communi-
cation (Afropolicom), though a relatively new field, is not a derivative of Western
political communication but an independent and distinct field in itself. Afropolicom
which is held justifiable based on the existence of autochthonous African political
systems constituted and fostered by unique African communication environments
has been further described as “indubitable exclusivities such as expressions, patterns
S. A. Omotoso (B) · O. M. Faniyi

Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
e-mail: sa.omotoso@ui.edu.ng
O. M. Faniyi
e-mail: ololademfaniyi@gmail.com
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license 1
to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
S. A. Omotoso (ed.), Women’s Political Communication in Africa, Contributions
to Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42827-3_1
2 S. A. Omotoso and O. M. Faniyi
and contexts” harnessed to construct “prominent media philosophies” that constitute

communication environments as well as the political dispositions of states in Africa
(Omotoso 2017: 52–53).
Omotoso (2013: 55) identified three major issues in Afropolicom; “the prob-
lem of studying African political communication system using Western theories, the
purported change in the political communication system such as how technology
conferred more power on citizens than other players in the political communication
system, and the effect of the New World Information and Communication Order
(NWICO) movement on Africa’s political communication.” She later highlights
the challenges of political communication in developing continental peace policies
(Omotoso 2015). Similarly, Eweka et al. (2017: 1) showed how most available texts
on political communication do not provide “a proper understanding, perhaps a near-
perfect reflection, of the concept within the African context.” These discourses have
taken on the largely androcentric idiosyncrasies which persistently present the male
gender as key actors in politics while women are only expected to play support-
ive roles. Despite increasing awareness on the need for politics and leadership to be
more gender-sensitive and inclusive, policom studies have reinforced a common per-
ception of masculine communicative patterns (Grebelsky-Lichtman 2017) which are
also expectedly adopted to define and describe behavioral codes of the few women in
politics and public offices. This has also reinforced dearth of women’s perspectives
on Afropolicom; a critical study of Africa’s political communication which factors
feminine and feminist idiosyncrasies, patterns and strategies.
Feminist perspectives on political communication in Africa address the intersec-
tions of African feminism and political communication. The tenets and peculiarities
of African feminism have been actively engaged for about thirty years with the major
motivation being the systematic investigation of social dynamics and gendered inclu-
sivity in the navigation of social and political transformation. On the gender-oriented
political communication approach, scholars have argued that female politicians can
construct a strategy that is congruent with the gender-communicative patterns or
they can use an incongruent strategy by adopting the communication strengths of the
opposite gender (Carlson 2007; Schneider 2014; Grebelsky-Lichtman 2017). A lucid
example may be drawn from Omotoso’s (2013: 61) analogy of the “who” question
in Afropolicom and leadership. She notes that:
In Yoruba communities, the initiator in a communication process is important as this person
also determines what reaction will be elicited from respondents. When a person initiates
communication, the Yoruba respondent will usually weigh the worth of that person against
the power he or she holds. How this is done can be typified with the conversation below:
Son: My father has promised to punish your community if you fail to pay taxes
An elder in the community: Who on earth is your father?
Son: My father is the newly installed King.
Would reactions have been different if the “who” in the above conversation is a
woman? How would such assertion and personality have been evaluated if the ruler
in question is a woman? With lifestyles and leadership patterns of the few women in
Women’s Recipe for the African Policom Stew 3
power across Africa being largely censured and first ladies remaining under social
and intellectual scrutiny, what would change when more women participate and are
represented in politics in Africa?
This book sustains the “Afropolicom stew” concept, proposed by Eweka et al.
(2017), which is conceived as an intersectional and systemic tool for social trans-
formation on the continent. Our pioneering assertion of feminist African political
communication (Feminist Afropolicom) thus modifies prior analytical tools in carv-
ing its syncretic niche. In foregrounding this significance of feminist stances on
policom in Africa, stylistically referred to as women’s recipe for Afropolicom stew,
we highlight the primary established concepts of policom and Afropolicom.
The scholarly focus on Afropolicom prompts further investigations into the field,
especially the manner in which women have engaged the concept. Using the analogy
of stew, a combination of food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid form, which
is served with a variety of dishes, Afropolicom is addressed as such a metaphorical
stew that encompasses African histories, philosophies, cultures, values and so on.
It, therefore, raises the question of what recipes women have created to influence
Afropolicom.
Feminist perspectives on Afropolicom connect both concepts (African feminism
and African political communication) to Afro-constructivism, especially as the lat-
ter prompts the need to reconstruct a society based on its historical legacies (Chuk-
wuololo 2014; Omotoso 2018a, b). We must bring to fore here, the colonial-motivated
denialism of the African social order; the retrogressive effects of (neo)colonialism on
African female power; and the repressive logic which work against women in contem-
porary African politics. Although, our emphasis on African political communication
might imply overt generalizations, especially as the part of the continent which is
south of the Sahara is often the connotation when the word Africa is engaged. How-
ever, by highlighting the dominant continental logic which often disenables women’s
political agency, we attempt to present an analytical tool that is distinct yet collective.
Thus, this approach engages inferences based on apparent imbricating information
about colonial, class, ethnic, national and racial dynamics of the continent.
We establish our inspiration to be the struggle and movements which attempt to
deconstruct male centralization of power, especially the call out to institutionalize
internal party democracy for sustainable and holistic national democratization. It is
by investigating these that we come to understand the relationship between agency
and structure and the ways in which Afropolicom mediates between the two, espe-
cially with the influence of dominating social power in shaping Afropolicom and the
“endorsed” repression of female political actors.
The feminist approach to Afropolicom distinctively extends the concept beyond
institutionalized political activities and draws focus to political gestures, campaign
emphasis, strategies and leadership styles of female political leaders. These pro-
vide us robust and empirically grounded means of investigating strategies and logic
(media and political) through which feminist approach to policom is enabled (for
extensive reviews of media and political logic, see Jörg Haßler et al. 2014; Omotoso
2018a, b). Extending the participants beyond the tripartite categorization, we, there-
fore, conceptualize feminist Afropolicom to include gendering of all processes of
decentralized and reformative information situated within political practices which
engage political elites, social activists, academics, media, technocrats and the vast
citizenry.
In a feminist evaluation of policom within the African continent, we argue that
several female political actors have engaged policom consciously or inadvertently;
therefore, their strategies and influences inform Afropolicom. Shining the spotlight
on the governance and legacies of female political leaders: Ellen Sirleaf (Liberia),
Joyce Hilda Banda (Malawi), Sophia Abdi Noor (Kenya), Ivy Matsepe-Cassaburi
(South Africa), Sahle-Work Zewde (Ethiopia), among others, we underscore that
these women leaders are true evidence of conscious attempts to re-enable and inspire
female power. We also wish to highlight power manipulation by women, conceived
in Nigerian political parlance as Madam has interest. Examples being the influ-
ences wielded by Dame Patience Jonathan (Nigeria), Janet Museveni (Uganda),
Grace Mugabe (Zimbabwe), Denise Nkurunziza (Burundi). Equally emphasized is
the technical mobilization and activism of women like Obi Ezekwesili (Nigeria),
Diane Shima Rwigara (Rwanda), Aisha Yesufu (Nigeria), to mention a few. This,
therefore, prompts the questions: What powers do women wield from an insider
perspective? Do these add up to institutionalized power relations? How extensive
is the contrast between agency and repressive structure in relation to women and
Afropolicom?
This perspective to Afropolicom equally investigates the distinction, effects and
interconnection of affirmative, performance and inadvertent feminist practices in
African political activities. Therefore, we raise questions about the adoption of “pack-
aging and presentation” politics as opposed to “substance” politics, especially how
this aids the evaluation of political feminist allies and the larger context of Afropoli-
com. We also scrutinize the tactics employed by these women along the feminist
spectrum including and not exclusive to liberal tactics, negotiating tactics and radi-
cal tactics. In doing so, we propose a revision of the logic engaged by participants,
adding feminist as a prefix to the established media and political logic.
Feminist perspectives on political communication in Africa answer these inquiries
in an innovative manner. Anchoring our motivation on the fact that African political
communication is an essential tool for reformative approaches to political processes,
we underpin the equally reformative ideology of African feminism for the review and
development of Afropolicom. The aim of this book is to situate existing and emerging
research in a comprehensive analytical and empirical framework. We must empha-
size, however, that this book is not an attempt to establish exclusionary labels around
policom; rather, it is a critical step to take its research forward, especially as this book
engages largely under-researched interconnected fields. It is only by understanding
and articulating our realities that we can promote our innovation that women’s politi-
cal communication entails the processing of politically charged information designed
to influence particular intended outcome.
This book is, therefore, a diverse collection of perspectives on feminist approaches

to political communication in Africa. In subsequent paragraphs, we will under-
take an interpretation and summarization of the scholarly observations, findings and
perspectives which make up the book.
Chapter ““Down with Bridewealth!” The Organization of Mozambican Women
Debates Women’s Issues” by Kathleen Sheldon, examines Mozambican women’s
nationalist involvement in the colonial period. It elucidates the prominence of women
in the Mozambican struggle for independence from Portugal in the 1960s and early
1970s, narrating how the Organization of Mozambican Women (known as OMM
for Organização da Mulher Moçambicana) held assemblies around the country to
address the plight of the Mozambique women. Pointing out the social status of
Mozambican women during this period and what necessitated the need for nationalist
awakening among the womenfolk, she discusses the legacies of the women nationalist
activities, including the reforms aimed at easing the social and political underprivilege
of Mozambican women.
In Chapter “Women in The Media on Marikana: Decolonial Analysis of Gen-
dered Representations,” Dikeledi Mokoena takes a critical look at the politics of
representation of the women of Marikana in the media after the Marikana massacre
in South Africa. She examines the coloniality, discriminatory and exploitative nature
of media reporting, as well as their partiality in reporting the failed corporate social
responsibility program nature of the mining industry. In doing this, she raises con-
cern over the questionable media cover of the story on the Marikana massacre of
August 2012, arguing that the disappearance of women, particularly in scholarship
of media representation of the Marikana issue, is political miscommunication which
also reveals the naturalization of the gendered dichotomization inherent in mining
historiography and analyses of political economy.
Examining biographies and empowerment movements by selected women in
Africa, Doyin Aguoru in Chapter “Women Emancipation and the Politics of Biog-
raphy in the Narratives of Dr. Bola Kuforiji-Olubi of Nigeria and Princess Eliza-
beth Bagaaya of Uganda” argues that biographical narratives form part of political
communication which has defined women in recent past, yet have not been keenly
deciphered as such. By this, she alludes to feminists’ search for knowledge using new
methods to provide insight into women’s realities. She discusses the lives of two royal
women from East and West Africa and their foray into politics. The significance of
backgrounds, educational experiences, experiences in the public sphere, gender rela-
tions in patriarchal contexts and the eventual emergence of Dr. Bola Kuforiji-Olubi
(Nigeria) and Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya (Uganda) as female leaders in contempo-
rary Africa, and the link between their lives and their sociopolitical histories are the
kernel of Aguoru’s inquiry. By this, she describes women empowerment as a signifier
“utilizing” power in women and girls, so that they can play significant social and
cultural roles translatable in several senses including political communication.
Lungile Tshuma in Chapter “ZANU–PF Women’s League and the
(Re)configuration of Political Power in Influencing Succession Politics in Zim-
babwe” observes the downplayed position of women in politics in many parts of the
world. The chapter presents the import of women’s effort in the political space of
Zimbabwe, particularly the strategies by the movement, Zanu–PF Women’s league,

to insure the appointment of a worthy successor for the then-president, Robert
Mugabe, whose administration they addressed as inept. The chapter corroborates
the concept of “umbrella representation of women in politics” wherein the media
look at women in lesser roles, and in political communication, the media mainly
depict or focus on women’s clothes, their handbags and beauty, and less on their
policies and ideologies (McIntosh 2013; Omotoso 2019).
Sam Phiri’s contributions in Chapter “Political Communication among Female
Candidates and Women Electorates in Zambia” examine the significance of “au-
tonomous spaces” in reference to traditional and new media which are engaged in
political processes. Highlighting the use of social media during the last Zambian
election, he asserts that journalists and political commentators (including women)
used the medium to insult and discredit the candidacy of women aspiring to be in
politics. This, he argues, is motivated by ancient customs which attempt to silence
and marginalize and inhibit women. He, therefore, argues that for an end to women’s
social exclusion in politics, there needs to be an improvement in the communication
gaps between women political actors and electorates.
In seventh chapter Ayo Elebute and Suleiman Ocheni discuss “Ellen Johnson-Sir-
leaf Political Communication into Liberia Presidency.” They observe Sirleaf’s affir-
mation that her presidential win and tenure have deconstructed the glass ceiling
where power and politics are attributed to masculinity. The chapter examines Sir-
leaf’s use of the media to effectively win the heart of the people during her campaign,
centering on corruption, security, post-war recovery, national unity, education and
protection against sexual assault. Anchoring their arguments on psychoanalytical
feminist, leadership trait and charismatic leadership theories, they examine Sirleaf’s
political communication strategies and argue that her strategic use of media to relate
with the citizens and decenter the monotony of male leadership in African political
system. The chapter highlights political communication strategies of retrospection,
reflexivity and rationalization.
Ayo Elebute and Oyedele Obasanjo in Chapter “Africa’s First Ladies: Commu-
nicating Political Thought in Nigeria” engage with the influences and activities of
selected African first ladies in supporting their husbands’ regimes and championing
different social courses for women advancement. Arguing that their advocacy pro-
grams are understated political communication processes, they examine the political
motivation behind the content and purposes of these gender advocacy campaigns.
Highlighting the involvement of notable women activists, the backgrounds and lega-
cies of the first ladies, they argue that these women, although not occupying con-
stitutional offices, significantly influence political thought and women’s political
participation.
Chapter “Working Behind the Scenes: Rethinking Peace and Development in
the first lady Illusory Continuum of Afropolicom” by Eweka Osagioduwa seeks to
bring to the fore (consciousness) the burning but often misunderstood concept that
surrounds the office of the first lady and how it could be effectively used to enhance
peace and development in the society. In doing this, he examines the various schools
of thought, perspectives and arguments in favor and against the existence, usage and
actions/inactions as it relates to the office of the first lady. As interesting as the various
arguments are, one point is brought to the fore: the valuable advantages of having the
office of the first lady and its contributions to peace and development in the society.
Conclusively, he argues that the office should be legalized/constitutionalized and
effectively used for peace and development.
Exploring the innovative acada-activism, Sharon Adetutu Omotoso’s in the final
Chapter “Acada-Activism and Feminist Political Communication in Nigeria” focuses
on female academic scholars and their contribution to Nigeria’s public and political
space. Highlighting the reference to women academics as Acada women, she asserts
that prominent African feminist scholars in the twentieth century were mostly trained
in European countries and as such, were said to have been “schooled in contradic-
tion,” especially because they exhibited feminist attitudes to social norms: identify-
ing and decrying sexism, speaking vehemently against exploitation, marginalization,
powerlessness, cultural imperialism and systematic violence. She argues that these
Acada women applied the tools of teaching, research and community service from the
academe and, thus, provided a unique pattern in women’s political/leadership roles.
Arguing that their influence in political processes is often undermined, she examined
the contributions and legacies of women who were academics and political activists,
and even political actors, including Prof Zaynab Alkali, Prof Remi Sonaiya, Prof
Dora Nkem Akunyili and Prof Bolanle Awe. Emphasizing that the Acada women
were not only passionate about leadership in the academia, she asserted that they
translated their innovative theories in praxis at levels of governance. She also exam-
ined the varying tactics to political processes engaged by these women: Sonaiya and
Akunyili were boldly committed to full political participation; Awe and Alkali would
only embrace state assignments given by appointment. In exploring the various polit-
ical communication strategies of these Acada women, Omotoso queried the often
undermined engagements and strategies by Acada women, especially the seeming
need to dissociate from academia before they can be fully regarded as participants
in political communication.
Contributions in this book respond to “the rate and manner with which media
is gendering politics” (Omotoso 2018a, b: 563) as an issue to watch in speculating
Africa’s future. It opens up feminist political communication as an emerging area
in communication, women’s and political studies yet to take its proper place on
the continent. Issues raised here form a representation of the vast and ever brewing
research, particularly with the prevalence of social media which continues to alter the
convention within political spaces and African feminist scholarship which continues
to evolve. Africa has bred and is still producing eloquent women, whose speeches and
gestures mark great conviction and persuasion across spheres, thus rubbing off on
the political landscapes and the powers accorded women in such spaces. This project
equally affirms the possibility of non-egoistic tendencies of female leadership with
selected examples of women who remained focused, supporting the grassroots and
committed to family despite their national, continental and global recognitions. It
must be noted that opinions and positions held in this study are neither the editors
nor publishers; they are solely that of the chapter contributors.
In all, as hitherto downplayed forms and strategies of power relations in politi-
cal communication by women, among other actors in Africa’s politics are brought
afore, and feminist intersection and evaluating discords, crisscrosses, accomplish-
ments and/or setbacks encountered by women as they communicate politically are
underscored, this book is recommended to scholars, researchers and all afro-optimists
as an inevitable recipe as we work toward the Africa we want.
References
Carlson, T. (2007). It’s a man’s world? Journal of Political Marketing, 6(1), 41–67.
Chukuwuokolo, C. (2014). Afroconstructivism: Towards a new way of understanding African
thought. In Frontiers of knowledge in philosophu: Cutting edge issues. Enugu: Jones Communi-
cations.
Eweka, O., Omotoso, S. A., & Olukotun, A. (2017). The African policom stew. In O. A. Olukotun
& S. A. Omotoso (Eds.), Political communication in Africa (pp. 1–13). Cham: Springer.
Grebelsky-Lichtman, T. (2017). Female politicians: A mixed political communication model. The
Journal of International Communication, 23(2), 272–297.
Haßler, J., Maurer, M., & Oschatz, C. (2014). Media logic and political logic online and offline.
Journalism Practices, 8(3), 36–341.
McIntosch, H. (2013). Women and politics in the media. Global media journal-Canadian Edition,
6(2), 99–104.
Mcquail, D. (1992). Political communication. In J. Paynter, M. E. Hakesorth, M. Kogan, T. Howell,
R. Orton, P. Seymour, & P. Le Huray (Eds.), Encyclopaedia of government and politics (Vol. 1,
pp. 471–485).
Omotoso, S. A. (2013). Deploying African philosophy of political communication for functional
leadership in Africa. Journal on African Philosophy, 8, 52–67.
Omotoso, S. A. (2015). Political communication in Africa: Towards a peace policy. In I. Albert, O.
Isola, & O. Oyewo (Eds.), Communication, peace and conflict (pp. 325–346). Ibadan: Institute
of African Studies.
Omotoso, S. A. (2017). African ethics and African political communication: Some comments. In
O. A. Olukotun & S. A. Omotoso (Eds.), Political communication in Africa. Cham: Springer.
Omotoso, S. A. (2018a). Political communication and the nigerian democratic experiment: critical
insights from yoruba philosophy. Yoruba Studies Review, 3(1), 189–210.
Omotoso, S. A. (2018b). Media and politics in Africa. In S. Oloruntoba & T. Falola (Eds.), The
palgrave handbook of African politics, governance and development (pp. 553–571). New York:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Omotoso S. A. (2019). African women and the mass media. In: O. Yacob-Haliso & T. Falola (Eds.),
The palgrave handbook of African women’s studies (pp. 1–17). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77030-7_51-1.
Schneider, M. C. (2014). Gender-based strategies on candidate websites. Journal of Political
Marketing, 13(4), 264–290.
Schuetz, J. (2009). Political communication theories. In: S. W. Littlejohn & K. A. Foss (Eds.),
Encyclopaedia of communication theory (pp. 757–761).
“Down with Bridewealth!” The
Organization of Mozambican Women
Debates Women’s Issues
Kathleen Sheldon
In 1983, the Organization of Mozambican Women (known as OMM for Organização

da Mulher Moçambicana) prepared for a national conference by holding assemblies
around the country. The provincial gathering in Beira, Sofala Province, brought
together local women and a few men, and included participation by male and female
national leaders. The meeting mainly consisted of three days of small group dis-
cussions that resulted in a set of issue papers that were expected to inform policy
concerning women. Those sessions were bookended by opening and closing plenary
assemblies.
The meetings were held in the context of the early years of an independent social-
ist government, following decades of Portuguese fascist rule and years of armed
liberation struggle. Mozambique was a one-party state, and the ruling party, Fre-
limo, had developed a series of policies and laws that addressed both “traditional”
practices such as polygyny and initiation rites, and more current concerns such as
divorce. The official view held that most traditional practices were antithetical to
advancing modern Mozambican women and should be abandoned. Slogans such as
“Down with polygamy!” were commonly included in political meetings. Nonethe-
less, participants in at least one small group discussion were outspoken about the
difficulty of simply denouncing practices that were supported, and continued to be
practiced, by many Mozambicans.
Women in Mozambique were noted for their involvement in their nation’s liber-
ation struggle and particularly for the introduction of policies that were designed to
improve women’s situation. Although such advances for women gained an audience
outside of that country, the internal reality was far more complicated. This chapter
draws on my observation of the 1983 provincial meeting of OMM. I lived in Beira,
K. Sheldon (B)
UCLA Center for the Study of Women, Los Angeles, USA
e-mail: ksheldon@ucla.edu
10 K. Sheldon
Mozambique, for two years in the early 1980s pursuing research on urban working
women. I had mostly informal interactions with OMM during that time and when I
returned for briefer visits over the following fifteen years.1
This chapter begins with a brief introduction to women and socialist politics in
Mozambique and the history of OMM and Frelimo. Frelimo had originally been
the anti-colonial organization, Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Mozambican
Liberation Front), founded in the early 1960s. Frelimo negotiated its position as
the government of independent Mozambique after a coup in Portugal in April 1974
ended decades of fascist dictatorship there and centuries of colonialism in Africa
(other Portuguese colonies were Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé
e Príncipe).
The main body of the chapter then describes the 1983 conference, including
discussion during the meeting and how the proceedings were reported in the press.
There were several levels of political communication in evidence. The primary focus
of this analysis is the detailed debates held in small group discussions that formed the
greater part of the meeting time. The official perspective of Frelimo and OMM was
seen in the keynote speeches made by provincial and national leaders and reported
extensively in the local newspapers. Interspersed with the talking in the plenary
gatherings and small groups were frequent choruses of political songs, which usually
expressed national political viewpoints.
Portuguese, the official language of Mozambique, was used in all official gath-
erings. But, the use of Portuguese reflected Frelimo’s goals of unifying a country
marked by many different ethnic groups and local languages. Only a small percent-
age of Mozambicans were fluent in Portuguese, women were more likely than men
to have limited comprehension, and most rural Mozambicans in the early years of
independence were not at ease in the colonial language. Nonetheless, many Mozam-
bicans had some fluency, and it was evident that there were two levels, one which
approximated European Portuguese usage, and another, sometimes called Mozambi-
can Portuguese, that incorporated local words and phrases into a somewhat simplified
version of that language.2
The discussion was multi-directional and was influential at different levels of con-
sciousness and policy. The women and men in the small group directly interacted
during the discussion, and members of the group were encouraged to express their
own views of the issues being debated. Their comments also reached the national
leadership of both the women’s organization and the government, though with lim-
ited results in policy. A final national document entirely omitted some controversial
issues, while sidestepping others with calls for further discussion. The intersections
and disjunctions of official policy and the analysis by the women in attendance pro-
vide some insight into political communication about issues perceived as relevant
mainly to women in the early years of independence in socialist Mozambique.
1 Forfurther background and discussion of OMM’s activities and politics, see Sheldon (2002).
2 Darch and Hedges (2013), provides a detailed investigation of Mozambican Portuguese and the
uses of political rhetoric as viewed through the analysis of a single speech. An expanded version
was published in Portuguese, Darch et al. (2018).
“Down with Bridewealth!” The Organization of Mozambican … 11
Women, Socialism, and “Traditional” Practices
Women were prominent in the Mozambican struggle for independence from Portugal
in the 1960s and early 1970s. The development of a nationalist and then socialist
analysis of Mozambican experience included addressing aspects of women’s oppres-
sion, with a focus on marital practices in African societies as well as the additional
burdens faced under Portuguese colonialism. The official assessment of women’s
situation recognized the convergence of practices by male family members that kept
women subjugated and the added demands of Portuguese colonialism that deepened
women’s oppression. Women’s involvement in the struggle brought more attention
to women and gender within Frelimo and shifted the debate slightly to include their
interests, though they rarely gained everything they hoped they would.
The integration of women into socialist theory and practice has been a troubled
effort, as many writers and activists have attested. In the 1980s and 1990s, scholars
debated the contradictory concepts that women would have advantages in socialist
societies, while simultaneously recognizing limitations in Marxist theory concerning
gender. As the number of nations identified as socialist decreased in the world,
such debates have also declined, and this chapter will not revisit those once-fierce
disputes.3
OMM was established by a decree from the Frelimo Central Committee in Decem-
ber 1972 with the aim of bringing women into the work of developing a liberated
Mozambique.4 The resolution concerning OMM stated that the emancipation of
women was a priority, with an emphasis on mobilizing “the abilities of Mozambican
women in the service of the struggle against Portuguese colonialism, and also put an
end to discriminatory and exploitative practices of traditional and colonial society.”5
Structured by Frelimo as an arm of Frelimo, the document announcing OMM’s
formation made the relationship between them very clear: “To liberate herself, a
woman must assume and creatively live the political line of FRELIMO.”6 OMM was
“a member of a harmonious body in our revolutionary family,” with the responsibility
of carrying out tasks given them by Frelimo. As OMM’s own statutes stated, its
mission was “to guarantee the implementation of women’s emancipation as defined
by the Frelimo Party,” and to mobilize women “in accordance with the directives and
watchwords of the Frelimo Party which orients the activities of OMM.”7 The origins
3 For an overview and diverse interpretations, see Chap. 4 of Sheldon, Pounders of Grain. Other
sources include Tétreault (1994), Kruks et al. (1989), Molyneux (1981, 1984).
4 Further detail on OMM’s history and on other Mozambican women’s organizations is found in
Sheldon (2002) 119–132.

5 “Communique of the Central Committee,” Mozambique Revolution 54 (January–March 1973):21.
6 “Organização da Mulher Moçambicana,” in Datas e Documentos da História da FRELIMO, ed.,
João Reis and Armando Pedro Muiuane, 311–325, quote on 316 (Maputo: Edição da Imprensa
Nacional, 1975).
7 Frelimo Departamento de Trabalho Ideológico, “Estatutos e Programa da OMM,” Documentos da
3.a Conferência da OMM (Maputo: Tipografia Notícias, n.d.), 7–8.

12 K. Sheldon
and regulations of OMM clearly place women’s issues in a subordinate position to

the political priorities of the male-dominated party.
OMM held its first conference in March 1973 during the liberation struggle.
More than eighty women attended the meeting, which was chaired by Frelimo’s
male president, Samora Machel. The tasks that the organization took on at that
time included mobilizing people to join Frelimo, organizing in the liberated zones,
managing child care programs, producing food for the soldiers, consoling grieving
families, and transporting supplies.8 They also addressed some of the traditional
practices that were seen to oppress women, including forced and early marriages,
bridewealth, and initiation rites.9
Although the term “traditional” lacks historic precision, it was commonly used by
Mozambicans to refer to activities such as initiation rites which were rooted in pre-
colonial Mozambican rural experience.10 Referring to practices such as bridewealth,
usually called lobolo, as traditional does not mean that they have always played
the same role throughout time or throughout Mozambique. On the contrary, there
have been important changes over time and there were regional variations. Yet, many
people continued to believe that some form of bridewealth was necessary to formalize
marriages.
Officially, the Frelimo government spoke about the need to end traditional prac-
tices such as lobolo, initiation rites, and polygyny. These customs had faced opposi-
tion from European missionaries throughout the colonial era, so in many ways, the
disapproval by the Frelimo government was a revival of those attitudes, couched in
new political terms. Rather than calling such rites pagan, they were labeled as polit-
ically reactionary. Eventually, it became clear that it was not possible to legislate
the end of social practices that women and men alike wished to maintain. Many of
the traditional practices were seen by Mozambicans as essential elements in build-
ing relations between people and in educating youth, as well as being a source of
identity within their local ethnic groups. Despite all the speeches calling “Down
with lobolo,” people continued to exchange bridewealth when they married. Accep-
tance of a Eurocentric model of socialism and modernity did not address the positive
aspects of traditional practices nor did it provide any alternative set of customs.
Issues pertaining to sexuality were often seen as outside the purview of socialist
politics, and initiation rites presented a particularly elaborate practice that involved
sex and age divisions and hierarchies as well as links to pre-colonial social structures.
Women had positive memories of the power of becoming an adult woman during
such rites. At the same time, the rites reinforced women’s subordinate position to
men as well as to the elder women who organized the rites. Socialist politics intent on
modernizing the nation could not confront the complexity of that process, but only
denounced it as obscurantist.11 Though feminists and leftists outside of Mozambique
8 Casimiro (1983).
9 “First Conference of Mozambican Women,” Mozambique Revolution 54 (January–March 1973):
22–24.
10 Welch et al. (1985), discussion of use of “traditional” on 61; reprinted in Sachs and Welch (1990).
11 Arnfred (1990a).
applauded rhetoric that focused on ending such customs, within Mozambique that
approach emphasized the gap between rural and urban people, between different
ethnicities, and between those with more and less education.12
Frelimo’s politics addressed other serious problems that women faced, including
forced and early marriages, a lack of opportunity for education and waged work, and
the absence of women from politically powerful positions. Though they were not
always successful in accomplishing the goals they set for improving women’s status,
there were notable achievements both during the armed struggle against colonialism
and in the period after independence. As in other countries, socialism and feminism
did not always make a neat package, but in articulating a politics that posited an end
to oppression, socialism did bring about improvements for women.
OMM held its second national conference in 1976, just one year after indepen-
dence. In a speech at that meeting, Samora Machel emphasized how women were
helping to build a Mozambican national identity by bringing together in one orga-
nization “women of all kinds … of all social strata which make up our country[,]
women of all ethnic groups and racial groups.”13
Though women were lauded for their contributions, the Frelimo leadership con-
tinued to be dominated by men, resulting in gender issues being sidestepped and
women’s programs ignored.
Attending OMM Meetings
My first opportunity to observe an OMM meeting in my neighborhood came a few

months after I arrived in Beira.14 At the end of October 1982, I noticed flyers posted
in our neighborhood calling women to come to a meeting to learn how to support
the upcoming Fourth Party Congress of Frelimo. I arrived a bit late in a basement
room of the Grande Hotel, just down the street from my residence. That five-story
white-painted hotel had never been successful despite its desirable location just steps
from Indian Ocean beaches. By 1963, it was vacant, a dilapidated building looming
over the Ponta Gêa neighborhood. In the early 1980s, it provided housing for military
families.
The OMM gathering was attended by about thirty women, appearing for the most
part to be hotel residents. The long, narrow meeting room was in the abandoned
facilities of the telegram and post office. Chairs were arranged in three rows that
stretched from one end to the other. Over half of the women present had small children
and babies with them. When I entered, a woman standing at the front was describing
the process for making macramé bags to sell as a fundraiser for the upcoming Frelimo
12 Geisler (1997), Arnfred (1990b).

13 Machel (1976), quote on 19.
14 I recorded my experiences and observations in a journal and wrote about them in an unpublished
memoir, The Mackerel Years: War, Hunger, and History in Mozambique, which is the source for
much of the detail in this chapter.
14 K. Sheldon
Party Congress as well as for income. I found an empty seat in the front and settled in.
When the first speaker finished, another woman rose to add her comments. She had
her baby tied on her back with a ragged capulana, the length of cotton cloth that was
the usual attire of Mozambican women. She raised the problem of poor conditions
in the hotel, describing dirty surroundings with no one responsible for cleaning and
maintenance, and noting that there was a big kitchen that they were not allowed to
use. As far as I could tell, no action was agreed upon by those in attendance regarding
making macramé bags or opening access to the hotel kitchen. We ended the meeting
singing “Kanimambo (Thank you) Frelimo,” and walked out to the strains of another
political song.
Songs were a common and frequent feature of meetings. In the meeting described
in this article, I have included excerpts from the lyrics for several songs that praised the
party, the women’s organization, and national leaders, or that recounted events from
the liberation struggle. Historically, songs had been performed in local languages to
critique oppression under colonialism, but the songs in the meeting did not include
such criticism.15
I was disappointed that the meeting at the Grande Hotel had not provided any
political discussion but had been held solely to recruit women to perform a typical
female task in service to the male-dominated ruling party. I left with no sense of
ongoing feminist organizing and no connection to any kind of socialist feminist
group. But, I nurtured a shred of hope, as the meeting indicated that there were
OMM women who met in Beira, and I hoped I would have a chance to get to know
them and learn more about their political achievements.
During the year that followed, I visited the OMM office on several occasions and
became acquainted with some of the local officials. But, I did not learn of further
meetings until September 1983, when a provincial conference was held in preparation
for the national OMM Extra-ordinary Conference planned for April 1984 (it was later
postponed until November of that year). OMM rarely met at the national level. The
preparations included meetings in villages, workplaces, and urban neighborhoods
leading up to larger provincial meetings and then finally the national conference.
The second day of the meeting in Beira, I went to the provincial legislative building
to see if I could attend. As I walked up to the entrance, I met two women who were
acquaintances of mine, one of whom worked as a secretary in the OMM office. With
her assistance, I was allowed in, along with four other delegates also arrived late.
The room had desks and chairs for 110 people, set in rows, and I counted 100
attendees. I saw that Signe Arnfred, a Danish researcher working with OMM, was
also present. All the women wore western dress, and though a few had headscarves,
not one of the attendees was wrapped in a capulana. Delegates were given fold-
ers with the themes for discussion. There were about half a dozen men, including
provincial Governor Marcelino dos Santos. Dos Santos, a leader of Frelimo during
the armed struggle and in the independent government, had been appointed as the
new governor in the central province of Sofala in May 1983, while he continued
15 Penvenne and Sitoe (2000), Vail and White (1991).

to play a national role. He faced severe problems as South African-supported anti-

government forces, later known as Renamo (Resistencia Nacional Moçambicana or
Mozambican National Resistance), were increasing their attacks in the northern and
central provinces.
The first part of the session, from 8 to 10 a.m., was devoted to listening to people
read the themes aloud to prepare us for the later discussion, a common practice
at political meetings where many attendees might have limited literacy. When the
women reading the papers made grammatical mistakes, dos Santos interrupted them
to correct their Portuguese. When OMM municipal leader Maria das Dores said
relatório (report) instead of relato (account), he gave her a little lecture about the
distinction, which clearly annoyed her. Such interventions were embarrassing to
others in attendance, and I was distressed to see a women’s conference under such
patriarchal control.
The papers that were read that morning addressed the themes of divorce, family
relations, and women’s work, as well as reiterating the formal call for the women’s
conference. Papers on such themes as prostitution, adultery, promiscuity, and tra-
ditional practices including initiation rites, polygamy, bridewealth, and premature
marriage had been read the previous day. Small groups were organized for later
discussion, and then dos Santos spoke for nearly an hour about the goals of the
conference. He emphasized that the themes that had been read were not directives
but were a starting point for further debate and elaboration. And, he emphasized the
importance of knowing women’s history in order to understand their position in the
present.
Small Group Discussion: Initiation Rites
The morning plenary was followed by a tea break that offered a snack of white
bread with cheese and margarine. There was one functioning women’s bathroom,
but given the population of the meeting, the men’s bathroom was soon liberated by
the women. We met briefly in assigned small groups. After introductions, the group
leaders tried to recruit someone to be secretary. In my group, everyone demurred
that they had no experience, but when we returned in the afternoon several women
took extensive notes. The attendees represented a range of backgrounds, including
urban professional women and a representative from rural Gorongosa district who
had walked one hundred miles to Beira for the meeting. As we left for lunch, a youth
dance group provided entertainment outside, but they were dismissed by OMM
national leader Salomé Moiane so that the delegates could go home for lunch in a
timely manner.
My discussion group had several men, and to my dismay, they talked a lot, though
their participation did not seem to bother the Mozambican women. I recall thinking
that they should sit silently and listen to the women, but that did not happen. I was
there as an observer, so I simply took notes as others debated the issues. When one
16 K. Sheldon
of the men said that these topics were not only about women, but were also about
men’s problems, I wrote a sarcastic note to myself, “How feminist!”
We rearranged the tables so that we had a circle rather than all facing forward
classroom style. And, one of our first activities that afternoon was at the request of
Matilde, a nurse in the local hospital. She wanted to begin with a song, so we sang,
Pai Machel
Nos a vamos
Defundir suas orientações
Na realidade
Para todo lado
Dinamizaremos
Suas orientações Machel
The song tells “Father Machel” that we were going to deepen his orientations
and political messages on every side in the real world, and we would carry out his
objectives.
Then we sang the OMM song, a rousing anthem, “Levantam todos, mulheres moçmbi-
canas/Tendes a vida, filha de Moçambique” (Stand up everyone, Mozambican women, Take
care of life, daughter of Mozambique).
Our small group happened to have Salomé Moiane as our chair. We talked about
initiation rites that afternoon, and she directed the discussion in an open way that
moved the conversation forward without being restrictive. Initiation rites were offi-
cially described as oppressive to women in traditional societies. In a report from
OMM’s 1973 meeting, the rites were described as having a special impact on girls’
consciousness because of the ceremonial “aura of mystery and religious solemnity,”
yet the primary message was that girls should be submissive to men.16 A 1983 OMM
discussion document presented information on the specific activities in the rites.
While the report acknowledged variations from province to province, the following
elements were described as common: teaching domestic duties; instilling respect for
adults; transmitting rules of hygiene; and teaching sexual education, “in the spirit of
[a woman] submitting herself to her husband’s will.”17 In some regions, these rites
included tattooing and genital manipulation. There was no evidence in Mozambique
of the kind of surgical intervention sometimes called female genital cutting that is
practiced in other areas of Africa.
Despite the official perspective, many women experienced the rituals as a time for
women to gather as women. It was one of the few recognized social activities where
women’s knowledge and power could flourish. An encounter later that year between
an OMM leader in Mueda and local villagers resulted in them recommending that
she, and by extension the government, stop the fight against the rites. She thought
16 “First Conference of Mozambican Women,” Mozambique Revolution 54 (January–March 1973),
22–24.
17 Organização da Mulher Moçambicana, Gabinete Central de Preparação da Conferencia Extraor-
dinaria, “Temas-base para discussão: Ritos de iniciacão,” (Maputo: OMM, 1983, typescript).
about it, and asked rhetorically, “In fact, where is the contradiction between initiation
rites and the Political Line of the Party?”18 The issue was complicated, but many in
OMM and outside were beginning to look for a compromise, where the rites could
be retained but modified, keeping aspects deemed to have value and retiring the more
oppressive practices.
Our discussion group generally agreed that the rites were less likely to be pursued
in the cities, and that many fewer girls went through the procedures than in earlier
decades. But, some women commented that a girl who had not been initiated would
have trouble finding a husband, or the husband might not like his uninitiated wife
and would go to other women. One woman wanted to share her experience, but
had difficulty expressing herself because she did not have the words in Portuguese
and the presence of men inhibited her.19 While it was not common to talk about
the details of female rites with men present, the discussion continued in our small
group. Several people spoke about the common practice of massaging and pulling on
the labia to elongate them (using the term puxar labios), a custom followed across
southern Africa that resulted in longer labia.
One woman from Gaza province gave a graphic description of the process of
tattooing, a form of scarification in which small cuts were made in a design on a
girl’s belly, chest, or shoulders and then rubbed with lotions and ashes to ensure that
the cuts were raised and dark. The designs were considered a beautification practice as
well as an erotic adornment that helped attract men. Many girls looked forward to the
procedure and would choose the decoration they preferred, but sometimes children
would flee from fear as the cuts were made “in cold blood with no anesthesia.”20
Several delegates voiced the opinion that uninitiated women and women with no
tattoos were not real women, as they were not properly prepared for adult sexual
activity. Others complained that urban children, who were less likely to undergo
the rites, did not have respect for adults. Their parents did not have control over
them, and they always played and never studied. The implication was that continuing
the initiation rites would give parents more influence. Participants mentioned that
information about regular washing as an element of sexual relations was imparted
during the rites and they referred to bad odors that occurred when people did not
learn proper conduct. One woman in the group had facial scars as well as a less
common physical embellishment, as her front teeth were filed to points. She was
from the north, and she believed that the procedures would “little by little” fall into
disuse, without the need to have official actions to discourage them. Nearly, every
delegate made at least one comment, and the repartee was open and often amusing.
Salomé Moiane tried to bring closure to the discussion by saying that there were
good and bad aspects to the rites and people needed to decide which factors were
worth retaining. It was clear that the much-quoted revolutionary slogans calling for
18 Naroromele (1984); also see Jossias (1983).

19 Many women did not speak Portuguese, which is Mozambique’s official language. In Beira the
local radio broadcast in two local languages, Ndau and Chisena, as well as Portuguese, and working
women I interviewed for my research spoke a variety of languages.
20 Quote from meeting participant. For further background see Gengenbach (2003).
18 K. Sheldon
an end to the rites had been too simplistic and indicated a cultural distance between
the government and ordinary Mozambicans.
It was not until years later that I more fully realized the value in some of the
traditional practices. At the time of the OMM meeting, I agreed with the Frelimo
analysis that initiation rites trained women to be subservient to men and that they were
obscurantist and detrimental to developing modern women. When one of the men
commented that he believed it was alright for women to pull their labia, I considered
that to be a completely sexist comment, as he was apparently opposing the OMM
analysis of how modern Mozambican women should behave.
Looking back, that comment and others appear to be examples of men explaining
things to women, a practice that was later portrayed by Rebecca Solnit as sometimes
silencing women.21 Christine Obbo described similar situations while collecting oral
history in Uganda, where men would intervene saying, “What do women know!,”
but often women would respond by continuing their version, stating, “As I was
saying….”22 I thought the men were dominating the discussion in our group, or
at least speaking up more than their numbers warranted. But, the women were not
silenced as they continued with their own assessment of these practices.
I came to understand that the rites, which involved a group of girls of similar
ages stroking and enlarging their own labia, were profoundly female-centered, with
a positive focus on female sexuality. Signe Arnfred, referencing comments collected
in northern Mozambique during the series of OMM meetings in 1983, claimed that
those practices were evidence of the importance of female sexual pleasure as an
accepted aspect of adult life. For women, the importance of a healthy sex life was
directly related to their role as mothers. While the rites themselves were specific to
women, both men and women assumed that women would have knowledge about
sexuality that would contribute to a happy marriage.23 The reality was that people
wanted to continue the rituals and they were not going to stop a practice that was an
integral part of their identity just because the government wished it.
Small Group Discussion: Bridewealth and Marriage
The group discussion then turned to the question of lobolo, the practice of the groom’s
family providing cash, goods, or services to the bride’s family to signal seriousness of
intent and to unite the families. In patrilineal societies, the effect was to bind children
to their father’s clan, and to reinforce male control over their wives and children.24
The Mozambican socialist analysis of lobolo concluded that the practice contained
the “idea of domination of the will and interests of the woman by those of the man,”
21 Solnit (2014).
22 Obbo (1997).
23 Arnfred (2015).
24 See Sheldon (2002), 25–27 and passim.
and also brought the concept of ownership into parent-child relations.25 A typical
statement about the official view of lobolo came from Deolinda Guezimane, who
was president of OMM in 1975 when she made this comment: “Society recognizes
that women are a source of wealth, demanding a price to be paid, the parents require
that the future son-in-law pay ‘lobolo’ in order to hand over their daughter. A woman
is bought and sold as if she were material goods, a source of riches … like a slave.”26
Lobolo is more accurately seen as an exchange that recognizes the importance of two
families uniting through the marriage and honors the skills that the bride is bringing
to the new household.
One of the men in our group stated that he wanted lobolo for his daughters, raising
again a traditional practice as a source of conflict between the ideas of ordinary
Mozambicans and the official position. He said that people were still exchanging
lobolo, but they were doing it clandestinely because they knew that the practice was
opposed by Frelimo. In my research with working women, workers in the cashew
processing factory had told me that the government would not be able to end lobolo,
so I suspected that opinions supporting lobolo were commonly held. Marriage that
was just between the two “children” was not considered a good thing; the families
needed to be involved, and many believed that lobolo was a legitimate way to ensure
that involvement.
A further theme for discussion was the issue of premature marriages, which was
a concern because girls’ education was often disrupted when they married at a very
young age. One man spoke up to say that he believed that girls provoked men to have
sex with them, though that comment was refuted by several women present, who
reminded everyone that they still lived in a patriarchal society that placed women in
certain categories and gave them few options. Others blamed coeducation, as boys
and girls met and began relationships without their parents’ knowledge. Several
delegates became nostalgic for the old days when mothers had control over their
daughters; “Daughters were afraid in those days,” as one commented. And, they
discussed polygyny, the specific term for the practice where a man could marry more
than one wife. A marked gender division of perception emerged, as the men in our
group thought polygyny was decreasing while the women felt it was increasing,
though they believed that second marriages were often secret and were not given the
same formal recognition as when polygyny was accepted.
When Marcelino dos Santos stopped by our group briefly the next morning, he
greeted Salomé Moiane by saying, “Oh, the grand lady is here.” We also had a visit
from Alda Espírito Santo, a noted anti-colonial leader and poet from São Tomé, the
small West African island that had also been a Portuguese colony. She spoke about
the family law they enacted there, and we sang a song for her. The song, in the local
language Ndau, was about how Samora had gone to Tanzania, how the liberation war
had moved into different provinces in Mozambique, and how the current fight with
25 Welch (1983), p. 2, published in a revised version as Welch and Sachs (1987).

26 Interview with Guezimane (1976), quote in an introductory section provided by Guezimane, 43.
The language was almost identical to comments made by Samora Machel, indicating that this was
the official Frelimo and OMM position on lobolo; Machel (1974), quote on 27.
20 K. Sheldon
Renamo was not a real war but a fight against bandits (not a guerra bem bem but
only ladrões). In the middle of the song, the group hummed as backup as Antonia,
a neighborhood leader from Beira, read a poem she had written. And, we sang
“Levantam todos” again, adding a verse about the conference: “At the Conference
women are going to analyze social problems that affect women, what are the obstacles
to her emancipation—Viva viva Mozambican women.”
Everyone went home or back to their hotel for lunch. In response to Salomé
Moiane asking, “How is the food at the Hotel Mozambique?” the women admitted
that it was inedible. The delegates staying there reported that they were served squid
that was badly cooked and that there was no salt. The organizers of the meeting
were upset, as they knew that people had to eat well and be well rested in order to
participate in the conversations.
The discussions continued for two more long days, from 8 a.m. to noon, and then
from 2 p.m. to 7 in the evening. The initial reports were edited by members of our
group, and they spent time reading the revisions aloud. At times, the process was
tedious, but everyone was attentive to being inclusive, and it was important that the
whole group was able to react to the approved formulation of the topics discussed.
At the same time, the group moved forward in discussing further themes such as
divorce. Delegates were concerned that the people’s tribunals, where many divorce
cases were heard, did not counsel women or try to reconcile couples, and there was
some sentiment for getting OMM more involved in that process.
Prostitution was viewed as a new difficulty related to capitalism, and male soldiers
were also seen as a problem with respect to that. Delegates criticized international aid
workers who had affairs with Mozambican women seeking the opportunity to buy
goods at the foreign exchange shop; such relationships were viewed as a temptation
for young and poor women. Prostitution was also intertwined with Frelimo ideas
about urban corruption, and in the early years of independence, there were frequent
sweeps that cleared the streets of prostitutes, unemployed young men, and others
viewed as criminals or prone to criminal activity.27
In a discussion about family relations, the women complained that men never
helped with any household chores. A man from Chemba drew laughter when he
told the group, “I don’t do any of that work myself, but I support the men who do!”
But, there was consensus that even when a woman was ill, she could not expect her
husband to do any housework, as the man would sit and wait for her to serve him. A
subcommittee of our small group stayed up until 3 a.m. on the last night, typing up
final versions of the reports, which were then read and corrected in our group. At one
point, the written version said, “There are men who help” (Há homens que ajudam)
with housework, and our group leader wanted to make that “There are very few
men who help,” “Há muitos poucos homens que ajudam.” In a demonstration of the
multi-level negotiation over meaning, the group compromised on the final political
message, “There are some men who help,” “Há alguns homens que ajudam.”
27 “Vamos acabar com a prostituição,” Tempo 237 (20 April 1975).

Final Plenary Session
On the last day, we each paid one hundred meticais (about US $3.00) to help cover
the costs of the meeting, finalized our small group discussion, and practiced our
songs before going to the plenary session at 11 a.m. While we waited for Marcelino
dos Santos to arrive (which he did at 12:20), we sang and some women danced (see
Fig. 1). When he arrived, he immediately observed that it was almost lunchtime, and
he requested a dance, so the women reprised a dance they had performed earlier.
We all sang “Frelimo sings with us, you can’t sing alone” (or study alone, walk
alone, and so on). After the lunchbreak, the plenary session finally got underway at
2 in the afternoon, when each small group read every report they had generated, a
process that lasted several hours, before the floor was opened to more discussion and
clarification.
One response was from a young male soldier, attending the meeting in civilian
clothes. He felt the people should not criticize the Forças Armadas (Armed Forces),
as was done in the discussion about prostitution, but should support them. Several
women said they were simply reporting on real events, and dos Santos intervened
to explain that, “The army must have exemplary behavior. If they are the same as
the enemy, then what was the point of the revolution?” The soldier then rose again
Fig. 1 Women singing at the final plenary session of a meeting of the Organização da Mulher
Moçambicana, Beira, Mozambique, October 1983. Photograph by Mariano Maonera, original in
possession of the author
22 K. Sheldon
to apologize and agreed that it was a problem that needed to be addressed. The
whole process, though long and at times wearisome, represented what I thought was
an admirable democratic practice, with issues brought out for debate rather than
covered up and ignored.
Each group performed songs or made another presentation. Our group danced up
the aisle singing “Machanga,” sang “Samora” and “Levantam todos” at the front and
retreated to the tune of “Pai Machel.” Another group enacted a skit about initiation
rites that contrasted a “modern” family with a “traditional” family. The modern
family sent their daughter to school and had a scientific talk about menstruation and
ovulation, while the other family insisted on removing their daughter from classes and
putting her into seclusion as part of her initiation rite, with a godmother exclaiming,
“Keep it secret, Frelimo’s here!” When the modern girl came looking for her friend
to see why she was missing school, the traditional father said, “Oh oh, here comes
OMM!” The performance concluded as the second girl decided to end the process
of her rite before it was completed and returned to school with her friend. Not only
were the rites portrayed as negative, but it was also presented as a choice between
modern education and obscurantist ritual, with no option of combining the two.
Other performers included a group of women who had been in the anti-colonial
armed struggle, and a final group that sang “A wile mukolonhi” (Colonialism has
fallen) and gave floral bouquets to Moiane and dos Santos. Greetings were conveyed
to President Samora Machel for his fiftieth birthday at the end of September, and
a woman named Lucia read the final document of the conference. The concluding
event was dos Santos’s closing speech, in which he observed that none of the reports
about initiation rites had talked about how those practices helped men feel strong,
though at that time I thought that was implicit in the portrayal of the rites as keeping
women oppressed.28 He noted that Mozambique was in a time of transition with the
“shock” between old and new values, between traditional, capitalist, and socialist
beliefs. He told the women that, “Our job is to create as much stability as possible in
the circumstances.” He also included a forceful attack on the “bandits,” as Renamo
was commonly named at that time, and called for military training for all workers.
That last evening ended at 10 p.m. following lengthy discussions, dos San-
tos’s two-hour speech, and the Frelimo party anthem, “Somos soldados do povo
marchando em frente da luta contra burguesia” (We are soldiers of the people, march-
ing in front of the struggle against the bourgeoisie). When we emerged from the
building, we were greeted by two performing groups, one in yellow and orange from
Mobeira, a local biscuit factory, and one in blue from the Belita garment factory.
28 As Arnfred (2015) discusses, the knowledge women gain from the rites is intended to encourage
a strong sexual performance by men, so that women will have pleasure.
After the Provincial Meeting
In the local newspaper reports on the meeting, Marcelino dos Santos was the dom-
inating presence. The published stories focused on his opening speech, his closing
remarks, and his other activities, almost completely ignoring what the women them-
selves were doing and saying.29 I was troubled by a “revolutionary” meeting that
emphasized hierarchy and male leadership, reflecting my experience coming from
an American socialist feminist perspective where we had been trying (not always
successfully) to develop non-hierarchical political processes. Although most of the
meeting time had involved women talking together about a range of issues and pos-
sible policy options, there was little about that in the published reports, and the
meeting in Beira seemed to represent old-fashioned, top-down leadership. Frelimo
had long used the process of public speeches to introduce and to emphasize the polit-
ical agenda they expected to carry out.30 In this meeting, the primary experience of
most attendees was the intense debates in the small groups. But, nearly simultane-
ously Frelimo was emphasizing their analysis of women’s position and their ideas
for emancipating women in the mold of a modern woman participating in a socialist
society. That was the perspective that was set forth in the keynote speeches and in
the newspaper reporting.
The process by which Frelimo controlled OMM policy became clearer during fur-
ther preparations for OMM’s Extra-Ordinary Conference in November 1984. As seen
in the Beira provincial meeting, discussion topics throughout the country included
both traditional forms of oppression (polygamy, lobolo, and initiation rites) and con-
temporary problems such as divorce, family relations, single mothers, and the general
situation of women in modern Mozambican society. The national organization pro-
vided an outline to guide discussion, though participants did not feel constrained to
adopt the official line. An atmosphere of open debate allowed people at meetings all
over Mozambique to speak out of their own experiences in defense of some traditional
customs, and not simply to criticize them according to official expectations.31
The final document from the 1984 national conference praised OMM’s role in
advancing Mozambican women but included little substantive policy change. In
some cases, such as the controversial issue of initiation rites, the document called
for further study. But, the nuclear family was maintained as the fundamental unit
of society and relations within the family were not questioned. In the convoluted
29 “Moçambique: Frondosa Árvore com Variedade de Flores,” Diário de Moçambique (DM) (9
September 1983), consisted of the text of dos Santos’s speech opening the meeting; “Aprofundar e
Alargar Debate sobre a Mulher,” DM (14 September 1983), described dos Santos’s closing com-
ments. Further articles that focused on dos Santos’ words and actions included “Dirigente de Sofala
Visitou Grupos de Estudo,” DM (12 September 1983): 3; and António Cesar, “Conhecer a nossa
História para Tranformar a Sociedade: Marcelino dos Santos na Reunião Provincial da OMM em
Sofala,” DM (10 September 1983): 8–9.
30 Darch and Hedges (2013).
31 For a preliminary report on the provincial meetings, see Manuel (1984). For more on the national
meeting, see “Pelo Sucesso da sua Conferência, Mulher Moçambicana Saúda Partido Frelimo,”
Domingo (2 December 1984): 1; and Arnfred (1988).
24 K. Sheldon
phrasing of what appeared to be a compromise statement, the document called for

“each family [to] make an effort to create a new equilibrium based on equality of
duties and rights in carrying out the functions of each one of its members, as father and
head of the family, as mother and housewife.”32 Although in preliminary documents
and discussion women were quite outspoken about the need for men to take on their
share of housework and child care, this issue was omitted from the final document.33
The all-male Political Bureau, the ruling group within Frelimo, attended the entire
conference, and observers have suggested that the men did not trust the women to
run their own conference, or feared what women on their own would decide.34
Conclusion
The format of that gathering, with speeches from political leaders and songs praising
Frelimo and OMM, was the standard structure for meetings, with the goal of bringing
people together in common support of the revolutionary project. A similar pattern
was seen in Tanzania, where local government meetings during the early socialist
period served to “present to the citizens the ideals of socialism, the plans of the
leadership, and … an opportunity for democratic participation in government.”35
Despite these apparent restrictions on form and content, the internal process of the
1983 meeting in Beira was marked by open discussion. Participants felt free to
voice their own opinions whether it followed the official line or not, particularly
in the breakout groups that were the primary site for political debate during the
meeting. Even during the more structured plenary sessions, there was space for
individual comment, and at times women spoke up, for instance when responding to
the male soldier who asked that the armed forces not be criticized. It should also be
noted that this meeting occurred during the first decade of independence following
years of fascist colonial rule by Portugal, years when open debate about politics was
dangerous. Mozambicans were not only at the early stages of determining what was
the best approach concerning women, but most were inexperienced in any form of
open political debate. That it was not always democratic and open in the style of
western democracies does not diminish the level of debate that was achieved by the
women who participated.
Interestingly, though Mozambique’s adherence to Marxism-Leninism and even
European-style socialism was increasingly discarded, the typical meeting agenda
32 “Mozambican Women Plan a Strategy for Emancipation,” AIM Information Bulletin 101 (1984):
1–4; “The General Resolution Passed by the Extra-Ordinary Conference of the OMM (Mozambican
Women’s Organization) in Maputo, November 6–11, 1984,” supplement to AIM Information Bulletin
104 (1984):5.
33 Organização da Mulher Moçambicana, Gabinete Central da Preparação de Conferência
Extraordinária da O.M.M., Provincia de Sofala, untitled report prepared for the Extraordinary
Conference (Beira: typescript, 1984), 33–36.
34 Arnfred (1991), discussion of conference on 49–50.
35 Moore (1977), quote on 154.
followed a comparable model well into the twenty-first century. As Morten Nielsen
suggests, such meetings demonstrated a “ritualized recital of the need for collective
progress toward a modernized future liberated from the vices of the past.”36 Though
the purpose of the OMM meeting was understood to be a place where the issues
could be debated, and in fact were deliberated in the small groups, the deeper goal
was also to work toward a national women’s meeting that could contribute to the
nascent nationalism of the still newly independent Mozambique, creating a template
for the modern Mozambican woman.
Historically, girls’ initiation rites provided a female space within a wider culture
that more often privileged men’s actions and voices. Though not an entirely parallel
experience, a similar result can be seen in OMM meetings, where women gathered
to discuss issues important to them and their families. The women’s organization,
though formed as a wing of the ruling party, was able to offer a space for women to
speak out about a range of issues. Despite the official accounts and the limited report-
ing in the local press, women appreciated the experience and opportunity to speak
their minds and they expected that their opinions would influence the development
of policies on issues that directly impacted their own lives.
Acknowledgements I would like to thank Colin Darch, Jonna Katto, and Judith Van Allen for their
thoughtful comments on this paper; they saved me from errors and improved my analysis. I also
appreciated discussing the paper at a conference on “In/Visibility and Opacity: Cultural Productions
by African and African Diasporic Women,” VolkswagenStiftung, Hannover, Germany, July 10–12,
2019, and at a Research Affiliate Brown Bag presentation for the UCLA Center for the Study of
Women, October 29, 2019.
References
Arnfred, S. (1988). Women in Mozambique: Gender struggle and politics. Review of African
Political Economy, 41, 5–16.
Arnfred, S. (1990a). Femmes et modernisation au Mozambique. Politique Africaine, 38, 142–147.
Arnfred, S. (1990b). Notes on gender and modernization: Examples from Mozambique. In A. W.
Bentzon (Ed.), The language of development studies (pp. 71–107). Copenhagen: New Social
Science Monographs.
Arnfred, S. (1991). Lessons from Mozambique. Agenda, 10, 45–52.
Arnfred, S. (2015). Female sexuality as capacity and power? Reconceptualizing sexualities in Africa.
African Studies Review, 58(3), 149–170.
Casimiro, I. (1983). A luta de libertação nacional em Moçambique e a emancipação da mulher.
Maputo: Typescript.
Darch, C., & Hedges, D. (2013). Political rhetoric in the transition to Mozambican independence:
Samora Machel in Beira, June 1975. Kronos, 39(1), 10–19.
Darch, C., Hedges, D., & Machel, S. (2018). Retórica política e indepenência em Moçambique.
EDUFBA: Salvador, Brasil.
Geisler, G. (1997). Women are women or how to please your husband: Initiation ceremonies and
the politics of ‘tradition’ in southern Africa. African Anthropologist, 4(1), 92–128.
36 Nielsen (2017), quote on p. 142.

26 K. Sheldon
Gengenbach, H. (2003). Boundaries of beauty: Tattooed secrets of women’s history in Magude

District, southern Mozambique. Journal of Women’s History, 14(4), 106–141.
Guezimane, D. (1976). Fazer do lar explorado uma célula do combate revolucionário. Tempo, 287,
42–46.
Jossias, L. (1983, December). Ritos de iniciação: Aspectos positivos devem ser valorizados.
Notícias.
Kruks, S., Rapp, R., & Young, M. B. (1989). Promissory notes: Women in the transition to socialism.
New York: Monthly Review Press.
Machel, S. (1974). The liberation of women is a fundamental necessity for the revolution. In S.
Machel (Ed.), Mozambique: Sowing the seeds of revolution (pp. 21–36). London: Committee for
Freedom in Mosambique, Angola and Guinee.
Machel, S. (1976). A mulher conquista a sua emancipação através do combate na frente da luta de
classes. Tempo, 322, 18–25.
Manuel, F. (1984). Problemas da mulher: Para além das aparências. Tempo, 694, 14–17.
Molyneux, M. (1981). Socialist societies old and new: Progress towards women’s emancipation?
Feminist Review, 8, 1–34.
Molyneux, M. (1984). Women in socialist societies: Problems of theory and practice. In K. Young,
C. Walkowitz, & R. McCullagh (Eds.), Of Marriage and the Market (2d ed., pp. 55–90). London:
Routledge.
Moore, S. F. (1977). Political meetings and the simulation of unanimity: Kilimanjaro, 1973. In S.
F. Moore & B. G. Myerhoff (Eds.), Secular ritual. Amsterdam: Van Gorcum.
Naroromele, A. (1984, April). Ritos de iniciação: Qual é a contradição? Domingo.
Nielsen, M. (2017). Ideological twinning: Socialist aesthetics and political meetings in Maputo,
Mozambique. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 23(S1), 138–152.
Obbo, C. (1997). What do women know? … As I was saying! In K. M. Vaz (Ed.), Oral narrative
research with black women (pp. 41–63). Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage.
Penvenne, J. M., & Sitoe, B. (2000). Power, poets and the people: Mozambican voices interpreting
history. Social Dynamics, 26(2), 55–86.
Sachs, A., & Welch, G. H. (1990). Liberating the law: Creating popular justice in Mozambique
(pp. 64–85). London: Zed Books.
Sheldon, K. (2002). Pounders of grain: A history of women, work, and politics in Mozambique.
Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.
Solnit, R. (2014). Men explain things to me. Chicago, III: Haymarket.
Tétreault, M. A. (1994). Women and revolution in Africa, Asia, and the New World. Columbia:
University of South Carolina Press.
Vail, L., & White, L. (1991). The possession of the dispossessed: Songs as history among Tumbuka
women. In L. Vail & L. White (Eds.), Power and the praise poem: Southern African voices in
history (pp. 231–277). Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
Welch, G. H. (1983). “Lobolo” (Tese de Licenciatura, Faculdade de Direito, Universidade Eduardo
Mondlane).
Welch, G. H., Dagnino, F., & Sachs, A. (1985). Transforming the foundations of family law in the
course of the mozambican revolution. Journal of Southern African Studies, 12(1), 60–74.
Welch, G. H., & Sachs, A. (1987). The bride price, revolution, and the liberation of women.
International Journal of the Sociology of Law, 15, 369–392.
Women of Marikana in the Media:
Decolonial Analysis of Gendered
Representations
Dikeledi A. Mokoena
Introduction
In this chapter, I am looking at the ways in which the South African media represented
the women of Marikana from August 2012 when violent protests begun and mainly
during the first year of the Marikana commission also known as the Farlam com-
mission. Its proceedings began on 1 October 2012 at a community hall in the North
West Province of South Africa where one of the biggest platinum producing, London-
rooted mining company operates alongside impoverished communities. However, the
commission later moved to Pretoria without least controversy and lamentation from
affected families and the community. The commission investigated the deaths of 44
people during the longest protracted strike in the South African mining sector against
the earlier mentioned company called Lonmin. The commission also investigated
the culpability of the South African police force, the role of mineworkers in the
deaths of others, the role of trade unions in the deadly unrest including the influence
of political figures in the tragedy that took place in one of South Africa’s biggest
economic sectors. The chapter assesses the implication on the political citizenry of
the women located in the socio-economic margins of the South African economic
sector.
I endeavour to understand the intersections of race, class and gendering processes
subsumed within politics of media framing and offer decolonial accounts.
[D]ecoloniality refers to efforts at rehumanizing the world, to breaking hierarchies of differ-
ence that dehumanize subjects and communities and that destroy nature, and to the produc-
tion of counter-discourses, counter-knowledges, counter-creative acts, and counter-practices
that seek to dismantle coloniality and open up multiple other forms of being in the world.
(Maldonado-Torres 2016: 10)
D. A. Mokoena (B)
The University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
e-mail: Dikeledi.a.mokoena@gmail.com
28 D. A. Mokoena
The use of decolonial framework urges us to look at politics not as distinct and
separate from economics. Marikana, as a site of decolonial political economy strug-
gle, anchors the critique against dichotomization of politics and the economy as if
the two do not function as an intersecting dialectic. I reiterate this because of the
entangled relationship between the state and private capital. Moreover, the argu-
ments reverberated throughout the Marikana phenomena are that the labour unrest
intersected with social reproductive challenges and struggles facing communities.
For instance, one of the women named Thembesile Ntshangase as reported in the
media protesting for the release of some arrested mineworkers during the miner’s
strike argued “[w]e are hungry. Our husbands are getting peanuts. We want them to
get R12,500 a month”. Another woman, Vuyisa Mlamli, went on to complain; “We
have to pay school fees, pay rent and buy groceries, the money [R5000] they earn is
too small as a result we often go hungry”. About 100 women protesting at the time
shared similar arguments.
To address the issue of representation, the chapter will entail analysis of repre-
sentation by addressing the questions of who was represented, how were they repre-
sented and what is the meaning thereof? To do this, the chapter presents the results
from various archival newspapers, namely the Star, The New Age, Business Day,
Sowetan, Sunday Independent and The Citizen as well as Mail and Guardian. The
articles were first categorically clustered for a quantitative assessment of the number
of keywords on the articles. The latter part of the question will be addressed using
a decolonial analysis of the content in the media articles. This ought to begin with
the question, was the media representation at Marikana a reflection of coloniality of
the media? Before answering this question, which will be proceeded by exploring
media representations of the women of Marikana, the chapter discusses the concept
of coloniality.
Conceptual Discussion of Coloniality
Coloniality is a system of power characterized by patriarchal, Western-

centric/Christian-centric, capitalist system. Gender, class, race, sexuality, ableism,
language, spiritual political identity among other hierarchies are entangled together
“within a global geopolitical, geocultural and geoeconomic processes of the mod-
ern/colonial world system where the ceaseless accumulation of capital is affected
by, integrated to, constitutive of, and constituted by those hierarchies” (Grosfoguel
2002: 216). Marikana helps us clearly perceive how race and gender intersect in ways
that organize capital production processes. The politics of redistribution is gendered,
racialized and class stratified. Coloniality refers to the continuity of colonial and
apartheid arrangements, structures, institutions, philosophies and culture despite the
legislative demise of colonialism and apartheid. However, it is important to note that
a country need not have a history of colonization for coloniality to exist. Although
Ethiopia never encountered colonization, its incorporation into the global capitalist
system has rendered it susceptible to exploitation particularly of its natural resources
Women of Marikana in the Media: Decolonial Analysis … 29
(see Besada 2017). Ethiopia has also been deemed a vanguard capitalist economy
with exploitative characteristics, particularly exploitation of young people (see Weis
2016). Gender inequality resembling the colonial patriarchal configuration of gender
relations seems to be a feature of Ethiopian society (Women UN 2013). However,
it is pivotal for Ethiopian centred gender research to be done in order to fully grasp
the gendering processes that transpire in the country which has variations of diver-
sity. The hierarchical structures of coloniality intersect in ways that create particu-
lar forms of systematized oppression and experiences globally. Thus, the argument
advanced by Suárez-Krabbe (2015) that coloniality manifests itself differently in
various contexts.
Coloniality and the Particularity of the South African

Mining Sector
Racism is a historical feature of the South African mining industry. Not only
were black mineworkers paid lesser, their white counterparts always assumed better
positions over them regardless of experience (see Simons 1961). The mining indus-
try played a role in the foundation of colonial South Africa and contributed to the
sustenance of colonialism and apartheid. Many of the governments in the western
world, in particular the governments of Britain, France, West Germany, Switzerland,
Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada and the USA in collusion with their business cor-
porations proped-up the South African overall economy by their massive infusion
of capital into both mining of gold and its marketing. Not only have these Western
countries supplied the investment capital to the apartheid regime industries, but they
have also provided administrative, managerial and technological know-how needed
for the efficient operation of the South African apartheid political system (Katzen
1964). The oppression of black people in South Africa and the aggravated exploita-
tion of black labour from other African countries contributed to the success of the
mining industry in South Africa. The capitalist mining industry was also dependant
on the marginal position of women and the social reproductive labour performed by
most of them. The exclusion of women from the mining labour market and the fact
that many of them were left behind in rural spaces supported the exploitative nature
of the mining industry. This was facilitated by the fact that the women, who were
left behind in migrant-sending communities and households, were relying on sub-
sistence farming for survival. The informal subsidization of the low wages through
subsistence farming by the left-behind-families caused minimal pressure on the low
wages of mineworkers (Moyo 2011).
30 D. A. Mokoena
Coloniality at Marikana
The political economy of South Africa has not changed, and the capitalist state
of South Africa has been found culpable in the continuation of the exploitation of
cheap African labour (Wolpe 1972; Magubane 1979; Nattrass 1981). This magnified
the limitations of the 1994 transition to democracy meant to also enable economic
freedom for millions of dispossessed and disadvantaged Africans in South Africa.
The neoliberalization of the South African economy and its integration into the
global economy has also allowed consequential liberalization of capital controls and
financialization. South Africa’s macroeconomic policy initiatives have not yielded
developmental goals in ways imagined, for instance dealing with underdevelopment,
disparities between urban and rural development, feminized poverty, unemployment
and underemployment including extreme income inequalities (Anstey 2013). There
is a continuation of the racialized, gendered, violent and super-exploitative migrant
labour regime of the past into the present (Magubane 2000; Chinguno 2013a, b, c;
Frankel 2013). The major changes within laws governing South Africa’s political
economy of migrant mining are that in the single sex hostels that barred women
from staying with their partners at/near the workplace were repealed thus enabling
an exodus of families to mining communities.
Women’s presence at Marikana brought greater light to the living conditions
mineworkers lived under (Benya 2013; Naicker 2015). Their presence “visibilized”
the social maintenance and renewal of labour force performed by women which
Buraway (1976) highlighted as a necessary function of the capitalist economy. “The
state organizes the dependence of the productive worker on the reproductive worker,
while the economy organizes the dependence of the reproductive workers on the pro-
ductive worker” (Buraway 1976: 1053). Feminist political economy analysis enabled
us to note the interwoven struggles that took place at Marikana within the productive
and social reproductive arenas. Most scholars read the Marikana phenomenon as a
class struggle while scholars such as Benya (2013, 2015), Ndibongo (2015), Naicker
(2015) and Ntswana (2015) brought the roles that women of Marikana played in
what Naicker called the subaltern sphere of politics (2015).
The 2012 strike was not just about labour struggles, the community’s state of
underdevelopment where families live in shacks/corrugated iron homes, without
running water, electricity, housings, roads and other basic services. There was only
one clinic and school built by the company. The company was reported to have
failed to keep its promise in 2006 to build 5500 houses as part of corporate social
responsibility programme. The mineworkers, largely Rock Drill Operators, were
reported to be earning about R4000 per month. There were 34 men who died at
Marikana demanding wage increments to R12,500. For those who died, their meagre
incomes supported over 400 dependents, 146 of them were children. This highlights
the systematic violence of poverty that the mineworkers and their families experience
in post-apartheid South Africa. The mining strike was heavily covered in the media;
however, the politics of representation and narratives were biased (Duncan 2014;
Fogel 2012), particularly towards neoliberal capital interests and the state.
Representation of Marikana and Coloniality of the Media
Fogel (2012) and Van Baalen (2013) shared theoretical arguments about the impli-
cations of representation in the media. “Representation of a political event have real
power, they structure both what interventions are possible both by state and civil
society…” (Fogel 2012: no page). Van Baalen (2013) employed framing analysis
as a tool to show how some selected media text and recommendations on Marikana
reflected elite interests. This was coupled with the fact that in 2012, business sources
were predominantly the primary determiners of the narrative of what transpired at
Marikana (Duncan 2013). This conclusion was drawn from source analysis that
Duncan (2013) did to show that in terms of quoting sources directly, business people
constituted 27% of the sources, 14% was the mine management of Lonmin and only
3% of the sources interviewed for newspaper reporting were workers (Duncan 2013).
This reveals the embedded hierarchy of power and being in the choices of agents
that frame events. And the South African media, largely owned by private capital
(see Chiumbu 2016), has been complicit in silencing the marginalized in the story
of Marikana.
Fogel (2012) had already highlighted that the framing was done in ways that
favoured the narrative of the mineworkers as bad and their strike as a threat to eco-
nomic growth because their actions were presented as if they threatened foreign
investors. Sesanti (2014) noted other newspapers reporting centralized struggles of
the communities and workers at Marikana providing a slight nuance in media framing.
However, his historical analysis of the representation of the mineworkers revealed
the pervasiveness of a racist colonial discourse which presented Africans as chil-
dren. His focus was on the mineworkers and the choice by the media to advance the
narrative of the mineworkers being crazed by a spell/muthi/traditional medicine. He
argued that the negative narrative in the media about mineworkers violated princi-
ples of democratic media platform by placing scrutiny of the mineworker’s cultural
citizenry expressed through perfoming cultural rituals. It is crucial to also note that
the constitution of South Africa makes provision for the right to freedom of reli-
gious and cultural expression. Moreover, ommitting the voices of the mineworkers,
the sangoma and scholars of African cultural practices to give analysis rendered
the media complicit in compromizing democratic values of granting platform to all
parties involved.
Instead, the media reports vilified the traditional beliefs of the mineworkers and
their choices to participate in traditional rituals. This form of reporting speaks to
the aspect of coloniality of being particularly coloniality of the spirit privileging
Christian-centric worldviews. The miner’s decisions were also represented in ways
that regarded them as irrational (Fogel 2012; Sesanti 2014) and consequently under-
mining what Hlabangane (2018) calls struggles for equivalence. This does not mean
there was no contestation in the media regarding the issues raised against the biased
nature of the media. Hlabangane (2018) and Chiumbu (2016) convincingly argue
that the South African media is engrained with coloniality of power characterized
32 D. A. Mokoena
by privileging exploitative relations of economic production. The media representa-

tion of the mineworkers revealed the inherent perceptions of the miner’s worth, thus
exposing the axiological lens applied in media representations (Mokoena 2018).
Hlabangane (2018) offered an engaging critical analysis of the concepts of tra-
ditional versus modernity (which has a violent underside where the workers, their
families and community exist below the line of the human (see Hlabangane 2018).
Graham (2016), on the other hand, offered an analysis of the media representation
of Marikana with a call for looking into the history of rural resistance as a lens to aid
readers’ understanding of performances of resistance at Marikana by the minework-
ers, particularly the elements of traditional practices and symbolisms that featured
in the strike. Building onto the arguments made by Chiumbu (2016) and Hlabangane
(2018), the media reporting in the context of Marikana reveals coloniality of power,
knowledge and being.
The ownership structure of the South African private media reveals prevalence of
racialized capital. This fed into coloniality of knowledge as capitalist world views
are represented as normative and the reporting failed in framing the discourse in
ways that suggested solutions to the perennial inequalities and the systematic viola-
tion of devalued human lives subjected to social death. The narratives in the media
concerning mineworkers represented them as inherently violent and criminal. Privi-
leging the views of the modern state machinery reveal an entanglement of knowledge
and power. The narrative of irrationality echo coloniality of the spirit whereby the
bemoaned traditional spirituality was used as the basis for interpreting the actions
of the mineworkers as a threat. The vilification of the concept of the use of tradi-
tional medicine and the deployment of the services of a sangoma (traditional healer)
highlight the Christian normative over all that is Othered. The questioning of the
mineworkers’ logic also falls into normative dichotomies characterizing modernity
that has become the defining principle of power in the hierarchy of being.
Although Emdon (2016) does not offer a decolonial reading of Marikana, her
research reiterated, with concrete evidence, that the media reporting of the 2012
Marikana massacre was not adequate and that an in-depth analysis of the South
African economy and its labour dynamics was insufficient. This critique extends to
the representation of women of Marikana. Women’s silencing also has roots in patri-
archal mining historiography. “In the days after the tragedy, the women of Marikana
were not supported or visited and they have all but disappeared from the coverage”
(Main and Guardian 2012 no page). The disappearance of women, particularly in
scholarship of media representation of women in the Marikana saga, also reveals
the naturalization of the gendered dichotomization inherent in mining historiogra-
phy and analyses of political economy. Chiumbu (2016) and Hlabangane (2018)
offer excellent theoretical explanation of coloniality and its link to the South African
media in the context of Marikana, however, what is missing in the analytical category
of coloniality of being, which should not be mistaken as separate from coloniality
of power and knowledge, it is instead the gendered discourse of representation. The
following section of this chapter will focus on decolonial analysis of media repre-
sentation of the women of Marikana, thus building onto the analyses provided by the
above-mentioned scholars.
Media Data for the Analyses
The data analyzed in this chapter was acquired from Sabinet reference website under
the South African archived media database. Due to limitations of access, the research
could not investigate other news sources, namely the SAPA database. The selection
of data was through media search using the following keywords, Marikana, women,
widows and families and to narrow down the search results, the author searched
Marikana women, Marikana families and Marikana widows separately under the
period of 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2012. The most significant aspects of
the dates are that they represent the year of the massacre and the commencement
of the commission which was initially thought to only take four months but ended
in 2014. Newspaper articles were purposively sampled. As mentioned above, the
search looked for articles that privileged reporting about the widowed women by
systematically searching using keywords. The selection of articles that were analyzed
was based on the existence of the keywords in the headlines and sub-headlines of
the articles. The total number of news articles was reduced to 20 based on selecting
articles which had the following keywords; widow/s, women or families in the titles
and/or subtitles. There are articles that do not explicitly have the keywords but the
titles link to the three categories. The titles of the articles are; “Mom dies after hearing
of death of miner son” published by the star on 21 August 2012. The second is “[m]y
son, my son” published by the City Press on 26 August 2012, “He was my brother,
he was my hope…” published by the star on 29 August and lastly “Marikana wives
listen in” published by the New Age on 23 October 2012.
A headline is very important considering that most readers hardly indulge or go
through the content of the news article. There are different types of headlines, there
are some that summarize the story while others focus on a specific detail of a story
which speaks to media framing. The articles that had the keyword women/woman
as a headline/title amounted to six articles. Two articles had the keyword widow in
the titles published on different occasions by City Press. Newspaper articles which
reported on stories that had the keyword families in the titles amounted to 10. Below
is a visual representation of the keyword search results out of the media reporting in
the South African mainstream print media (Fig. 1).
Most of the media articles reporting about Marikana with the keywords in the
titles or subtitles reported on the emotiveness of the women.
Genderings in the Media Representation of Women

at Marikana
The women, largely reported on, were the widowed women of the deceased min-
ers, the women who protested in support of the mineworker’s struggles linking it
with community struggles (see Mkentane 2012, Naicker 2016), the women whose
34 D. A. Mokoena
Fig. 1 Distribution of The Number of keywords in headlines

keywords in headlines of
of newspaper article in 2012
newspaper articles on
Marikana in 2012
18%
27%
9%
46%
Women Widows Families Other
husbands were arrested in connection with the allegations of criminality concern-

ing the deaths of security guards, the police and some workers. The reporting also
featured the commissioner of police and the deceased councillor named Paulina
Masuhlo. The widowed women were not homogeneous; they were differentiated by
socio-economic and politicized positioning. Dor (2003) shared Sperber and Wilson’s
relevance theory that averred that newspaper headlines are “designed to optimize rel-
evance of the stories for readers” (Dor 2003: 695). Dor (2003) argued that headlines
have a functional role of optimizing relevance and they also function as a negotiator
between the story and the readers. Dor (2003) went onto explain that coming up with
a headline is a tactical endeavour and it requires an understanding of the readers,
namely their state of knowledge, beliefs and expectations along with their cognitive
styles.
The conceptualization of relevance in the theory refers to the relevance of the story
to the lives and interests of the readers. Based on the search on Sabinet reference
database, out of 349 newspaper titles published in 2012 about Marikana, only 20
had the keywords women, families or widows. Despite Marikana being classified
as constitutive of community struggles including the explicit role women played in
protesting alongside the 3000 miners in 2012, reporting on the women, families and
widows was considered of little significance to the readers. Naicker (2017) critiqued
that
representations of Marikana among some left circles… there is propensity to fit workers’
struggles into narrow and dogmatic forms of class analysis in which race, class and gender
politics can be divided neatly and spoke about separately… The failure to see how workers’
struggles are profoundly linked to community-based struggles places workers in perpetual
isolation. (Naicker 2017: no page)
This also speaks to the media reporting on marginalized women’s roles in the
protests. Moreover, the fact that only two news headlines were about the widows
suggests continuity of negation of women in mining historiography. There is an
erasure of thousands of lives affected by the mining industry.
According to “Death in South African Mines”, an undated study published in
the early 1960s by HJ Simons, professor of native law and administration at the
University of Cape Town (UCT), 36,000 men had been killed in accidents on South
Africa’s gold mines since the beginning of the century. He said that the annual
death toll on all mines fluctuated at around 800, four times that in Britain. In 1956,
for example, the number of deaths in accidents was 816. Some 30 years later, in
1983, the figure was still a high 831. Twenty years after that, according to the South
African Chamber of mines renamed Minerals Council South Africa, it had dropped
to 246 (Kane-Berman 2017: no page).
With so many deaths, including deaths of miners from lung-related diseases, the
issue of irrelevance of the stories of mining induced widowhood requires interroga-
tion, especially because “South Africa has gone from being by far the deadliest place
to work in a mine to ranking near rivals including the USA and Canada for fatality
rates” (Njini 2017: no page). The analytical conclusion of widows being irrelevant
in South Africa and the lack of intersectional reporting also speaks to the colonial
valuation of black lives in the mining sector. The marginalized widows, minework-
ers’ class status and race configure intersections leading to existential marginality.
Moreover, coloniality is a death project because it is characterized by normalization
of violence and ‘war’ (Maldonado-Torres 2016). The reporting on Marikana, par-
ticularly the vilification of mineworkers (see Sesanti 2014, Duncan 2014), is in line
with the logic of coloniality of being where miner’s lives are worthless.
Coloniality of gender helps us analyse the headlines or sub-headlines. The fact
that headlines that had the subject, “women”, appeared six times. For example, the
Mail and Guardian (2012) article titled “Women ignored in tragedy at Marikana”
help us situate the positionality of gendered, racialized and class structured beings at
the lower ranks of the hierarchy of beings. It also helps us understand the positionality
of widowed women related to mineworkers and the relevance assigned to them. There
were only two newspaper headlines addressing them. There is another headline, titled
“Marikana wives listen in: A decision was taken that at 1 pm, a joint operation be done
to disarm and arrest them”, it reported on the presence of the widowed women whose
mere presence was recorded. Though silent at the commission, the widows’ presence
can be read as a disruption and resistance considering the historical erasure of women
in mining historiography. The same erasure visible in the reporting on gender and
the Marikana phenomena, also imply that women do not matter in the political
communication of issues that critically affects their lives.
36 D. A. Mokoena
Gendered Representations, Emotions and Complicated

Dichotomies
The media representations reveal normative gendered constructs, for instance, the
women are represented as wives or mothers. Their womanhood is always attached
or verified by the othered socially normative roles of being a wife or mother. The
relationship they had with miners’ strike is that of gendered extensions as opposed to
agents with relation to the miners who were themselves political agents and operated
in what Naicker (2015) describes as the subaltern sphere of politics. What is evi-
dent throughout the media articles is the representation of the women as emotional.
The articles capture the emotive responses and vulnerabilities of women who have
lost their husbands, focusing on reporting on the deceased mineworkers who were
from Lesotho, thus bringing in diplomatic issues that signalled the imbalanced power
dynamics between the governments of Lesotho and South Africa. This power imbal-
ance can be easily attributed to the partial dependency of the Lesotho government for
South Africa to continue to absorb its labour force. It was reported in the concerned
news article that the
Lesotho Prime Minister said that despite the tragedy, Lesotho’s citizens would con-
tinue to seek work in South Africa because it has stronger economy in the same way
that the US is an economic powerhouse that attracts job seekers from smaller nations.
(Ledwaba 2012a, b: 4)
Pertaining to the subject of women in the article, there was minimal focus on
them and in the article; their role in the multi-layered plot was of emotional beings
in grieve. For instance, as the
Men stood with heads bowed, humming along to a Sesotho hymn sung by women
who stood with heads tilted to the side. They wiped away their tears with shawls.
(Ledwaba 2012a, b: 4)
Another paragraph highlighting the emotionality of the women, Ledwaba went

onto report:
… a woman screamed, overcome with emotion. Sobbing, another ran away from the group
waiting to carry the coffin from the hearse into the house. (Ledwaba 2012a, b: 4)
These widows, reported in Ledwaba’s article and Tau (2012), were widows with-
out expressed agency except to resuscitate the existential abyss of their deceased
and taken-for-granted lives of mineworkers to that of valuable human beings worth
mourning. Loss of socio-economic potential to move up the hierarchy of the
human through increased wages, although they may not cross the line of the human,
the ascendance on class could make the intersections of marginality bearable. Thus,
what is being mourned is also the loss of the project towards becoming human.
However, there is still political agency exercised and demands made, for instance,
Beauty, an aunt to one of the deceased miners named Sompeta, firmly stated “we
want the government to support his parents for life. We would like the child [Som-
peta’s daughter] to be educated up to university”. The miners carried the hopes of
family members to get better lives. Mourning mineworkers symbolically elevated

them to status of political significance, connoted by the emotional support granted
by the AU head and prime minister of Lesotho. The other newspaper article authored
by the same journalist reported on another widow whose husband was the security
guard alleged to be killed by some of the mineworkers. The newspaper title along
with the subtitle (Veiled widow’s courage: One woman is determined to know how
her husband died) granted a different type of political agency to the woman and
highlighted the nuances of Marikana widowhood. For instance, Ledwaba stated:
When other widows stooped attending the [Marikana commission] hearings because of
behind the scenes politics and bureaucratic bungling, she kept coming.
Another article which highlighted that the widows of Marikana were not a homo-
geneous group is the article that reported on how the commissioner of the police
comforted a widow whose husband was a policeman as opposed to the reported
callousness expressed towards the families of the mineworkers killed by the police.
What was interesting with the representation of the female police commissioner who
was brought to task at the Marikana commission was the focus on the violation of
typical attribution to womanhood by the commissioner. It was reported that the com-
missioner (Phiyega) expressed no remorse or empathy towards the families of the
miners who were killed by the police. It was reported
Phiyega’s humorous demeanour changed to an ice queen blatantly ignoring families… Asked
repeatedly as a mother, she had not shown any empathy, tried to comfort the bereaved and
what she had been joking about, Phiyega lashed out. (Hosken 2012: 2)
A clergyman interviewed for a response on the commissioner’s behaviour, he

argued:
Her actions were disturbing. People were shaken. She sat there laughing and did nothing.
You would expect a sense of remorse and empathy which was expected. (Hosken 2012: 2)
Phiyega did not only represent the state machinery that massacred the miners, thus
bearing responsibility at the time she was also villified in a gendered way. By virtue of
her sex and gender, she was expected to embody characteristics historically associated
with motherhood, which is being caring, emotional and empathetic. The politics
of national motherhood were deployed in reporting about the expectations of how
women ought to be and react. Gendered dichotomies were evidently deployed and
the violation of the normative gender performance that the commissioner displayed
became the focus of media framing at the time. There were, however, forms of
reporting that complicated the gendered binary, particularly expressions of masculine
identity performance in relation to emotions. The reporting of the blank expression
of one of the widowed women of the deceased miners named Mmakopano also
captures the normative politics of ascribing gendered emotionality. Hosken (2012)
reported the elderly men who cried at the commission. This detail can be understood
as mobilizing the extent of the questionability of Phiyega’s womanhood because the
footage was so powerful that it created gendered anomalies, that is, the normalized
concept of men as non-emotional.
38 D. A. Mokoena
A “men-don’t-cry” masculine performativity was visible in the framing of men’s

expressions. For instance, Seale (2012a, b) wrote:
A visibly dazed Khuthaza Thukuza hid his anger with the police and the mine-workers after
he had identified the body of younger Mpangile… He threw his arms in the air then moved
to a fence and stood there for a moment, wiping his brow in disbelief.
This emotive response of shock was also shared by the women who were reported
by Seale (2012a, b). In a different article, generic presentation of mourners who
became emotional was used in the other media reporting, for instance, there was no
mention of men being emotional; instead, the concept of family was employed.
“Many of the deceased’s families, overcome by emotion, collapsed during the
[memorial] service (Ledwaba 2012a, b: 6). Although the narratives of emotional
women dominated newspaper content, there were other forms of political agency
that the women exhibited when one analyzed the reports.
The Political Agency of the Women of Marikana
The women first appear as wives but political wives who buttress the intersections of
their struggles with that of the miners. The media article published the day after the
mineworkers were massacred on the 16 August began its report on women’s protest.
The article positioned women as political agents as 100 of them were reported to
have protested in solidarity with their husbands. One of the placards captured by the
journalist’s reporting was the words “we must be respected… we need R12,500”.
In the Marikana women’s political communication, respect is an integral aspect
of confronting oppression and a fundamental element of existential resistance to
subjection. In Roth’s words:
Respect for persons is the kind of respect we have for others in virtue of their dignity as
persons. Given that oppression based on social identity/position functions partly by denying
this kind of respect to individuals, any account of recognition respect for persons should be
of interest to feminists. (Roth 2010: 316)
The women were drawing on moral philosophical underpinnings of respect and

confronting the existential denigration of black subjectivity. Political participation
(by protesting and making demands) is a signifier of conditions for attributing respect
as it, along with the demand for improved socio-economic status, signifies the efficacy
of political citizenry and the quest for eradicating elements contributing to the lack of
political equality. Political equality “helps to secure other basic capabilities required
for treating a person with respect” (Baynes 2008: 2). In addition to the idea that
“one’s race or gender and/or gendered and raced conditions of one’s social context
may affect one’s ability to fully respect other persons” (Roth 2010; 330), class also
determines reception of respect. By demanding respect, the women of Marikana were
directly challenging the ontological, existential structuring that sustains the marginal
positionality of existing below the line of the human under coloniality. They are also
challenging the institutions that create inequalities. Drawing from Fanon’s concept
of the zone of being and the zone of non-being, coloniality configures hierarchies
among human beings. Heterosexuality, class privilege (particularly of those owning
the means of production), geopolitical locale (namely those rooted in the empire),
race (being white), gender (identification with hegemonic masculinity) and religion
(Christianity) are facets that characterize those at the top of the hierarchy of being.
The binary logic permeating modern thinking renders women privileged by race
and class, often by virtue of marriage but oppressed by virtue of their sex and gender
in relation to those classified at the top of the human hierarchy. A white man, under
coloniality, is always privileged by race relative to those constructed as black even if
marginalized due to sexuality. Thus, for Maldonado-Torres (2016) and many other
decolonial scholars, race remains the organizing principle of power and experience
of privilege or oppression. Gender hierarchies function the same within the zone of
non-being/below the line of human. Lugones (2010) explains this as coloniality of
gender where women, largely indigenous, are oppressed compared to white women
whose race intersects with their identities in ways that grant them privilege. What
this analysis helps us understand is that under coloniality the worth and dignity of
those existing below the line of the human is fundamentally denied and non-existent.
The context in which the women of Marikana demanded respect ought not to be
read as a simple moral issue. It was a political protest for justice. This is evident in
their equation of demand for socio-economic reconstitution that would afford them a
life of dignity. Living on wages equivalent to “peanuts”, as one woman argued, was
disrespect because it constituted denial of dignity of persons.
Even in moments of despair and desperation, the women exhibited agentic rage
and politics of solidarity coupled with ethical judgement of the massacre.
This makes me angry. My husband was just fighting for his rights. This shouldn’t have
happened. (Seale 2012a, b)
The resistance was again linked to human rights echoing the discourse of dignity
in the demands for respect. Nosiphelele Mosebetsane (quoted by Seale 2012a, b)
tapped into the concept of righteous rage, her expression of anger can be read as a
political voice that captures the raging that led to the social action against exploitative
income and challenges facing workers as gendered and racialized beings. Days later
outside court, the women carried placards declaring the innocence of their partners.
This act can also be read in decolonial terms whereby their actions are interpreted by
them as politically just and righteous. Righteous rage is a tool of political change and
a feminist tool for challenging patriarchal ideals of conquering emotions. The expres-
sion of her rage can also be read as a political acknowledgement of the permeating
injustices in the sector and an acknowledgement that the defence of human rights
is an attempt to redress existential obliteration of her husband and her by virtue of
dependency due to patriarchy. Suárez-Krabbe (2015) writes about the human rights
sphere as an avenue that can be read as an attempt to confront coloniality. Of course,
philosophical arguments have been made concerning the discourse of who is human
in human rights and such is beyond the scope of this chapter. What can be said
though, is thinking of human rights as an arena enabling activist confrontation with
40 D. A. Mokoena
institutions of coloniality, the women and families of Marikana miners through their
argumentation using the logic of human rights reveals to us their confrontation as
decolonial.
Conclusion
Even though Marikana was a site of intersecting struggles as opposed to a mere

labour class act, the media representations of Marikana were skewed in favour of the
narrow understanding of the market being a space of productive processes exclusively
constituting agents and issues related to the productive sphere. The concerns raised by
women and the practices visibilized through reports have challenged this perspective
of Marikana solely being a labour matter. The media reports on the phenomena
followed this logic which led to the peripheral reporting on women of Marikana. In
the case of actual reporting, there is evidence of engendering identities which the
complication thereof also reveals the domineering perspective on gender performance
in the broader society. The focus on the women’s voices and narratives was scant
but within that limited coverage, we can see women’s political agency through voice
and performative modes of protesting thus communicating politically to challenge
the silencing of women in mining historiography. The silencing of women in mining
historiography and the decolonial analysis of the voices of the women of Marikana to
show how they communicated their political concerns have so far attracted attention
from a few gender scholars in South Africa. Representation is a reflection of societal
structures, institutionalized behaviours and thought processes of societal members.
The media can play a significant role in influencing the ideology informing the
public about the inferiority of women in the public sphere, rather than aggravate
it. Moreover, the important role of the media as an ideological apparatus must not
be taken for granted especially in the global quest for gender equality and social
transformation.
Decoloniality, a framework premised on a holistic analysis that factors gender
as part of the matrices of power. It provides an opportunity for scholars of political
economy, the media and power to employ it as a means of bringing to the fore
women’s political communication in research analysis.
References
Anstey, M. (2013). Marikana-and the push for a new South African pact: Forum section. South
African Journal of Labour Relations, 37(2), 133–145.
Baynes, K. (2008). Democratic Equality and respect. Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political
Theory, 117, 1–15.
Besada, H. (2017). Ethiopia: Natural resource exploitation and emerging investors. Revue
Gouvernance, 14(1), 66–87.
Benya, A. (2013). Absent from the Frontline but not absent from the Struggle: Women in Mining.
Femina Politica, 22(1), 144–147.
Benya, A. (2015). The invisible hands: Women in Marikana. Review of African Political Economy,
42(146), 545–560.
Buraway, M. (1976). The functions and reproduction of migrant labour’ american journalo.
Sociology, 81.
Chinguno, C. (2013a). Marikana massacre and strike violence post-apartheid. Global Labour
Journal, 4(2), 160–166.
Chinguno, C. (2013b). Marikana and the post-apartheid workplace order. Johannesburg: Sociology,
Work and Development Institute, University of the Witwatersrand.
Chinguno, C. (2013c). Marikana: Fragmentation, precariousness, strike violence and solidarity.
Review of African Political Economy, 40(138), 639–646.
Chiumbu, S. (2016). Media, race and capital: A decolonial analysis of representation of miners’
strikes in South Africa. African Studies, 75(3), 417–435.
Dor, D. (2003). On newspaper headlines as relevance optimizers. Journal of Pragmatics, 35(5),
695–721.
Duncan, J. (2014). South African journalism and the Marikana massacre: A case study of an editorial
failure. The Political Economy of Communication, 1(2).
Emdon, C. (2016). The press coverage of the August 2012 Marikana shootings. Ph.D. diss., Carleton
University.
Frankel, P.H. (2013). Between the rainbows and the rain: Marikana, migration, mining and the
crisis of modern South Africa. African Books Collective.
Fogel, B. (2012). Marikana: A point of rupture. Insurgent Notes, (7).
Graham, L. (2016) Representing marikana. Interventions, 18(6), 834–851.
Grosfoguel, R. (2002). Colonial difference, geopolitics of knowledge, and global coloniality in the
modern/colonial capitalist world-system. Review (Fernand Braudel Center), 203–224.
Hlabangane, N. (2018). Of witch doctors, traditional weapons and traditional medicine: Decolonial
meditations on the role of the media after the Marikana massacre, South Africa. African Identities,
1–26.
Hosken, G. (2012, October 21). Phiyega irks families: To cop laughs, jokes as grim footage of
Marikana massacre is screened. The Times.
Katzen, L. (1964). Gold and the South African economy: The influence of the gold mining industry
on business cycles and economic growth in South Africa, 1886–1961. California: Balkema.
Ledwaba, L. (2012a, September 2). Widows’ cries hit home: Mountain kingdom mourns the deaths
of its citizens at Marikana. City Press.
Ledwaba, L. (2012b, November 4). Veiled widow’s courage: One woman is determined to know
her husband died. City Press.
Lugones, M. (2010). Toward a decolonial feminism. Hypatia, 25(4), 742–759.
Mail & Guardian. (2012, September 20). Women ignored in tragedy at Marikana. Mail and
Guardian.
Magubane, B. (2000). Race and democratisation in South Africa: Some reflections. Democracy and
Governance Review: Mandela’s Legacy, 94(99), 17–36.
Magubane, B. (1979). The political economy of race and class in South Africa (Vol. 506). New
York: Monthly Review Press.
Maldonado-Torres, N. (2016). Outline of ten theses on coloniality and decoloniality. Retrieved from
Foundation Frantz Fanon http://frantzfanonfoundation-fondationfrantzfanon.com/article2360.
html.
Mkentane, L. (2012, August 17). SA watches as Marikana burns: Women have launched a protest
march in solidarity with the striking works at Lonmin. The New Age.
Moyo, T. (2011). Extractive Industries and Women in Southern Africa. BUWA! A Journal on African
Women’s Experiences, 61–69.
42 D. A. Mokoena
Mokoena, D. A. (2018). Capitalist crisis and gender inequality. In V. Gumede (Ed), Inclusive
Development In Africa: Transformation of Global Relations (pp. 84–103). Oxford: African Books
Collective.
Nattrass, J. (1981). The South African economy: Its growth and change. Cape Town: Oxford
University Press.
Naicker, C. (2015). Marikana and the Subaltern. Economic & Political Weekly, 50(24), 99.
Naicker, C. (2016). Worker struggles as community struggles: The politics of protest in Nkaneng,
Marikana. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 51(2), 157–170.
Naicker, C. (2017, August 24). Missing women of Marikana. Alternative information and
development centre. http://aidc.org.za/missing-women-marikana/.
Ndibongo, B. (2015). Women of Marikana: Survival and struggles (Ph.D. diss., University of
Johannesburg, 2015).
Njini, F. (2017, December 8). Mine fatalities in South Africa rise first time in
decade. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-07/mining-fatalities-in-
south-africa-rise-for-first-time-in-decade.
Ntswana, N. (2015). Striking together: Women workers in the 2012 platinum dispute. Review of
African Political Economy, 42(146), 625–632.
Roth, A. (2010) Second-personal respect, the experiential aspect of respect, and feminist philosophy.
Hypatia, 25(2), 316–333.
Seale, L. (2012a, August 21). Families travel from afar to identify deceased: A memorial service
and cleansing ceremony to be held at the site. Star.
Seale, L. (2012b, August 28). Women worried about arrested miners. Star.
Sesanti, S. (2014). Marikana in the media: Projecting Africans as the “child race”. New Agenda:
South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy, 53(1).
Simons, H. J. (1961). Death in South African mines. Africa South in Exile, 5(4), 41–55.
Suárez-Krabbe, J. (2015). Race, rights and rebels: Alternatives to human rights and development
from the global South. London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Tau, P. (2012, September 10). Man in the green blanket mourned: Mineworkers, is family and
community hope he can be symbol that changes lives for better. Star.
Van Baalen, S. (2013). Cry, the beloved country. News sources and media framing of the Marikana
massacre in South Africa (Ph.D. diss., BA Thesis, Uppsala, Sweden, Uppsala University, 2013).
Weis, T. (2016). Vanguard capitalism: party, state, and market in the EPRDF’s Ethiopia. Ph.D. diss.
Wolpe, H. (1972). Capitalism and cheap labour-power in South Africa: From segregation to
apartheid. Economy and Society, 1(4), 425–456.
Women, U. N. (2013). Advancing gender equality: promising practices. Case Studies from the
Millennimum Development Goals Achievement Fund.
Women Emancipation and the Politics
of Biography in the Narratives
of Dr. Bola Kuforiji-Olubi of Nigeria
and Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya
of Uganda
Adedoyin Aguoru
Biographical Writings and Women Empowerment
Biographical writings are dominant narratives that describe lives. This category of
narratives consists of personal experiences that are self-written (autobiography) and
those that are written by other persons (biography). Biographical writings can also
be described as portraiture of self or other. The fictional as well as non-fictional
biographical writing became a popular form of the novel at some point, because the
first-person narrative technique it employs enjoyed tremendous success at the great
literary market. That it assuages a lot of curiosity about personalities substantively
adds to its value. Furthermore, Berger (2010), tracing the discursive shift in African
Biographical writings insisits that African biography and autobiography thrives (32).
While the focus of this piece is not necessarily on feminist biographers, Jessica
Wilkinson’s asserts that ‘Scholars have variously addressed connections between
feminist theory and biography writing…’ and this is germane (Wilkinson 2016: 1).
In furtherance of this claim, Wilkinson alludes to Sara Alpern et al. whose study
pre-establishes the restoration of ‘invisible’ women through documentation, which
in its entirety enlarges perspectives of records. Personal narratives in contemporary
times take on performative roles. To Alpern et al. ‘… the feminist revision of the
search for knowledge has sent us to new methods and new places and has encouraged
the haunt for new sources of insight into women’s realities’. (1992: 263)
Dr. Bola Kuforiji-Olubi’s and Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya’s non-fictional bio-
graphical narratives portray certain shared experiences. Born in the same year (1936)
and bred as royalty, the subjects of these works earned degrees in the imperial United
Kingdom in the 1960s: Princess Bagaaya graduating with a law degree from Cam-
bridge, and Kuforiji-Olubi with a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University
A. Aguoru (B)
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
e-mail: aa.aguoru@ui.edu.ng
44 A. Aguoru
of London. Both women served their countries in national and international capac-
ities; Princess Bagaaya as a Ugandan diplomat and Kuforiji-Olubi as Minister of
Commerce in Nigeria. This comparative inquiry examines how biographical narra-
tives explicate the making of female icons particularly in lives that have been robustly
lived. It argues that it enables the celebration of the contributions of remarkable
personalities who thereafter become recognized (where they were initially derec-
ognized) and are ultimately emulated. The significance of backgrounds, educational
experiences, experiences in the public sphere, gender relations in patriarchal contexts
and the eventual emergence of Elizabeth and Bola as female leaders in contempo-
rary Africa and the link between their lives and their socio-political histories are the
kernel of this inquiry.
A cursory look at Mason’s comparative analogy of the four earliest documented
women biographical prototypes written by Dame Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe,
Margret Cavendish and Anne Bradstreet (Mason 1980: 209) typify identifiable fea-
tures of the earliest forms of female biographical writings. Mason, from these narra-
tives, identifies portraits and significant beginnings of women’s histories particularly
autobiography written in English. Mason classifies the four under a distinct mode of
interior disclosure and also describes them as ‘… a set of paradigms for life-writing
by women right down to our time’ (210). From her findings, it becomes even more
evident that women desire to write about themselves as well as desire to have their
lives written about. In Africa, Belcher (2016: 20) claims that The Life and Struggles
of our Mother Walatta published in 1672 is the earliest book-length biography of an
African woman. As it is in the case of Bola and Elizabeth, this self-revelation can
be regarded as a universal crave, a reflection of several other intricate desires of a
woman in seeking to be understood. Understanding does take place at some point in
the biographical discourse as Mary Clearman Blew in Blew et al. shrewdly highlights
the cruciality of being understood in the response of a reader to the subject of her
biography:
Her granddaughter told me. “I’m so glad to have read her memoir because it gives me quite a
different attitude toward Granny. I’d always thought of her as this arrogant, indifferent, cold
person, and now I can see more about her life and understand more”. (Blew et al. 2008:198)
Mason argues in favor of certain features she identifies in these four female
biographical narratives. She avers;
…the self-discovery of female identity seems to acknowledge the real presence and recogni-
tion of another consciousness, and the disclosure of female self is linked to the identification
of some other. This recognition of another consciousness – and I emphasized the recognition
rather than deference – this grounding of identity through relation to the chosen other seems
to enable women to write openly about themselves (1980: 210).
Julian and Kempe privilege the mystical tradition of personal dialogue with their
creator, with Kempe portraying herself as having a multiplied sense of ‘vocation’: the
wife, mother and the pilgrim-mystic. Julian writes as a puritan within the tradition
of the spiritual autobiography, whereas Cavendish and Bradstreet in their narratives
lean toward secular autobiography. While this effort is not necessarily to situate
the Kuforiji-Olubi’s and Bagayaa’s narratives within these contexts, it is clear that
Women Emancipation and the Politics of Biography … 45
these feminine self-narratives portray similar role-play. Udu Yakubu, a renowned

biographer is the omniscient narrator in Kuforiji-Olubi’s commissioned narrative.
One imagines the subject would have, at some point, narrated her entire life as she
did see it before it was committed into writing. Bagaaya’s name in the other instance
appears as the author of the African Princess. She is also the subject of the narrative
who also narrates her life as she did see it.
Suffice to draw an analogy that as in the case of the four different women who
narrate their stories in different ways, the lives of Bagaaya and Kuforiji-Olubi por-
tray differences and similarities in experiences, and the emphasis laid on the selected
episodes is reflective of what is crucial to each of the subjects. Born within the
same period, the narratives about their lives tell stories about the quest of the typical
African woman to be emancipated in many ways as possible. Their narratives are
therefore stories essential to them as individuals, essential to the generality of women
in Africa or the African woman in the diaspora seeking higher educational qualifica-
tion or career opportunities. More essential are these narratives to biographical and
autobiographical narratives of women in Africa.
The contexts of women empowerment, offshoots of several movements, ideolo-
gies and theories are reflected in the entirety of the existence of the modern woman
particularly in Africa. Despite the diverse and extensive writings on the feminist
movements and writings in Africa, the emancipation of women is a common ground,
which is seen as the ultimate tool for the liberation of the woman folk. According
to Miedema et al, Women’s empowerment is the ‘… process through which indi-
viduals attain ‘the ability to make choices’ under conditions in which choice was
previously denied’ (Miedema et al. 2018: 453). Narrowing it down to end in itself,
women empowerment when promoted in communities is potentially endowed with
outcomes that positively influence health, nutrition and childcare. When this is done,
women take charge of issues such as fertility, prevention of intimate partners’ violence
as well as mitigation. The empowerment of women within this context is therefore
‘…a salient measure of social change … and a priority embedded in the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (2018: 453).
As agency, the empowerment of women remains a ‘key concept and major goal
in development discourse since the 1990s (O’Hara and Clement 2018: 111). Strong
narratives linking women’s empowerment with productivity in all spheres of life
have emerged since the 1990s, and these conversations have continued in theoretical,
literary and biographical narratives (2018: 111).
Gender equality, a core element in the empowerment of women, remains
a sensitive issue among the 17 points of The United Nations Sustainable
Goals. Consistently rallying into prominence is the social and economic force
driving the economic empowerment of women. The development outcomes
across nations prove that gender equality is crucial to the boosting of eco-
nomic growth (IMF 2018) The reduction of income inequality and the pro-
motion of economic resilience and economic diversification among nations
has been the United Nation’s ‘… roadmap for ending poverty, protecting the
planet, and ensuring that all people enjoy peace and prosperity’ (2018: 4).
In spite of the progress recorded over the years, gender inequality persists as a
46 A. Aguoru
global avarice, several opportunities till date are gender driven, and women remain
the greater sufferers in terms of recognition, benefits and most importantly wages.
The 2017 Taormina Leaders’ Summit revisited with emphasis, the need to promote
women empowerment, as a vital index for creating sustainable development. The
essence of the effort is to commit leaders to mainstream gender equality and women
empowerment into their policies and strategically tailor the policy intervention to
national contexts (2018: 4). Emergent theoretical positions on women empowerment
conceptualize it as being content specific and multifaceted (Miedema et al. 2018: 463)
In terms of context, it really is an index for marking women’s well-being, ability to
attain their potential as well as a determining factor for women’s health (2018: 463).
This engagement therefore adopts a cross-national examination of the context of
empowerment of two women and their behavioral outcomes across national, regional
and global contexts.
Bonnie Smith’s grandly written historical compendium on the changing lives of
women from 1700 identifies the changes: theoretical, financial, economic, health
related as well as literary perspectives on and about women across centuries. Histor-
ically, it establishes that women have, through determination, enjoyed diverse forms
of emancipation (1989). This is evident in the manner in which women live and
relate with the other gender, or create and recreate cultures. Historically, women
have consistently pursued the resolution of the many conflicts that attend being a
woman. Critical as well as recreated memories portray the interface of disparity in
gender relations. In Smith’s words, ‘Over the centuries the idea of “woman” has
signified something immutable, ahistorical, and constant’ (v). These same elements
account for the multiplicity of relationships, contexts of identity, stratification in,
reproduction, and politics as well as the economics of financial empowerment. The
kernel of this interrogation is a shift from the dominant arguments of the theorists on
feminism and gender issues to the very urgent question of emancipation that makes it
possible for the woman to achieve empowerment and equality in many realms of her
existence and the ever changing construct of the society and how this is narrated. The
significance of the female biographical narrative once again comes to fore. Women
do not inhabit an inaccessible vacuum but daily nurture and influence their contem-
poraries. More significantly, women lay vital and crucial foundation for the younger
generation. Narrating the lives of women documents the challenges, victories as well
as the changing lives of women across generations.
The global declaration of the ‘Women’s Decade’ in 1975 became the turning point
of government policies and program toward women. Mandal (2013) describes the
season as a point at which ‘…scholars, bureaucrats, and governments … [began]
to pay considerable attention to empowering women’ (18). Though the challenges
and realities associated with implementing these policies are hydra-headed, they
evolve around the essence of empowering women, which is to encourage female
participation in all ways. The position is that enabling women to have lives translated
into a higher quality of existence; first for the woman and then the societies they
inhabit (unwomen.org 2017).
Education has been lauded as the most important means of empowering the woman
as it infuses skills knowledge and the self-confidence required in participating fully
in the process of development (UNEPA 1994). Women empowerment thus signifies

‘utilizing’ power in women and girls, so that they can play significant social and
cultural roles translatable in several senses; and an utmost importance to this study is
political communication. The narratives of Bola and Elizabeth’s lives typify women
who have gone through these processes in spite of the challenges and odds associated
with them before these processes became socially acceptable. It is in this light that
their narratives remain instructive.
Tales of Childhood, Education and Womanhood
The narratives of Dr. Bola Kuforiji-Olubi and Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya tell child-
hood stories of growing up, family ties and the wholesome experience of ‘becoming.’
The early years particularly the happenings of the epoch are factors that would influ-
ence their sense of responsibility and the roles the women would later choose and
be called upon to play.
The African Princess is an account of the early years up till midlife of Princess
Elizabeth Bagaaya. The narrator portrays how her royal background and upbringing
coupled with adherence to the mores of the land turn her into a successful, enterprising
and unique woman. She enjoys the benefits of being royalty and an offspring of a
wealthy king. She tells of the abundance of love and affection of her father, David
Dudi Kyebambe of Toro, showers on her despite the fact that she is female. This
instilled a high sense of esteem and self-worth in her. On one occasion as she fondly
recalls and writes: ‘… my father forgot his kingly dignity and shouted my name in
joy and encouragement’ (Bagaaya 1983: 52–53). Her father proves his love for her
by instilling discipline in her, and his position always was that a princess must never
disgrace the Royal House (Bagaaya 1983: 35).
Unlike some royalties who saw sending their offspring to school as a punitive
exercise, Elizabeth was made to undergo formal and informal education, and she was
made to face the realities of life as the father ensured that she studied under the same
conditions with other children in her community without any form of stratification.
Bagaaya narrates how she and her classmates in Gayaza High School had made an
attempt to embarrass a teacher who they did not consider proficient enough to teach
them. Elizabeth, because of her proficiency in English language, was asked to lead
the mischief-makers. When they were found out, the punishment meted out on them
by the school authorities was a three-week suspension from school. In the palace,
she received some spanking from the king who was really incensed and who asked
‘…how could, a princess bring down such disgrace on the Royal House?’ (Bagaaya
1983: 35). This makes it evident that Elizabeth was allowed to mingle and grow up
freely with her classmates and was as happy as an average child would be.
In her narrative, education for her exceeds the limits of the four walls of the
classroom, it encapsulates instructions in skill acquisition, which she describes as
48 A. Aguoru
‘self-help’ (Bagaaya 1983: 33), morals and the totality of her heritage as royalty. She
would later allude to these forms of education as her dominant pillar as she began to
pursue higher studies. At Cambridge, she recalls, ‘First, one’s capacity as a young
person is stretched intellectually, socially and emotionally. Second, the environment
had an effect on the students such that everyone was drawn to excellence’ (Bagaaya
1983: 51–52).
Elizabeth will again refer to sound education as the most appropriate way of
equipping women for excellent performance and self-assertion. While serving Pres-
ident Idi Amin, she discovers a number of the men who were saddled with certain
responsibilities were ill equipped. In one particular instance she observes, ‘The exer-
cise was destined to fail even before it took off. Most of the men were uneducated
and became easy prey to manipulators…’ (Bagaaya 1983: 160). She tacitly implies
that her academic endeavors that earned her degree in law were responsible for her
perceptions as well as her capabilities, which was acknowledged by the international
community when she became a minister. She also describes her training at home
as the source of her emotional intelligence. She did indeed bewail the emotional
straights she was put in. In her words, she ‘…had been brought up never to make
an exhibition of my sexual emotions…’ (Bagaaya 1983: 112). This was evidently
challenging as she did conclude when she was able to loosen up: ‘I began to feel
that I was a person instead of being always a sort of symbol with a public image’
(Bagaaya 1983: 112).
Bola: An Indomitable Amazon is a fuller account of the subject’s life. More
than Bagaaya’s, it begins from her childhood and chronicles, her professionalism
at midlife and influence at work and in the community till her early old age. Bola,
we are told, begins her education in the Emir’s palace in Katsina, where she was
tutored in English and Hausa languages by one of the queens. Bola’s education was
interrupted several times because she lived with several relations who had reasons to
relocate several times and who often gave her enormous domestic responsibilities.
Bola was determined to succeed in spite of the challenges she suffered wherever was
home for her. Yakubu notes that ‘Despite those stressful moments, her performance
in school remained impressive’ (2006:19). The rigorous domestic exercise Bola is
involved in at a tender age kindles in her the desire to be diligent and to succeed.
Becoming a teacher was therefore the first step in a direction that promoted acquisi-
tion and disseminating of education, a task in which she excelled. Yakubu portrays
a keen person who desires to excel and attain heights that were unimaginable at that
period. In her words, ‘I was determined…’
…I was going to try as much as possible to make the most of the opportunities that came my
way. The only way that I could do that was not to rest my oars as a teacher, but to further my
education to the extent that I would be positioned to be economically independent of parents
and family. (Yakubu 2006: 32)
Therefore while her contemporaries ‘…settled for some lower qualifications and
would have been married with children’ (2006: 47), Bola pursued education and made
it to the United Kingdom, where she earned a degree in economics and acquired two
other professional qualifications: one as a Chartered Secretary the other as a Char-

tered Accountant. From Elizabeth and Bola’s experiences, one agrees with Mabel
Evwierhoma that:
…Western education has set the African woman free to affirm herself to some extent in
almost every walk of life, as it is evident in the trail being blazed by several women activists
today. (Evwirihoma 2002:109)
Bola, for instance and from Yakubu’s perspective, has full consciousness that her
qualifications and competence justify and are basis for the appointments she got. It
is clear that her education had played significant roles in the national positions she
attained. For example, she was appointed Chairperson of the United Bank of Africa
in 1984 because she had the qualifications and Yakubu writes that it was unarguable,
‘For it was believed that for the first time a professional economist and technocrat
was appointed…’ (2006: 130). Women emancipation in contemporary Africa has
mostly been as a result of the ‘essence of qualitative education based on positive
mentoring, proper parenting…freewill and determinism’ (Evwirihoma 2002: 153).
Akachi Ezeigbo corroborates this in emphasizing that education is vital in raising
the consciousness of the woman (1998: 15). Education, which is key to national
development, requires a nation laying a solid foundation for the education of its
nationals, particularly women.
Bola and Elizabeth would further allude to their religious faith as another strong
pillar in their journey, Elizabeth writes of how calming spiritual exercises were in
her school days:
In my turbulent frame of mind, the school prayers at the beginning of each morning used
to have a soothing effect on me before I had to face the daily pressure of academic work.
(Bagaaya 1983: 41)
Bola in her case anchors her survival all through the turbulent years: narrow
escapes from death and calamity upon her belief that some divine powers were on
her side and that God had a purpose for her life.
Bola a descendant of a royal lineage continually celebrates her culture and indige-
nous origin and is able to synchronize this with Western education. However, she
understands and appreciates her culture and the cultures of other ethnicities as well
as that of her country where she is awarded several chieftaincy titles across ethnic
groups. As a child, Bola revered roles of the elders and was an obedient child who
would hardly have a contrary opinion to her parents until her very mature years. Eliz-
abeth, we are told, also deferred to her father and later her brother, Patrick Kaboyo
who became king in his stead.
50 A. Aguoru
Maturation: The Venturing into the Public and Political

Sphere
…Bidima’s reflection on visibility in the public sphere in Africa focuses on the

question of ‘representation.’ To him, the indices that should influence post-colonial
states are diverse:
…consideration needs to be given to matters of ethnicity, to how new social classes are
constituted, and the relationship between politics, religion and sexuality (2014: 61).
The contributions of Princess Elizabeth in portraying the dignity and uniqueness

of Africans in the West remain immeasurable. Time and again she proved to be
proud of her African roots and she displayed that home and abroad. She had notable
achievements that brought her tribe and country to limelight. The most challenging
of all was her work in government. However, she always sought opportunities to
display her culture, and one of such was her presentation of a traditional African
drum to the Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset, England, at graduation. Princess
Elizabeth realized that she was presenting ‘one of the world’s greatest inheritances
from Africa’ (Bagaaya 1983: 44).
For the Princess of Toro, activities that surrounded the death of her father David
Dudi Kyebambe of Toro and the coronation of her brother Patrick Kaboyo opened
up a new phase. She integrated herself politically in Uganda hoping to work with her
brother but was faced with the shock of President Milton Obote’s tyranny. Shortly
after the burial of her father and before the coronation of her brother, the Toro
Prime Minister was informed that ‘Milton Obote had arrested five of his cabinet
ministers and Colonel Opolot, the head of the Ugandan Army, replacing him with
Idi Amin’ (Bagaaya 1983: 65). Kwame Nkruma, the Ghanaian President, had also
been overthrown, and the strategic implications of these events were evident. On the
day of the coronation, Obote abrogated the independent constitution of Uganda and
deposed the President in a coup d’etat in Kampala.
From Bagaaya’s point of view, Obote had begun to exert himself dictatorially in
Uganda. He was evidently jealous of the followership the new would-be king was
enjoying. He proceeded to send the kings and their families out of their palaces
rendering them homeless. She could not but state;
Obote was alarmed, specifically by my brother’s appeal to the younger generation so he
decided to strike the final blow. On September 7 1967, he abolished the Kingship of Toro,
Bungoro, Buganda and Ankole (Bagaaya 1983: 72).
The abolition of the monarchy and the disregard shown this institution by the
Obote government necessitated the Princess’s self-exile in Britain. There she actively
engaged in modeling, first upholding the Ugandan Culture, and at the peak of her
modeling career, she ventured into a successful acting career where her engagements
comprised acting and filmmaking. She starred in several films and she was the lead
actress in Sheena and in a film based on Chinua Achebe’s seminal novels, Things
Fall Apart and No longer at Ease.
Princess Elizabeth’s role as an international model was to effectively work as

an ambassador of her nation. Her first modeling experience was for the purpose of
‘raising funds for the eradication of polio in the Commonwealth’ (Bagaaya 1993:
104) which Uganda was a member of. She clearly justifies her choice in modeling
vis-a-vis taking up a career in law which she studied and was eminently qualified to
practice;
My sole consideration in the making of the decision was which of the two careers would
be the most effective way of symbolizing, projecting and thereby preserving the touch of
my black culture… to make an important point, both to myself and to the world at large
regarding my beloved country (Bagaaya 1983: 106–7).
She had what it takes to make an emphatic statement about Western airs of
superiority and she took advantage of it. It is on record that she said:
A major consideration in making this decision was which career would be the most effective
way of symbolizing, projecting and preserving the torch of my black culture… Modelling
was considered a rather frivolous thing to do, and I had a hard time convincing my friends
and advisers that it would help me achieve my goals. Modelling was a means to an end for
me enabling me to make an important point regarding my beloved country, Beauty is not
one’s own but rather a reflection of one’s people, one’s country. It is an asset one holds in
trust. At that time, a black model appearing in top magazines was rare. I wanted to destroy
the myth of white superiority in terms of beauty and sophistication (New African Magazine
2011).
Drawing from the above assertion, Elizabeth’s choice of modeling could be classed
as her way and manner of communicating politics. In this case, her political com-
munication strategy affirms her loyalty to her nation as well as the peoples of Africa.
She equally serves a cultural reference point to Africans in Diaspora.
General Idi Amin on January 25, 1971, staged a successful coup d’etat, which
ousted Milton Obote. With this change in the political climate, temporary normalcy
was restored to Uganda. Amin called for exiles to return to Uganda and lifted up a
lot of bans and restrictions that had been placed by the previous government.
In Kampala the prevailing mood was one of sheer euphoria. Amin had lifted press
restrictions…had invited all the hereditary rulers back… (Bagaaya 1993: 116).
Princess Elizabeth was appointed a roving Ambassador in Amin’s cabinet; this

put an end to her exile and acting career. Her diplomatic career was a huge success,
and without doubt, her academic qualification and professionalization ennobled her
diplomatic relations. This earned her promotion as well as recognition within the
international community and she rose to the level of Foreign Minister. She attended
several conferences where her position impressed a more positive image of Uganda
and Africa especially on matters relating to international relations, and very often
the focus was on the Ugandan versus the imperialist agenda within the international
community. Notable among these was the United Nations Conference on the Law
of the Sea, UCLOS2, fitly incorporated into the political discourse of the African
Princess.
Undoubtedly, Elizabeth’s greatest impact was in diplomatic relations. With a Head
of State that was infamous, Princess Elizabeth served as the light of Uganda both
52 A. Aguoru
as roving ambassador and Foreign Minister. She was particularly dynamic when
conflicts peaked between Uganda and other nations or international bodies, like the
railway crisis between Uganda and Kenya (Bagaaya 1983: 156). Princess Elizabeth
approached diplomatic relations with exactitude. She negotiated within the spaces
she occupied and took it upon herself ‘… as Foreign Minister to arouse confidence
abroad, to soothe hostilities, and to encourage state visits’ (Bagaaya 1983: 166).
Her poise and her capabilities were of great benefit to Uganda particularly because
she was representing a nation that had a controversial Head of State. She was also
particularly eloquent, and all her speeches were marked with great conviction and
persuasion. One of such speeches was the catalyst required in securing a loan for her
unpopular country at the Arab League.
She remained loyal to the Amin-led government until President Idi Amin made
several allegations against her, the foremost being her insensitivity and her unrespon-
siveness to his interests. This led to her incarceration and her subsequently proceeding
on another self-exile until the Amin Government was overthrown. Princess Elizabeth
of Toro through her narrative not only tells her story but also portrays her involve-
ment in the history, social life and politics of Uganda. The African Princess covers
the period of Elizabeth’s childhood through her academic pursuit, career and rounds
off on her post self-exile years and her marriage.
Bola: An Indomitable Amazon essentially portrays Bola as a professional who
becomes a political figure because of her intelligence and assiduousness. In
1976, without priorcontact with the then Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo,
she was appointed Chairman of Ogun-Oshun River Basin Authority (OORBDA)
(Yakubu 2006: 63). President Obasanjo having seen her performance that early in her
career, recommended her to the subsequent Head of State for a ministerial position:
it had become evident that she had excelled in diverse ways in the entire portmanteau
she had been privileged to handle. Her qualifications coupled with her assiduousness
and absolute dedication created more opportunities for her in the public and politi-
cal sphere. She was appointed as Chairman of the United Bank for Africa (UBA),
elected as the first female President of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria
(ICAN), invited to represent Nigeria as a prominent business person at the 50-member
Business Council for Sustainable Development (BSCD) and she was, before the end
of her career, appointed a Member of the Interim National Government to head the
commerce and tourism portfolio.
Bola recorded outstanding results, which transcended Nigeria and affected the
continent of Africa. As the Chairperson of OORBDA, job creation and food avail-
ability became attainable, and the projects she embarked upon provided employment
directly and indirectly for thousands of people. Her administrative activities at the
dam projects and agricultural sectors were areas that provided employment. It is on
record that by December 1979 the senior staff strength for the first time rose up to
72. In embarking on agricultural projects, she had took cues from nations whose
economies depended solely on agriculture. By November 1978, 1450 kg of grains
per hectare of maize was harvested in Ilaro, a vegetable garden and a maize plantation
were set up in Abeokuta, a cocoa plantation of five hectares of land where kola-nuts,
citrus, banana and plantain were cultivated, and a fishery was also set up.
Irrespective of the initial stiff resistance that she faced from the men she had
to work with as Chairperson of the United Bank of Africa (UBA), Bola and her
team placed the bank in the forefront both in Nigeria, Africa and in the international
community. Under her leadership, the bank was regularly placed on the number
one spot in the country (Yakubu 2006: 142). As of this time, the bank rose to the
position of the third largest bank on the African continent and in the July 1986 issue
of The Banker, it appeared as the only Nigerian Bank that was rated among the first
five hundred banks in the world. The bank had begun to show tremendous promise
growing in assets and policies that further endeared it to the nationals as well as the
banking sector. Between 1986 and 1987, there was sharp increase in staff strength to
match the projections of expansion. According to Yakubu, ‘in subsequent years, the
growth had become rather astronomical’ (2006: 143). Her style of leadership created
jobs and monitoring ensured that there was requisite output from the employees. In
Yakubu’s words ‘If Bola ever desired an opportunity … to rewrite the story of the
women folk in Nigeria, that opportunity came as her appointment as the Chairman
of UBA.’ In many different ways she changed a lot of many Nigerian women though
her position in the UBA.
Through her attitude and comportment, she demonstrated that ‘the endowment
of intellect is not the prerogative of the male sex and that women are a necessary
force without which dreams of development would crumble’ (Yakubu 2006: 161).
In the bank, she became a role model and mentor to many of the female staff; she
motivated them greatly toward personal development. She encouraged the ambitious
among them to take up professional courses in higher institutions in the state and
federal universities in Lagos State. Several of these women proceeded as far as
master’s degrees and professional degrees like Master in Business Administration
(MBA). She played diverse mentoring roles formally and informally, prodding many
of those she mentored into professional practice and membership of professional
bodies like Nigerian Institute of Management where she was a first female member
and later a fellow.
Under her, the structure of the bank and the banking industry began to change
rapidly as deserving female members of staff were promoted to ranks and manage-
ment positions previously occupied only by men. At this time, a woman became the
Managing Director of UBA Trustees Limited, a subsidiary of the United Bank for
Africa, and this was also unprecedented. Beyond the corporate world, Bola began
to recreate the UBA public image to promote and accommodate women. Begin-
ning from the UBA slogan which ab initio had been ‘Wise men bank with UBA
and women too with UBA’ (162), Bola practically disbanded the conspicuous lower
stratification of the woman by changing it to ‘Wise men and women bank with UBA.’
The repositioning of women in financial matters was thus greatly acknowledged by
the women folk. Her inauguration of the UBA Women’s Forum was to concretely
promote women empowerment. It began as a customer relation program designed
for and only attended by women but snowballed into the start of a new era for the
women folk in Nigeria.
54 A. Aguoru
The following excerpt from an appreciation letter written to her by one of the
women potrays the level of impact, her commitment to the forum she had established
had on the women of Nigeria.
I wish to start by expressing how impressed I am by you as a person. Your enthusiasm,
foresight genuine interest and dynamic kind thought for the plight of women of this county
in organizing that forum … the revolutionary stride you have initiated will go a long way
into change some aspects of the banking system, not only in Nigeria but in other developing
countries. It is wonderful to have an opportunity for women to gather in such a number and
discuss ways of improving their lot and their financial predicaments … with allies of your
caliber I can sight the dawn of a new day in the struggle for women’s uplift (not women’s
liberation) in the country. I have interacted with a lot of women during the days of political
campaigns. I share their agony of abject poverty. Your interest in the womenfolk is real and
you approach your work with enthusiasm and determination… (Yakubu 2006: 164).
Clearly, the women’s ‘uplift’ in rural and urban areas was the biggest impact of
Bola’s professional life. The UBA women’s forum was an uncommon innovation.
It captured the attention of the cream of the society who also shared the burden
of womenfolk. The then first lady, Mrs Maryam Babangida attending the forum is
quoted to have said:
I pray that you bear in mind our marginalized people, particularly the rural women. You
should endeavor to rescue them from the hands of money lenders … encourage them to use
banks and … have better to access to finance their activities (164–5).
From that point onwards she collaborated with the wife of the President of Nigeria,
Maryam Babangida, on her existing national projects: MAMSER, Better Life for
Rural Women and the Women’s Trade Fair. The credit scheme for rural women
(CSRW) was launched and became the most outstanding innovation of Bola at UBA.
It was the peak of culminating successes giving UBA unprecedented publicity and
popularity leaving popular comments in its trail. Over 120 cooperatives and groups
were established with organized credit facilities transforming Nigerian women to
medium and big business owners.
Locally and internationally the scheme received great applause. For instance, the
African Development Bank acknowledged the innovation and immediately proposed
sending observers to the forum ‘…to gain insights into the “novel developmental
approach” in Nigeria’ (169). The World Bank sent a delegation led by Mr. Jasdiq
Singh representing the World Bank Women in Development Commission based in
Washington. The aim of which was to ‘… discover the initiatives the bank had
taken in banking as it relates to Nigerian women and to identify possible areas of
collaboration between the World Bank and UBA.’ Singh upon his visit described
the scheme as commendable and globally unique. The Canadian High Commission
and other agencies began strategy sessions with Bola seeking collaborations on the
scheme. In 1990, the Canadian Government invited Bola to meet with individuals
and organizations that were willing to collaborate as well as explore other trade
opportunities with Nigeria (169).
Bola’s industry, the staggering management and business image could not but
arrest the attention of royal fathers across ethnic groups in the country several of
whom gave her titles commensurate to her industry. Oba Yesufu Ashanike, the
Olubadan of Ibadan in Oyo State conferred her with a prestigious title; Asiwaju
Iyalaje of Ibadanland literally meaning ‘the Leader of Businesswomen in Ibadan-
land.’ The Governor of Oyo State in his good will message on her installation cere-
mony remarked that he had followed her successes and enviable achievements in the
business world, which he claimed, made him proud of her. He specifically referred
to her contributions to the economic and social transformation and her comportment
and carriage which in his words ‘… contributed immensely in giving the women folk
in the country a new image which is doing our great country proud’ (171–2). Oba
Sikiru Adetona, the Awujale of Ijebuland, installed her Otunba Ayora of Ijebuland.
The Alake of Egbaland also installed her as the first Suada Egba. Notable Kings in
Calabar and Imo and Cross River states conferred three other titles in recognition of
her impact on the society in rapid succession (171 and 172).
It is intriguing that she remains humble despite her significant contributions. Bola
is quoted to have said:
My tenure as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the United Bank for Africa (UBA)
stands out as the golden opportunity for the employment and the crystallization of knowledge
acquired in all my professional pursuits and perfected by real life and work experiences (173).
One is also impressed that she regards the awesome responsibilities she bore as
a golden opportunity, which she seized to contribute to the success of her society.
Irrespective of her posture, Bola had become a voice in the Nigerian economic
sector and beyond. The media engaged her and used her opinion as headlines in
contentious issues. The media sought her opinion, and international bodies and other
governments also sought her opinions. For examples, the Daily Times of September
30, 1985, reported Bola’s view on the contentious IMF loan in a caption, ‘IMF is
Way Out.’ She had contacts with visiting Canadian business people to Nigeria and
provided them with answers to specific issues that concerned them.
Bola was unanimously elected 25th President of Institute of Chartered Accoun-
tants of Nigeria (ICAN). As the first woman to occupy that position in the history
of the institute, her mission statement was crisp and to the point:
I will continue to acquit myself creditably and relentlessly for professional excellence and
greater achievement for the Institute and mankind in general, while making contributions to
the nation’s economic recovery (182–3).
Bola being result oriented swung into action; as the president of ICAN, she was
expected to be the forerunner in protecting the interest of the body and she did. Under
her leadership, ICAN accomplished a lot, and it ensured that down to the grassroots
level of government officials was sanitized about economic and financial ethics.
Other significant appointments that she graciously bore include the representative of
Nigeria on the 50-member Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD)
based in Switzerland and membership of the Interim National Government. She
performed excellently in the 50-member council, and this made room for her in the
United Nations among other societies. Bola took advantage of these platforms to
promote Nigeria and Africa and was indeed a worthy ambassador in all regards. She
56 A. Aguoru
time and again impressed it upon the G8 in particular to have relationships that will
be beneficial to the Third World countries.
Bola continually forged ahead despite the political instability in her country. One
would, in fact, see her as a stabilizing influence in the political economy of Nigeria
particularly during the military era. After the June 12, 1993 crisis, Bola was appointed
a Member of the Interim National Government, and she was assigned to commerce
and tourism. The contradictions the ING constituted notwithstanding, Bola proved
her ‘faith in one nation’ by accepting the national assignment and put in her best until
the government was overthrown by another coup de etat. Her dedication portrays the
will of an individual in driving a national course and not ethnic ideologies.
The successes of Elizabeth and Bola in many regards enabled other women to
envision the capabilities inherent in women, thus assuming their rightful places within
their societies, which had not trusted women with such responsibilities ab initio. The
subsequent years witnessed pressures to allow equal opportunities to women from
the grassroot to the government and from the private to the public spheres narratives
of whom ought also to be documented for posterity.
Suffice to quote Bidima’s perspective on the politics of narrative:
The notion of narrative is important for the constitution of the democratic sphere because to
be subject to law is to see oneself defined by a word: that which separates, and that which
accompanies and reconciles. Moreover, democracy is above all a narrative, as it is there
that the subject speaks, and narrates the arrival of the law, discord and connection… to say
and to narrate in a free space is the foundational stories of democracy–though not without
handicaps and imperfections… (2014: 75).
Press Battles and Images of Bola and Elizabeth in the Media
Bola and Elizabeth‘s greatest moments were documented by the press. Though not as
influential and penetrative as the social media and other forms of media in contempo-
rary times, the media outfits, particularly the print media concurrently documented
factual and notional impressions about the women most especially because of the
groundbreaking and path-finding roles they played in their generation. They osten-
sibly captured the moments and were sharp responses to the audacity of courage
exhibited by Bola and Elizabeth.
The male dominated media, being an influential source of information and com-
munication, truly reflected the patriarchal influence of the generation on female
activities. The role the media played in providing information for the general public
and also publicizing public opinions is therefore dominant in reportage on Bola and
Elizabeth. For instance, Bola who had played unprecedented roles in her country as a
woman could never escape the scrutiny of the media. The media was instrumental in
publicizing her feat. The media reported her achievements with admiration because
she surpassed the limits the society had placed on women and womenfolk. Headlines
of the reportage include: ‘Lady Succeeds Expatriate as Boss of a Firm,’ ‘Nigerian
Woman Appointed MD’ (Yakubu 2006: 64), ‘A Woman Industrialist and Chairman
of the United Bank of Africa…’ (Yakubu 2006: 154) and ‘Achievement for Nigerian
Womanhood’ (Yakubu 2006: 59).
Very often the media was used to slander her and report the challenges she had in
her marriages. One of her ex-husbands gave a magazine a full interview about living
with her as her husband. Bola just like her global counterparts had to contend with
diverse societal notions and opinions sponsored and promoted largely through the
media. It definitely was a source of discouragement particularly to women treading
‘men’s path.’
In Princess Elizabeth’s case, we find a similar context. There were two major
allegations against her by several magazines and newspapers across Europe. First,
they had alleged that she was expecting a baby when she had not even got married.
The second was the circulation of the photograph of a nude model posing. This image
made the rounds as her image in spite of her claim that she was not the model. To
Elizabeth, propaganda ‘…repeated often enough…takes a ring of truth, at least in
the mind of the public’ (Bagaaya 1993: 208). Princess Bagaaya’s vindication was
that all the allegations were found to be baseless, and apologies had to be printed in
newspapers and said in the open court.
These women used their lives in portraying the African womenfolk in a new
light. Their expressions of boldness and audacity to pursue have given impetus to
the African woman of their age and in contemporary life.
Conclusion
Non-fictional biographical writings have the wherewithal of assuaging the curiosity

of people about persons regarded as enigmas and icons. Uncannily, it unravels how
a person, and in this case, the womenfolk is able to perform feats. Blew et al. (2008)
affirm that most people hold a popular opinion that ‘if that person was able to get
from one end of life to the other, there is hope for [them] me in the end’ (196). In
her opinion, the fact that a subject got from one end of the day to the next, managed,
survived, absorbed blows, picked up and went on typifies what the biography narrates.
She therefore concludes that ‘…biography gives us hope.’
Biographical narratives especially that of ordinary people lends even more under-
standing and gives more hope. The other angle is the role it plays, an important media
and medium of documenting and preserving narratives of the lives of persons who
lived remarkable lives; who were famous in their lifetime and whose significance
and memory have faded. Biographical narratives, particularly narratives of women,
bring individuals and their significance back to life reinforcing the significance of
their personalities and the contributions to the period in which they lived. This also
makes the narratives sociological. Biographers also do the service of pushing specific
subjects to the reading audience. Researching about a life and writing about person
does suggest that they are important in very many ways.
58 A. Aguoru
The drive behind women emancipation in Africa is to enable women engage their
freewill. The patriarchal society necessarily made up of families and communities
impose patriarchy as a way of life, suppress women and deny them of their rights. The
responses to these challenges portrayed in the lives of these two African women have
to a certain extent engendered the gradual eradication of gender-based prejudices at
all levels of social stratification, largely due to the veritable catalyst of sound edu-
cation. Ultimately, biographical narratives of women in public spaces have hitherto
not been situated largely within feminist perspectives of political communication in
Africa and would be hoped to be engaged as such henceforth.
References
Abraham, C. (2011). Elizabeth Bagaya – The Princess who stole the heart of the west. New African
magazine.
Alpern, S., Antler, Joyce, Elizabeth, Isreals Perry, & Scobie, Ingrid Winther (Eds.). (1992). The
challenge of feminist biography: Writing the lives of modern American women. Ubarna: University
of Illinois.
Bagaaya, E. (1983). African princess: the story of Elizabeth of Toro. Ibadan: Spectrum Books Ltd.
Berger, R. A. (2010). Decolonizing African autobiography. In Research in African literatures (Vol
41, No 2).
Belcher, W. L. (2016). Same-sex intimacies in the early African text. Gadla Walatta Petros (1672):
Queer reading and Ethiopian woman saint. In Research in African literatures (Vol 47, No 2).
Bidima, J.-G. (2014). Aesthetic perception and the critique of emblems: The politics of the visible
in the public sphere in Africa. Diogenes, 60, 69–77.
Blew, M. C., Bloomfield S. G., Graulich, M., & Temple J. N. (2008). Writing women’s biographies:
Processes, challenges, rewards in Western American literature (Summer).
Evewirioma, M. (2002). Female empowerment and dramatic creativity in Nigeria. Ibadan: Caltop
Publications.
Ezeigbo, A. (1998). We need Lingua Franca. In New Nigeria on Sunday. Lagos.
International Monetary Fund. (2018). Pursuing women’s economic empowerment. Washington D.C.
Mandal, K. C. (2013). International forum for teaching and studies (Vol 9. Issue 2, pp. 18–31).
Mason, M. G. (1980). The other voice: Autobiographies of women writers. In J. Olney (Ed.),
Autobiography essays theoretical and critical.
Miedema, S. S., Haardörfer, R., Girard, A. W., & Yount, K. M. (2018). Women’s empowerment
in East Africa: Development of a cross-country comparable measure. World Development, 110,
453–464.
O’Hara, C., & Floriane Clement, F. (2018). Power as agency: A critical reflection on the mea-
surement of women’s empowerment in the development sector. World Development, 106,
111–123.
Smith, B. G. (1989). Changing lives; women in European history since 1700. Massachusetts: D.C
Heath and Company.
The United Nations sustainable development goals. (2018). Morgan advanced materials
UNFPA. (1994). Women empowerment (Issue 7). Cairo: United Nations Population Fund. (UNFPA).
Wilkinson, J. (2016). Experiments in poetic biography: Feminist threads in contemporary long form
poetry. Biography, 39(1), 1–22.
Yakubu, U. (2006). Bola: An indomitable Amazon. Lagos: Academy.
On Line Resources
Women empowerment. https://www.quora.com.

ZANU–PF Women’s League
and the (Re)configuration of Political
Power in Influencing Succession Politics
in Zimbabwe
Lungile Augustine Tshuma
Introduction
There has been a plethora of studies looking at the intersection between women and
politics in Zimbabwe (Christiansen 2007; Gaidzanwa 2004; Lyons 1999). Politics has
been regarded as masculine in nature with women being relegated to the private sphere
(Musengezi and McCartney 2000; Campbell 2003; Chadya 2003; Rooney 1991).
While the available body of knowledge has looked at the involvement of women in
politics, there is arguable few if not none studies looking at how the various bodies
of women organisations play an active role in influencing political processes. Africa
has a peculiar political organisation where political parties have internal women’s
organisation which advances their (women) interest. As such, politically, women’s
league acts as internal party pressure groups that advance women’s interest and such
an organisation is crucial in that they determine how the party is to be organised and
who can be elected into certain positions. In Zimbabwe, the ruling party ZANU–PF1
has a women’s league which has since during the early days of the liberation struggle
been voice of the women (Nhongo-Simbanegavi 2000; Tshuma 2017). This study
seeks to look at this under-researched area by assessing means the women’s league
use to influence political processes. This study is mainly located in the succession
politics that rocked ZANU–PF as the party sought to find a candidate to succeed
the late Robert Mugabe who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years before he resigned in
1 Zanu–PF (Zimbabwe African national union patriotic front) is the Zimbabwe’s ruling party. Its
leader is Emmerson Mnangagwa. The party has got three organs, the main wing, youth league and
the women’s league which is the subject of discussion.
L. A. Tshuma (B)
Department of Journalism, Film and Television, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg,
South Africa
e-mail: tshumalungile@gmail.com
62 L. A. Tshuma
November 2017.2 This study examines different strategies that the party’s women’s
league used to influence the outcome.
This chapter views the succession war within ZANU–PF that culminated to the
fall of Mugabe as a cornerstone in the country’s historical episode as the conflict is
decorated by the influence of the women’s league which was led by Grace Mugabe
(the country’s former First Lady). Zimbabwe’s history has well documented the roles
of women in politics with earliest heroines being Queen Lozikheyi who led the Nde-
bele nation after the demise of King Lobengula. She was regarded as “dangerous and
intriguing woman” (Clarke and Nyathi 2010: 143). Mbuya Nehanda is also another
heroine who influenced people especially under the Shona nation to rebel against
the colonial rule. Contemporary politics and its researchers have looked at how
Mugabe and his ZANU–PF have been cementing their grip into power (Muzondidya
2009; Raftopoulos 2006; Makumbe 2005) leading to what others have also called
Mugabeism (Ndlovu-Gatsheni 2009, 2015); praise text (Robins 1996; Dabengwa
1995) and patriotic history (Miles-Tendi 2010; Ranger 2004) without looking at
other critical elements like influence of the party’s internal pressure groups (women’s
league) which subsequently represents the majority of the population which is mainly
composed of females. This study argues that the continual neglect of such an impor-
tant institution in politics is a let-down to women’s clarion call and quest for gender
equality and equity in politics especially in oppressive patriarchal societies.
While it is not in the interest of this chapter to discuss debates around the succes-
sion of former Mugabe as the leader of ZANU–PF, it is of importance to shed more
light on this because the developments reconfigured the structural importance of the
women’s league in managing party issues. Mugabe became the leader of ZANU–PF
in 1975 while the party was still fighting for independence and also emerged victo-
rious in the first country’s elections in 1980 to become the country’s prime minister.
For the better part of his earliest years, that is, soon after independence, Mugabe
rolled out different policies among which included education, health and reconcili-
ation (Raftopoulos and Mlambo 2009; Muzondidya 2009). With the country being
torn apart based on race, ethnicity and regionalism, Mugabe’s message of reconcil-
iation at independence was seen as good for the development and thus earned him
many accolades and became a darling of the West. Some of his reconciliation words
read:
If yesterday I fought you as an enemy, today you have become a friend and ally with the
same national interests, loyalty, rights and duties as myself. If yesterday you hated me, today
you cannot avoid the love that binds you to me and me to you. Is it not folly, therefore,
that in these circumstances anybody should seek to revive the wounds and grievances of the
past? The wrongs of the past must now stand forgiven and forgotten. (Mugabe 1980 cited in
Raftopoulos 2006: x)
2 RobertMugabe resigned as the president of Zimbabwe following a military coup that took in
November last year. The coup came after Mugabe fired his deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa for
many issues but chief among them being accused of trying to topple his boss.
ZANU–PF Women’s League and the (Re)configuration of Political … 63
However, the promises and the small flushes of a “new Zimbabwe” vanished
when Mugabe unleashed a notorious 5th brigade3 to hunt down ZAPU supporters
in the southern part of the country, so as to establish a one-party state.4 ZAPU
was a formidable opposition which had equally fought the liberation struggle and
enjoyed a lot of support from the southern part of the country. More than twenty
thousand people were killed, while some disappeared and others were left by the
army which operated in the region from 1983 to 1987. The Unity Accord was signed
in 1987 and brought things to normality but the adoption of policies meant to spur
development, especially in the economic front like IMF and World Bank structural
adjustment programmes, washed away the little progress that the country had made.
As a result, rates of employment were skyrocketing and other social services like
health were in short supply leading to growing voices of dissent from different
sections of society (Makumbe 2005; Tshuma and Ndlovu 2019). In the 1990s, people
started to protest in demanding for better and improved standards of living. The
situation was worsened by growing calls for allocation of land which through the
Lancaster house talk was to be redistributed through willing buyer willing seller.
The protests were mainly organised by Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU)
which was the biggest trade union of that time. Amidst such disgruntlement, a new
opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was formed in 1999 to
contest ZANU–PF.
Fractures within the ruling party became open in 1989 when the party secretary
general formed his Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM) political party which how-
ever lost dismally. In the coming years, call for succession grew louder as evidenced
by Dzikamai Mavhaire’s utterances where he boldly declared in parliament that “The
President Must go”. The coming in of MDC paralysed ZANU-PF members as the
opposition ensured that the party had to support Mugabe despite his flows and imme-
diate calls within the party for him to step down (Sachikonye 2011; Tshuma 2020).
Hence, the attention moved from the position of the president to the vice presi-
dent’s post whom for many after realising that Mugabe was not willing to step down,
thought the position was ideally for the person who will be seen as anointed and
appointed to succeed Mugabe when nature calls. The death of vice president Simon
Muzenda in 2004 opened up for a fierce succession battle in the party as two factions
emerged, and these were led by the late army general Solomon Mujuru, while the
then minister of Justice Emmerson Mnangagwa also led his allies. The latter, with
the help of the then Information Minister Jonathan Moyo influenced party structures
who were to make the biggest say to support the candidature of Mnangagwa. Party
3 The 5th brigade was an army which was assembled by Robert Mugabe led Zanu–PF government
in 1983 to deal with perceived ZAPU supports. The operation was later called Gukurahundi. Guku-
rahundi is a Shona term that means the “rain that washes away the chaff from the last harvest, before
the spring rain” (CCJP & LRF 2007: xiii). The genocide killed more than 20 000 people (Ndlovu
2017; Mpofu 2014).
4 ZAPU was an opposition political party which at independence had managed to get the majority
of votes in the southern part of the country and this unsettled ZANU which wanted to establish a
one-party state.
64 L. A. Tshuma
chairpersons met in Tsholotsho in what was to be later called Tsholotsho declara-

tion.5 The meeting was exposed leading to the expulsion of Moyo, while other party
members were demoted and suspended. At this juncture, women’s league voices
become louder as they advocated for the elevation of a woman. The Women’s league
argued that it was under represented and demanded that the presidium be composed
of a woman/women. Resultantly, Joyce Mujuru6 was elected the first female vice
president of the country in December 2004.
However, succession politics became intense after the 2013 elections, as warring
factions sought to field potential candidates and a potential successor as Mugabe was
getting older. For the purposes of this study, the succession battle which the study
will mainly look at is the one which culminated to the fall of Mugabe. Mugabe’s
last term was mainly characterised by public scrutiny as he was visibly failing to
conduct some of his duties. Mugabe became synonymous with sleeping on national
duty which includes AU and UN general assembly summit, and he was struggling
to walk leading to him falling on one occasion and blunders which include reading
a wrong speech during the state of the nation address. As such, factions which had
an eye on the thrown emerged with one being linked to Mnangagwa who eventually
took over from Mugabe, and it was known as Team Lacoste. The other faction was to
be known as G40 or simply “Young Turks” and was linked to the women and youth
leagues. The women’s league by virtue of having many members played a big role
in shaping the political trajectory.
Background of the Women’s League
Liberation movements in Africa acknowledge that women fought during the lib-
eration struggle; hence, they should be recognised. For Zimbabwe, the history of
women being vocal in politics can be traced back during the colonial era where their
activities were mainly radical and their numerous actions scaled up the fight for inde-
pendence. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Willems (2009) indicates that Lozikheyi Dlodlo the
last Queen of the Ndebele Kingdom played a crucial role in reviving the Ndebele
nation following the disappearance of King Lobengula. In the later years, Lyons
(1999: 96) argues that the struggle took shape in 1961 when close to two thousand
women were arrested after demonstrating against a new racially motivated consti-
tution where only 15 of 65 seats in parliament were allocated to Africans. Bhebe
(1989: 102) further notes that the demonstration led to the banning of NDP in 1961,
and the move was caused by militant action by women. With women being part of
the freedom fighters, there was a need to safeguard some of their interest, and this
5 In November 2004, a group of ZANU–PF leaders mainly chairpersons drawn from all the provinces
assembled at Dinyane High School in Tsholotsho district in Matabeleland north province, where
they sought the elevation of Emmerson Mnangagwa ahead of Joyce Mujuru.
6 Mujuru was fired as the party’s second secretary and also the country’s vice president in 2015.
She was accused of trying to topple Mugabe. Her dismissal marked the rise of her rival Emmerson
Mnangagwa who is now the president of the country.
resulted in women having their commanders or leaders whom they were to report to
and thus, represent their interest. Hence, leadership roles were assigned to women
like former vice president and leader of opposition party, Zimbabwe People First,
Dr Joyce Mujuru and Jane Ngwenya from ZANU and ZAPU, respectively, were
appointed commanders (Lyons 1999). Such a political organisation never stopped as
after independence, both political parties had to maintain the presence of women in
the party by ensuring that women have their own league which will mobilise peo-
ple. Following the unity between ZAPU and ZANU after the Gukurahundi genocide,
Thenjiwe Lesabe became the first leader of the women’s league. The women’s league
holds its separate general meetings to appraise and strategise on how they can keep
the party afloat.
In their 2003 meeting in Victoria Falls, the women’s league resolved that the
party’s presidium which is composed of the president, vice presidents and the chair-
person must accommodate a woman. The death of Muzenda in 2004 revived the
calls for a woman to be in the presidium, and in this case, the woman was to be
appointed a vice president. Upon realising that the women’s league demand for one
of its members to be appointed VP was irreversible, warring factions pushed for the
reorganisation of the party to accommodate a woman. The Mujuru faction put for-
ward Joyce Mujuru as its candidature, while the Mnangagwa faction pushed for the
elevation of another women’s league member Thenjiwe Lesabe for the post so that
Mnangagwa can as well be appointed as the second vice president. However, Mujuru
emerged victorious. She was however to be fired from her position in 2014 after being
accused of trying to dethrone Mugabe from his position. Her fall precipitated into
another vicious struggle for power as women felt the appointment of Mnangagwa
as the vice president was ill-advised, as they saw him as a threat to the presidential
throne, the post which the women’s league thought should be occupied by a female
member or a person of their choice. The succession battle was fierce because the
aging Mugabe had on numerous occasions proved that he was failing to discharge
his duties and the fear was that he might die in power. As a result, the women’s league
wanted to secure their position and ensure that one of their own occupy the post. This
study assesses different strategies that the women’s league used in trying to influence
the succession matrix. Based on the aforementioned women’s league influences and
their achievement spanning from the colonial period to present, I argue that the league
remains an important institution of study in politics and political communication.
Understanding Media Systems in Zimbabwe
The media in Zimbabwe is operating in a hostile environment which has led to

different forms of journalism (Chuma 2008; Ranger 2004). Chuma (2004) notes
that the Zimbabwean media has been a true reflection of the existing socio-economic
and political environment. The country’s media systems are hugely influenced by the
colonial structures where the Rhodesian government has full grip of the media which
66 L. A. Tshuma
was to serve its interest (Moyo 2004). At independence, the new black government
inherited the media systems and ensured that the media was to be their mouth piece;
hence, sunshine journalism became the order of the day (Kupe 1997; Ronning and
Kupe 2000; Chuma 2008). The Trust was to ensure that the “media is free, non-
partisan and served people’s aspirations” (Rønning and Kupe 2000: 140). The Trust
was however accountable to the government as it had to share its financial statement
with the government and relied on the government for funding (Waldahl 2001).
Saunders (1999) indicates that the reliance on funds from government was the Trust’s
major weakness which made it (the Trust) prone to government control. The Trust
took control of Zimbabwe Newspapers Private Limited (Zimpapers) and then national
news agency, Zimbabwe Inter-Africa News Agency (ZIANA) (Saunders 1999). The
failure of the Mass Media Trust which was to act as the buffer between the government
and the people led to a media implosion where the government had to have direct
control of the media while muffling voices of dissent (Moyo 2004; Waldahl 2005).
The Trust was onset not genuine as it was staffed by people sympathetic to the ZANU–
PF government, and members were also appointed by the government through the
minister of information (Saunders 1999). As a result, voices of dissent where to
use their own media outlets or were to be accommodated in the private media. The
Trust was to supervise operations within the public media under the Zimbabwe
Newspapers Group (Zimpapers). As such, the fall of the ZMMT will always call for
attention from scholars who will want to understand reason behind the failure of the
media top uphold set professional standards.
The government advocated for development journalism, and such form of jour-
nalism meant that its failures were not going to be covered (Saunders 1999). When its
promises failed to materialise and there was still no significant economic growth as
unemployment levels continually surged, the private press which was banned during
the colonial era emerged to represent the views of those who were not given voice in
the state-controlled media. The government had to control the public media through
the minister of information who was to appoint board members and editors to head
the papers within the stable. As such, every information minister has been appointing
his cronies to occupy senior positions, and editors were to frequently meet the min-
ister in what was to be called prayer meetings where they will be briefed on how to
cover stories. As such, the state-controlled media which is also the subject of analysis
was to churn out pro-government information; hence, they were to criticise voices
of dissent as unpatriotic. The paper had to defend the ZANU–PF and its policies.
On party internal politics, the paper has been supporting a faction that has the sup-
port of the information minister. However, despite taking sides, the media has been
extensively reporting activities, and these include developments within the women’s
league. As such, this chapter argues that through analysing leading paper-flash ship,
it will be able to get the strategies that the women used to mediate and influence the
succession politics within the ruling party.
Women and Political Communication
This paper defines political communication as encompassing the construction, send-

ing, receiving and processing of messages that potentially have significant direct
or indirect impact on politics. The concept of “women political communication”
entails the processing of political charged information designed to influence partic-
ular intended outcome. As such, “the key element [political communication] is that
the message has a significant political effect on the thinking, beliefs, and behav-
iors of individuals, groups, institutions, and whole societies and the environments
in which they exist” (Graber 1993: 305). This paper is focusing on the use of the
media by the women’s league as a channel to communicate their strategies. Hence,
I argue that women’s league strategies which they used to influence succession pol-
itics can be analysed by assessing one of the modes or stages in which strategies
are implemented, that is, the media. The media is important and central in politi-
cal communication because that is where strategies are implemented and rolled out.
Therefore, this study seeks to unpack different political strategies that were captured
by the media in women political communication as rolled out by the ZANU–PF’s
women’s league.
Studies examining the involvement of women in politics are many. For some,
they have been looking at how women present themselves during an election, but for
many studies, their focus has been to look at the coverage of women by the media
(Ryan 2013). The media has been accused of being biased and gendering politics
by treating women as secondary and according politics a masculinity form, a view
which de Beuvoir affirmed by arguing that “one is not born, but rather, becomes a
woman”. McIntosh (2013: 104) notes that the media “eclipsed women’s success”,
as the media has in most cases been belittling women and treating them in second
citizenry status. The media has been blamed for its reportage which has stalled the
achievement of parity, and such findings come against an interest from some scholars
who wanted to understand factors behind the under representation of women by the
media and the society (Connwell 1995).
In African societies, social structures and systems which are mainly influenced by
patriarchy have seen the reproduction of gender roles in the representation of politics.
In Zimbabwe, Christiansen (2004) notes that the country’s political landscape has
been described as “the boy club” after the realisation that political power is masculine
and the gendering of women’s participation is further seen in terms such as “father of
the nation” versus “mothers of the nation” (Christiansen 2007). By such a portrayal,
the media look at women in lesser roles, and in political communication, the media
mainly depicts or focuses on women’s clothes, their hangbags and beauty and less
on their policies and ideologies (McIntish 2013). Such an observation has been
regarded as an umbrella representation of women in politics worldwide (Butler 1990).
However, such studies have mainly looked at the individual representations, for
example, female candidates in politics and few if have bothered to look at the women’s
68 L. A. Tshuma
organisation especially political party’s women’s organisation. This study argues

that the representation of individual political candidates differs with the portrayal of
groups, as groups are made up of different characters which are bound to complement
each other’s weakness. With the help of selected articles from The Herald, the study
examines different strategies that the powerful women’s league used to internally
influence or select Mugabe’s successor.
Women, Framing and Politics in Africa: A Theoretical

Perspective
Post-colonial feminist theory has been credited for being one of the ideal theories for
use on studies to do with women and gender in post-colonial societies. The theory
was developed after the realisation that post-colonial theorists were both “obliterating
the role of women to the struggle for independence and also misrepresenting them in
nationalists’ discourses” (Tyagi 2014: 46). Post-colonial feminists have argued that
women suffer from what has been coined “double colonisation” which refers to ways
in which women have simultaneously experienced the oppression of colonialisation
and patriarchy (Peterson and Ratherford 1986). This further means that in the post-
colonial society, her colonised brother is no longer her accomplice but her oppressor
(Tyagi 2014: 45). Post-colonial feminists have also accused liberal feminism theories
and practices for their racists and patronising attitudes towards women of colour who
are not seen as allies fighting the same male oppression but more as victims in needs
of rescue. This study which is hinged on political communication seeks to assess
how women are covered in post-colonial society. The study argues that by using a
contextualised theory like the post-colonial feminist theory helps to show the frames
and biases that are in place as churned out by the media. The contextual nature of
the theory is vital in that it directly speaks to contemporary Zimbabwean where
nationalist discourses have said to be masculine (Chadya 2003).
This study also argues that strategies that the women’s league has been using can
be identified by looking at how the media captured or reported on them. Frame is used
in studies of the media and mass communication as a tool of analysis in order to find
out how issues and discourses are constructed and meanings developed (Scheufele
1999; Reese 2007). Furthermore, Scheufele (1999) argues that framing has to do
with making sense, interpreting and giving meaning to what happens in the ongoing
world. For Entman (1993:53):
Frames highlight some bits of information about an item that is the subject of a communica-
tion, thereby elevating them in salience. The word salience itself needs to be defined: it means
making a piece of information more noticeable, meaningful, or memorable to audiences.
Thus, framing has important implications for political communication. Firstly,

Entman (1993) argues that frames call attention to some aspects of reality while
obscuring other elements, which might lead audiences to have different reactions.
Secondly, he notes that “framing in this light plays a major role in the exertion
of political power, and the frame in a news text is really the imprint of power—
it registers the identity of actors or interests that competed to dominate the text”
(Entman 1993:55). In addition, Scheufele (1999) contends that within the realm
of political communication, framing has to be defined and operationalised on the
basis of social constructivism. He notes that mass media actively sets the frames of
reference that readers and viewers use to interpret and discuss public events.
Entman (1993) also says the concept of framing consistently offers a way to
describe the power of a communicating text. An analysis of frames illuminates on the
precise ways in which influence over a human consciousness is exerted by the transfer
(or communication) of information from one location—such as a speech, utterance,
news report or novel to that consciousness (Entman 1993). Entman (1993:53) clarifies
the meaning of framing arguing that it is “a central organising idea or storyline that
provides meaning to an unfolding trip of events, weaving a connection among them”.
He also speaks of a symbolic arena within framing, in which every policy is contested,
with advocates of one or another persuasion attempting to give their own meaning
to the issues or events that may affect the outcome (Entman 1993). According to
Neuman, Just and Crigler (1992: 120), frames within social constructivism “… give
the story a ‘spin’… taking into account their organisational and modality constraints,
professional judgements and certain judgements about the audience”. Given the fact
that succession politics and the women’s power in mediating such political events is
mainly silenced, it was therefore vital to assess media frames in order to get different
strategies that women used to cement their position.
Brief Notes on Methodology
This study used purposive sampling to select articles that mainly looked at the
women’s league activities, and such articles were subject to scrutiny to assess whether
they address the party succession issue. Purposive sampling was used because the
method “ensures that all key constituencies of relevance to a subject matter are cov-
ered” and also “so that the impact of the characteristics concerned can be explored”
(Ritchie and Lewis 2003, 79). The study mainly looked at the lead stories from the
two selected papers because their location suggests that they are the important and
they are the “prime editorial real estate” (Weldon 2008: 30). This study acknowl-
edges that other data gathering methods like interviews could have produced more
insights on insider strategies. However, this chapter will only focus on implemented
strategies as reported by the media.
For the analysis of text the study used argumentation and rhetoric analysis which
are methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Richardson 2007). The study used
CDA because of its ability to show how “social power abuse, dominance and inequal-
ity are enacted, reproduced and resisted by text and talk in the social and political
context” (van Dijik 1996, 68). According to Van Eemeren (1996, 5), argumentation
is a “verbal and social activity of reasoning aimed at increasing (or decreasing) the
70 L. A. Tshuma
acceptability of a social standpoint for the listener or reader by putting forward a

constellation of propositions intended to justify (or refute) the standpoint before a
rational judge”. The modes of argumentation which work through persuasion are
ethotic and pathotic with former being act of persuading an “audience through the
character of the arguer wherein someone of good character, expertise or experiential
knowledge is seen as standing a good chance of convincing an audience” (Richard-
son 2007: 159). The second mode of persuasion uses a pathotic argument which
uses emotion implicitly or explicitly as a persuasive tool. Richardson (2007: 160)
adds that “pathotic arguments can anger people, instil in them fear, pity or even calm
them down”. Finally, an audience can be persuaded through logos, or the logic. In
essence, Richardson (2007, 161) argues, “we are more likely to be convinced by an
argument supported by evidence and reasoning”. Aristotle’s theory of rhetoric was
also used and three categories through which rhetoric works and these are “foren-
sic or legal rhetoric; epideictic or ceremonial rhetoric; and deliberative or political
rhetoric” (Richardson 2007: 157). Forensic rhetoric (concerned with the past) covers
arguments that either defend or condemn someone’s past actions, while epideictic
rhetoric (concerned with the present) aims at proving that something or someone
is worthy of admiration or disapproval, and finally, deliberative rhetoric (concerned
with the future) is used to urge the audience to do or dissuade them from doing,
something based on the expediency or the harmfulness of a proposed course of
action (Richardson 2007).
Analysis
Countrywide Rallies
One of the strategies that the women league used was mobile popular support through
the countrywide rallies. By using their boss, Grace, as their selling point, the league
held rallies in all the 10 provinces in the country. Norris (2000) and Kavanagh (1997)
note that mass rallies are important in that they help to build and cultivate relationships
with people, and as a result, people become part of the programme. The women’s
league with the support of well wishers had to organise resources which include
food and clothes which they will use to distribute to the needy. The power that the
women’s league obtained was that they were setting the discourse on the party. To
gain popularity and also influence people perceptions on the ability of women to lead
the party or to be in influential leadership positions, they made use of intertextuality.
Jørgensen and Phillips (2002: 74) define intertextuality “as the influence of history
on a text and to a text’s influence on history, in that the text draws on earlier texts and
thereby contributes to historical development and change”. The league had to revive
the spirit of Mbuya Nehanda by arguing that their actions had her blessing; hence,
people should join the bandwagon as it is anointed by the ancestors. A senior member
of the party’s executive once said: “No one can fit her (First Lady’s) shoes and even
her deputy Sandi Moyo cannot call for a Women’s League meeting without the First
Lady’s consent” (Jena 2014: 3). By the virtue that Nehanda is credited for influencing
the struggle and the attainment of independence, one who claims to be associated with
the spirits or the blessings is bound to win people’s souls. The women’s league also
used pathos in their communication which (pathos) are explained by Richardson
(2007) as arguments which one makes with way of persuading people throwing
appealing to their emotions. As such, the women’s league used rallies to appeal to
people’s emotions that were in turn supposed to rally behind them in their quest to
solve/address and influence the succession outcome.
Some of the rallies were mainly drawn from members of the apostolic sect who of
late have been very vocal and key players in drawing support for the ruling party. The
women’s league on numerous occasions visited the Mapostori, a group of apostolic
sect, and interface with them. The strategy proved to be very crucial in that large
number of people would attend rallies. Religion plays a crucial role in politics because
it pacifies people and ensures that they abide by what they are being told as what
they could have been told has the blessing of God (Chitando 2013). The last rally to
be addressed the women’s league being led by Grace Mugabe was dubbed “Super
Sunday” where thousands of people graced the occasion. As such, this study argues
that the use of rallies was very effective in that it brought people together and through
the use of pathos which were seen by the manner in which religion was used to pacify
people. Hence, rallies were and still remain effective tools in women’s political
communication.
Women and Youth Leagues Partnership
The women’s league showed the political prowess by having the youth league under
its armpits. The alliance had a saying which says kusina amai hakuendwi (people go
where their mother is). This adage was then designed to ensure that people follow
the footsteps of the women’s league, and this entails that party members were behind
the women’s league views on succession issues. One of the views that the women’s
league advocated was that the president should appoint his successor. More so, the
league pushed for the revision of the party’s constitution so that it can clearly indicate
that the post of the VP should be occupied by a woman (Nyamukondiwa 2017). The
youth league leader Kudzanai Chipanga argued that his organ was fully behind the
women’s league of taking the post of the VP from Mnangagwa and given to the any
members of the women’s league. Chipanga said:
The Zanu PF youth league is fully behind the secretary for women’s affairs, Dr Amai Grace
Mugabe, in calling for the urgent removal of Cde Mnangagwa from the position of Vice-
President both in the party and government. That position is a straitjacket and must be handed
back to the women’s league.
72 L. A. Tshuma
The roping in of youth league to help fight their cause was crucial in that both
women and youth constitute the majority of registered; hence, their partnership was
going to strengthen the women’s league cause of having a candidate of their choice
to take over from Mugabe. Youths are regarded as the special group of people in
any given society as they are seen as the future leaders. In Africa, youths ministries
have been set up to cater for their needs, while in political parties, there are youth
structures which are meant to serve the interest of youths (Waller 2006). Hence, the
women’s league created an alliance with the youth league so that they can take full
control of the party which is mainly composed of three wings—main wing, women
league and the youth league.
The partnership proved very strong as the youth league embarked on countrywide
campaign rallies which were called ZANU–PF Youth Presidential Interface Rallies.
The rallies were held in all the country’s 10 provinces. For some, they view the
rallies being designed to soil the image of the Mnangagwa who had set his sight on
the throne. In one of the paper’s lead stories, The Herald reported with headline: First
lady blast ‘secessionists’, The paper directly quotes the women’s league boss “that
they are there – infighting and factionalism,” and “Pasi nevanoda zve factionalism”
(down with factionalism). The two leagues—women and youths—were adamant that
they were not factionary; instead, they were defending the party which was under
siege from power hungry individuals. As such, the partnership coined the terms such
as ‘secessionists’ which were to soil the image of rivalry so that they are deemed as
bad apples in the party. As such, the interface rallies pulled thousands of people who
all were to support the move by the two leagues for the elevation of a woman to the
presidium, a position which was likely to see a woman eventually taking over from
Mugabe in an event he dies or resigns from his post.
Divide and Rule Strategy
Zimbabwean political landscape has mainly been characterised by one’s participation

to the liberation struggle. The veterans of the struggle have long vowed that they will
not support anyone without war credentials for the candidature for president; hence,
the ruling party has been using the war veterans to cement its support leading what
Kriger (2003) calls a war vet nation. The other important strategies that the women’s
league used to amass support and influence succession politics were to divide the
war veterans and get some support from one of the groups. By so doing, the women’s
league had to assume legitimacy from former freedom fighters and other masses that
hold the strong belief that the one who will take over from Mugabe should have the
support of the former freedom fighters. While the other freedom fighters that include
Christopher Mutsvangwa and Victor Matemadanda were in support of the faction led
by Mnangagwa, other war veterans who include Manditawepi Chimene and George
Mlala were supporting the women and youth leagues views on succession.
The importance of having the war veterans in their side is seen by the manner in
which war veterans have been acting as the vine guards of the party. War veterans
took the lead in the farm invasions that were seen by some as the means meant
to garn support for ZANU–PF which had seen its support dwindling (Makumbe
2005; Muzondidya 2009). As such, the veterans have been the stronghold and key
instruments which the party has been using since independence to win support. This
study notes that the strategy was very useful as the women’s league received a lot
of support, and their move was welcomed by many people in the party. More so, to
ensure that their views are well taken care of, the league used Mugabe’s brand as
a rallying point. Mugabe has since independence been the face of the party where
he has been projected as the epitome of the liberation struggle. Such a projection
has led to what is called Mugabeism (Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Willems 2009) and thus
entail that one who has his blessings an also respects, is bound to earn support from
other party members. As such, the women’s league use of Mugabe brand where
they were claiming to be protecting his legacy was also meant to scare away their
rivals led by Mnangagwa. The strategy became very fruitful as the faction led by
Mnangagwa which was angling to take over the thrown could not attack the women
league because by doing so, it was akin to attacking Mugabe himself, as the league
was saying to be fully behind Mugabe.
Conclusion
The study argues that the women’s league used strategies that were well thought and
managed to pay dividend. Through their strategies, the paper notes that the league
manages to influence the internal party processes to support their call and strategy
in succession politics. Since the succession politics was later on resolved by a coup
which was led by the military, the study notes that the coup was motivated by the
women’s victory which through Grace Mugabe had control of the party through
legal and use of various strategies which include carrying out country wide rallies,
creating an alliance with youth league making use of the war veterans. As such, the
study holds the view that the women’s league organs of political parties still remain
an important platform for women to assert their power and influence internal and
external political processes.
References
Bhebe, N. (1989). The nationalist struggle, 1957–1962. In B. Cannan (Ed.), Turmoil and tenacity:
Zimbabwe, 1896–1990. Harare: College Press.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.
Bystrom, D.G., Banwart, M.C., Kaid, L.L., Robertson, T.A. (2004). Gender and candidate
communication: VideoStyle, webStyle, newsStyle. New York: Routledge.
Campbell, H. (2003). Reclaiming Zimbabwe: The exhaustion of the patriarchal model of liberation.
Trenton: Africa World Press.
74 L. A. Tshuma
Chadya, J. M. (2003). Mother politics: Anti-colonial nationalism and the woman question in Africa.
Journal of Women’s History, 15(3), 153–157.
Chitando, E. (2013). Prayers and players: Religion and politics in Zimbabwe. Harare: Sapes Books.
Christiansen, L. B. (2004). Tales of the nation: Feminist nationalism or patriotic history? Defining
national history and identity in Zimbabwe, Research Report no. 132. Uppsala: Nordic Africa
Institute.
Christiansen, L.B. (2007). Mai Mujuru: Father of the nation? In Muponde, M., & Muchemwa, K.Z.
(Eds.), Manning the nation: father figures in Zimbabwean literature and society (pp. 88–101).
Harare: Weaver Press.
Chuma, W. (2004). Liberating or limiting the public sphere: Media policy and the Zimbabwe
transition 1980–2004. In Raftopoulos, B., & Savage, T. (Eds.), Zimbabwe: Injustice and political
reconciliation. Harare: Weaver.
Chuma, W. (2008). Mediating the 2008 elections in Zimbabwe: Competing journalism in a society
at the cross roads. African Journalism Studies, 29(1), 21–41.
Clarke, M., & Nyathi, P. (2010). Lozikheyi Dlodlo: Queen of the Ndebele. Bulawayo. Amagugu
Publishers.
Connwell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Oxford: Polity Press.
Dabengwa, D. (1995). ZIPRA in the Zimbabwe war of national liberation. In: Bhebe, N. & Ranger, T.
(Eds.), Soldiers in Zimbabwe’s liberation war(Vol. 1, pp. 24–35). Harare: University of Zimbabwe
Publications.
Entman, M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communi-
cation, 43(4), 51–58.
Gaidzanwa, R. (2004). Gender, women, and electoral politics in Zimbabwe, EISA Research Report
No. 8. Johannesburg: EISA.
Goffman, E. (1974). Frame analysis: An essay of the organisation of experience. New York: Harper
and Row.
Graber, D. A. (1993). Making campaign news user friendly. American Behavioral Scientist, 37,
328–336.
Jørgensen, M., & Philips, L. (2002). Discourse analysis as theory and method. London: Sage.
Kriger, N. (2003). War veterans: continuities between the past and the present. African Studies
Quarterly, 7(2), 139–151.
Kupe, T. (1997). Voices of the voiceless: Popular magazines in a changing Zimbabwe 1990–1996.
Unp. PhD Dissertation, University of Oslo.
Lyons, T. (1999). Guns and guerrilla girls: Women in the Zimbabwe liberation struggle.
Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Adelaide.
Makumbe, J. (2005). Electoral crisis in Zimbabwe: Authoritarian vs The People. Codesria, 31(3),
45–61.
McIntosch, H. (2013). Women and politics in the media. Global Media Journal-Canadian Edition,
6(2), 99–104.
Moyo, D. (2004). From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe: change without change? Broadcasting policy reform
and political control. In: Melber, H. (Ed.), Media, public discourse and political contestation in
Zimbabwe, Uppsala: NordiskaAfrikainstitutet.
Musengezi, C., & McCartney, I. (2000). Women of resilience. Harare: MG Printers.
Muzondidya, J. (2009). Jambanja: Ideological ambiguities in the politics of land and resource
ownership in Zimbabwe. Journal of Southern African Studies, 33(2), 326–341.
Nagel, Joane. (1998). Masculinity and nationalism: Gender and sexuality in the making of nations.
Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21(2), 242–269.
Neuman, W. R., Just, M. R., & Crigler, A. N. (1992). Common knowledge; News and the construction
of political meaning. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ndlovu, M., Tshuma, L. A., & Ngwenya, S. W. (2019). Between tradition and modernity: Discourses
on the coronation of the Ndebele “King” in Zimbabwe. Critical Arts, 33(2), 82–95. https://doi.
org/10.1080/02560046.2019.1691247.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2015). Introduction: Mugabeism and entanglements of history, politics,

and power in the making of Zimbabwe. In: Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (Ed.), Mugabeism? African
Histories and Modernities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J., & Willems, W. (2009). Making sense of cultural nationalism and politics
of commemoration in the third chimurenga in Zimbabwe. Journal of Southern Africa, 35(4),
945–965.
Nhongo-Simbanegavi, J. (2000). For better or worse? Women and ZANLA in Zimbabwe’s liberation
struggle. Harare: Weaver Press.
Nyamukondiwa, W. (2017). Women’s League backs First Lady for VP. The Herald. Available at:
https://www.herald.co.zw/womens-league-backs-first-lady-for-vp/.
Peterson, K. H., & Rutherford, A. (Eds.). (1986). A double colonization: Colonial and post-colonial
women’s writing. Oxford: Dangaroo Press.
Raftopoulos, B. (2006). The Zimbabwean crisis and the challenge for the left. Journal of Southern
African Studies, 32(2), 203–219.
Raftopoulos, B., & Mlambo, A. (2009). The hard road to becoming national. In: Raftopoulos, B.
& Mlambo, A. (Eds.), Becoming Zimbabwe: A history from the pre-colonial period to 2008 (p.
Xviixxxiv). Harare: Weaver Press.
Ranger, T. (2004). Historiography, patriotic history and the history of the nation: The struggle over
the past in Zimbabwe. Journal of Southern African Studies, 30(2), 215–234.
Reese, S. D. (2007). The framing project: A bridging model for media research revisited. Journal
of Communication, 57(1), 148–154.
Richardson, J. E. (2007). Analysing newspapers: An approach from critical discourse analysis.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ritchie, J., & Lewis, J. (2003). Generalising for qualitative research. In: Lewis, J. & Ritchie, J. (Eds.),
Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students and researchers. London: Sage.
Robins, S. (1996). Heroes, heretics and historians of the Zimbabwe revolution: A review article of
Norma Kriger’s ‘Peasant voices’. Zambezia, xxiii(1), 73–92.
Ronning, H., & Kupe, T. (2000). The dual legacy of democracy and authoritarianism: The media
and the state in Zimbabwe. In: Curran, J. & Park, M. (Eds.), De-westernising mediastudies.
Routledge: London.
Rooney, C. (1991). Mothers of the revolution: Zimbabwean women in the aftermath of war. African
Languages and Cultures, 4(1), 55–64.
Ryan, K. (2013). The media’s war on women: Gendered coverage of female candidates. Xavier
Journal of Politics, 4(1), 13–23.
Sachikonye, L. (2011). Zimbabwe’s lost decade, politics, development and society. Harare,
Zimbabwe: Weaver Press.
Saunders, R. (1991). Information in the interregnum: The press, state and civil society in the
struggles for hegemony, Zimbabwe 1980–1990. Unp. PhD Thesis, University of Carleton.
Saunders, R. (1999). Dancing out of tune: A history of the media in Zimbabwe. Richard Saunders:
Harare.
Scheufele, D. A. (1999). Framing as a theory of media effects. Journal of Communication, 49(1),
103–122.
Tendi, B. M. (2010). Making history in mugabe’s Zimbabwe: Politics, intellectuals and the media.
Oxford: Peter Lang.
Tshuma, L. (2017). Gender and collective memory in the media in Zimbabwe. An analysis of dis-
courses on the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe (Unpublished M.Sc. thesis). National University
of Science and Technology.
Tshuma, L. A. (2020). Political billboards, promise, and persuasion: An analysis of ZANU-PF’s
2018 harmonized elections political campaign. Journal of Marketing Communications, 1–15.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2019.1683057.
Tshuma, L. A., & Ndlovu, M. (2019). Remembering the past against the grain: an analysis of the
reconstructions of the past in Sunday News’s Let we Forget column. Nations and Nationalism,
25(3), 954–973.
76 L. A. Tshuma
Tyagi, R. (2014). Understanding postcolonial feminism in relation with postcolonial and feminist
theories. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 1(2), 45–50.
van Dijk, T. (2006). Ideology and discourse analysis. Journal of Political Ideologies, 11(2), 115–140.
Waldahl, R. (2001). Politics and persuasion: Media coverage of Zimbabwe’s 2000 election. Harare:
Weaver Press.
Waldahl, R. (2005). Political Journalism the Zimbabwean Way: Experiences from the 2000 Election
Campaign. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, Special issue 18–32.
Waller, R. (2006). Rebellious youths in colonial Africa. The Journal of African History, 47(1),
77–92.
Weiss, R. (1986). The women of Zimbabwe. London: Kesho Publications.
Political Communication Among Female
Candidates and Women Electorates
in Zambia
Sam Phiri
Introduction
In 1990, at the beginning of the second age of the multiparty system of governance
in Zambia, a number of foreign election observers arrived in Zambia to oversee the
elections. Among them was the Carter Centre of Emory University led by former
US President Jimmy Carter, and the American-based National Democratic Insti-
tute (NDI) for International Affairs. The objective of the presence of international
observers for the 1991 elections was to “increase public confidence in the process”
and to “permit an objective evaluation of the process” (Carter Centre 1991: 1).
Over the years and since then, this approach has been repeated at every juncture
of the Zambian election processes. In 2016, several international organisations indi-
vidually and collectively joined hands in monitoring and supporting the electoral
process in Zambia.
In August 2016, Zambia held complicated five-in-one elections, over one day, at
Presidential; Parliamentary; Mayoral; Councillorship; and the Referendum levels.
Broadly speaking, Zambian history can be divided into three phases: the first phase
was the multiparty era that lasted from independence in 1964 to 1972 when there-
after, Zambia declared itself a One-Party State in which only the governing United
National Independence Party (UNIP) headed by President Kenneth Kaunda was offi-
cially allowed to exist. The second phase remained unchanged until 1990 when the
system of government was transformed back to multipartism, and the Movement
for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) emerged to successfully remove UNIP in the
political arena. This is the third and current phase in Zambian political history.
This chapter draws upon the current era and offers but just one perspective on the
Zambian electoral processes by giving some background on the situation of women:
analysing how the media dealt with women-related issues, and the expectations
S. Phiri (B)
University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia
e-mail: Phirisp@yahoo.com
78 S. Phiri
laid upon female leaders when in political office. The aim is to ascertain how the
media impacted on gender equity and whether there are communication problems
within the female sector of the population. The discussions embrace the reflexive
contextualisation as well as the abstract representation of women politicians, can-
didates and social activists. It seeks for alternatives that may exist, and in essence,
the discussion draws on related experiences from across the world, so as to place the
Zambian context within the global gender setting. Towards the end of the chapter,
reference is made to how women’s actions and activities were reflected by some
social media platforms during the 2015 presidential bye-elections that followed the
death of President Michael Sata. Here, the focus is upon two online publications,
Zambian Watchdog and Zambia Reports. What is reflected in these two popular
online publications do not radically controvert the situation in the Zambian soci-
ety, although Hartley (2011: 60) cautions against seeing the bigger picture beyond
the analysed content. It is hereby argued that social media reflect the deep-seated
attitudes and realities in Zambia. However, the current discussion is based upon a
critical reflexive analyses of a number of media and other sources which include the
Electoral Commission of Zambia, Zambia Information and Elections Centre (ZIEC),
the Carter Centre, European Union Observer Mission, Media Institute for Southern
Africa (MISA), United States Government and Gender Links. Brief references are
made to situations in countries like India, Israel and Malawi as a way of situating
Zambia within the global context.
In 2016, a total of 15 political parties participated in the Zambian general elec-
tions. Of these, nine (9) fielded presidential candidates but only the Alliance for
Democracy and Development (ADD) had a woman, Edith Nawakwi, as its presiden-
tial contender. Consequently, it is important to inquire whether the Zambian media
are catalysing forces for women’s participation in the election, and whether there are
communication problems between female political leaders and the women electorate.
Conceptual Considerations
For the purposes of this discussion, “autonomous spaces”, with respect to women
access, are necessarily those public areas provided by the traditional media (radio,
television, print, banners, billboards, flyers, etc.) as well as (to a limited extent) the
rather perverse sociotechnical networks,1 also known as New Media. These networks
are recognised as overlapping systems, actors and artefacts which regularly intervene
and reshape the manner in which all people including women access public spaces
for social discourses.
In that respect, representation, is diluted into three interconnected echelons: firstly,
it is with regard to the delegated language used in the media for women politicians
1 This term was coined by Lamb et al. (2000). Paper “A Social Informatics Perspective on Socio-
Technical Networks,” presented to the American Conference on Information Systems. The Paper
is available on http://lamb.cba.hawaii.edu/pubs/stnwtppr.htm.
Political Communication Among Female Candidates and Women … 79
in Zambia; secondly, “presentation” refers to how women in leadership positions, or

aspiring leaders, are projected as symbolising, or “representing” the 51% of the Zam-
bian population who are women; thirdly, whether women politicians are projected at
all and to what extent; and lastly what expectations are placed upon female leaders
in senior political offices. The last point is irrespective of whether women politicians
are projected as actors, feminine agents (political or otherwise), gender celebrities, or
as female sociopolitical stars within the patriarchal communal milieu. It is therefore
important to consider, like Achebe (2001: 26–27), whether there exists within Zam-
bia a “tradition with a vast storehouse of lurid images” about women politicians,
or as Udupa (2017: 4) argues, that the “deeply gendered” and “masculinist logic
of shame with effect of intimidation” directed at female politicians and expressed
in the media—especially social media—is the “new form of political participation
and discursive engagement” in Zambia and elsewhere. In responding to the above
questions, various research methods as outlined below were utilised in this study.
Methodology
In trying to further discussions over the above issues, we firstly undertook a desktop
systematic content review of the relevant 2016 elections studies. This involved in
the first instance, the utilisation of secondary data analysis techniques in which the
existing data were used to test the central hypotheses of this study, which are
• that media enforce the exclusion of women from political processes
• that there are communication failures among female politicians and women
electorates.
Secondly, although an examination of these hypotheses is grounded upon extant
data from election observers who had been to Zambia, an analysis of some global
debates on why women have seemingly “failed” to seriously test male power in
political leadership is also undertaken.
The limitations of these approaches are rooted in the data, and information used
as these are mostly secondary. Thus, the discussions in this chapter may be con-
strained by the subjectivities and contextual analyses of the various research insti-
tutions whose data are included herein (Mouton 2001). Nonetheless, undergirding
the methods of analysis of media messages were two conceptions: the first was the
appreciation of the strategic issue of gender saliency that is the manner in which the
media primed, framed or set the agenda for women candidates. In that respect, the
issue of gender saliency denotes the manner in which the media culturally reflected
“important” images of women politicians.
Second, the data analytical method used aimed at determining whether media
coverage of women in politics was in line with the “effects model” in which the
intentional, unintended or negative “consequences of media work” (McQuail 1995:
12–13) could be confirmed. The assumption is that the findings derived from the
80 S. Phiri
secondary data were based on the premise that media institutions are meant to serve
the public interest although this interest is debatable (McQuail 1995: 78–79).
Theoretical Context
In bringing together the secondary data, two conceptions governed the process. The
first was an appreciation of the strategic value of gender considerations in Zambian
electoral processes, in particular how the media set the agenda for women voters, and
how they framed women politicians. Moreover, a further consideration was how the
media culturally reflected “important” and special attributes of women politicians.
More importantly was a concern expressed by Castells (2007: 241) that
The main issue is not the shaping of the minds by explicit messages in the media, but the
absence of a given content in the media. What does not exist in the media does not exist in
the public mind, even if it could have a fragmented presence in individual minds.
In other words, Bucher (2012: 1164) states that the core function of the media
is that of “making something or someone visible”, or indeed as Entman (2004: 1)
argues, media framing is the selection of “some aspects of a perceived reality” and
making them salient. In that regard, what is invisible does not really exist, although
it may sometimes occur in people’s minds.
Going by the above, it is possible to assume that the media can exclude groups
of people and render them as non-existent. According to Thompson (2005: 35),
“mediated visibility” is “that which can be seen, [or] that which is perceptible by
the sense of sight”, or as Kapoor et al. (2015)” add, media and societal perceptions
about men and women tend to coincide. Moreover, as Giles (2016: 282) contends,
the invisible is the unseen, or the “imperceptible” is that which is hidden from view.
This is so because in Giles’ assessment, media users have a tendency of grasping
reality, or valuing “media figures along similar criteria to people they encounter in
flesh”. It is these theoretical contemplations that underpin the discussions below.
Media and the Elections
In 2016, it can be assumed that like before, the expectations of the various polit-
ical parties expected the Zambian media communication to focus on four areas:
Informing; Involving; Connecting and the Mobilisation of the people.
With regard to “Mobilisation”, the media were expected to bring as many people
as possible to the political party’s side of the debate. The media were viewed as
tools for political party propaganda. They had to give a voice to party’s entreaties. In
respect of “Connecting”, the media were “empty” spaces lying between the candi-
dates and the people. Ideally, these spaces should have been freely accessible. When
considering “Involvement”, however, the media were social structures which facil-
itated the proximal affiliation of campaign teams to the public. The media had to
build balance in their interaction with political contestants. Then, at the “Informing”
level, the media had to provide unbiased and ethically neutral information to the
public. In that way, and ideally, the media were to level the playing field for political
parties, and for male and female candidates. However, what should be kept in mind
is Zaller’s (1999: 22) argument within the “theory of media politics” that
Like politicians and just about everyone else, journalists want career success. In the case
of journalists, career success means producing stories that make it onto the front page or
gets lots of airtime on the evening news, from whence flow fat salaries, peer respect, and
sometimes a degree of celebrity status.
Taking that thought into account, it is clear that some stories and stories about
some candidates, cannot reach Zaller’s essential standard for newsworthy items.
Such items are thus avoided by the media. However, the above argument should not
sideline Castells’ (2011: 781) thinking that media agendas are set through a “multi-
layered structure of decision making” that takes the form of “complex interaction(s)”
between several layers of decision-makers in the production of news. These range
from journalists, to government officials, social elites and, as we shall see below,
active audiences who populate social media. This means that journalists alone cannot
shoulder the blame for the exclusion of women from the elections public spaces.
Women in Politics
According to the Carter Centre (1991: 32–33), after spending weeks observing the
elections process in Zambia, Mrs Lisbet Palme,2 the widow of assassinated former
Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, said:
Democracy requires a political culture that includes not only open competition for political
power but also moderation and civility…there are still complaints that, in quality and selec-
tion of coverage, news reporting is not as unbiased as it should be…media on all sides appear
to have avoided covering the campaigns of the 12 women candidates…How many journalists
here know the names of most of these women candidates? Women are the majority voters in
Zambia, and I would hope to see much more attention to the few women candidates that there
are in the contest. Hopefully in future years there will be many more women candidates.
Some 25 years later, had Mrs Palme returned to Zambia and observed the 2016
elections, she possibly could have been disappointed by the absence of “moderation
and civility” in the elections campaigns; presence of bias in the “selection of coverage
[in] news reporting”; limited number of women candidates; ignorance by journalists
2 Ms. Palme together with former USA President Jimmy Carter headed the Carter Centre and NDI’s
observation mission to Zambia in 1991. She made this statement on leaving Zambia, giving way to
President Carter who had arrived in Lusaka to take over the observatory mission. Mr. Carter remained
in Zambia until after the elections winner, Frederick Chiluba was announced and inaugurated as
Zambia’s new president.
82 S. Phiri
of who the women candidates were; and the lack of media attention paid to the few
women in the race.
Mrs Palme could have been saddled by the facts that from a field of 6, 698, 372
Zambian registered voters from a total population of 15 million, 51% were female.
That is, there were 8, 408 629 men against 8, 455, 422 women in the total population
(Country Meters 2017). Only about half of the population registered to vote. Of
these, 563 of women politicians contested the various positions in the elections.3
Then, only Edith Nawakwi stood for the presidency under her party, the Forum for
Democracy and Development (FDD). Nawakwi though had a male running mate,
Antonio Mwanzah,4 who two years later left her and joined the ruling Patriotic Front
(PF) party. On the other hand, three other political parties had women running mates,
or deputy presidents. These were the Patriotic Front (PF) with Inonge Wina; the
Democratic Assembly (DA) with Rosemary Kabungo; and United People’s Party’s
(UPP) Sinanzeni Chuma.
The other five parties did not even bother to have women in the top two positions.
According to Gender Links (2016), only 9% of the candidates adopted by all the
parties to contest the local government elections as Ward Councillors were women;
only 12% of the candidates were specifically adopted to contest the Mayoral or
Council Chairs’ offices. Further, only 16% stood for parliament.
Overall, these low numbers negated pre-elections promises made by the now-
governing PF. The PF had promised that 40% of elective positions were to be reserved
for women. The FDD placed the reservation at 50%. However, it is worth noting
though that among the three top parties (PF, UPND and FDD), the Nawakwi-led
FDD bettered the rest in candidacy percentage terms (only) when it put up 121 (or
15%) women at President, Parliament, Mayors/Chairs, and Ward levels, as against
their 695 (or 85%) male candidates.
The better resourced and governing PF had the numerically larger number of
female candidates with 187, although this was 10% of its 1818 candidates. Ultimately,
PF had 1, 631 (or 90%) male candidates which were far above the promised 60%
cut-off limit.5 The UPND recorded the second largest number of women candidates
3 According to the ECZ (2017), apart from Nawakwi, there were 106 women who contested for
parliament; 31 at the Council Chair a Mayoral level; and 425 as ordinary councillors. As a result,
there are 26 women parliamentarians (from 17 in the last parliament); 9 (nine) women leading the
various councils as Mayors or Council Chairs; and 125 seating as councillors (compared to 85 prior
to the 2016 elections) across the country.
4 Two years later, in 2018, Mwanzah defected to the ruling PF and became one of the PF’s leading
spokespersons.
5 This is in spite of the provision in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)
Number Five: Gender Equality that requires that signatory nations like Zambia, ensue women’s
“full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership AT ALL LEVELS of decision-
making in political, economic and PUBLIC life;” and the African Union’s Aspiration Six of the
Agenda 2063 that impels African countries to urgently work towards “full gender parity, with
women occupying at least 50% of elected public offices;” and the reality of the fact that Africa is
now past the midpoint of the African Union’s implementation framework of the African Women’s
Decade, 2010–2020, that should have accelerated women’s equality and empowerment in all areas
of public life (UN 2016; AU 2016; AWD 2010).
with 137 (or 8%) from the total line-up of 1810 candidates. Of these, 1673 (92%)
were men.
Beyond the political promises though, these figures openly negate the principles
in Zambia’s 2016 national Constitution which provides that there should be gender
equity in parliament and councils; and in appointments and opportunities across State
structures (Government of Zambia 2016). In spite of the rather “good” provisions
in the “new” Constitution,6 in practice, Zambia has all along performed dismally
with regard to gender equity. Before 2016, Zambia had only 17 (or 11%) women in
parliament (NAZ 2017) and a mere 85 (or 6%) in the local government system. The
situation after 2016 is not much different either. Globally, 30% women presence in
parliament is considered an important benchmark for achieving the ideal of gender
equity. However, only a few countries have reached that mark. As at January 2015,
only 11 (eleven) African countries had reached that mark with Rwanda topping the
global list with 64% of parliamentary seats taken up by women. Overall, in much of
sub-Saharan Africa, an average of about 23% of seats in parliaments is occupied by
women (Quota Project 2016).
Women and Media in the Elections
As alluded to above, there were fewer women contesting the elections than men.
Broadly speaking, that in itself, could suggest that women as a group would get
lesser attention than men if the levelling of the media playing field was based on the
variable of numbers alone. But, this is not so. There are several other factors that
impinge on women’s access to political offices. These barriers include the inbuilt
corruption within the electoral processes; lack of transparency during nomination
processes; cumbersome and costly procedures; violence against women; destruction
of campaign materials; and threats (Ndawana 2016).
Referring to the situation in Malawi, Chikapa (2016) argues that these imped-
iments are either structural or situational. The structural obstructions include the
absence of proportional representation; cultural attitudes; lower education levels
among women; the advantage of incumbency exercised by males; and religious and
ethnic affinities. Situational obstacles are a result of historical underrepresentation
from the colonial times and gender stereotyping by the media.
Furthermore, the Quota Project (2016) argues that there are “numerous obstacles
to women’s political participation” and representation in decision-making bodies
6 Apart from the provision that the two deputy Speakers of parliament shall not be “of the same
gender” the new Constitution states that there shall be established a Gender Equity and Equality
Commission whose roles include that all institutions comply with legal and “other standards relating
to gender equality” and that any nominations and appointments shall ensure that “fifty per cent of
each gender is nominated or appointed from the total available positions.” Furthermore, the Con-
stitution provides that candidates, regardless of gender, “shall have access to the media, especially
during election campaigns;” and that the Constitution shall be interpreted according the national
values of “equity, social justice, equality and non-discrimination” (Government of Zambia 2016).
84 S. Phiri
across the world even though the number of women in these top bodies has marginally
increased over the past few decades. In the case of Zambia, the ZEIC (2016) states that
while 138 women filed their nominations in 2011, only about 94 did so in 2016. Of
these, 87 were sponsored by political parties while seven (7) opted to be independent
after being rejected by their political parties. ZEIC (2016) states that the reduction in
the numbers of women participating in the 2016 elections was occasioned by, among
other factors, the hiked financial fees for nomination; need to verify educational
qualifications; secrecy of the political party-adoption processes which favoured men;
“brutal character assassination(s)” of political opponents; “sexist remarks targeted
at women in politics”; lack of political will among men who controlled the levers of
power in political parties; and the violence directed at women.
Most of these derogative factors are broadly defined, but still it is clear that Zambia
has consistently failed to achieve gender parity in its decision-making structures.
Reasons given at various platforms are many, and these range from being speculative
to being outcomes of less rigorous studies.
From the speculative side, journalist Austin Kaluba wrote after 2015 presidential
bye-elections in the Times of Zambia of 22 January 2015 that
From the look of things, it is clear that the sexist society that Zambia is, is not yet prepared
to change the male dominance of the presidency going by the paltry votes that the only
female candidate Edith Nawakwi is recording …considering their numerical advantage over
men, there is no plausible explanation for the female candidates’ poor performance in the
presidential elections other than a lack of support for each other.
That aside, it should be noted that Nawakwi was not the first woman to contest
the presidency in Zambia’s history. Two others had tried before her. They were
Gwendoline Konie of the now non-operational Social Democratic Party (SDP) and
Dr Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika from the defunct Agenda for Zambia (AZ) party.
These two candidates did in 2001 garner a joint total of 29, 135 (or 1.14%) from the
1, 737, 948 valid votes cast. A decade later, in 2011, Nawakwi came along, and at her
first attempt, she collected only 6, 833 votes (or 0.25%) from the 2, 732, 662 valid
votes cast. In 2016, she marginally did better by getting 24, 149 votes (or 0.70%) of
the valid votes cast (ECZ 2017).
Clearly, there are numerous reasons for the lack of women’s successes in these
elections. In this chapter though, we only focus on two: (a) impact of women’s
political communication and (b) how the media represent women.
Media Framing of Women
From the outset, it can be argued that the manner in which the media deal with women
issues is directly linked to the media institutions’ ownership patterns. As Mukhongo
(2010: 346) argues, state control renders the media’s assumed non-partisanship and
objectivity “completely irrelevant”. That is, as media institutions are owned and
dominated by the State and that the dominant functionaries within the State, like
in most political parties, are males, the media are thus structurally exclusionary of
women voices for “he who pays the piper calls the tune”.
In Zambia, almost all prominent media institutions are owned, dominated,
directed, or managed by men. As a result, the reporting patterns and media coverage
are typically inclined towards favouring men, except when women to pay for space
or attention. For example, MISA (2016) observes that, in general, media coverage is
influenced by the preferences of the owners and controllers of the media institutions.
Although MISA does specifically refer to “political preferences”, it could be naïve to
distance those predilections from gender considerations because of the firm controls
exercised by men on media and state institutions.
Parallel to that is the issue of political bias. For instance, MISA (2016) notes that
Government media—that MISA wrongly refers to as “Public Media”7 reserved at
least 60% of explicitly positive coverage of elections stories to the governing PF
and its functionaries in the 2016 Zambian elections. The main opposition UPND
managed to get only 47% positive coverage. At the same time, 20% of coverage was
negative towards the UPND while only 5.2% was negative reportage on the PF. In
comparison, the privately owned and controlled media gave a much higher positive
coverage percentage wise to the opposition UPND, (almost 39.5%) compared to
the PF which got 29.2%. Conversely, the ruling PF had more negative stories (that
is, almost 33%) compared to the opposition UPND that had a near 27% negative
coverage score.
Interestingly, these findings do not significantly depart from those of 1996 by the
Committee for Clean Campaigns (CCC), in which it was established that at least 48%
coverage in the Government media was reserved for the then ruling party (MMD). The
CCC (1996) also argues that the male President had “abused his power” by using
Government media to propagate ruling party propaganda, and thus, the elections
could not be judged as genuinely “free and fair” without “increasing access to [all]
the media for all parties”. On the other hand, the CCC notes that some privately
owned media “gave extensive coverage on the activities of the opposition parties”
while other privately owned media sided with the ruling party despite the fact that
they mounted “negative campaigns against opposition parties” (CCC—Committee
for Clean Campaigns 1996: 32, 91). No attention is paid towards aggregating the
gender-attention divide.
Nonetheless, what is ironic about these distant-past and recent-past findings is that
they accurately mirror MISA’s findings from the 2016 elections campaigns. This is in
spite of the changes made over the years to the electoral laws, despite the ideological
7 Here, a deliberate distinction is made to avoid the popular confusion and terminological in-
exactitude between Government media and Public media. According to Article 19 (2006: 36–44),
the two are not the same thing. State media are those which are “controlled by the State and represent
State interests.” Government media are controlled by the government in office and represent “the
viewpoint of the executive.” Public media are owned and funded by the public out of public funds
but are “accountable” to the public; while Public Service media are tasked with the remit to publish
material “in the public interest,” although these may not necessarily be publicly-owned, or funded.
However, Public media “should always have a public service remit”.
86 S. Phiri
vagaries of governing political parties. The ruling parties have included the pro-
socialist independence movement UNIP, the more liberal MMD to the ideologically
confused but populist PF. Ultimately, there have been six leadership shifts in 55 years,
from Presidents Kenneth Kaunda, Frederick Chiluba, Levy Mwanawasa, Rupiah
Banda, Michael Sata to Edgar Lungu. Also, there have been numerous personnel
changes in the media. In addition, there has taken place a liberalisation of the media
landscape since 1991. However, in spite of all these changes, the situation of women
in politics in Zambia, or their depiction in the media, has only marginally changed.
With regard to the coverage of women, MISA (2016) established that 81% of
media space was reserved for men leaving only 19% for women. Worse still, only
5% of coverage was on and about women candidates. This suggests that women
are largely invisible during the elections. As noted above, that which is invisible is
hidden from view and imperceptible (Giles 2016: 282). As a shocked MISA (2016)
asks: “what is going on in the broader society? Where are the women and children”?
Part of the answer to that questions could be found in the reality that women,
and the opposition, have a history of being marginalised in all elections in Zambia.
Moreover, women are often subjected to violence as a way of excluding them from
public spaces during the elections.
One incident that stands out is that of 12 March 2016, when suspected PF polit-
ical thugs stripped naked a young woman at the Freedom Statue in Lusaka’s main
thoroughfare, the Independence Avenue, while celebrating Youth Day. The police
looked away. Her “sin” was that she was draped in the opposition UPND attire at the
non-political national rally where the majority were in PF attires. The episode was
captured live on national television and was circulated widely on countless social
media platforms. At the time of writing, that incident is still being “investigated” by
the Zambia Police.
Then on 8 July 2016, Mapenzi Chibula, a mother of a five-year-old son was
allegedly shot dead by the police during the dispersal of an unauthorised UPND
rally in Lusaka’s Chawama compound. This is the home township of current Zambian
President Lungu.
After these events, ZEIC (2016) notes that concerned citizens created a Twitter
hashtag #Take Back Zambia through which “Zambians expressed themselves regard-
ing the incident where life was lost during the clash with the police. The tweets ranged
from disappointment in the PF government as they were perceived to interfere with
the operations of the police”, while some tweets questioned whether democracy was
“working” in Zambia.
Likewise, the Carter Centre (2016) states that “one of the most significant chal-
lenges to opposition parties during the pre-election period was the lack of equitable
coverage by and access to public media” Furthermore, the Carter Centre adds that
journalists, mostly from the community radio sector, were “subjected to harass-
ment and intimidation, mostly by PF cadres, for their coverage of the electoral pro-
cess…These instances of media harassment were reportedly carried out in full view
of police, who made little effort to protect journalists and sometimes even participated
in the efforts to power down community radio stations”.
However, even with such reservations, the CCMG (2017) which had deployed
monitors to 1001 polling stations across the country nonetheless argues that these
flaws and “challenges” could “not call into question the credibility of the overall
process”, although such electoral faults represented “a step backwards” for Zam-
bia’s political institutions. The USA was disappointed by the “politically motivated
violence” during and after the elections and also the “constraints” placed upon the
media in Zambia. The USA said “we are especially concerned about the Independent
Broadcaster Association’s (sic, instead of ‘Authority’) suspension of three broad-
casting licenses [during the campaigns], which is a continuation of a troubling pre-
electoral trend of restrictions on independent media voices…”. Earlier, in a statement
released through its Lusaka Embassy, the Barak Obama administration said that the
“media space in both the pre- and post-election periods constricted as the government
took steps to silence its critics” (USA 2016). The USA was directly referring to the
Zambian government’s restraints imposed on The Post newspaper, and the Zambian
broadcasting authority’s post-election closure of the independent MUVI TV station,
Komboni and Itezhi-Tezhi Radio stations. In a thinly veiled threat, the USA harked
back on the fact that the USA was “Zambia’s single largest bilateral donor”.
On its part, the European Union (EU 2016) joined the chorus saying it was “closely
following post-election developments and… rising tension and incidents of vio-
lence”. The EU urged all stakeholders “in particular the two main political parties”
to dialogue and to reconcile. More precisely, the EU pontificated that the “indepen-
dent media is (sic) a key element of any democratic and pluralistic society” and that
the “suspension of several media organisations…by the Independent Broadcasting
Authority runs counter to this” principle. Like the USA, the EU also ensured that
Zambians did not forget that the EU remained “committed to Zambia’s democratic,
economic and social development”.
Although the USA, the European Union and MISA did not directly address
women issues, the MISA (2016) report nonetheless notes an “interesting tenden-
cy” in the community-based radio sector where such media “covered more socio-
economic issues relevant to the electorate”. These topics included agriculture, labour
and poverty. One would like to believe that by extension, these issues were also of
immediate concern to women in Zambia.
Still, according to the ZEIC (2016), the then most popular Zambian daily newspa-
per, The Post, completely shunned the lone female presidential candidate, Nawakwi,
and that the newspaper did not cover any woman parliamentary and Mayoral or Coun-
cil Chair candidates. The Post mainly focused on men. However, in the 18 issues of
the paper examined by MISA (2016), six low-level women councillor aspirants were
highlighted. But, not a single woman source made it into the newspaper’s lead story
on page one during the elections. Instead, women as news sources were confined to
the lesser important inner pages of what was then the widest circulating, although
now defunct, daily newspaper.
Going by the absence of female candidates in the main media spaces, it could be
argued that attention deficiency could have negatively impacted on the prospects of
female candidates. It had an impact on the attitudes and perceptions of voters, for
media usually set the agenda in the elections campaigns (McCombs and Shaw 1993:
88 S. Phiri
62). In short, women were not on the agenda in the 2016 Zambian elections. Clearly,
the agenda setting could not have been limited to the salience of the topics covered,
but also to the transference of the profiles and prospects of the candidates into the
voters’ minds.
Women candidates were thus not only defined by their [un]suitability as candidates
for the top positions, but also on their right to be, and to participate, or to occupy
central locations in the Zambian society. Those spaces were reservations for men. The
implication of that is that female candidates and issues were exempt from election
discourses and from any serious contentions. Conversely, if women were not serious
contestants, then their issues were unimportant, and if their issues were not important,
then perhaps that explains why Nawakwi and other women candidates continued to
get lower than deserved votes. As McCombs and Shaw (1993: 62–65) argue, news
does not only tell us what to think about, or how to think about it, but directs audience
attention towards some attributes and consequently what to think in our daily lives.
This is the locus of journalistic newsworthiness.
But that is one side of the story. The other has to do with how women communicate
among and about themselves.
Women Communication in the Elections
There is no doubt that women in Zambia and across the world make claims to political
leadership. However, politics for them is not an easy road to travel. For example, a
Zambian female scholar Sampa (2010: 27) quotes the leader of the Democratic Party
in the USA Congress, Nancy Pelosi, as telling aspiring female politicians that:
Don’t think of this [politics] as some League of Women voters type of thing to do. Its brutal.
It’s tough. You are going for power. It’s never just given away. Its highly competitive trying
to take power and as long as you understand that and are ready to take a punch in the face,
then you will love it.
On the other hand, in Malawi, Chikapa (2016: 54) states that it is not only because
politics is a brutal art that women are kept away from political offices. Sometimes,
the fault is with the female candidates themselves. During a focus group discussion
on whether men made better leaders than women, a female participant told Chikapa
that some female candidates do not
have good campaign issues. For example, the female candidate in this area… [said that] she
would strengthen women’s …beer drinking businesses…how can we women vote for such
a person since we already complain that our husbands spend money on beer and prostitutes
found in these beer halls?
But then, poor strategy and communication abilities may not be everything. Some-
times, women voters are just against female candidates. In a study completed prior
to the presidential bye-elections in Zambia in 2015, it emerged that some of the
most vicious critics of female candidates on social media were women voters (Phiri
2016). Although a majority of the vitriol came from men, a good number sprung
from women. In a content analysis of blogs conducted between November 2014

and January 2015 on two of Zambia’s most popular online publications, the Zam-
bian Watchdog with more than 300, 000 followers, and Zambian Reports with about
224, 000 followers, it emerged that women electorates were as vicious as their male
counterparts on female candidates.
The background is that in early November 2014, late President Michael Sata’s
wife, Dr. Christine Kaseba, announced her wish to lead the Patriotic Front (PF), the
party single-handedly founded by her husband, Sata. The announcement came at the
end of a month of national mourning. Then, in January 2015, a popular parliamentar-
ian and former PF minister Silvia Masebo, switched camps and supported opposition
UPND presidential candidate, Hakainde Hichilema.
These two announcements sparked vitriol and sarcasm on social media. A total of
75 blogs in the two publications were examined. Out of those, 22 bloggers’ names
could not be categorised as either male or female because some Zambian names are
used across gender. Moreover, bloggers tend to use nome de plumes. So a gender
division among bloggers was difficult to ascertain with a higher amount of credibility.
However, among the names which could easily be identified as female, a blogger
said this of Kaseba:
It’s a shame if she is being used…be brave like your husband. They will fool you around
and finish you.
The assumption here is that male politicians were pushing Kaseba to contest the
presidency, but towards the end, the males would eventually, truncate her political
career. Another female blogger said:
whether she is in mourning or whatever, the women’s movement is in support …it is time
we have a woman president…Yes we can.
The third female blogger simply wrote off Kaseba saying her prospective can-
didacy was “rubbish”. On Masebo’s switch of political parties and presidential
preferences, a female blogger said:
There goes a saying: Once a snake, always a snake. Masebo was a snake.
The biblical images of the sly scheming serpent were thus applied to Masebo.
However, another blogger offered free advice to the UPND after it publicly
accommodated Masebo into its leadership ranks. The female blogger said:
Only fools welcome fools. Good luck to that childish behavior.
This was the third time that Masebo had swapped political parties. Clearly, this
comment was made by someone who had keenly followed Masebo’s political career.
Nonetheless, a third female blogger praised Masebo for changing parties adding that
“Well done. We are behind you”. Another said: “I like Masebo because she means
business and she has found business in a businessman. Let her go”. The subliminal
undertone lies in knowing that UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema is a prominent
Zambian businessman.
90 S. Phiri
But another blogger cynically advised Masebo that the UPND leader had “already
proposed to Maureen. Masebo, you are stuck. Wooo! You are late woman”. The
Maureen referred to here is president Levy Mwanawasa widow. Mwanawasa died
in office in 2008. The implied sexism in this comment is palpable. Clearly, gender
stereotyping which is deeply intertwined with some deeply embedded superficial
perceptions about female political leaders is played-up here. As Kapoor et al. (2015)
argue, women are rarely portrayed as “completely autonomous individuals”. They
have to be in a relationship with men. Such relational pigeon-holing is according to
Ranciere (2010: 152) part of politics. Ranciere argues that politics is in the main “a
way of framing, among sensory data”. In that respect and according to the blogger
above, the often immaculately clad Masebo could only have changed parties in search
of filial connections.
Social Media and Female Candidates
In discussing the public discourses that take place on social media, it should be
acknowledged that scholars have continued to debate what social media really is.
Some have suggested that these types of media have existed since the day humans
lived in caves while others have said social media emerged with the discovery of
the internet. From another viewpoint, Lindgren (2017: 29, 32) argues that all media
are social if people “use them in social ways” through online sociality, engagement
and community building. This process of socialisation enables the mediation between
individuals who are connected through interaction. In other words, according to Fuchs
(2017: 6–7, 37), the concept of social media is “complex” and has “multi-layered
meanings”. Such media, in Fuchs’ view, are social only because they generate, store
and transfer knowledge which originates from “social relations in society”. Fuchs
argues that such media in which people exchange documents, or knowledge, have
existed for more than 2000 years, i.e., since the Roman Empire. Whatever the case
may be though, in everyday usage and for our purposes, social media should imply
“a network platform where people are able to interact and share information either
or not, via the internet” (Anderson 2016: 195).
In the 2016 Zambian elections, these network platforms were extensively used,
abused and misused by many individuals and groups. The fact, however, is that most
of the leading political parties, for instance—and especially the top two contenders—
utilised various sectors of social media platforms. For example, both the PF and
the UPND, and their candidates had Websites, Facebook Walls, Twitter and other
accounts not only to promote their messages and public profiles, but also to attack
opponents. Also and perhaps for the first time in Zambia’s history, the two leading
presidential contenders Hakainde Hichilema and Edgar Chagwa Lungu attempted to
connect directly to potential voters by opening private Facebook and Twitter accounts,
in an American style of campaigning.
Others who like the ECZ and ZEIC were referees in the political game, also
established own presence on social media platform unlike at any other time before in
Zambia. For example, the ZEIC had, besides its Website www.zambiavote2016.org
and Facebook Wall www.facebook.com/ZEIC2016, some utility Twitter handles
like #ZEICInteracts, #ZEICSummit, #ZAMBIAdecides, or #ZEIC_2016 which were
meant to promote discussions about the electoral processes.
In the case of the one-day #ZEICSummit handle for instance, as at 6 August 2016,
there were more than 771 posts with about 329 users with a reach of 985, 990 people.
There were also some 1, 934, 525 recorded impressions for the two weeks’ period
of between 27 July 2016 and 6 August 2016. This momentum was maintained until
after the election.
In terms of demographics, surprisingly, there was an almost even distribution
between men and women. However, a majority, i.e., 56.6%, were men while 43.5% of
the active participants in the internet-based discussions were women. Also, although
the majority were from Lusaka and the Copperbelt, the trends map shows that partic-
ipants were from across the world (ZEIC 2016). The above factors seem to demon-
strate that social media are not only a pervasive presence during elections but also
their impact may yet have to be fully understood and discerned. The undoubted real-
ity is that these spaces were ultimately utilised by all concerned like never before in
Zambia’s history.
In the future, these platforms may continue occupying central places in the political
discourses of the Zambian nation. Social media have become one of the most used
spaces for public discourse in Zambia. This legroom has increased the people’s ability
to converse and share information. For example, there are 13.4 million Zambians
with cell phones from a population of 16 million people. This represents an 82%
penetration rate. Out of these, some 7.7 million or 47% can access the internet using
their phones (ITweb Africa 2018).
Clearly, the presence of new forms of communications has been utilised by many
Zambians which has accounted for the popularity, for instance, of online publications
like Zambian Watchdog, Lusaka Times, Tumfweko and many more. On these and other
platforms, vigorous debates on various issues including the place of women in politics
are taking place. In terms of the situation of women though, a recent study showed
that social media are sometimes used to dis-empower women, particularly those in
politics. This is often done by reverting to archaic religious and/or traditional customs,
teachings and standards which are meant to continue the exclusion of women from
public spaces, which include politics (Phiri 2016: 60).
Accordingly, female politicians are often open to vicious ridicule: cultural malign-
ing and outright rejection, even among the learned and so-called technologically
savvy. As Udupa (2017: 4) writing on India and Pakistan argues, it appears that some
netzines have “developed the skills to hurt” others including the “re-politicisation of
the domestic sphere” through the logic of intimidation. This invasion of the “intimate
public sphere” is akin to conservative politics that are exclusively aimed at regulating
sexuality.
For instance, it was discovered that among the bloggers who wrote to the two
online publications Zambian Watchdog and Zambia Reports, prior to the 2015 pres-
idential bye-election, about 65% “did not take kindly to women taking the lead in
politics” while only about 25% approved of women political leadership and political
92 S. Phiri
activism (Phiri 2016: 61). As a way of keeping away women from the central places
of politics, some bloggers resorted to all means possible, including the resurrec-
tion of long-dead cultural symbols, paradigms and themes which in modern stances
and bearings could be considered inexplicable, although they are highly emotive.
For example, as indicated above, the presidential ambitions of Sata’s wife, medical
Doctor Kaseba, foundered on the cultural premise promoted on many social media
platforms that a Mukamfilwa (widow) should not be in public places during the
mourning period. In some instances, this period is supposed to last for as long as a
year for women. Ostensibly, men have no such mourning provisions.
But as Sardenberg (2012: 6) argues, culture is a “determinant factor in the process
of women’s dis-empowerment” and since social media and ICTs—so considered as
modernising tools and progressive—are also cultural products, they are sometimes
used against the empowerment of women. However, Fuchs (2017: 86–87) argues,
social media may also be a means for enhancing a participatory culture within the
notions of spreading information. This is so because as Lamb, Sawyer and Kling
(2000: 1614) suggest, ICTs do not exist in a social vacuum. They are embedded into
the cultural and institutional fabrics of the societies which produce, or use them.
Furthermore, as Rothbart and Yousif (2016) argue, cultural violence takes many
forms. These may come through religious faith, educational systems, ideological for-
mations, art expressions and other “strategically constructed and coordinated support
systems” which enforce inequalities in societies. However, in Zambia, these cultural
products were turned against women through the strategic combination of traditional
belief systems and modern communication networks. This is what happened with Dr.
Kaseba whose potential presidential candidacy possibly collapsed after severe crit-
icisms on, among others, social media platforms. Kaseba, “silently withdrew from
the race” after being “loudly condemned by a large section of the Zambian people”
(Mukwita 2017: 73).
The above exemplify forms of cultural violence which were visited upon female
political leaders. This form of ferocity is also psychological. As demonstrated above,
social media and ICTs play a major role in this, just as the traditional media, except
that the anonymity of online media seemingly defends “conditions of ambiguity”
which are necessary for the use of insult language (Udupa 2017: 11). In that manner,
the media reinforce the glass ceilings which in one instance resulted in the “death” of
the presidential ambitions of Kaseba who has since been named Zambia’s ambassador
to France. But besides Kaseba’s foundered presidential ambitions, it is obvious that
several other women leaders may have been dissuaded from political activities by
the stance taken by the media to either disparage or just to silence them.
This form of media “performance” is not a departure from McQuail’s (2000: 14)
premise that media tell people what their expected roles and values are and the media
tend to reinforce such frames and roles. In a patriarchal society such as Zambia’s
this was evidently so for as Mukhongo (2010: 347) argues, controlled media tend to
relegate public interest in “preference” for the interests of the controlling elites. These
elites may be cultural, political, economic, or as we have seen above, masculine.
This control is often exercised through what Kaunda (1980: 175–176) in reference
to racism in Apartheid South Africa refers to as “a collection of myths…which
are a product not of sick minds but of diseased souls”. This disease leads to social
deformity and the “loneliness” of a society dominated by one gender.
Beyond that, Sampa (2010: 46) argues that some women do “not want to see
other women progress”. This is so within party structures that adopt candidates for
political leadership. According to Sampa, some women “do not always support, or
advocate for, the adoption of women”. This thinking is in line with the Zambia
National Women’s League’s observation that “women rarely support their fellow
women and are used by men parliamentary candidates to bring down other women”
(ZNWL 2003).
Then there is what Udupa (2017: 2–3) refers to as the “blitzkrieg of an online
abusive exchange…[of] intentional aggression which indicate…persistent provoca-
tion through linguistic aggression” in some online postings about female political
leaders. Although Udupa writes about India, the same could be said about Zambia.
That aside, there is a problem in the manner in which women candidates con-
nect with female electorates. This is partially the reason why crusades for increased
women in senior political offices may so far have not yielded much fruit. Women,
who in the case of Zambia, are in a marginal majority, may not be progressively
helping to vote female candidates into power. There is definitely a problem here.
This problem could be a result of the communication breakdown, or misunder-
standing, centred around expectations and perceptions, between female politicians
and their women electorates. Such a failure is intense around the concept and practice
of “representation” in new African democracies. The fiasco in communication lies
in the cerebral modes in which women “representativeness” is perceived by both the
female electorates and the female political leaders. According to Pitkin (1967), there
are broadly three systems of representation in a democracy. The first is the descriptive
form by which candidates stand-in for the represented. At this level, the candidates
characteristically resemble the “represented” and absent voters who the candidate
shares socially defined physiognomies. Secondly, there is the substantive kind rep-
resentation in which a politician is viewed as signifying, and as being expressive of,
women interests and priorities. In such a role, female leaders work for, and inspire,
women-sensitive policy changes. Lastly, there is the symbolic kind of representa-
tion where politicians are projected as role models of what woman-hood leadership
should be.
However, these models and leadership styles are shaped and legitimised by ger-
mane group norms. As said, there is often a discrepancy on both sides—the elec-
torate and female leadership—about what form representation should take and how
it should be exercised on one side. The expectations on both sides are at variance.
Both sides are unaware of what is required and expected of them, and of the other.
Until this dichotomy of expectations is narrowed, or simply eradicated, there will be
constant lack of camaraderie between women voters and female candidates for polit-
ical offices. One way of getting round this communication problem could be through
the re-adaption and then application of the checks embedded into the Bechdel Test.
This Test should be used to examine political parties, or governments, or female
leadership styles. Such a use of the Test, which is normally applied to films, books
and television programmes (Kapoor et al. 2015; Belia 2015; Johnson 2009) would
94 S. Phiri
require the re-phrasing of Alison Bechdel’s questions. The “new” questions could
read like this:
• Do political party and State leadership positions reflect the population’s medians?
• Do female political leaders talk about women priorities?
• Do women leaders talk to women rather than through men?
Objective answers to these questions would assist in resolving the issues around
the communication expectations between female candidates and women electorates.
Moreover, it could help refocus the attention of the media unto the women’s political,
social and economic leadership priorities.
Conclusion
This discussion has reflected upon how women were treated by both the mainstream
and New Media in Zambia’s elections. This has been done through the analytical
juxtaposition of the findings in several studies that confirmed the negation of oppo-
sition political parties as well as women, by the mainstream and social media. It has
been argued that although women are a majority, the patriarchal Zambian society
considers women, just like out-of-government political parties, as oppositional ele-
ments who are aspiring for political spaces, but should be excluded. Women political
aspirants are challenging the dominance of male elites.
Further, it has been argued that solutions to the problems of exclusion lie beyond
the structural quota system, or campaigns for gender equity and fairness, towards
improving communication dichotomies between women as a social group and their
leaders. The communication “gap of expectations” between female political leaders
and the women electorates needs to be closed. One way of doing so is through the
use of a new framework, the adapted Bechdel Test normally used in films and books,
to judge the African states’ framing and positioning of female politicians.
In that way, the tactical maneuvers to keep women away from active participa-
tion in public spaces shall be exposed, neutralised and eliminated. It is further said
that 20 years into the twenty-first century, a society that deliberately marginalises
a significant number of its population is both diseased and deformed and begs for
change. Future research could therefore be focused upon the utility of the adapted
Bechdel Test in healing that sickness, and in furthering social communication and
gender equity in African societies.
References
Achebe, C. (2001). Home and exile. New York, NY: Anchor Books.
Anderson, G. (2016). Does WhatsApp use by female students ruin their morality? The case of
junior high school students in Cape Coast Metropolitan, Ghana. In J. Wilson & D. Gapsiso
(Eds.), Overcoming Gender Inequalities through technology integration (194–210). IGI Global,
Hershey, PA.
Article 19. (2006). Broadcasting pluralism and diversity. London: Article 19.
AU. (2016). African Union Agenda. [O]. Available www.un.org/en/africa/osaa/pdf/au/agenda2063.
pdf. Accessed on 17 May, 2017.
AWD Africa women decade. (2010). [O]. Available http://www.africa-union-org/root/AU/
Conferences/2010?april/wgd/wgd.htlml. Accessed 17 May 2017.
Belia, V. (2015). ‘You can read your way out of this’: A diffractive reading of Alison Bechdel’s Are
You My Mother? With Virginia Woolf and Adrienne Rich. Unpublished RMA thesis, Research
Institute of History and Culture. Utrecht University.
Bucher, T. (2012). Want to be on top? Algorithmic power and the threat of invisibility on Facebook.
New Media & Society, 14(7), 1164–1180.
Carter Centre and NDI. (1991). Pre-election report—October 31, 1991 Zambian elections. Lusaka:
Carter Centre.
Carter Centre. (2016). Election Observation Mission Zambia, general elections and referen-
dum, August 2016 preliminary statement [O]. Available https://www.cartercenter.org/resources/
pdfs/news/peace_publications/election_reports/zambia-prelim-0815. Accessed on September
18, 2016.
Castells, M. (2011). A network theory of power. International Journal of Communication, 773–787.
Castells, M. (2007). Communication, power and counter-power in network society. International
Journal of Communication, 238–266.
CCC—Committee for Clean Campaigns. (1996). Presidential and parliamentary elections in
Zambia. Lusaka: CCC.
CCMG. (2017). CCMG 2016 election report launch. [O]. Available http://ccmgzambia.org/
wp-content/uploads/2017/01/CCMG-Election-Report-Launch-Statement_FINAL-Version.pdf.
Accessed 15 May 2017.
Chikapa, T. M. (2016). The ‘Joyce Banda Effect’: Public Opinion and Voting Behaviour in Malawi.
CMI Brief. 15(6).
Country Meters. (2017). Zambia population. [O]. Available www.countrymeters.info/en/Zambia.
Accessed: 4 May 2017.
ECZ. (2017). Presidential elections: Poll results. [O]. Available https://www.elections.org.zm/
general_election_2016.php. Accessed: 9 May, 2017.
Entman, R. M. (2004). Projections of power: Framing news, public opinion, and US foreign policy.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
EU. (2016). European Union Observation mission final report. [O]. Available https://eeas.europa.
eu/sites/eeas/files/final_report_eu_eom_zambia.pdf. Accessed 15 May 2017.
Fuchs, C. (2017). Social media: A critical introduction. London: Sage.
Gender Links. (2016). Gender Links sharepoint. [O]. Available https://genderlinks.sharepont.com/
layouts/15/wopiframe.aspx?sourcedoc. Accessed 7 June 2018.
Giles, D.C. (2016). Parasocial interaction: A review of the literature and a model for future research.
Media Psychology, 4(3), 279–305.
Government of Zambia. (2016). Constitution of Zambia (amendment). No. 2 of 2016. [O].
Available www.csppzambia.org/images/constitution-of-Zambia-amendment-2016-Act-No2-0.
pdf. Accessed 10 June 2018.
Hartley, J. (2011). Communication, cultural and media studies: Key concepts. London: Routledge.
ITWeb Africa. (2018). Zambia fast approaching mobile saturation—ZICTA. [O]. Available www.
itwebafrica.com/mobilex/322-Zambia/Zambia-fast-approaching-mobile-saturation-zicta. [O].
Accessed 9 June 2018.
96 S. Phiri
Johnson, A. D. (2009). The Bechdel test and race in popular fiction. [O]. Available thean-
gryblackwoman.com/2009/09/01/the-bechdel-test-and-race-in-popular-fiction. Accessed 9 July
2018.
Kapoor, H., Bhuptani, P. H., & Agnesswaran, A. (2015). The Bechdel in India: Gendered depic-
tions in contemporary Hindi cinema. Journal of Gender Studies, 1, 16. https://doi.org/10.1080/
09589236.2015.1102128.
Kaunda, K. D. (1980). Kaunda on violence. London: Collins.
Lamb, R., Sawyer, S., & Kling, R. (2000). A social informatics perspective on social-technical
networks. In American conference on information systems (pp. 1613–1617).
Lindgren, S. (2017). Digital media & society. London: Sage.
McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1993). The evolution of agenda setting research: Twenty-five
years in the market place of ideas. Journal of communication., 43(2), 58–67.
McQuail, D. (1995). Media performance: Mass communication and the public interest. London:
Sage.
McQuail, D. (2000). The influence and effects of mass media. In G. Graber (Ed.), Media power in
politics (pp. 5–21). Washington: Congressional Quarterly.
MISA. (2016). Media monitoring report. [O]. Available http://misazambia.org/wp-content/uploads/
2014/10/MISA-Media-Monitoring-Report-2016. Accessed 10 May 2017.
Mouton, J. (2001). How to succeed in your Master’s and doctoral Studies. Pretoria: Van Schaik
Mukhongo, L. L. (2010). Can the media in Africa shape Africa’s political future? Journal of African
Media Studies, 2(3), 339–353.
Mukwita, M. (2017). Against all odds. [si]: Patridge.
NAZ. (2017). Members of parliament by gender. National Assembly of Zambia. nd. [O]. Available
http://www.parliament.gov.zm/members/gender. Accessed 9 May 2017.
Ndawana, Y. (2016). Women participation in elections in Zambia: What are the trends,
2016 and beyond. [O]. Available https://www.academia.edu/28370829/Women_participation_
in_elections_in_Zambia-what_are_the_trends_2016_and_beyond. Accessed 17 May 2017.
Phiri, S. (2016). Political dis-empowerment of women by ICTs: The case of the Zambian elections.
In J. Wilson & D. Gapsiso (Eds.), Overcoming gender inequalities through technology integration
(pp. 54–67). IGI Global, Hershey, PA.
Pitkin, H. F. (1967). The concept of representation. Los Angeles: University of California press.
Quota Project. (2016). Gender quotas around the world. [O]. Available http://www.quotaproject.
org/index_cfm?goback-gde2216278member223945501. Accessed 17 May 2017.
Ranciere, J. (2010). Dissensus: On politics and aesthetics. London: Continuum.
Rothbart, R,. & Yousif, A. (2016). Ideology and cultural violence. Conflict Trends (Accord), 3,
38–41.
Sampa, M. K. (2010). The election of women to the Zambian parliament: An analysis of the
under-representation of women in the 2001 and 2006 parliamentary elections. Unpublished M.A.
dissertation in Gender studies. University of Zambia, Lusaka.
Sardenberg, C. M. D. (2012). Negotiating culture in the promotion of gender equality and women’s
empowerment in Latin America. IDS Working Paper, No. 407.
Thompson, J. B. (2005). The new visibility. Theory, Culture & Society, 22(6), 31–51.
Udupa, S. (2017). Gaali cultures: The politics of abusive exchange in social media. New Media &
Society, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817698776.
UN. (2016). Sustainable development goals. [O]. Available www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment.
sustainable-development-goals. Accessed 17 May 2017.
USA. (2016). Concern over post-election constraints on media freedom in Zambia. [O]. Available
www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps2016/09/261533.htm. Accessed 17 May 2017.
USA. (2017). Country reports on human rights practices for 2016. [O]. Available https://www.state.
gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2016&dlid=265316wrapper. Accessed 15
May 2017.
Zaller, J. (1999). A theory of media politics: how the interests of politicians, journal-
ists, and citizens shape news. [O]. Available http://www.eky.edu/AS/PolicScie/Peffley/pdf/
ZallerTheoryofMediaPolitics(10-99). Accessed 18 May 2017.
ZEIC. (2016). Press statement. [O]. Available http://zambiavote2016.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/
08/ZEIC-Press-Statement-10Aug-2016.pdf. Accessed 10 May 2017.
ZICTA. [nd]. ZICTA statistics portal. [O]. Available www.onlinesystems.zicta.zm:8585/stasfinal/.
Accessed 15 May 2017.
ZNWL (2003). Research report on political parties’ adoption systems in relation to adoption of
women. Lusaka: Zambia National Women’s Lobby.
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Political
Communication into Liberia Presidency
Ayo Elebute and Suleiman Ocheni
Introduction
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is one of the leading political figures in contemporary African

society. She is an utterly unique figure in Africa’s presidential history; the presidential
job seemed to have wanted her more than she wanted it. Her victory into Liberian
presidential seat in the year 2006 served as a double landmark. First, it pointed to a
significant step in this sub-Saharan African state’s transition to peace after 14 years of
civil war. Second, it marked the first time in contemporary African epic that a woman
was elected to the highest political office in an African state. During her political
campaign for office, she asserted through the mass media that she had a magic wand
to turn Liberia’s bad economy around which was heavily reliant on foreign assistance
despite significant amounts of iron ore, rubber and palm oil. The electorate bought
into her political thoughts during campaigns to win political election and they voted
for her in large numbers. Her immediate success at the polls presupposes the fact that
communication channels are improving relationship between political aspirants and
the electorate, and they are increasing the astute political aspirants’ influence over
the political opponents.
Liberia as a country has a long and colourful past with the USA. It was founded
in 1822 by the Society for the Colonization of Free People of America, which was
also known as the American Colonization Society (ACS). It was established as a
sanctuary for free black people living in the USA. Although they were free as at that
A. Elebute (B)
Mass Communication Programme, Bowen University, Iwo, Nigeria
e-mail: elebute1959@gmail.com
S. Ocheni
Resource Centre for Arts, Culture and Communication Development, Ibadan, Nigeria
e-mail: suleiman.ocheni1@gmail.com
100 A. Elebute and S. Ocheni
period, the blacks in America were not welcomed nor tolerated in their immediate
society. They were often blamed for crimes and condemned as mischief makers and
white slave owners blamed the free black population for inciting descent among their
slaves.
Henry Clay, John Randolph and Daniel Webster were prominent members of the
ACS that helped to create a country to be called Liberia with the support of Presidents
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison who feared that free black people would have
difficulties assimilating into their society, and in the nineteenth century, the ACS
was able to ship approximately 16,000 freed slaves to Liberia (Alexander 1846;
Cambridge University Press 1910; Hankins 2004; US Department of State 2018).
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf communicated to the jubilant supporters after winning the
elections that “We have shattered the glass ceiling”. This implies the fact that she
has broken the barrier of gender discrimination that has often distanced women from
attaining high political positions in African political systems. In African society,
“Men are positively portrayed as active, successful, adventurous, powerful, and sex-
ually aggressive while women are negatively portrayed as sex objects who are usually
young, thin beautiful, passive, and dependent” (Elebute and Airen 2018: 12). Since
she has broken the jinx through her success at the polls, it is hoped that other African
women will become more active in civil and political affairs of their countries. The
Femmes Africa Solidarité, a non-governmental network, tagged her election success
as a major leap forward in the struggle for equal participation in decision-making.
This is one moment in the annals of politics that African women had all longed and
hoped for.
Although Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf made specific appeals for votes from Liberian
women, her campaign addressed a broad range of socio-political issues. These
included fighting corruption, ensuring security, achieving national unity and recon-
ciliation, and encouraging post-war economic recovery. When the time came to win
ratification for her presidency, she decided to speak to the Liberian people in person.
She travelled several miles in a few days. Press conferences and media coverage of
her political thoughts made voters across the country to hear her campaign promises
with their own ears or at least witnessed what she and her campaign handlers were
comfortable airing.
In appealing for votes, she highlighted her skills and extensive experience in
politics. She communicated her political participation to end the Liberia civil war as
well as her experience in conflict resolution after the series of wars that engulfed the
African continent. For example, she was one of the seven eminent persons appointed
by the Organization of African Unity in 1999 to investigate the Rwanda genocide,
she helped to chair a dialogue among political currents in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo in 2002, and that same year, she helped to author a report by the UN
Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) on women’s roles in building peace.
She leveraged changes in communication technology to enhance her power by
appealing directly to the Liberian public. For example, she disseminated her political
programmes through the media, keeping the public informed of her policy goals
aimed at righting the wrong economy depression that was bedevilling Liberia. Most
especially, she used the social media to reach the large heterogeneous and anonymous
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Political Communication into Liberia … 101
audiences of Liberia simultaneously and to respond rapidly to cluttered political

issues.
It is noticeable that the achievements and contributions of women in African pol-
itics lack proper documentation. Although some of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s polit-
ical exploits have been discussed in existing literature, her position as the first
female African president that is inextricable part of her political accomplishments
has not been adequately examined. It is this gap in scholarship that informs these
researchers’ attempt to examine her rhetoric and biographic/political exploits and
tenure in Liberia’s seat of power. The main aim of these researchers is to fill a gap
by doing a biographic/political study of the first female president in Africa, Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, a contemporary African leader from a country with ties to
the USA. She was the twenty-fourth president of Liberia and the first democratically
elected female president in Africa. Focus will be on how she rose to the very top
of the Liberian political ladder, running on feminine ideals in a country that values
masculine traits.
Review of Literature
In the review of available literature provided below, the researchers have done a
biographical profile on President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. The purpose of this is to
examine her life, from the early years all the way into her time as President of
Liberia, and see the experiences she had that made her champion the causes she did.
Early Socio-political Activities of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
Ellen Eugenia Johnson was born on 29 October 1938 in Monrovia, Liberia, to parents
of remarkable erudition who valued education and therefore made sure their daughter
went to one of the best schools in the country. She attended the prominent preparatory
school, College of West Africa in Monrovia from 1948 to 1955. Although university
would have been the next natural step in her academic career, she married James
Sirleaf in 1956 who worked for Liberia’s Department of Agriculture. After the birth
of their four sons, to add to the family’s finances, she took a job as a bookkeeper at a
local auto shop, which is where she worked until her husband had an opportunity to
further his studies in the USA. Seeing this as a chance to enhance her academic career,
she decided to join him. So, they left their children in the care of their grandparents
and travelled to the USA where James completed a graduate degree at the University
of Wisconsin’s School of Agriculture while Ellen studied accounting at the Madison
College of Business (Academy of Achievement 2018; Eight Women 2018).
Upon returning to Liberia, James went back to his job at the Department of
Agriculture while she took up an appointment at the Liberian Treasury Department
in the Ministry of Finance. However, violent domestic abuse coupled with the fact
that both partners were now in full-time employment put tension on the marriage,
which led to her divorcing her husband in 1961 (Adams and Thomas 2010; Academy
of Achievement 2018). After she had fully divorced herself from her troubled past,
she returned to the USA in 1970 where she completed a degree in economics from
the University of Colorado. Soon after, she moved on to do a Master degree in Public
Administration at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She
completed her course of study in 1971. It was only after she had received these degrees
that she returned to Liberia (Cooper 2010; Adams and Thomas 2010; Southhard 2017;
Academy of Achievement 2018; Eight Women 2018; McCauley 2012).
She took up a post as Assistant Finance Minister in President William Tolbert’s
administration. Being the outspoken politician that she was, she was not afraid to
speak her mind, even against the policies of the administration of which she was a
part. This caused tensions to rise between her and senior members in the Liberian
government. This is the reason she left the country once more for Washington DC
in 1973 where she worked for the World Bank. After a few years at the World Bank,
she returned to Liberia in 1977 where she worked on the staff of the Ministry of
Finance, but this time as Deputy Minister (Ackerman 2009; Gerdes 2015; Academy
of Achievement 2018; Eight Women 2018). Two years later, Liberia faced a rice
shortage, which gave rise to riots in the country. Rather than deal with the outbreak
of violence, the government inadvertently escalated the situation. To help combat
this problem, President Tolbert fired his Minister of Finance and put her in his place,
making her the first woman to occupy such a position in Liberia. She reformed
the country’s finances and managed to defuse the situation that she was brought
into handle (Ackerman 2009; Gerdes 2015; Academy of Achievement 2018; Eight
Women 2018).
Johnson-Sirleaf’s prosperity as Liberia’s minister of finance did not last very long;
this was because Master Sergeant Samuel Doe staged a coup d’état in which President
Tolbert was killed on 12 April 1980. Ten days after 13 ministers in Tolbert’s cabinet
were publically executed, soldiers came to her home, arrested and took her to the
army barracks at Schiefflin, outside Monrovia for questioning. Under strict orders
from Master Sergeant Doe, she was not killed as she was more use to him alive.
Although the soldiers that held her were not allowed to kill her, no such protections
were extended to her in terms of rape, which led to one soldier attempting to violate
her. However, the attack was thwarted by another soldier who happened to be from
the same ethnic group as she was (Cooper 2010; Academy of Achievement 2018).
After this saga, she had a brief spell as president of the Liberian Bank for Devel-
opment and Investment (LBDI). When life became unbearable for her, as it had for
many of Doe’s opponents, she went into exile and resided in Washington DC and
returned to the World Bank as a senior loan officer. However, this did not last long
because in 1981 she returned to Africa, but this time she went to Kenya where she
took up a position as vice president of Citicorp’s African division in Nairobi. She
stayed on this position for four years. She later went back home in 1985 to contest
election as vice president of Liberia on Jackson Doe’s (no relation) ticket in the gen-
eral elections held by Samuel Doe to gain international legitimacy. Subsequently,
she was arrested and charged to prison for ten years. Her offence was hinged on her
criticisms of Samuel Doe’s administration. Due to pressure from the international

community, she was eventually released, but her name was removed from the vice-
presidential ballot. She was allowed to run for senate which she did win but turned
down, citing that the elections were fraudulent (Cooper 2010; Adams and Thomas
2010; Academy of Achievement 2018; Eight Women 2018).
She was arrested again in November of 1985 and released seven months later at
which time she unceremoniously left Liberia for Washington DC where she accepted
a job as a vice president of HSBC Equator Bank, and in 1992, she joined the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as the first woman to run such a devel-
opment programme for Africa where she investigated the Rwandan genocide. At the
height of her tenure at the UN, she was Assistant Secretary-General of the United
Nations. Although she was building a life for herself outside her homeland, she kept a
close eye on affairs in Liberia, and in 1996, as a result of this monitoring, she deemed
it safe to return to Liberia and contest for the presidency. This was the beginning of
her 10-year journey to becoming the first democratically elected female president in
African history (Adams and Thomas 2010; Gerdes 2015; Southhard 2017; Academy
of Achievement 2018).
Later Political Activities: “Ma Sirleaf’s Road

to the Executive Mansion”
In contemporary times, the political landscape has become open to women. Most
countries no longer have laws that actively exclude women from pursuing political
office. However, things like culture, gender ideology and gender stereotypes continue
to be obstacles to women vying for political leadership (Adams and Thomas 2010).
Although women are allowed to run for office legally, they still have an uphill battle
to face as cultural barriers most times can prove harder to overcome than legal ones
and are more difficult to change and take much longer.
Looking back at political leaders, even outside Africa, it is clear to see that many
female world leaders have familial ties to power in one way or another. However,
Johnson-Sirleaf did not have this advantage. The highest political connection she had
was her father who served on the country’s legislature (Adams and Thomas 2010).
Jalalzai (2004) is of the opinion that it is easier for a woman to garner the favour of
party members than it is for them when the populace is involved, and this is the reason
women have an easier time becoming prime ministers as opposed to presidents.
Therefore, with no inside connections, president Johnson-Sirleaf knew that she had
to run on a solid platform. So during her campaigns, she championed women’s rights,
specifically, education for female children and rape protection (Southhard 2017).
In a country where femininity is seen as weak, it would make sense that any woman
running for public office would downplay her womanhood. However, a constant
thread through every presidential campaign she ran, Johnson-Sirleaf did not try to
distract from the fact that she was a woman. Instead, she cited her experiences as
a woman to be the exact reason she was suited to leadership (Adams and Thomas
2010). She was quoted to have said, “Women are the ones who truly have the heart to
care and serve…Perhaps because of the role that nature has bestowed on us. A woman
is naturally crafted to take care of the children and keep the home together”, (Adams
and Thomas 2010, pp. 121–122). She argued that “in the war-torn nation of Liberia,
the country needed a leader who would usher in an era of peace; unite the country
and fix the severe political, economic and infrastructural problems the country had
and do away with corruption, and that these were pursuits women typically excelled
in” (Sirleaf 2008, p. 34).
She was smart in the way she chose to handle the issue of her sex in her bids to
become Liberian president. Although she had said that the fact she was a woman
would make her a better president than any man that came before her, she also made
it clear that she possessed typically masculine characteristics that would help her
better run the country. Not only that but also she highlighted her past successes in
sectors usually dominated by men, namely her education and political background.
This worked to her advantage because she became known as Liberia’s Iron Lady,
and slogans like Ellen, she’s our man became synonymous with her bids to become
president (Lawless 2004; Adams and Thomas 2010). This was a resourceful move on
her part as not only did she get credit for possessing admirable female characteristics
but she also played to the base in the country who respected masculinity, splitting
the votes there.
Not only did highlighting her femininity show that she possessed the qualities to
put a damaged country back together, but it also encouraged women to come out
and vote, and most importantly, vote for her. Individual women as well as women’s
associations endorsed her and this has been highlighted as one of the major rea-
sons she won the presidency (Horace 2005). Her campaigning efforts as well as the
encouragement of women’s association is what led to an almost 50% increase of
women registered to vote on Election Day 2005 in Liberia (Adams 2008; Southard
2017). As a result of Samuel Doe’s military coup in 1980, the Liberian people were
subjected to decades of violence, and women were especially targets of this violence.
Not only did women in the country have to deal with the other hardships that war
brought, but they also became victims of sexual abuse with three out of four Liberian
women having been sexually assaulted in one way or another (OHCHR Report 2016;
Ackerman 2009). So, it is easy to see why sexual safety for women and girls was a
platform that she ran on, after narrowly escaping rape herself all those years ago at
Schiefflin army barracks.
Among the other policy goals she had, education for the girl child and protection
against sexual assault were paramount. She felt that these two policies were inter-
related; that only when women were educated and free from sexual abuse that they
would be able to stand up to the patriarchy and step forward and participate in
politics and by extension, society at large (Adams and Thomas 2010; Southhard
2017). Seeing as women make up the majority of most societies, and that Liberian
woman had been so disenfranchised for so long, it is no surprise that this message
spoke to many Liberian women effectively driving them to the polls. Another group
that she championed was Liberia’s Market Women Group. In the past, they had
been overlooked. She called them the “Backbone of the country”, and it is easy to see
why. During and after the civil war years, Liberia’s market women more or less kept
the country going by supplying food that they acquired painstakingly. So to give back
to these women, who she called “heroines”, she set up the Sirleaf Market Women’s
Fund, which she used to empower Liberia’s market women. Through this fund, she
was able to give market women motorcycles to help with their market activities as
well as help her spread her message of female empowerment (Sirleaf 2008; Gerdes
2015; Southhard 2017). This was yet another campaign promise that showed that she
was a defender of marginalized groups, of which a vast majority of Liberians were.
Her political history, even before she decided to run for any public office, was
another feather in her cap. Almost all of her adult life had been spent being a vocal
critic of the corrupt regimes that ran Liberia, sometimes even speaking up when it
was not in her best interest to do so. The fact that she had a history of speaking
out against corruption and that she had been imprisoned several times for doing so
showed the Liberian people that she was not afraid to do what was right, no matter
how unpleasant (Southard 2017). Her tumultuous past political life then became a
point of reference to critics who tried to accuse her of weakness and she was not shy of
pointing it out whenever the need arose. Upon her return to Liberia in 1996 to run for
president against Charles Taylor, Sirleaf was swiftly beaten. In the official tally, she
only garnered 9.7% of the votes, and there were two main reasons for this spectacular
loss. The first being that Taylor maintained control of the strategic resources like the
only radio station in the country that broadcasted outside of the country’s capital,
Monrovia, and secondly and probably most importantly, the Liberian people were
afraid that if Taylor did not win, he would plunge the country into further violence. By
this point, Liberia had been ravaged by fighting; many lives had been lost, and most
of the county’s infrastructure had been reduced to rubble (Adams 2008; Southard
2017). Moving forward, the Liberian people sought development and did not want
the wars that had plagued them for so long to continue and these fears are argued to
be the reason why Liberians voted for Charles Taylor, a man who had proven to be
a violent dictator, to remain in office.
When Charles Taylor was exiled to Nigeria in 2003, Johnson-Sirleaf returned to
Liberia and acted as chair of the Commission on Good Governance. The commis-
sion’s purpose was to prepare Liberia for free and fair democratic elections, and in
2005, she decided to run for president once more but this time she did not have an
incumbent to contend with and there were no warlords trying to consolidate power.
Although “she ultimately won the presidency, she did not do so easily… In the first
round of voting, she only received 19.8% of the votes… It was in the second round
that she pulled ahead of George Weah with 59.4% of the votes” (Adams 2008).
The 2005 election has been said to have been the freest and fairest elections that
Liberia had ever seen at that time (Gerdes 2015). As it has been stated earlier in this
paper, women have only started to be successful in gaining office in the executive
arms of governments worldwide, and this is more of a frequent occurrence in Africa
than most other places. Adams (2008) theorized that women have a better chance
of becoming leaders of unstable countries because women are typically seen as out-
siders to the system that resulted in any country’s turmoil and they tend to be viewed
as less corrupt than their male counterparts. This is not to say that Johnson-Sirleaf
did not work hard and earn the presidency, but it speaks to one more circumstance
that aided her success in the 2005 elections.
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
The 16th day of January 2006 was a momentous day for Liberians. That date marked
the day Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was inaugurated as the first democratically elected
female president in Liberian and African history. In attendance were the US first
lady, Laura Bush along with the country’s Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice,
along with representatives from Finland, France, Egypt and China. The civil war
that ravaged the country for 14 years brought with it the displacement of one million
of its citizens and the murder of another 270,000. The unemployment rate was at
90% and the country owed $3.7 billion and its infrastructure was in shambles which
left Liberians without electricity and running water (Cooper 2010; Southard 2017).
Liberians saw the inauguration of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as marking the end to all
these struggles (Figs. 1 and 2).
After her election, she, in an attempt to foster national reconciliation, promised
to bring on opposition leaders into her administration. One such appointment was
Joseph Korto as the Minister of Education (Blunt 2006). Unlike many of her prede-
cessors, she was far more qualified to run Liberia. As a result of her many years of
experience in the Liberian government and in international organizations, she was
familiar with the political landscapes of not only Liberia, but also the international
community, and therefore, she was able to navigate it somewhat successfully (Gerdes
2015). In the first five years of her presidency, she was able to restore electricity to
Monrovia and other major urban areas, boost the country’s tourism sector, increase
school enrolment by 40% and reduced the country’s debt substantially (Cooper 2010).
Fig. 1 Twenty-fourth
President of Liberia. Source
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/File:Ellen_Johnson_
Sirleaf_February_2015.jpg
Fig. 2 Inauguration
ceremony. Source https://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/File:
Ellen_Johnson-Sirleaf3.jpg
With a debt of $3.7 billion, Liberia as a country was in no position to pay back this
money at the time. The country could barely manage to feed its people so paying back
this money would have been essentially impossible. She successfully negotiated debt
relief so that her government could focus on rebuilding the country (Gerdes 2015;
Southard 2017; Jideonwo 2017).
It is often the case that when politicians assume the duties of the office, they ran for
and won, many of them break campaign promises. This was not the kind of leader
Johnson-Sirleaf wanted to be. Soon after she was elected, reports surfaced that a
Nigerian soldier had raped a nine-year-old girl in Liberia and she personally took it
upon herself to prosecute the man and make an example of him. She was quoted to
have said to the head of the peacekeeping operation, “Do not let him leave Liberia…
If he leaves Liberia and goes back to Nigeria, they will free him”. (Cooper 2010: 47;
Southard 2017: 31). She saw an opportunity to not only prosecute a child rapist but
to also send a clear message to the international community that Liberia as a country
would no longer stand for sexual violence. She inherited a truly broken country after
she became president and there were numerous problems she had to face, problems
which she worked hard to correct. One of the first things she did was criminalize and
stigmatize rape in Liberia. She also went to work paving the country’s roads that had
been neglected for years and heavily invested in not only the education of female
children, which was one of her campaign promises but also children in general in
order to reintroduce child soldiers into society when all they had ever known was
violence (Ackerman, 2009; Cooper 2010; Southard 2017). Based on what she was
able to accomplish in her first five years in office, it was clear to see that she was a
leader who cared about the work she was doing.
She also took a firm stance against drug trafficking. Drug traffickers met with
Fombah Sirleaf, her step-son, and offered him and Liberian officials millions of
dollars to allow cocaine shipments into the country to be redistributed to other West
African countries as well as Europe. What the traffickers did not know is that she
and her step-son were working with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to
help impede this plot (Cooper 2010). By doing this, she became an example of moral
behaviour to Liberian citizens, because not only had she done what was right, but also
she had raised a son who apparently had the same moral values as she did. During
her time as president, she showed that she was a methodical leader who was able
to perform under pressure. No greater example of this can be cited than the 2014
outbreak of Ebola in Liberia. At the time of the outbreak, the country only had 50
doctors to care for its 4.3 million citizens. The disease ended up killing 4800 Liberians
in the two-year period that it was prevalent. However, she managed to secure the aid of
the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the Food and Agriculture Organization
to eradicate Ebola from the country. As a result of this, out of the three countries
affected by the outbreak, Liberia was the first to be declared Ebola-free (Gerdes
2015; Academy of Achievement 2018; Jideonwo 2017). So although the country’s
health sector was woefully understaffed, the government was able to deal with the
crisis.
During the 12 years that she was president, she managed to deal with some of
the more major problems she inherited from her predecessors. She issued an exec-
utive order giving free elementary education to Liberian children. She also ensured
that Liberian women received and enjoyed equal rights and encouraged them to par-
ticipate in society. Under her leadership, Liberia was also able to acquire China’s
support to construct a national university. Although there are still frequent power out-
ages throughout the country, she has excelled in other infrastructural projects; over
800 miles of roads have been built. She was also able to build a hydro-electricity
dam which has brought outside investment into the country’s offshore oil exploration,
mining, and agriculture and forestry (Gerdes 2015; Academy of Achievement 2018;
Jideonwo 2017). She can be credited with opening the doors to politics for women
in Africa. As of 2017, 21.9% of seats in legislative assemblies in Africa are filled
by women. In Liberia, by 2010 40% of local government posts were held by women
(Southhard 2017). She also aided in the setup of the Angie Brooks International
Centre for Women Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace
and Security. Johnson-Sirleaf said, “Because of me the doors are open. Women are
running for political office all over the continent”. (Cooper 2010:48). Given the statis-
tics and the rise in female participation in politics, it can be said that Johnson-Sirleaf
accomplished her goal of having more women participate in politics.
Her presidency was not without reproach. On several occasions, she was accused
of corruption in the form of nepotism. Accusers cite the fact that several of her
children held prominent positions within the government. One of her sons was the
head of the national security agency; another was the head of the national oil company,
while another was the deputy governor of the central bank. Many called for her to
fire her sons as this was a disrespectful practice and went against everything she
said she stood for. Although the cries for Johnson-Sirleaf to “End Nepotism Now”
were loud, she dismissed them and called them, “Noise in the market” (Jideonwo
2017; McCauley 2012). Although she pledged to impose a zero-tolerance policy for
corruption in her government, her administration was on many occasion accused
of corruption. She admitted that corruption remained in her administration, but that
she was dealing with cases as they arose. This is what led to the 2008 sacking
of Laurence Bropleh who was accused of stealing upwards of $200,000 from the
government, and the 2010 dismissal of her cousin Ambulai Johnson who served
as the country’s Internal Affairs Minister. She kicked against allegations that she
was not doing anything to deal with corruption during her presidency by citing the
establishment of the Liberian Anti-Corruption Commission and the restructuring of
the General Auditing Commission (Executive Mansion 2009, 2010).
Some have criticized her for trying to further the feminist agenda at the expense
of men. Johnson-Sirleaf has been quoted as saying, “If I had my way, I would have
had an all-woman cabinet, but I didn’t have enough women to fill those strategic
positions”. (Cooper 2010:48). Inglehart and Norris (2003) do support her stance on
women in power somewhat, stating that countries that allow for the advancement
of women tend to be more prosperous economically. Dollar et al. (2001) found that
female participation in politics leads to lower levels of corruption. However, since it
has never been done, the success of all-female cabinet remains to be seen. Over the
course of her political career, she has won numerous awards for her work; the most
notable of which is the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize which she won for her non-violent
efforts to further women’s rights. Although this was quite an achievement, many
accused the Nobel Prize selection committee of trying to influence the Liberian
elections as this was bolstering her bid for a second term at a time that she was
relatively unpopular (Gerdes 2015). Along with the Nobel Prize, she has also won
the Ibrahim Prize for achievement in African leadership, the Indira Gandhi Prize for
peace and an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard University (Academy
of Achievement 2018).
Theoretical Framework
The theoretical foundation for political communication of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in

Liberia will be built on a framework of Psychoanalytical Feminist Theory, Lead-
ership Trait Theory and Charismatic Leadership Theory. The Psychoanalytical
Feminist theory is based on Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis model. In this theory,
Freud argued that gender is not biological, but is based on the psycho-sexual devel-
opment of the individual. Chodorow in his 1989 psychoanalytical feminist theory
opined that gender inequality comes from early childhood experiences that lead men
to believe that they are masculine, and women to see themselves as feminine. Another
psychoanalytical feminist theorist, Lerman (1990: 23), maintained that gender leads
to a social system that is dominated by males, which in turn influences the individual
psycho-sexual development.
Early Leadership Trait theorists have declared that leaders do not differ from
non-leaders in clear-consistent ways. However, House et al. (1996: 23) opposed this
declaration when they indicated that “leaders do indeed differ from non-leaders on
important and measurable traits”. Earlier to this view, Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991:
45) had suggested that “certain traits contribute to leaders’ success”. Such traits
include: (1) Self-confidence, that is, to believe in your own ability, (2) cognitive
ability, which deals with human intelligence, (3) drive, which deals with ambition,
high energy and initiative, (4) honesty and integrity that deal with trustworthiness,
openness and reliability, (5) creativity, which is the ability to make new things or
think of new ideas: originality, (6) flexibility which means the ability to adapt to
changing situations and needs of followers, (7) relevant knowledge, which is the
ability to possess the skill, experience, education, understanding and information
relating to the leadership job in an appropriate way, and (8) leadership motivation,
which is the force or influence that gives the leaders the desire to act or lead.
In their theoretical postulations, Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991: 46) concluded
that “leadership motivation may take two forms”. These are personalized power
motivation and socialized power motivation. The first involves a leader seeking power
as an end in itself within the context of leadership being characterized by an excessive
concern with status and wish to dominate others. The second is more desirable and
adaptive for society. It involves a situation in which a leader perceives leadership as
a means to achieve desired goals in cooperation with others. According to Udegbe
(1999: 16), “such a leader tends to work well with subordinates and develop networks
and conditions”.
The Charismatic Leadership theory proposed that charismatic leaders are those
who have had extraordinary success in bringing about profound changes in beliefs,
perceptions, values and actions of followers, and they are perceived by followers as
heroic. The theory also postulated that followers make attributions of extraordinary
leadership abilities about the leaders based on what they observed. This is the reason
why Udegbe (1999: 16) interrogated the fair share of some charismatic leaders in
Nigeria, such as Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikwe, Ahmadu Bello and MKO
Abiola, who operated principally at the political level.
Conger and Kanungo (1988: 78) have emphasized that “charismatic leadership is
characterized by the following attributes: (1) high level of self-confidence, (2) vision
and possession of an idealized goals that propose a better future than the status quo,
(3) ability to articulate the vision in such a manner as to make others understand and
identify with the goals, (4) strong convictions about the vision and strong commitment
to the vision, (5) extraordinary behaviour that is novel and unconventional, (6) leaders
being recognized as change agents or perceived as agents of radical change, and (7)
sensitivity to environmental constraints that they face and ability to make realistic
assessments of the environmental constraints and resources needed to change things”.
Udegbe (1999: 19) perceived charismatic leaders by virtue of the effects they have
on their subordinates in terms of extremely high levels of performance, high levels of
loyalty, commitment and reverence towards the leader, and enthusiasm for the leader
and his vision. Richardson and Thayer (1993: 23) have suggested that “a person can
learn to become a charismatic leader through a three-stage process: (1) developing
an aura of charisma through captivating, confident and powerful image in order to
maintain an optimistic view and communicate with the whole body and use passion
in order to generate enthusiasm from followers, (2) learning to draw people using
approaches that reach out to them, creating bonds and inspiring them, and (3) tapping
into the emotions of people, communicating high-performance expectations, encour-

aging and building confidence in them to meet their expectations and empathizing
with their needs”.
These three aforementioned theories are germane to this biographic/political study
of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in two distinct ways. The first is that she has been able to
break the monotony of male leadership in African political system by dismembering
the norm of traditional gender stereotyping that is common in African society. Sec-
ond, her leadership traits are distinctive with respect to her political communication,
and as a charismatic leader, she has been able surface in politics and wartime and/or
conflict situations. She was needed most in situations where there is some crisis and
when there is need for radical changes in Liberia.
Methodology
Data were collected through two methods: primary and secondary. The primary data
were collected through case study and scripted interview. The case study was used
to investigate biographic/political exploits from her early years all the way into her
time as president of Liberia. The secondary data were gathered from relevant books,
journals, magazines, newspapers and the Internet. In the case study method, the polit-
ical exploits of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf were investigated within the real-life context.
These data were analyzed by describing and summarizing facts, using descriptive
data analysis tools such as historiography. In the historiography analysis, the art of
writing history was employed. This involves the careful weighing of evidence of the
validity of sources of information on the past and present social and political activi-
ties of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and the interpretation of the weighed evidence. The type
of historical study used is biographical study that focuses on her live histories and
her political activities. Transcripts of four interviews she had with the press have also
been systematically analyzed and coded. All these data were subjected to scrutiny
in order to ascertain their veracity and validity. After verifying and validating the
genuineness of these materials, they were then synthesized and interpreted textually.
Data Analysis
In this section, President Johnson-Sirleaf’s 2006 inaugural speech and four scripted
interviews she had with various media houses were analyzed and discussed in order to
examine her political communication during different times of her presidency. After
the analyses and discussions, these interviews were coded, and a code map was
created in figure 1.0 to explicate her political communication graphically. During
her presidency, President Sirleaf faced a lot of criticism from Liberians about her
frequent travels overseas. When asked about it in an interview, she responded by
saying:
I’ll grant you that the circumstances in which I find myself – first [female] democratically
elected President on the African continent – puts a great demand on my time, internationally,
and I must respond to this. I also must demonstrate leadership. And so that takes me away
from the home front more than I would want to. (Johnson-Sirleaf 2013a, b)
This issue came up so frequently that she found herself having to defend her
travels on numerous occasions. In another interview she said:
Personally, I bring to the international development debate many years of experience in
the private sector and the public sector, working internationally and at home, so there’s a
high demand on my time… I’m able to represent Liberia effectively; I’m able to speak
convincingly. I can tell you that for every trip I take, I’ve probably turned down about eight.
So these trips bring good things for Liberia. (Johnson-Sirleaf 2013a, b)
After years of her predecessors mismanaging Liberia’s resources, President

Johnson-Sirleaf inherited a country that was in dire need of development, and she
was fully aware of the challenges that lay ahead of her and her administration. In her
inaugural address, she said:
We are humbled and awed by the enormity of the challenges that lie ahead – to heal our
nation’s wounds, redefine and strengthen its purpose, make democracy a living and effective
experiment, promote economic growth, create jobs, revitalize our health and educational
facilities and services, and quicken the pace of social progress and individual prosperity in
this country. (Johnson-Sirleaf 2006a, b)
Due to this, she always had a detailed plan to boost the country’s economy as it
related to Liberia’s commodities:
We benefitted a lot from increased commodity prices in the past few years when iron ore
and oil palm and rubber prices were high. But we also know that if there’s depression in
commodity prices, there could be a reversal. Our response to that is diversification, and
that’s why we’re moving beyond the mineral resources to agriculture resources, to fisheries
resources, to forestry resources, so that commodity prices will not face a slump in all of these
area. (Johnson-Sirleaf 2013a, b)
She was also aware of the infrastructural challenges facing the country and had a
plan for how to handle that too:
Our people are already building our roads, cleaning up our environment, creating jobs,
rebuilding schools, bringing back water and electricity. (Centre for Women and Democracy
2006)
Our main obstacle is infrastructure: the lights, the water, and the roads. Companies can’t
operate without those things. And even though we have commitments from our partners, it
takes time to turn commitments into cash. (Johnson-Sirleaf 2006a, b)
Infrastructure and value addition, and that’s where we’re concentrating on now. We’re still
exporting primary commodities, and we’ve got to get away from that. And to do it, we’ve
got to have sufficient power, sufficient roads, telecommunications systems that are starting
now. And once we reach the place where we have enough of those, we’re going to insist that
we get manufacturing. (Johnson-Sirleaf 2013a, b)
Although President Johnson-Sirleaf was a shrewd politician, she was also an opti-
mist. Even though she was the leader of a country that needed severe developmental
measures and was trying to find its footing on the world’s stage, she always managed
to look on the bright side of the country’s situation:
…To say that in about three months we’ll be able to celebrate our tenth consecutive year of
peace. That’s a big plus for us, and we’ve remained stable by attracting the investment on
the order that I’ve mentioned, which says that the potential is there. We do have the natural
resources. (Johnson-Sirleaf 2013a, b)
She even made it clear that her administration had put measures in place to make
sure that this fragile and newfound peace remained untouched:
We have created security hubs around the country to have the ease of intervention, and
have ease to justice, because these hubs are going to have all the security, including the
courthouse, situated in regions across the country. Our own security forces are being trained;
many of them are being trained in-country, some are being trained in many of our neighboring
countries. The process of preparing ourselves is ongoing. (Johnson-Sirleaf 2013a, b)
Throughout her presidential campaign, President Johnson-Sirleaf was a powerful

advocate for education, especially education for the girl child. Upon entering office,
her administration put measures in place to combat this problem:
We shall encourage families to educate all children, particularly the girl child. (Johnson-
Sirleaf 2006a, b)
When we came in, we emphasized enrollment, because so many of the kids were out of
school. We emphasized facilities, because there were no school buildings. Our enrollment
increased fourfold, and we placed emphasis on girls because they had been neglected over
the years. (Thomson Reuters Television 2013)
However, this did not solve the problem like she thought. President Johnson-
Sirleaf was not afraid to point out her short-sightedness as regards her plan to tackle
illiteracy in Liberia. She said:
What we found was that the quality of education was not improved upon because we did not
look at the teacher situation, the quality of teachers, the qualifications of teachers. We didn’t
look at the facilities that go with quality education, like laboratories, and so we didn’t have
that full, comprehensive approach. We concentrated on enrollment – get the kids in school;
give them the uniform; give them a school lunch. We worked on facilities, but we left out a
lot of things. Now we have to backtrack. (Thomson Reuters Television 2013)
Another group she championed was women. During her time in the Executive
Mansion, President Johnson-Sirleaf made it clear that she was a feminist; she believed
in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes. This is why she did away
with draconian practices that put women on unequal footing with men:
My Administration shall thus endeavour to give Liberian women prominence in all affairs of
our country. My Administration shall empower Liberian women in all areas of our national
life. We will support and increase the writ of laws that restore their dignities and deal
drastically with crimes that dehumanize them. (Centre for Women and Democracy 2006)
Women will have the full rights to own their land, like anyone else. It will be women who
have inherited land; it will be women who have bought land, private land; and they will get
the same rights like everybody else. As a matter of fact, I think you will see that women will
come out ahead of this because no longer will it be a question of whether they have to have
it jointly with the husband. Women have full rights to land and to everything else. If we can
even give them a little extra, we’ll do that too. (Thomson Reuters Television 2013)
Another criticism that President Johnson-Sirleaf faced was that, under her rule,
the country was not developing fast enough. Her response to this was:
People always forget where we came from, where we started. They want more, and I, too,
want more. Sometimes I, too, get frustrated because I say we‘re too slow, we’re too slow.
(Liberia Broadcasting System 2013)
There’s no way that every Liberian, all of a sudden, will be wealthy, will be materially well
off. It takes time to do that. But I daresay that the poverty level has fallen; the record is clear
on that. We can do more; we will do more to be able to respond to those needs, through a
combination of all of these efforts. (Thomson Reuters Television 2013)
During her inaugural speech, President Johnson-Sirleaf reiterated her promise to

the Liberian people to work hard to stamp out corruption in the country. She said:
Throughout the campaign, I assured our people that, if elected, we would wage war against
corruption regardless of where it exists, or by whom it is practiced. Today, I renew this
pledge. Corruption, under my Administration, will be the major public enemy. (Centre for
Women and Democracy 2006)
However, from the early days of her presidency through to the end of her tenure,
she was often accused of being the most corrupt leader in Liberian history. To this
she said:
That’s nonsense! That’s nonsense about pointing finger at being the most corrupt. You just
look at the record, I’ve just told you about that. We’ve come a long way; there are problems,
and I’m the first to admit it, and I’ve said that. But you’re not helping us when you begin
to say things that are clearly wrong, things that are clearly erroneous. (Liberia Broadcasting
System 2013)
We are winning the fight on corruption, and if you see a lot of talk about it, if you see a lot
of exposure today, that to me is an indicator of success. It’s no longer hidden, it’s no longer
under the carpet, it’s talked about openly, on the radio, in the newspaper, and the courts are
now beginning to function. We’re winning the fight, and that’s why the talk because we’re
winning the fight. (Thomson Reuters Television 2013)
She was also accused of working against the press. To this she said:
My talking about closing the press down is hogwash. I’ve said, and there will be no moving
away from that, we will never take away press freedom. We will never close any media down.
However, we expect the media to be responsible. We expect criticism to be factual, and our
Constitution, our laws all say the freedom of the press is inviolate. (Johnson-Sirleaf 2013a,
b)
Look at the vibrancy of our civil society and our media; they are watchdogs for us. (Johnson-
Sirleaf 2013a, b)
There is absolutely no confusion. My record, unchangeable, is one of media and press

freedom. (Johnson-Sirleaf 2013a, b)
Another flaw of her predecessors is that their administrations all lacked trans-
parency and accountability. This was something that she did not want from her
administration. She said:
The first testament of how my Administration will tackle public service corruption will be
that everyone appointed to high positions of public trust such as in the Cabinet and heads
of public corporations will be required to declare their assets, not as part of a confirmation
requirement, but as a matter of policy. I will be the first to comply by declaring my assets.
(Johnson-Sirleaf 2006)
“We pledge anew our commitment to transparency, open government, and participatory
democracy for our entire citizen”. (Johnson-Sirleaf 2006)
Although she had said she intended to be a one-term president when she ran for
election in 2005, President Johnson-Sirleaf changed her mind and chose to run for a
second term. This was her reasoning behind that decision:
Simply because we need to ensure that there’s no reversal of the many gains that we have
made. It has taken us almost five years to repair a broken economy, a broken country. When
we came in, we didn’t realize the intensity of the destruction — a collapsed economy,
dysfunctional institutions, no discipline, destroyed infrastructure. We’ve done all the basics
— mobilized resources, settled the debt, passed new laws, built the institutions and the
capacity. Liberia just needs to go through this one political transition and it can really take
off. Everything’s in place now. The country cannot be in the hand of someone that lacks the
experience. (Johnson Sirleaf 2011: 67)
This is a promise she kept as she stepped down from office in 2018. Before that,
when she was asked if she was considering a third term, she said:
Absolutely my age would not allow it. The constitution forbids it. The Liberian people would
not tolerate it. Out of the question. (Johnson Sirleaf 2011: 68)
As the first female democratically elected African President, the continent, and of
course Liberia in particular, was in unchartered waters and many were worried about
what a female African president would mean. When asked about what it meant to be
a female African president, Johnson-Sirleaf said:
I am a technocrat who happens to be a woman. I earned my professional credibility a long
time ago in a male-dominated world. I just hope that as a woman, I bring in an extra dimension
to the job. I bring in the sensitivity of being a woman and a mother, and that means I pay more
attention to women, children, and the social needs of society. Other than that, I don’t really
face any obstacles. As a matter of fact, I see it as a positive [thing] because I get support
from women. They are my main constituency. But I don’t run a woman government. I run a
government of people. (Johnson-Sirleaf 2006a, b: 45)
Table 1 Political
Rumour control Economic growth Issues of personal
communication in the press:
import
President Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf Corruption Infrastructural Women’s rights
development
Freedom of the Trade Educate the girl
press (commodities) child
National stability Education sector Accountability
overhaul
Discussion
It is very uncommon for African leaders to avail themselves to the press as much
as President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf did during her presidency. Here, we are going to
discuss the reasons for her eagerness to speak to the press. From the data analysis
above, it is clear to see that President Johnson-Sirleaf tried as much as she could to
use the press to her advantage. She did not discriminate between print media and
broadcast media. During her time in office, she gave many interviews in which she
spoke eloquently. It is not inaccurate to say that most African Presidents have been
plagued by accusations of gross corruption, whether true or otherwise. From the data
analysis provided above, we can see that President Johnson-Sirleaf was aware of this
trend and used the press to defend herself against accusations of corruption. She did
this by stating her stance on certain issues and providing proof to dispel any rumours.
She also used the press to communicate her plans for economic growth for Liberia
to the country and the international community at large. Whenever she spoke about
her policies or preparations for future plans, she did it in great detail to avoid misin-
terpretation. Although Liberia was far from where she wanted it to be as a country,
it was important to her to communicate the successes that her administration had.
To this end, she also used the press. President Johnson-Sirleaf also used the press to
promote causes that were close to her heart. As a result of her experiences growing
up in Liberia as a woman, even though she was relatively privileged, she made it a
point to advocate for young girls and women in Liberian society and used the press
to do this. In order to ascertain the issues that were most important to President
Johnson-Sirleaf in relation to her political rhetoric, her inaugural address, as well as
the four other interviews that were used in the above data analysis, have been coded
and the results of that process are represented in Table 1.
Conclusion
In this study, the researchers did a thorough review of President Ellen Johnson-
Sirleaf’s political history and succeeded in dissecting her political communications
and isolated the ways in which she used the media to relate with her people and the
international community. A particular focus was given to specific messages she chose
to disseminate. Time and time again Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has shown that she is a
woman of her word. She said she would step down as president and cede the office of
president to her democratically elected successor unlike many of her predecessors.
She kept her promise on 22 January 2018 when she officially handed power over
to George Weah during the very first democratic power exchange between Liberian
leaders since 1944 (Jideonwo 2017; Academy of Achievement 2018). She has done
a lot for her country, but one of her major legacies will be the peace she was able
to introduce to Liberia. Her tenure as president ushered in an era of peace that still
remains even after she has stepped aside for her successor. Her presidency signified
12 years of peace in the country after 14 years of war. Before she entered office, many
Liberians had forgotten what it was to live in peace and her policies and actions have
been able to start to allow the nation to prosper.
References
Academy of Achievement. (2018). Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Last Accessed August 11. http://www.
achievement.org/achiever/ellen-johnson-sirleaf/.
Ackerman, R. (2009). Rebuilding Liberia, one brick at a time. World Policy Journal, 26(2), 83–92.
Adams, M. (2008). Liberia’s election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Women’s executive leadership
in Africa. Politics & Gender, 4(3), 475–484.
Adams, M., & Thomas, G. (2010). Breaking the final glass ceiling: The influence of gender in the
elections of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Michelle Bachelet. Journal of Women, Politics & Policy,
31(2), 105–131.
Alexander, A. (1846). The history of colonization on the Western Coast of Africa. Philadelphia: The
Office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Blunt, E. (2006). Liberia cabinet posts announced. Last Accessed August 11. http://news.bbc.co.
uk/2hi/africa/4620402.stm.
Conger, J. A., & Kanango, R. N. (1988). Behavioural dimension of charismatic leadership. In J.A.
Conger & R. N. Konango (Eds.), Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Cooper, H. (2010). Iron lady: The promise of Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. World Affairs, 173(4),
43–50.
Dollar, D., Fisman, R., & Gatti, R. (2001). “Are Women Really the Fairer Sex?” Corruption and
Women in Government. Journal of Economic Behaviour &Organization, 46(4), 423–429.
Eight Women Around the World. (2018). Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Biography. Last Accessed August
11. http://www.mtholyoke.edu/-carve22r/classweb/eightwomen/ejsbiography.html.
Elebute, A., & Airen, M. (2018). Gender stereotypes in television advertising. Benin Media-Com
Journal, 11, 58–70.
Executive Mansion. (2009). Information Minister Laurence Bropleh Suspended. Last Accessed
August 11, 2018. http://www.emansion.gov.lr/2press.php?news_id-1360&related-7&pg=sp.
Executive Mansion. (2010). Internal Affairs Minister Ambulai Johnson Resigns. Last Accessed
August 11, 2018. http://www.emansion.gov.lr/2press.php?news_id-1360&related-7&pg=sp.
Gerdes, F. (2015). The interplay of domestic legitimation and foreign relations: Contrasting Charles
Taylor and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia. Civil Wars, 17(4), 446–464.
Hankins, B. (2004). The second great awakening and the transcedentalists. Westport: Greenwood
Press.
Horace, J. (2005). Liberia: Ellen is prepared, qualified, competent. Last Accessed August 11, 2018.
https://allafrica.com/stories/200510270209.html.
House, R. J., Shane, S. A., & Herold, D. M. (1996). Rumours of the death of dispositional research
are vastly exaggerated. Academy of Management Review, 21, 203–224.
Inglehart, R., & Norris, P. (2003). Rising tide: Gender equality and cultural change around the
World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jalalzai, F. (2004). Women political leaders. Women & Politics, 26(3–4), 85–108.
Jideonwo, C. (2017). Why Africa owes a debt of gratitude to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Last Accessed
August 11, 2018. http://www.icirnigeria.org/why-africa-owes-a-debt-of-gratitude-ellen-johnson-
sirleaf/.
Johnson-Sirleaf, E. (2006). Inaugural address of H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by the Centre for
Women and Democracy, January 16. Available at: http://www.cfwd.org.uk/uploads/Sirleaf%
20Johnston%20speech.pdf. Accessed January 31, 2019.
Johnson-Sirleaf, E. (2006). For IRIN, June 29. Available at: http://www.irinnews.org/q-and/2006/
06/29/interview-president-ellen-johnson-sirleafl. Accessed January 31, 2019.
Johnson-Sirleaf, E. (2011). Interview with Karen Leigh for time magazine, September 30. Avail-
able at: http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2095663,00.html. Accessed January
31, 2019.
Johnson-Sirleaf, E. (2013). Interview with Axel Threlfall for Thomson Reuters Television, May
17. Available at: https://www.emansion.gov.lr/doc/Transcript%20of%20President%20Sirleaf%
20Interview%20at%20Reuters%20Newsmaker%20Event_2.pdf. Accessed January 31, 2019.
Johnson-Sirleaf, E. (2013). Interview with Ambrose Nmah for Liberia broadcasting system,
July 1. Available at: https://www.emansion.gov.lr/doc/Transcript_of_Interview%20with_HE_
President_ELBC.pdf. Accessed January 31, 2019.
Kirkpatrick, S. A., & Locke, E. A. (1991). Leadership: Do traits matter? Academy of Management
Executive, 5, 46–60.
Lawless, J. L. (2004). Women, war and winning elections: Gender stereotyping in the post-
September 11th era. Political Research Quarterly, 57(3), 479–490.
Lerman, H. (1990). Feminist ethics in psychotherapy. USA: Springer Publishing Company.
McCauley, M. (2012). President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: Fire your sons and end nepotism in Liberia
now! Last Accessed August 11, 2018. http://www.change.org/p/president-ellen-Johnson-sirleaf-
fire-your-son-and-end-nepotism-in-liberia-now.
OHCHR. (2016). UN report urges Liberia to act on rape. Last Accessed August 11, 2018. http://
www.ohchr.org/en/newsevent/pages/displaynews.aspx?newsid=20680&langid=e.
Richardson, R. J., & Thayer, S. K. (1993). The charismatic factors: How to develop your national
leadership ability. NJ: Prentice Hall.
Sirleaf, E. J. (2008). Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund (Video File). Retrieved from http://www.
youtube.com/watch?y=lqsag1e6tho.
Southhard, B. A. S. (2017). Crafting Cosmopolitan Nationalism: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s rhetorical
leadership. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 103(4), 395–414.
Udegbe, B. (1999). Leadership: Nature and pathways to effectiveness. In Psychology: Perspective
in human behaviour. Ibadan: Kraft Books Limited.
USA, Dept. of State. (2018). Founding of Liberia 1847. Last Accessed August 11, 2018. http://
history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/liberia.
Africa’s First Ladies: Communicating
Political Thought in Nigeria
Ayo Elebute and Obasanjo Oyedele
Introduction
The traditional African society had depicted public life as a male domain, and several
unimportant factors have contributed to the infernal nuisance of traditional gender
stereotyping. However, today’s social changes have made it an evidence that the
traditional role model associated with women is no longer acceptable and realistic
as the real life is portraying more and more active women playing a lead role in
society. Moreover, the whole traditional charades are gradually becoming a mystery
novel with a threadbare plot as the advocacy programmes of Africa’s first ladies
have been encouraging women to become increasingly sensitized to the dictates of
African political space.
The inclusion of women in political decision-making process worldwide has been
recognized as a factor that speeds significant development of women folk in African
politics. In Africa where democracy is undergoing consolidation, “efforts at promot-
ing gender equality and women empowerment projects are tied to the realization of
improved governance, emergence of greater equitable societies and improved rep-
resentation of women’s political participation” (Ndlovu and Mutale 2013). This is a
detour from erstwhile narrative of patriarchal domination of African political scene
that characterized the continent in the 1960s, the period when women were relegated
to the background.
According to African Inter-parliamentary Union cited by Ndlovu and Mutale
(2013) “among African countries, with reasonable participation of women in politics,
A. Elebute (B) · O. Oyedele

Mass Communication Programme, Bowen University, Iwo, Nigeria
e-mail: elebute1959@gmail.com
O. Oyedele
e-mail: obasanjo.joseph@gmail.com
120 A. Elebute and O. Oyedele
Rwanda ranks first with 50% of women elected to represent their people in the par-
liament followed by Senegal, South Africa, Mozambique, Uganda and Angola”. The
positive wave of involving women in active politics, in the aforementioned African
countries, is a product of entrenched proliferation of women’ movement groups,
increased educational opportunities for women, international funding opportunities,
global and national agreements and conventions on women’s role in the society and
the multiparty and quota systems. Notable global arrangements for gender develop-
ment are “the covenants and treaties documented by the United Nations, the emer-
gence of women advocates and activists that promoted women advancement as far
back as the 1923 League of Nations, and the current gender mainstreaming efforts at
promoting gender equality worldwide” (Ndlovu and Mutale 2013: 56, and Iheanacho
2016: 65).
Women in Nigeria are also following these global arrangements by using the
appropriate United Nations’ policy to free themselves from shackles of sociopoliti-
cal and religious debacles that have been restricting them from the realization of their
equitable political objectives. “This shift of arrangement in the development of gen-
der issues”, according to Iheanacho (2016: 65), “is well represented by the women
advancement in the office of Nigeria’s first lady”. Iheanacho (2016: 65) further cor-
roborates this fact when he reiterates that “the office of first lady was not seriously
recognized before the 1987 repositioning drive of the Babangida administration”.
However, the re-packaging and popularization of the office of first lady by Mariam
Babangida has produced women advocates and crusaders with proven vigour and
visions. Though the office is not recognized by the Nigerian constitution as at today,
but Iheanacho (2016: 66) citing Abiyamo (2013: 34) confirms the fact that “there are
women as first ladies with big power and influence to pursue strategic projects on
women empowerment”.
The main objective of this study is to give a cursory glance at the reports that
show how political thoughts of Africa’s first ladies have influenced political partici-
pation of women in African society. This main objective includes discourse on (1) the
involvement of notable women activists such as Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Margaret
Ekpo, Laila Dongoyaro and Winnie Mandela in African politics, (2) the way Africa’s
first ladies, outside Nigeria, such as Chantal Biya of Cameroun, Chantal Compaore
of Burkina Faso, Lordina Mahama of Ghana and Zeinab Jammeh of Gambia, have
been able to address women’s issues in their advocacy programmes and (3) the
background histories of the following Nigeria’s first ladies Victoria Gowon, Mayr-
iam Babangida, Mayriam Abacha, Fati Abubakar, Stella Obasanjo, Turai Yar’Adua,
Patience Jonathan and Aisha Buhari and their pet-projects.
Literature Review and Theoretical Framework
There are many scholarly works that share an affinity for political communication
and gendered lives like this present study. Such works include those by scholars
such as Butler (1990), Collins (1990), Coole (1993), Wood (1995), Bell and Klein
Africa’s First Ladies: Communicating Political Thought in Nigeria 121
(1996), Mirza (1997), Squires (1999), Zalewski (2000), Bryson (2003), Bull (2003)
and McNair (2011).
Butler argues that deliberate transgression of gender norms around sexuality will
assist in the exposition of artificial nature of binary classification that can give humans
an access to more fluid gender identity. Collins gives priority to Africans within
the context of black feminist thought because he has a belief that black feminist
epistemology is in same position with Afrocentric way of comprehending gender
inequality. Coole hammers that women occupy myriads of worlds as wives and
mothers, workers and citizens and as consumers and participants in contemporary
culture, each with its own oppressions, opportunities and politics.
Wood sees media as the most pervasive and one of the most powerful influences
on how man and woman are perceived by the society. Bell and Klein see a great
danger in the drift of public discussion of gender issues back to the male point of
view or in using public discourse to blame women for the challenges facing many
men. Mirza focuses on black feminism with specific attention to how black women
have been radicalized as gendered species that have been denied the privilege to
speak.
Squires opines that feminists are likely to find it politically useful to identify
themselves as women in the name of contesting the socio-economic and the cultural
practices that create gender identities and roles. Zalewski suggests that modern and
postmodern feminisms should be seen as complimentary despite the fact that they
have been tagged as incompatible and antagonistic.
Bryson comments on how western political theory has ignored womenfolk in the
scheme of things and how they have rarely been seen as political animals worthy of
serious consideration. Bull provides a rare interdisciplinary view of politics, commu-
nication and microanalysis, while McNair examines political media and their effects:
the work of political advertising, marketing and public relations, and the communi-
cation practices at all levels, from grassroots campaigning through to governments
and international bodies.
All these works that have been reviewed above, except for Collins (1990), are
products of foreign scholarship in which attempts were made to provide a depth of
western colouration to the discourse on political communication and gender studies
without bothering to give careful thought to the political situation of black people in
African society. This present study is not going to follow the rule or principle that
guides their western notions, but their comments that are germane to our discussions
will be appropriated accordingly in the theories to be used and results of the study
Two theories that are apropos to this study are gender equality theory and fem-
inist theory. Agassi (1989: 34–100) in her Gender Equality Theory has focused on
how the status of women have originated within the context of socialist thought and
how this status has been used in blaming the existing material inequality in society
for most of its ills. According to her, socialists assume the great reduction of this
material inequality, and with it; the elimination of almost all social inequalities as
well as status hierarchies was made possible. In line with her assumption, many
other theorists are of the opinion that socialists generally expect that the smaller the
differentials in standards of living or property in a society, the smaller also is the

status differentials between men and women.
Agassi reiterates that Marxism locates the origins of all inequality more specif-
ically in the private ownership of the means of production by one class while con-
tending that the elimination of all inequalities will be affected by the expropriation
of the privately owned means of production by the revolutionary proletariat and by
their subsequent administration by society for the benefit of all.
According to Engels (1972 reversed version, quoted in Agassi 1989), “the cause
of women’s inferior status is class society and the forms of family organization it
produces; once class society is abolished, and the state withers away, the patriarchal
family will also disappear”. Engels in his treatise blames capitalism for the current
separation of the place of reproductive work, that is to say, the family home, from
that productive work: the factory, which has made women’s participation in social
production more difficult and limited.
According to Engels, capitalists want to keep women reproducing the labour force
without pay, while serving as a cheap reserve army of labour…their programme for
full equality for women was their participation in social production. Engels does not
assume that the socialists’ revolution and the elimination of the capitalists as a class
would automatically overcome all the obstacles to women’s equality. He adds two
assumptions concerning household and marriage, which belong to the second group
of theories as classified in Agassi’s (1989: 34–100) theory.
Several modern materialist theories relating to gender issues and that stress the
central importance of women’s place in production for their status in society have
been developed by gender equality theorists such as Brown (1970, 1975), Sanday
(1973), and Blumberg (1976). Brown’s earlier version (1970), based on an analysis
of the anthropological literature, explains the greatly varying degree of women’s
contribution to subsistence production as depending on the degree of compatibility
of child-bearing with the kind and conditions of subsistence production in each
society. Her latter explicit theory of gender equality that is propounded in 1975 is
based on the analysis of the exceptionally high status of women in Iroquois society.
She found that this status cannot be “attributed to the size of the women’s contribution
to Iroquois subsistence nature…The powerful position of Iroquois women was the
result of their control of the economic organization of their tribe” (1975, p. 251).
Sanday (1973) uses samples from Murdock’s Ethnographic Atlas of 1967 to test
the theory that women’s high participation in subsistence production results in high
social status. She points to the existence of societies whose women contribute over
half of the society’s subsistence, but have extremely low status. She reformulates
the theory to say that participation in subsistence production is a necessary, but
not sufficient condition for women’s high status. Blumberg’s theory is sociological
and relevant to industrial as well as simple societies. She claims that it is only the
production of surplus resources and access to and control over these resources that
can translate into power or valued status for men and women alike.
The feminist theory had emerged as early as 1792, and it flourished in the 1920s
to support the struggle of feminists’ movements that fought against gender inequality
through various discourse on women’s social roles and life experiences. The theory
is the extension of feminism into theoretical or philosophical discourses that aim to

make the nature of gender inequality comprehensible. Feminism focuses mainly on
women issues, but because it seeks gender equality some feminists have begun to
argue that men’s liberation is a necessary part of feminism, and that men are equally
harmed by sexism and gender roles.
The feminist theorists have also developed theories in a variety of disciplines in
order to respond to issues such as the social construction of sex and gender. One
of such theories is the psychoanalytical feminism theory that is based on Sigmund
Freud and his psychoanalysis theory. In this theory, Freud argues that gender is not
biological, but is based on the psycho-sexual development of the individual. In a
related theoretical postulation, Chodorow (1989: 67) opines that gender inequality
comes from early childhood experiences that lead men to believe themselves to be
masculine, and women to see themselves as feminine. Another psychoanalytical
feminist theorist, Lerman (1990: 23), further maintains that gender leads to a social
system that is dominated by males, which in turn influences the individual psycho-
sexual development.
Methodology
Data were collected through case study method to investigate the exploits of the
Africa’s women activists and first ladies within the real-life context. Four basic char-
acteristics of case study were applied: (1) Particularistic in which these researchers
focus on political behaviour of Africa’s first ladies, (2) Descriptive, where the gen-
der advocacy programmes under study are described and/or explained, (3) Heuristic
in which the gender advocacy programmes under study are given a deeper under-
standing: new interpretation, new perspective, new meaning and fresh insights and (4)
Inductive, where the researchers depend on inductive reasoning before generalizing.
The data were treated with descriptive data analysis tools to summarize, simplify
and to interpret a mass of information. The data were descriptively analyzed by giving
an account of events recorded during the desk research in words before arriving at
meaningful and conclusive decisions. The analyses were begun with encoding of
the data; using coding sheets. The encoding of the data made them amenable for
analysis.
After encoding, the data were entered into the computer machine for analysis.
They were analyzed by describing and summarizing facts, using descriptive data
analysis tools such as historiography, tabulation and pictorial representation of the
women activists and first ladies for easy identification. In the historiography analy-
sis, the art of writing history was employed. This involves the careful weighing of
evidence of the validity of sources of information on the past and the interpretation
of the weighed evidence. The types of historical study used are biographical studies,
idea studies and case histories. The biographical studies focus on the life histories
of four women activists in Africa and eight Nigeria’s first ladies.
Their historical antecedents are used to provide a background for this study. The
idea studies are based on the development of different political ideologies by the
four women activists and eight Nigeria’s first ladies, and the case histories focus on
how the Africa’s first ladies have been able to articulate their political thoughts. The
tabulation shows graphical illustrations of Nigeria’s first ladies and their pet-projects
between 1966 to 1975 and 1997 to 2015, and in pictorial representation, photographs
of these women activists and first ladies are displayed for aesthetic and identification
purpose.
The data are analyzed to arrive at general understanding of the achievements
of these women, and the filing of the data gathered is done before analyzing their
content. The filing system is used to arrange raw data in an orderly format that is
amenable to systematic retrieval later. The filing categories that are used include the
following headings: “Africa’s First Ladies” and “Communicating Political Thoughts
in Nigeria”.
Data Analysis
The result of our findings indicates that Africa’s first ladies are in the forefront of
the agitations for the inclusion of women with meritorious achievements in political
power sharing. The result also indicates that meritocracy has engendered a consid-
erable number of serious and qualified African women to contribute meaningfully
to nation building. Examples of African women who have been acknowledged for
meritorious service are Nigerian female politicians such as Ngozi Onkojo-Iweala,
Dora Akuyili, Oby Ezekwesili and Remi Oyor. They all played an active role in the
political regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Also, the result shows that the political ideologies and achievements of foremost
women activists in Africa have greatly influenced the political advocacies and gender
equality drive of Africa’s first ladies. The women activist list includes such notables
as Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (Western Nigeria), Margaret Ekpo (Eastern Nigeria),
Laila Dogonyaro (Northern Nigeria) and Winnie Mandela (South Africa) who had
wielded their influence to reform the political thoughts of Africa’s first ladies with
progressive political ideologies.
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was a leading activist during Nigerian women’s anti-
colonial struggles. She founded the Abeokuta Women’s Union, one of the most
impressive women’s organizations of the twentieth century (with a membership esti-
mated to have reached up to 20,000 women), which fought to protect and further the
rights of women. She was a female political activist who has been described as the
“Doyen of Female Rights in Nigeria”, “Mother of Africa” and “Lioness of Lisabi”.
Her feminist struggle against arbitrary taxation of women led to the abdication of
Oba Ademola, the Alake of Egba land in the year 1949. She has been acknowledged
as the first woman to drive a car and to ride a motorcycle in Nigeria. She died in
1978.
Margaret Ekpo organized Market Women Association to unionize market

women in the city. She used the union to promote women solidarity platform to
fight for the economic right of women, economic protection and expansionary polit-
ical rights of women. She encouraged the women group in nude who took mass action
to combat injustice as at the time of the Aba Tax Riot in 1929. In traditional African
culture, deliberate public exposure of the female body is a gesture of extreme gravity
of eloquent abomination in the timeless rites of wrongs. In the 1950s, she teamed up
with Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti to protest killings at Enugu coal mine. In 1953, she
was nominated by the NCNC political party as a representative to the regional House
of Chiefs, and in 1954, she established the Aba Township Women’s Association. By
1955, women in Aba had outnumbered men voters in a citywide election. She died
on 21 September 2006.
Laila Dogonyaro sensitized rural women and empowered them economically,
and this gave birth to a vibrant Women Development Centre in her community.
She associated with many feminist movements and was highly vocal on feminists’
issues. She agitated for social reformation of women who were neglected by relative
for having vascular diseases that are ravaging the lives of young girls in the Northern
Nigeria. She died in 2011.
Winnie Mandela is widely revered for her role in ending South Africa’s oppres-
sive policies. She was involved surreptitiously with the ANC monitored by the gov-
ernment. She was arrested under the Suppression of Terrorism Act and spent more
than a year in solitary confinement. She speaks out in a 1981 to the BBC on black
South African economic might and its ability to overturn the Apartheid system. In
1985, after her home was firebombed, she continued to criticize Apartheid regime,
cementing her title of “Mother of the Nation”. Winnie Mandela was elected pres-
ident of the ANC’s Women’s League. In 1994, she was named deputy minister of
arts, culture, science and technology. However, due to affiliations and rhetoric seen
as highly radical, she was ousted from her cabinet post by her husband in 1995.
The political activism of the aforementioned strong women has greatly rubbed
off on Africa’s first ladies who had listened to the subtle nuances in these activists
before they queued up for a chance to start their Gender Advocacy Programmes in
the African political landscape. Several case studies of first ladies and their political
communication tactics may be drawn from across Africa. First ladies outside Nige-
ria with sound political communication tactics include Chantal Biya of Cameroun,
Chantal Compaore of Burkina Faso, Lordina Mahama of Ghana and Zeinab Jam-
meh of Gambia. Notable first ladies in Nigeria include Dr. Victoria Hansatu Gowon,
Dr. Maryam Babangida, Hajiya Maryam Abacha, Justice Fati Abubakar, Mrs Stella
Obasanjo, Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua, Dame Patience Jonathan and Hajiya Aisha Buhari.
All these aforementioned first ladies have been championing the cause of African
women by undertaking an epic journey of National Gender Advocacy Campaigns to
address issues of gender equation in Africa. They have contributed immensely to the
emancipation of African women from old social limitations and customs. Suffice to
say, the collection of feminists’ political ideologies and achievements in this study
includes inter alia several programmes organized by the wives of Nigeria’s Heads
of State and Presidents.
Foremost among Nigeria’s first ladies is Victoria Hansatu Gowon a high-born

lady from Northern Nigeria. The position of the First Lady was first made significant
by her during the tenure of her husband General Yakubu Gowon as the Head of
State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There was a case in history in which a
problem of segregation between Nigeria’s nurses pay package and that of English
nurses existed. The Nurses Union of Nigeria agreed to go on strike while she was
a nursing student at the UCH Ibadan. She quickly alerted her husband (Yakubu
Gowon) who was Nigeria’s Military Head of State at the time of occurrence by
sending a message to him to get in on the act. He responded by ordering that the
pay package of Nigerian nurses be elevated. Ideologically, she is a leading force for
change that metamorphosed Nigerian nurses and modified how the Nigerian public
thinks about them, helping them to become better professionals: she elevated their
professional status by making the government to pay them higher than before.
Maryam Babangida was the wife of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida,
who was Nigeria’s head of state from 1985 to 1993. On 6 September 1969 shortly
before her twenty-first birthday, she married Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. A case
can be derived when as first lady she launched many programmes to improve the
life of women one of such is the Better life for Rural Women. For example, the
Better Life Programme for the Rural Woman was initiated by her in September
1986, and through the programme, she championed women issues across the coun-
try. Ideologically, she sought to improve the quality of life and status of the rural
women by creating awareness in women and encouraging them to realize, utilize
and develop their potentials for a more fulfilling life. She strove to eradicate hunger
and absolute poverty among rural dwellers particularly women through economic
empowerment and she encouraged agricultural-related programmes that have huge
trade and investment potentials through strengthening of cooperative societies. She
achieved these objectives by organizing national/regional seminars, workshops and
conferences to educate the women in various ways in order to enhance and sustain
their economic well-being. She died on 27 December 2009 at the age of 61 in Los
Angeles, California, USA.
Maryam Abacha was born on 4 March 1947 in Kaduna. She married General
Sani Abacha and served as the first lady from 1993 to 1998. She spent a lot of
energy in improving the living standard of Nigerian peoples; a case in point is when
she founded National Hospital Abuja (originally National Hospital for Women and
Children). Her political ideology was centred on Family Support programme. The
merit of this programme is that “it took after the vision of women’s empowerment and
the scope expanded to cover all members of the family” (Obasi 2013). She noticed
that there were families with children who have special needs with many challenges
that include stress, social isolation and financial strain. She also noticed that some
families were overwhelmed, and found it difficult navigating the service system for
their children and they wanted to find social and emotional support for themselves.
Her “Family Support” programme helped such families to access a broad array of
supports and services that include (1) formal supports such as paid respite care, and
(2) informal supports such as parent-to-parent connections and (3) a community
system of services that promote the well-being of families and their children with
special needs.
Fati Lami Abubakar was born in Minna, Niger state on 12 April 1951. She
attended Our Lady’s High School, St Anne’s Queen’s Elizabeth Secondary School,
Ilorin, Federal Government College Sokoto and the University of Ife now Obafemi
Awolowo University. She holds a Bachelor of Law (LLB) degree, Masters in Law
(LLM) and a PhD in Law (LLD). She was a one-time acting Solicitor General And
Permanent Secretary Ministry of Justice in Niger state. Her last public office was
when she served as the first lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. During her tenure
as the first lady, a pet-project tagged: Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection
Alternative (WRAPA) was established. Within a short space of time, she contributed
immensely to the advancement of women in Nigerian society through the act of
protectionism by helping them to excel in various sphere of life.
Stella Obasanjo was the wife of former president Olusegun Obasanjo. She was
admitted to the University of Ife now (Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife, for a
bachelor’s degree in English, attending from 1967 to 1969. In 1969, she transferred
to the UK to complete her studies, this time round, in insurance, in London and
Edinburgh, Scotland, from 1970 to 1974. Her political ideology is centred on Female
Child Care and Decentralization of Women Advocacy. As the first lady of Nigeria,
there was a case in point in which she joined the Campaign against Female private
part Mutilation, and in the year 2003, she declared 6 February as The International
Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Private Part Mutilation. More so, she was the first
wife of any Nigerian President to synthesize all first ladies in various states of the
federation into setting up their own pet-projects. She died in Spain while undergoing
elective liposuction.
Turai Yar’Adua served as the first lady of Nigeria from 2007 until the death of her
husband, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, on 5 May 2010. Turai married Yar’Adua
in the year 1975. Ideologically, she focused on giving much-needed uplifting to
women and youth in Nigerian Society. In order to achieve this exceptional feat, she
started her pet-project tagged: Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation. Little
is known about this project while she was serving as the first lady due to certain
social issues. The only case in point in which kudos can be given to her is when she
played an active role in the corridor of power when her husband was away abroad
for medical treatment.
Patience Faka Jonathan was born on 25 October 1957. She is the wife of for-
mer President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan. She obtained the National Certificate
of Education (NCE) in Mathematics and Biology from the Rivers State College
of Arts and Science, Port Harcourt. She studied for a B.Ed. in biology and psy-
chology in the University of Port Harcourt. She advocated for Change in Women
Condition in her political ideology. A case in point is her initiating a project that
focused at achieving 30% representation for women in all states of the federation.
She has been recognized consecutively locally, nationally and internationally for her
philanthropic work and political pragmatism. In 2008, she received the Beyond the
Tears International Humanitarian Award in New York for her role in the global fight
against HIV/AIDS, and she was a recipient of the “Wind of Change” award from the
South/South Women’s Organization.
Aisha Buhari is more popular in building reputation of integrity and forthright-
ness. She is impartial, bold and reasonable in judgement and decision-making. She
is currently involved in the provision of relief materials to Internally Displaced Per-
sons and victims of Natural Disaster across the country. In reality, not much is known
about her pet-project, but the pretty first lady still came out recently to condemn the
bomb attack on her husband.
Graphical illustrations of Nigeria’s first ladies and their pet-projects between 1966
and 1975, and 1997 till date are presented in Tables 1, 2 and 3.
Summary of the Graphical Table
A cursory glance at the pet-projects of Nigeria’s first ladies shows that they focused
mainly on economic empowerment, educational empowerment, health and social
welfare, social justice, prayer assembly and service to humanity. An assessment of
the projects also shows that though there are areas of weaknesses, the first ladies have
succeeded in raising the bar of human and capital development in Nigeria. There is
also a significant relationship between these pet-projects and advancement in the
consciousness of Nigerian women and their participation in politics and the general
public good.
Table 1 Pet-projects by wives of heads of state and presidents in Nigeria (1967–2018)

S. No. Nigeria’s first ladies Year Pet-Projects
1 Dr. Victoria Gowon 1967–1975 Nursing-A Leading Force for
Change
2 Dr. Maryam Babangida 1985–1993 Better Life Programme for the
Rural Woman
3 Hajiya Maryam Abacha 1993–1998 Family Support Programme
Family
4 Hon. Justice Fati Abubakar 1998–1999 Women’s Right Advancement and
Protection Alternative
5 Mrs. Stella Obasanjo 1999–2007 Child Care Trust
6 Hajiya Turai Musa Yar’Adua 2007–2010 Women and Youth Empowerment
Foundation
7 Dame Patience Jonathan 2010–2015 Women for Change Initiative
8 Hajiya. Aisha Buhari 2015–till date Unknown
Table 2 Pet-projects by wives of state governors (1999–2007)

S. No. States Name of first ladies Pet-Projects
1 Abia Ifeoma Uzo-Kalu Save The People Foundation
(STPF)
2 Adamawa Zainab, B. Haruna Rural Empowerment Accelerated
Programme (REAP)
3 Akwa-Ibom Valentine Attah Child Development Fund (CDT)
4 Bayelsa Patience Jonathan Arevera Reach-out Foundation
(ARF)
5 Borno Fatima Ali-Sheriff The Beacon of Hope (TBH)
6 Ebonyi Ukamaka Egwu Widow Care Foundation (WFC)
7 Edo Eki Igbinedion Ichia Renaissance (IR)
8 Delta Nkoyo Ibori Shelter Initiative
9 Imo Theresa Udenwa Healthland Childcare Foundation
(HCCF)
10 Jigawa Zahra’u Turaki Rural Education Foundation (REF)
11 Kaduna Asma’u Makarfi Millennium Hope Programme
(MHP)
12 Kogi Zanaib Idris Family Advancement Programme
(FAP)
13 Kwara Toyin Saraki Well-being Foundation (WF)
14 Lagos Oluremi Tinubu New Era Foundation (NEF)
15 Niger Zaynab Kure Youth Empowerment Scheme
(YES)
16 Osun Princess Omolola Oyinlola Women & Children Development
Initiative Foundation
17 Oyo Mutiat Ladoja Idera De Foundation (IDF)
18 Plateau Valentine Dariye Women Alive Foundation (WAF)
19 Rivers Mary Odili The Adolescent Programme (TAP)
20 Sokoto Jamila Bafarawa Nna Ama’u Foundation (NAF)
21 Taraba Priscillia Nyame Women and Youth Foundation
(WYF)
22 Yobe Maryam Ibrahim Tsangaya Support Trust (TST)
23 Zamfara Karima Sani Under-Five Nutritional Foundation
(UNF)
Table 3 Pet-projects by wives of state governors (2007–2018)

S. No. State Name of first ladies Pet-Project
1 Abia Lady Mercy Udochi Orji Hannah-May Foundation
2 Adamawa Dr. Zainab Murtala-Nyako Women Education Empowerment
Initiative in Nigeria
3 Akwa-Ibom Mrs. Ekaette Akpabio Family Life Enhancement
Initiative
4 Anambra Chief Mrs. Ebele Obiano Caring Family Enhancement
Initiative
5 Bauchi Hajiya Aisha Isa-Yagudu Girl Child Education Project
6 Bayelsa Dr. Mrs. Rachael Dickson Raising the Ijaw Child
7 Benue Mrs. Dooshima Suswan SEV-AV Foundation
8 Borno Hajiya Nana Kashim-Shettima Support for Women, Orphans and
Tsangaya
9 Cross River Mrs. Obioma Liyel-Imoke Partnership Opportunities for
Women Empowerment
Realization (POWER)
10 Delta Dr. Mrs. Roli Uduaghan Master Key Foundation
11 Ebonyi Mrs. Josephine Elechi Mother and Child Care
12 Edo Mrs. Clara Oshiomhole Health Foundation for Maternal
and Edo Child Care
13 Enugu Mrs. Clara Chime Child and Mother Empowerment
(CHIME)
14 Ekiti Erelu Olabisi Fayemi Multi-Births Trust Fund
15 Gombe Hajiya Adama Dankwambo Hajiya Adama Women
Empowerment Initiative
16 Imo Chinyere Rochas-Okorocha Women of Divine Destiny
Initiative
17 Katsina Hajiya Fatima Shema Save Humanity Foundation
18 Kogi Hajiya Alima Wada Kogi Women Empowerment
Network (KOWEN)
19 Kwara Mrs. Omolewa Ahmed Life Empowered Anchor (LEA)
20 Lagos Dame Abimbola Fashola Lagos Empowerment and
Resource Network (LEARN)
21 Nasarawa Hajiya Salamotu Al-Makura Women and Child Care
Enhancement Foundation
Hajiya Mairo Al-Makura Tallafi Women and Youth
Foundation
22 Niger Jummai Babangida-Aliyu Life Rehabilitation Programme
23 Ogun Mrs. Olufunso Amosun Uplifting Development
Foundation
24 Ondo Mrs. Olukemi Mimiko Maternal Pulse Foundation
(continued)
Table 3 (continued)
S. No. State Name of first ladies Pet-Project
25 Oyo Mrs. Florence Ajimobi Widowhood Support Programme
26 Plateau Mrs. Ngo Talatu Jang Women in Agriculture and Youth
Empowerment
27 Rivers Mrs. Judith Amechi Empowerment Support Initiative
28 Taraba Mrs. Hzuwa Suntai Women and Youth Foundation
29 Zamfara Asma’u Abdul’aziz Hannum Taimako Foundation
Yari-Abubakar
30 FCT Hajiya Aishatu Mohammed Al-Muhibbah Foundation
Conclusion
The analysis of data has been reduced into three basic steps: the first is based on
political ideologies and achievements of foremost women activists in Africa, the
second hinges on the case of first ladies’ advocacy programmes that have been drawn
from other African countries, and the third is on the Gender Advocacy Programmes
of Nigeria’s first ladies and their pet-projects. The three major issues advanced in
the analysis are (1) the involvement of notable women activists such as Funmilayo
Ransome-Kuti, Margaret Ekpo, Laila Dongoyaro and Winnie Mandela in African
politics, (2) reference to other Africa’s first ladies, such as Chantal Biya of Camer-
oun, Chantal Compaore of Burkina Faso, Lordina Mahama of Ghana and Zeinab
Jammeh of Gambia and (3) the background histories of the following Nigeria’s
first ladies Victoria Gowon, Mayriam Babangida, Mayriam Abacha, Fati Abubakar,
Stella Obasanjo, Turai Yar’Adua, Patience Jonathan and Aisha Buhari and graphi-
cal illustrations of their pet-projects. The crucial factor that makes the first ladies’
advocacy programmes “political” is not the source of a message in their mode of
communicating to the society, but its content and purpose.
References
Abiyamo, E. (2013). Fati Abubakar, Nigeria’s most unique first lady. http://www.scirp.org
Agassi, J. B. (1989). Theories of gender equality: Lesson from the Israeli Kibbutz. Gender and
Society, 3(2), 160–186.
Bell, D., & Klein, R. (Eds.). (1996). Radically speaking: Feminism reclaimed. London: Zed Books.
Blumberg, R. L. (1976). Kibbutz women: From the fields of revolution to the laundries of discontent.
In L. B. Iglitzin, R. Rose, & S. Barbara (Eds.), Women of the world: A comparative study (pp. 319–
444). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio.
Brown, J. K. (1970). A note on the division labour by sex. American Anthropologist, 72, 1073.
Brown, J. K. (1975). Iroquois women: An ethnographic note. In R.R. Reiter (Ed.), Toward an
anthropology of women (pp. 235–251). New York: Monthly Review Press.
Bryson, V. (2003). Feminist political theory: An introduction. Hampshire and New York: Palgrave
MacMillan.
Bull, P. (2003). The microanalysis of political communication: Claptrap and ambiguity. London
and New York: Routledge.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. London: Routledge.
Chodorow, N. (1989). Feminism and psychoanalytical theory. New Haven Connecticut: Yale
University Press.
Collins, P. (1990). Black feminist thought London. Sydney and Wellington: Unwin Hyman.
Coole, D. (1993). Women in political theory. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Iheanacho, N. N. (2016). First ladies in Nigeria: The rise of Amazon Crusaders for better life of the
Vulnerable. Advances in Applied Sociology, 6, 134–146.
Lerman, H. (1990). Feminist ethics in psychotherapy. USA: Springer Publishing Company.
McNair, B. (2011). An Introduction to political communication, London and New York: Routledge.
Mirza, H. (Ed.) (1997). Black British feminism: A reader. London and New York: Routledge.
Ndlovu, S., & Mutale, S. B. (2013). Emerging trends in women’s participation in politics in Africa.
American International Journal of Contemporary Research, 3(11), 72–79.
Obasi, T. (2013). Policy lessons from the family support programme. Business Day October 10 pp
23.
Sanday, P. R. (1973). Towards a theory of the status of women. American Anthropology, 75, 1682–
1700.
Squire, J. (1999). Gender in political theory. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Wood, E. (1995). Democracy against capitalism: Renewing historical materialism. Cambridge:
University Press.
Zalewski, M. (2000). Feminism after postmodernism: Theorizing through practice London and New
York: Routledge.
Working Behind the Scenes: Rethinking
Peace and Development in the First Lady
Illusory Continuum of Afropolicom
Osagioduwa Eweka
Introduction
No man succeeds without a good woman behind him. Wife or mother, if it is both, he is twice
blessed indeed.
—Godfrey Winn
In his book, My Transition Hours which he published in 2018, Nigeria’s ex-

President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan hinged on the above quote by the popular
British Journalist, Godfrey Winn, to appreciate his wife, Patience, describing her as
his indispensable confidant and pillar of support who went through thick and thin
behind the scenes to help him in achieving much success while in office. In the
same book, Mrs Jonathan equally alludes to her privately influencing her husband’s
decision-making with particular regards to women-friendly policies.
These confessional statements lend credence to the claim of scholars such as
Okeke (1998), Gutin (1989) and Ibrahim (n.d.) who have charged First Ladies of
African countries with wielding undue influence over their husbands’ regimes, what
they deem unethical and inappropriate. Noting the negative impacts of First Ladies’
interference on governance, societal development and national peace, these schol-
ars, like many others, call to question the essence of the office of the First Lady,
strengthening their arguments on the unconstitutionality of the office.
The term “Afropolicom” was coined and first used by Eweka et al. (2017) in “The African Policom
Stew”, introductory chapter to Political Communication in Africa edited by A. Olukotun and S.
Omotoso, published by Springer, to describe Political Communication based on African ethics,
philosophy and idiosyncrasies.
O. Eweka (B)
Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
e-mail: osagioduwaeweka@diplomats.com
134 O. Eweka
African First Ladies have been widely dubbed undercover agents of underdevel-
opment and conflict who undermine accountable leadership on the continent (Wyk
2017; Dawkins 2018). While this allegation is yet to be academically disproved,
there seems to be a conventional validation of the office of the First Lady given that
she is obliged to hold the instrument of oath taking (usually the Bible or the Koran)
while the President places his hand on it as he takes oath of office. This nascent act at
once morally marries her to her husband’s regime and assigns to her some implicit,
socio-political responsibilities which inevitably impact on his administration.
The foregoing generates one big question: do African First Ladies cause more
harm than good to government and society? In an attempt to tackle this monumental
question, this chapter intellectualises the impact of First Ladyship on government
and society in Africa through the prisms of positive and negative, private and public,
direct and indirect as well as immediate and remote interference.
Ethical issues regarding the origins, funding, contributions, structure and debates
about the validity of the office of the First Lady in Africa are undertaken through
qualitatively analysed data gathered from secondary sources such as newspapers,
magazines, the Internet, government archive and relevant literature. As contribution
to knowledge in gender, peace and Afropolicom studies, the chapter introduces the
concept of rightist and leftist First Ladyship based on the perspectives of structural
and socio-political conservativeness and progressiveness.
At this juncture, the first task is to trace the trajectory of First Ladyship in Africa,
after which a theory underpinning the study will be explored. Then, a review of
relevant literature on the conventional roles of First Ladies will be engaged before
speaking to ethical considerations of First Ladyship on the African continent. After-
wards, First Ladyship will be dichotomised on the Afropolicom landscape before
its effects on peace and development in Africa will be foregrounded. In the end, a
conclusion will be presented followed by a case for the legal entrenchment of a more
realistic and productive First Ladyship towards the enhancement of Afropolicom.
First Ladyship Trajectory in Africa
I have known Hilary Clinton for 25 years. I remember her, as you do, as a great First Lady
who broke precedent in terms of the role that a First Lady was supposed to play as she helped
lead the fight for universal health care.
—Bernie Sanders
The above statement by one of the most renowned legislators in USA and indeed
the world at large cues the trajectory of First Ladyship in Africa from a global
perspective. Alien to traditional Afropolicom, the phenomenon of First Ladyship
takes its root in the antique days when monarchical system of government dominated
the global governance scene. While African queens in particular and African women
in general were still being repressed and commoditised by their male counterparts,
Working Behind the Scenes: Rethinking Peace and Development … 135
history accounts for monarchs and princes elsewhere whose wives not only assisted
them in running the affairs of state but also exercised great influence over them.
Such influence transcended local politics to international diplomacy of the time.
For instance, Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, the last king of France, was known
to wield an almost uncontrollable influence over her husband, his ministers, members
of his court as well as his local and international associates. So significant was
her grip on government that she was able to institute changes in the king’s court
customs (Kindersley 2012) while fixing her candidates into important (diplomatic
and ministerial) positions in the empire and exiling those who she adjudged unfit or
threats to the throne, with the example of the Duke of Aiguillon. It is instructive to
note that she played a pivotal role in the execution of the American Revolution by
garnering support for her nation from Austria and Russia (Fraser 2001). Fraser also
reports that she was instrumental in the establishment of a neutral league that once
halted the attack of Great Britain on France.
In subsequent centuries, when monarchical system of government was gradually
becoming obsolete, wives of presidents and heads of state were also seen playing sig-
nificant roles in the (inter)national politics of their eras. At this point, the First Lady
phenomenon on the international scene began to assume a more decisive dimension
marked by a shift in nomenclature, making the term a relatively new reality in poli-
com (political communication). Gradually but speedily, the emancipatory drive of
wives of presidents to become autonomously involved in international politics cul-
minated in the World Summit for the Economic Advancement of Rural Women held
in Geneva in 1992. This marked the turning point and perpetuation of the unconven-
tional seat of power that has become arguably one of the most powerful offices today
as far as world politics is concerned. The attendance of the wives of three African
presidents, namely Maryam Babangida, Elizabeth Diouf and Suzanne Mubarak, saw
the institutionalisation of the office of the First Lady in Africa (Sage 1998). The
trio therefore takes historical seat as matriarchs of First Ladyship in Africa. While
Suzanne imported the concept from the West into Egypt, Elizabeth and Maryam
imported it into Senegal and Nigeria, respectively.
Dwelling for a moment on the Nigerian experience, it is noteworthy to mention
that prior to the creation of the office of the First Lady by Mrs Babangida, wives of
previous Heads of State had maintained a low profile in spite of their access to elitist
paraphernalia. For instance, in the First Republic, it was never recorded that any of
Tafawa Balewa’s wives accompanied him on an official trip, let alone autonomously
initiating a project. Similarly, in the subsequent republics characterised by inadvertent
military-civilian power rotation, wives of Heads of State were majorly quiet. For
example, Sefinatu Buhari committed herself to religion in a conservative reading of
Islam. In yet a similar manner, Mrs Shagari remained out of public glare throughout
her husband’s tenure. Stella, though already Mrs Obasanjo before her husband took
the wheel of power of the country, nothing was heard of and from her all through her
husband’s military regime.
However, the decisive plunging of African women into government and interna-
tional politics at the highest echelon of governance dates back to the 1995 Beijing
Conference which attracted major international attention, as the meeting assembled
136 O. Eweka
a large group of presidents’ wives in the framework of a major global event. This
event drew many African First Ladies to Hilary Rodham Clinton, wife of the then US
President, who played a key role which undoubtedly credited her with the title of the
world founder of the office of the First Lady, though there is knowledge to the effect
that the office accompanied America’s democracy right from the administration of
George Washington, the first President of USA (Gonnella-Plattz and Fritz 2017).
The event, no doubt, afforded African First Ladies the opportunity to draw from
Mrs. Clinton’s wealth of experience and emulate her charismatic confidence and
laudable achievements upon returning home. Sequel to this colossal event, African
First Ladies were now seen wielding influence over their husbands and exercising
authority on political issues of local and international concerns. For instance, in the
1960s, Aisha Hamani Diouri was reputed for controlling her husband, President
of Niger, like a marionette, to the extent of being considered more powerful and
influential than him. Taking after Marie Antoinette, her dictatorial and manipulative
activities on the country’s elite determined the socio-cultural torrent of the country,
albeit with some significant political bearings devoid of any constitutionally recog-
nised autonomous space or structure. Instead, she executed her actions and inactions
through the office of her husband. Unfortunately, however, these attributes would
later cost her life in 1966 when the Putschists ouster preferred her head to that of her
husband.
Subsequent to the global foreshadow of the office of the First Lady, wives of
African presidents decided to domestically entrench the global trend of assertiveness
by organising the first Summit for African First Ladies in Yaoundé, Cameroon, at
the behest of the wife of President Paul Biya, Chantal Biya, in the course of the
1996 OAU Summit. According to Sage (1998), the summit gathered the wives of
the Heads of States of Botswana, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon,
Malawi, Namibia, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. Suffice it to note that the
progressive institutionalisation of the office of the First Lady in Africa climaxed
in May 1997 when Mariam Abacha, wife of Nigeria’s Sani Abacha, brought the
ensemble of Africa’s First Ladies to Abuja, Nigeria, for the first autonomous First
Ladies Summit which was meant to contribute to peacebuilding in Africa.
In a bid to realise their political ambition of developmental relevance, continuity
and change in the structuralising of women power at the highest echelon of politics
in Africa now provide an augment to the power of First Ladies through the creation
of particular state and non-state apparatuses which make them independent of their
husbands in the eyes of the public, thereby making their husbands dependent on them
behind the scenes. This phenomenon is what Mama (1997) terms femocracy. The
femocratic trend, according to the author, depicts an undemocratic female authority
structure, claiming to seek emancipation of the ordinary woman in society, though
it is paradoxically dominated by a miniscule coterie of women who are far beyond
the reach of the grassroots, and who generate power from their marital status rather
than their personal values or dim of hard work.
Just before critical fingers would be pointed at this chapter for paradoxically
referring to femocracy as undemocratic considering its feminism-laden etymology, it
must be quickly noted that such classification finds credence in the fact that its concept
and etymology derive from a brutally autocratic system of government prior to its
rootedness in feminism. Be that as it may, its adaptation to contemporary democratic
realities cannot allude to a democratic status, for its concept and institution are again
unconstitutional since whatever does not find a place in the constitution of a country
is indeed undemocratic.
Derivative of feminism, femocracy, it could be argued, affords a class of women
of the platform to contribute meaningfully to peace and development of their nation,
only if judiciously utilised. As Mama argues, femocracy plays a vibrant role in getting
women actively involved in politics and policom. Nevertheless, the phenomenon itself
and the platform it proffers can hardly be considered a viable political apparatus in
that it does not necessarily drive sustainable development of the political status of
women, more so as “femocrats” are hardly in concrete touch with grassroots women
who are mostly undermined by men in African society.
Theoretical Considerations
Men have singled out women of outstanding merit and put them on a pedestal to avoid
recognizing the capacities of all women.
—Huda Sha’arawi
Hardly would any other quote be more suitable for opening the theoretical dis-
course of this women-centred study than that of the famous Egyptian feminist, Huda
Sha’arawi, who founded the Egyptian Feminist Union. This is because the quote ade-
quately captures or summarizes the tenets of the theory adopted by the study. Situated
within the framework of the place of women in peace, security and development,
the study is underpinned by the Feminism Peace and Conflict Theory (FPCT) which
is symptomatic of the feminist ideology for being grounded in the questioning of
normative standards in women’s epistemology. This theory, though accords much
focus to the place of women in the military and in war, covers the broad spectrum of
the equal involvement of women in peacebuilding in society. The concept of FPCT is
multifaceted, and its tenets derive basically from the conceptualisations and musings
developing from feminism, what has made it to over time culminate in its classifi-
cation and reclassification into liberal, socialist and radical typologies. Notably, the
liberal cluster is central to the theoretical analysis of this study.
In a world where social and cultural constructs have privileged men over women,
liberal feminists much like Jordan (2003) contest the assumption that women are
less intellectually and physically capable than their male counterparts, associating
the subordination of women in society with customary and legal restraints that hinder
their access to the public world. So, women are faced with the challenge of working
hard to emphasise gender equality through legal and socio-political means.
Subordinate attribution of women, with particular reference to Africa, has for
many centuries not only subjected them to oppression in the patriarchal gender rela-
tion to which society is accustomed, but also apportioned restrictive roles to them,
138 O. Eweka
bringing about a social construct privileging their male counterparts over them in
societal workforce, thereby rendering the men relatively more powerful. By impli-
cation, society legally arrogates the delicate power of production and leadership to
men who it erroneously deems relatively more intellectually and physically endowed.
Such disproportionate power distribution has at once ensured the easy maintenance
of power by men and limited women’s access to positions of authority and state appa-
ratuses necessary for them to contribute to the development of society. The foregoing
probably explains why Björkdahl and Selimovic (2016: 182) view gender as:
a central system of power in all human activities. It is a cross-cutting analytical frame that
helps us see how power relations develop in the lives of individuals, what activities they are
likely to engage in, and how much power they are able to exert over their own life choices.
Many feminists regard the gender order as constituted by and dependent on a power hierarchy
of masculinities and femininities.
The ideal of hegemony rests on the imposed system described above, such that
the generality of women particularly in Africa had accepted it as their lot until con-
sciousness was regained in the ideology of feminism as not just a sociological theory
but a global, philosophical movement which is increasingly becoming a lifestyle.
The foregoing has no intention of implying that women have over the years been
completely redundant in or useless to the business of societal development beginning
from home front to public sphere, but the minuscule roles to which they have often
been sentenced have naturally been continually left unacknowledged. Weber (2006)
describes this phenomenon as the silencing of women’s experience and knowledge.
This phenomenon is also largely contributory to constructing the social narrative that
men are more productive than women.
With particular reference to the contribution of women to societal peace, Björk-
dahl and Selimovic (2016: 181) regard the deliberate preclusion of women from the
pedestal of societal development and the lack of acknowledgement of their phenom-
enal role in same as the “missing puzzle” by asking some long-overlooked, vital
questions like: whose peace? Peace for whom? How do men and women experience
war and peace differently? What is the gender-informed definition of peace?
While these relevant questions could help in further broadening the concepts of
peace, they are also needful in setting an agenda for peace education. More impor-
tantly, the last of these questions, clearly not the least, points to the necessity to
highlight gender-sensitive conflict resolution practices. Coming from the twentieth
century to date, FPCT splits between patriotism, essentialism and pacifism. Yet, it
argues, from the standpoint of participation and decision-making, privileging the
thoughts of liberal feminists particularly on women’s involvement in conflict. For
feminist pacifists, the essentialist argument based on the inherent peacefulness of
women enacted by motherhood and caring nature may be a take-off point in the
suggestion that women have a vital contribution to make towards achieving lasting
peace and development in society.
According to Weber (2006: 5), care and “relation-based thinking” constitute the
main precondition for a peaceful society. Further, Schirch and Sewak (2005) maintain
that “the importance of women in peacebuilding should not consist of women being
seen as more naturally peaceful than men and thus being able to create sustainable
peace leading to development; instead, women need to be part of peacebuilding
for the simple reason that they are approximately half of the population”. Though
these viewpoints have been richly challenged in the works of Ehrenreich (1997) and
Mernissi (1993) where they painted scenarios of female goddesses and warriors of
ancient times, the fervency of the FPCT in portraying those examples as individual
exemptions and temporary transgressions remains undaunted.
FPCT, while interconnecting all arms of violence with their gender-based dimen-
sions, reflects on the need for visibility of women in conflicts and their management
(Weber 2006). Though it has been argued that peacebuilding is gender blind (see
Strickland and Durvvury 2003), it cannot be gainsaid that men and women view
peace and conflict differently, especially within the ambiance of the debate about
which gender is more conflictogenic and which is more peaceable.
Feminist scholars have contended that women often attribute the causes of conflict
and wars to men in the discussion of causal factors and direct actors. These scholars,
such as Shiva (1993), consent to this line of reasoning, and to a good extent too,
bearing in mind that peace and development are irredeemably Siamese in nature. In
the late 1980s, this constituted the dominant argument of the FPCT which at that time
tended to regard women strictly as victims of war. Essentialist feminists and even
ecofeminists argue out male aggression as the primary trigger of violent conflict.
On the contrary, Eweka and Newman-Dieyi (2019) in a recent study on conflict
management among internally displaced persons (IDPs) portray women, more than
men, as conflict generators and therefore more prone to conflict than men.
What then is to be said of gender and conflict management—or peace? This
question may be answered through two purviews. First, Navidian et al (2014: 246)
contest that making a choice of peacebuilding techniques for situations of mediation
and facilitation depends on the gender of the peace builder, as gendered intervention
is believed to affect conflict outcomes. The second purview connects the predominant
preference of conflicting parties for male dominated interventions. The assumption
is that men manage conflict and build peace better than women who are frequently
believed to be incapable of handling their own conflicts let alone those of men to
whom superiority is socially arrogated.
This tide has further strengthened the age-old marginalisation of women in conflict
resolution and peace processes (Björkdahl and Selimovic 2016: 181). Much as men
have often been blamed for this status quo, and rightly so, women’s longstanding
acceptance of this farce is even more disturbing. With particular reference to the
Sulha of Israel’s Arab Community, Pely (2011) alludes to uncorroborated evidence
that peace processes in the Middle East, the Arab world and the Muslim world are
strictly male dominated somewhat at the behest of the women. Until recently, the
situation of Africa could not have been thought of differently.
Schirch and Sewak (2005) connect the minimal participation of women in peace-
building and societal development to their perceived role as victims. It has therefore
become incumbent upon African women to redefine their roles along these lines
from the traditional derogation of being viewed only as victims to a paradigm shift
140 O. Eweka
of being overtly acclaimed as peace builders and developers (Agbalajobi 2009), as

such status has for long undermined their abilities and activities (Shepherd 2016).
Women’s systemic circumscription notwithstanding, knowledge exists to the
effect that women have always been notably active in promoting intercultural toler-
ance, interethnic dialogues, peace protests and citizens’ empowerment (Porter 2003).
Meaning that concomitant with their own understanding of the concept of peace,
women, African women inclusive, have continued to meaningfully pull strings in
contributing to positive peace and development in their various niches, however
inadequate and uncelebrated (Moosa et al. 2013; Manchanda 2005; Jordan 2003),
as in the example of the Liberia Civil War of 1989–2002. If men and women have
divergent understandings of the concept of peace or even peacebuilding, it is then
unthinkable that they would have a convergent approach to the methodology and per-
sona that peacebuilding as a venture should adopt. For instance, women may regard
it as a venture for all and sundry, while men might see it as a men’s affair.
We have agreed, and so has Simon de Beauvoir (1974) from an existentialist
perspective which believes that existence precedes essence, that gender is a soci-
etal construct which unfortunately precludes women from public space and political
decision-making. Therefore, it would be reasonable to also agree with Nicholson
(1995) that since gender is a societal construct which is devoid of any prior relation
to the sex of a person, it can be deconstructed. With the “bringing women in” equality
feminist approach, the Feminine Peace and Conflict Theory, much as equality fem-
inists, advocates the right for women to hold any position traditionally restricted to
men. The nineteenth century rush to deconstruct gender by weakening the hampering
pillars of patriarchal structure of society and gain societal relevance in security, peace
and development has pushed African women into seeking an emancipatory channel
by which to establish their legitimacy within the framework of formal peacebuilding
processes, and the powerful position of First Lady presents itself. Deplorably, abuse
of this position seems to have become the order of the day.
Lessons from macro theory teach that inasmuch as exercise of and struggle for
power—whether economic, political, military, social, cultural or religious—result
in conflict, it goes without saying that power is a necessary tool for emancipation
and relevance. In the same vein, McCandless (2007) coming from a psycho-social
purview foregrounds the high potency of power to serve as an apparatus for conflict
management and resolution. Appropriating this assertion to African women lends
credence to their capacity to put an end to what Cooke (1993) may have referred
to as gendered citizenship and contribute towards achieving a secure, peaceful and
sustainable developmental clime.
Literature Review and Ethical Considerations of First

Ladyship in Africa
I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living
room and the other room.
—General Muhammadu Buhari (2016)
Developed parts of the world such as Europe and America engage the legal status
of women and their rights to fully participate in the decision-making processes of their
countries as indices for measuring true, thriving and sustainable democracy. Though
such appears to be increasingly becoming the case in contemporary Africa where
women constitute over half of the population of many countries, certain regimes with
the example of Nigeria currently seem to be lagging behind in this regard, particularly
in connection with the recognition of the roles and legalisation of the office of the
First Lady. This, as implied in the above quote by Nigeria’s sitting President, calls
to question the transnational and transcultural divergences in relation to the ethical
and legal outlook on First Ladyship across the globe.
Of note, international organisations which are increasingly becoming sympathetic
to the call for gender parity are ensuring that women are fast gaining grounds in the
world by occupying key positions of authority. In fact, securing strategic, financial
and institutional support from the international community has recently become
contingent upon the level of involvement of women in local and foreign policies of
countries (Mama 1997). This development has in no small measure contributed to
the forceful inclusion of women in government in Africa, and the office of the First
Lady offers itself as one of the many channels of such inclusion.
Wyk (2017) has keenly observed that First Ladies in Africa are an increasingly
influential political force in the inner circle of presidents and politics. High-profile
programmes and policy initiatives now spring them to a height nearly as elevated
as their husbands’ in both local and international politics. Their growing political
influence and active roles in government and society have made them a fecund ground
for critical discourse—commanding the plumes of scholars in various corners of the
social sciences who have put them in diverse perspectives. This is as much because
of the flow of pluralism as it is of alternative views that the First Lady phenomenon
allows. Nevertheless, little is academically reported of their political strides in a
patriarchal society like Africa.
Lamenting the obscurity of the roles of First Ladies in governance until the 1980s,
Borrelli (2011) remarks that the contributions of women to presidency has constantly
been ignored in serious academic studies, and the state of the First Lady in that regard
cannot be thought of differently. In the Western context of who First Ladies really
are and what they do, Borrelli justifies them with the belief that they are vital to the
understanding of the presidency of the United States of America. Having recourse to
the theory of representation, the author identifies three typologies of representation
of First Ladies, namely symbolic, descriptive and substantive representations. She
142 O. Eweka
further postulates that First Ladies consistently and routinely contribute to presidency
in particular and government in general.
Gonnella-Plattz and Fritz (2017) do not opine any differently on the subject mat-
ter. Their work, A Role Without a Rulebook: The Influence and Leadership of Global
First Ladies, which acknowledges the first-hand appreciation that many United States
Presidents like Harry Truman showed to their wives for their contributions to their
various administrations, also highlights the roles played by First Ladies in 12 coun-
tries across five continents. Although focus of the study is predominantly on USA, the
African experience as analysed in the examples of Namibia and Ethiopia offers read-
ings for understanding the roles of African First Ladies within the African purview
where, as much as USA, Great Britain and India, First Ladies are credited with the
roles of hostess, political partner (or teammate), champion and policy advocate.
The roles of the First Lady, be it conventional, perceived or actual, were not
exhausted by Gonnella-Plattz and colleague. For his part, Borrelli (2011) asserts that
presidential advising, also viewed as presidential protection, is the most important
role played by a First Lady. In this wise, they argue, the First Lady is comparable
to any member of the president’s cabinet. However, they believe that First Ladies do
more work in that they manage risk and conflict in their effort to secure and preserve
the highest office of the country for their husbands.
They further point out that First Ladies serve as a sounding board for complex
decision-making and complex problem-solving because of the intimate nature of the
relationship that they share with the president. For instance, First Ladies influence
presidential personnel decisions in terms of appointments, promotions and resig-
nations (see Jonathan 2018). This makes them to be seen in some quarters as an
inherent part of the political process of a country in that they boost the president’s
socio-political capital not only during the period of campaign, but also when he must
have taken office. Their roles can be expanded to becoming presidential advisors,
thanks to their relationship with the president. To that extent, they have accordingly
been often synonymised with “good mothers”, a dubbing that describes them as civil
society and policy champions.
Wyk (2017), like Borrelli, decries the under-researching of First Ladies in Africa
with direct reference to the southern part of the continent. Within the African con-
text, the author equally underscores and celebrates the leadership roles played by
First Ladies while intellectualising their political contributions to peace, security
and sustainable development of the sub-region.
Nevertheless, there is a sense in which we encounter a downside to the First Ladies
phenomenon as foregrounded by Wyk where mention is made of the negative impact
of their activities on governance and politics, especially within the African purview.
As expressed by the scholar, First Ladies play a role in undermining accountable
leadership on the continent. This assertion, which searchlights the works of First
Ladies behind the scenes where they work on or influence their husbands, calls to
question legitimacy and moral issues in First Ladyship which Gonnella-Plattz and
Fritz (2017) speak to.
Citing Tyler’s (2006) definition of legitimacy as a psychological property of an
authority, institution or social arrangement which leads those connected to it to
believe that it is appropriate, proper and just, Eweka (2017) accentuates the relation-
ship between leadership selection process and legitimacy to the extent that they both
affect the degree to which the leader can influence his or her followers. Often, the
well-defined privileges, obligations and responsibilities of legitimate leaders compel
them to be accountable to the people, while illegitimate ones owe no feeling of obli-
gation to the people in terms of collective decision-making inasmuch as they were
not directly involved in the process that brought them to the office that they occupy.
No wonder Reskin and Rose (1992) aver that the occupation of a leadership position
does not necessarily translate into legitimacy of the occupant. In other words, the
position may be seen by others as legitimate, but the individual occupying it as well
as the demands s/he makes on the followers may lack legitimacy—and vice versa.
The unconstitutionality of the office of the First Lady in many African countries
with the exception of a few, such as Ethiopia, Namibia and Rwanda, coupled with
the incessant press for its abolition, calls attention to two ethical questions in this
discourse. The first connects the appropriateness of exercising leadership bereft of
popular and legitimate mandate, that is, pursuing specific agenda without having
been chosen by the people to do so.
Paradoxical as it may sound, the First Lady conveniently passes for one of the
members of the president’s cabinet, who themselves were not elected but selected
into office. However, the unconstitutionality of the First Lady’s office sets her aside
from the president’s cabinet members. To this end, the first challenge in the attempt at
situating the ethical consideration of the office of the First Lady in an African demo-
cratic setting would be the establishment of legitimacy to lead and influence. More
often than not, the socio-political atmosphere surrounding their husbands besets the
African First Lady’s capacity to lead and to publicly influence government policies.
Hence, she converts the hinderance to an advantageous occasion to work unhindered
behind the scenes, and wields her influence. This assertion is exemplified in a con-
fessional statement by Dame Patience Jonathan to which reference was made in the
introductory section of this chapter (see Jonathan 2018: 122).
The second ethical question asks why the First Lady syndrome comes with diverse
negative tendencies such as the promotion of autocratic cum oppressive practices,
personal aggrandisement of the office occupant, cronyism and lots more. Given the
context of male domination of Africa’s political sphere over several decades, First
Ladies who, for sinister motives, encourage the promotion of women into positions
of power provide access to political resources and skills that will enable the pool of
women politicians to become more competitive in the cut-and-thrust of campaigning.
Maryam Abacha’s widely reported imposition of an affirmative action policy on
political parties during her last year as First Lady illustrates this point.
Though the personal aggrandisement of First Ladies, which is hardly detach-
able from their husbands’, touches on a repertoire of practices which may enhance
women’s competitiveness to become more effective in the struggle to access positions
of power, there are questions about the potential positive impact of the First Lady
phenomenon in creating opportunities for agency among female political actors and
creating a body of female political activists who are growing in number and in public
recognition. By bringing their influence to bare on the placement of women into
144 O. Eweka
positions of power, First Ladies can be said to have helped increase the pool from
which women could be recruited into positions of power. Yet, it is left to determine if
their increased activeness in politics and decision-making has met ethical standards
within social and legal contexts.
More than any other social group making up the African public sphere, the Press
has been found to question the legitimacy and ethical appropriateness of Fist Lady-
ship in Africa where the office is constitutionally unrecognised. Among other appa-
ratuses, gender is frequently used to frame discussions around the performance of
the occupants of the embattled position in line with gender prescriptions. On this,
Burns (2004) reveals that press coverage characteristically calls for the circumscrip-
tion of First Ladies’ comportment and activities to acting as her husband’s help meet
and primarily concerning themselves with traditional women’s public activities, if
necessary, rather than a co-partner, co-inspirator or co-president.
In the same vein, many a scholar has pronounced the office of the First Lady
improper, inappropriate, unethical or illegal for being unconstitutional. Gutin (1989),
for instance, has charged them with using the “hidden power” of the position accruing
to them as advisors, policymakers and independent advocates to push personal socio-
political agenda, what may be deemed overstepping their bounds. This perceived
or actual inappropriateness of their actions has earned First Ladies in Africa and
elsewhere the dubbing of “political interlopers” who trespass on the political sphere
of their husbands, and as some would erroneously put it, the political sphere of men.
To this end, increasing is the call for the containment of First Ladies’ involvement
in governmental issues so as to limit their powers as an unelected group.
First Ladyship Dichotomisation and Impact on Peace

and Development
The role of First Lady is whatever the First Lady wants it to be.
—Laura Bush
The above quote from Laura Bush, one-time First Lady of the United States, col-
lides with the insinuation of General Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s sitting President,
that First Ladies are of little or no value to governance and national development,
but certainly coincides with the averment of Wyk (2017) that the African culture of
commodifying First Ladies as trophy wives has gone into the oblivion of enlighten-
ment, as they are now an integral part of the day-to-day administration of regimes.
It goes without saying that the ideological and political orientation or disposition of
a First Lady is not the least of factors that determine the success of her husband’s
regime, consideration given to her ability to advise her husband behind the scenes
and influence his decisions. In this sense, First Ladyship could be dichotomised into
rightist and leftist categories.
The attribution of rightism and leftism to First Ladyship in Africa profits from the
political categorisation used during the French Revolution (1789–1799) to refer to
seating arrangements in parliament, where sitting to the right hand of the president of
the parliament signified a broad support for the Old Regime which was monarchical,
traditional and clerical (see Knapp and Wright 2006). On the one hand, those who took
position to the righthand were therefore named rightists and seen as conservatives.
On the other hand, those who took position to the left hand of the chair of the
President of the French parliament were those who supported change of regime and
extensive political reform from the traditional monarchical system of government to
a democratic or at least republican system. Members of this group were therefore
known as leftists and, in some quarters, socialists and liberalists.
From the twentieth century, other countries practicing democracy adopted the
terms to describe political ideologies. In recent times, rightists support social inequal-
ity, holding the view that such is inevitable and an outplay of natural law of economics
or tradition. Leftists, however, favour social equality and egalitarianism, garnering
support for those who they deem disadvantaged in relation to others in society. For
the analysis of this chapter, we concern ourselves with the aspect of rightist First
Ladyship to intellectualise the linkages connecting conservativeness with peace and
development issues in Afropolicom.
Consistent with the foregoing and with the above assertion by Laura Bush, this
schema serves to illustrate political communication between African First Ladies
and stakeholders in government as well as the general society. The schema in Fig. 1
illustrates that the office of African First Ladies reflects their personal orientation,
First Ladies Afropolicom Schema

B
Help Meet
First Lady In terlo p er
Media
Policy Advocate C o -p res id en t
Social Worker
D ep u ty P res id en t
Masses
Peace Builder
L av is h er
Legislature
Rightist
Conflict
Insecurity
Underdevelopment
Development Agent
Development
C o u p P lo tter
Security
Change Agent
Judiciary
Leftist
H u s b an d B atterer
Peace
Bill Sponsor
C o n s p irato r
Cabinet
Hostess
Rival
International Community
Partner
Usurper
Team Mate
Controller
Reformer Media C o n s erv atis t
President
A
Fig. 1 Schema illustrating political communication between African First Ladies and stakeholders
in government as well as the general society. Source Author
146 O. Eweka
whether rightist or leftist, as they communicate with society in public and engage with
decision-makers in private. It also shows a conversational relationship between the
First Lady and the president which centres on the masses, international community
and the arms of government.
Research has shown that First Ladies’ private communication with decision-
makers is often direct, particularly when it comes to contacting their husbands and
his close allies, and sometimes facilitated by their aides or those of their interlocu-
tors. However, their communication with society and the international community is
public and made possible by social and traditional media. Their relationship with the
masses is remote in that while they communicate to media the ideas and information
which they deem appropriate for public consumption, the media in turn conveys these
messages directly or indirectly to the masses. How trustworthy the media is in this
venture such that it would not be construed as an accomplice is a topic reserved for
separate research.
The schema in Fig. 1 outlines the roles played by First Ladies in governance
and their implications for peace and societal development. A rightist first lady is
associated with all sundry negative political baggage as one who holds conservative
views and discourages change of social hierarchy, including change of regime, while
a leftist First Lady depicts one who is liberal and progressive or reformist. The
political activities of both the president and the First Lady interconnect with society
at the centre. Furthermore, the schema shows, to the right and to the left, the meeting
point of the ideas of the president and the First Lady as well as the resultant effect it
has on society.
It is a truism that change is the only constant in life. However, rightist First
Ladies would rather maintain status quo with a view to clinging to power at all
costs, for an unending savour of the influence and affluence commanded by their
office. Although rightist First Ladies indulge in public, socio-political activities such
as gender activism, women empowerment, girl child education, health concerns,
family support initiatives, humanitarian activities and the like mostly as a façade
(given that they are oftentimes completely out of touch with the grassroots who they
claim to be working for), their influence in local and foreign policy decision-making
is, more often than not, negative, private indirect and remote. It is therefore safe to
assert that they get involved in such activities not exactly for developmental purposes
but to amass wealth and acquire more fame locally and internationally.
Suffice it to mention that the concepts of rightism and leftism are not employed in
this study to refer to the political views or orientation of the president or First Lady of
a country per se, but to the developmental ideology or disposition of the First Lady. It
is thus as testy to judge a book by its cover as it is to detect from physical appearance
and politically motivated propagandist utterances and initiatives the disposition of
First Ladies in Africa. However, they are known in the long run by the fruits that they
produce both directly and through their husbands. Examples abound of rightist First
Ladies in African history, and this chapter speaks to four of such. The first example
is from Ivory Coast; the second is from Niger; the third is from Kenya, while the
fourth is from Zimbabwe.
The Ivorian example is a depiction of private, remote influencing of government

and perpetration of retrogressively undemocratic ideals by a rightist, a situation
which would be later transformed into a public and direct interference as played out
by Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, wife of President Laurent Gbagbo, who was First Lady
for eleven years (2000–2011). The eleven-year (mis)rule of her husband culminating
in serial crises and underdevelopment in Ivory Coast has sufficiently been attributed
to her by individuals as well as local and international organisations such as the
United Nations. Quite a number of ill-fated decisions reached by President Gbagbo,
particularly his refusal to hand power over to Alassane Ouattara who emerged as
winner of the 2011 presidential polls, are reported to have been her idea sold to
him in private. Her undaunted, overwhelming intrusion in affairs of the state and her
husband’s political party (FPI, where she equally belongs and which she in fact co-
founded with him from a hitherto clandestine political group) was evidenced in her
uncontrollable quest for full authority which earned her the title of “Hilary Clinton
des tropiques”.
Although her involvement in active politics antedates her First Lady status, as
she had been an active trade unionist militant back in the 1970s where she was
severally imprisoned for her struggle for multi-party elections, it is curious to note
that her post multi-party election activities largely proved antidemocratic in nearly
all ramifications. For instance, her instigations and extra-political activities saw her
husband shelving the planned presidential election in October 2005 and abusing
an existing law to enable him remain in power. This development provoked a high
intensity crisis in that same year which climaxed by the intervention of the United
Nations who extended the president’s tenure by a year while investigating his wife
over human rights abuses and organising of death squads (IRIN 2005).
Least of the atrocities linked to her was the disappearance of Guy-Andre Kieffer, a
French–Canadian Journalist investigating corruption in Cote d’Ivoire, who was later
presumed dead. Kieffer was last seen at a rendezvous with Mrs Gbagbo’s in-law prior
to his inexplicable disappearance. On the public side, “Hilary Clinton des tropiques”,
in a bid to protect her campaign for her husband during the 2008 polls, further
triggered a rift between him and his major opposition, Ouattara. In 2011, Simone
Gbagbo was placed under house arrest and later sentenced to 20 years imprisonment
in 2015 for many a crime including war crimes, political violence, organising armed
gangs and conspiring with her husband to antidemocratically seize power with a view
to perpetuating his tenure of office after eleven years of uninterrupted rule.
From the foregoing, it is clear that Simone Gbagbo, as typical of a rightist First
Lady, employed both direct and indirect techniques to undermine her husband’s
administration and resist regime change with her involvement in the country’s pol-
itics largely taking a negative toll on the people. According to a Reuters (2011)
report, over 1500 civilians lost their lives and over a million others suffered dis-
placement in the 2010–2011 political violence (in)directly linked to her, and there
were untold hardship and gross underdevelopment in the country throughout her
husband’s infamous regime.
The Nigerien experience of rightist First Ladyship is accessible through the activ-
ities of Aisha Hamani Diouri who in the 1960s exercised legendary powers with
148 O. Eweka
no autonomous space. The First Lady globally referred to as the most tyrannical
First Lady in Africa, through the office of her husband, President Diouri of Niger,
manipulated the elite of the country while privately dictating the pace, content and
socio-cultural trends of the country’s polity. Borrowing leaf from Ibrahim (n.d.) who
christened Mrs Diouri as a personification of illegitimate power exercised without
restrictions, she can safely be called the forerunner of rightist First Ladyship in
Africa. Indeed, the recent trend of creating state and non-state structures by First
Ladies to provide them with independent instruments that serve as entry points into
mainstream governance cannot be unconnected to her.
Interestingly, we find a continuation of Mrs Diouri in Lucy Kibaki, wife of the
third President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, who presided over the country from 2002
to 2013. Abati (2016) describes her as one of Kenya’s most controversial public
figures in the last 50 years; and one like no other in Kenya’s history, or perhaps
in the history of the whole of Africa. Her description as ungovernable, unmanage-
able, unapproachable and impossible infamously epitomises her with rightist First
Ladyship. Her influencing of the president’s political decisions primordially took a
private dimension but manifested in the local and international politics of the coun-
try, thereby giving the impression of her as president and her husband as deputy or
co-president. She snatched the courage of her husband, President Kibaki, to express
displeasure at her misdemeanours.
In fact, she was rumoured as a husband barterer who took her conduct beyond the
private sphere to incessantly interrupting and overruling the president publicly, a situ-
ation which rendered him incapable of running his home in particular and the country
at large. For example, she once upstaged him in a press conference. According to
Abati (2016), occasions abound where she attempted to take charge—and actually
did—of government. On one occasion, she shut down parliament building because
she felt that her conservative and anti-reform viewpoint was unappreciated by par-
liamentarians. What more, she was seen summoning, instructing and humiliating
staff of the State House, government officials, party members, diplomats and anyone
who, by her estimation, qualified as a threat to her authority. Her ability to plant an
unofficial insider network of secret service men ensured her effective monitoring of
the activities of cabinet members who she laid off at will, directly and through her
husband. For instance, she once issued an ultimatum of resignation to her husband’s
private secretary and controller of the State House who was eventually forced into
compulsory resignation for the avoidance retrenchment.
Mrs Grace Mugabe was another rightist First Lady par excellence who not only
encouraged her husband, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, to cling to power after
decades of presidency, but also sought to succeed him in 2017. By historical accounts,
she rose from the position of Secretary to the President to becoming his official wife
and personal lieutenant in the figurative sense of the terminology. Her secret schem-
ing would later transcend co-governing the country with her husband to ordering
his cabinet members around, culminating in the ouster of many potential successors
of her husband and a number of cabinet members like Vice-President Joice Mujuru
who she accused of corruption, extortion, incompetence, gossip, lies, ingratitude,
conspiracy and coup plotting. Further, she would later be instrumental to the sack-
ing of Vice-President Mnagagwa. Her quest for power climaxed with her signalling
interest in the second highest office of the country at a time when her 93 years old
husband was contemplating stepping aside after a 38-year rule.
What stands Mrs Mugabe out from other rightist First Ladies studied thus far,
though in a negative sense, is her extravagant lifestyle which earned her the name
of “Gucci Grace” within Zimbabwe. She has been reported to be in the habit of
withdrawing huge sums of money from the Central Bank of Zimbabwe for her per-
sonal shopping and investment. For instance, besides the lavish properties as well as
multi-million-dollar diamond and ivory businesses that she owns in Malaysia, Hong
Kong, Japan, China and many other countries, she is said to have constructed two
palaces one of which cost US$26 million.
In the final analysis, it cannot be any clearer that the activities of the rightist
African First Ladies analysed thus far and many others are grossly antidemocratic,
conflict-brewing and underdevelopment inductive. Indubitably, their countries have
at one time or the other been engulfed in decade-old conflicts and large-scale violence
resulting in wanton underdevelopment and untold hardship following their secret,
public, direct and indirect intrusion in governance. Instructively, these First Ladies
have engaged in abuse of power and privilege under their husbands’ regimes, thereby
robustly contributing deliberately, directly and remotely to the nefarious situations of
wanton devastation. What these ladies all have in common is their undemocratic fight
against policy reform and regime change so as to perpetuate their self-arrogation of
power, influence, aggrandisement and splendour at the expense of peace, security,
national development, national unity and cohesion. In the end, their actions have
hugely contributed to the failure of their husbands’ administrations.
A Case for the Reconceptualisation and Legalisation of First

Ladyship in Africa
…any First Lady, rightfully, gets to define her role. There’s no legislative authority; you’re
not elected. And that’s a wonderful gift of freedom.
—Michelle Obama
Undeniably, the freedom accorded to the office of the First Lady, to which Michelle
Obama alludes out of expedient experience, offers a platform for rightist First Ladies
in many African countries to greatly undermine their husbands’ administrations, spur
conflict and under-develop their countries. Consequently, there have been calls for
the abolition of the office. However, calling for the abolition of the revered, delicate
and opportunistic office would be antipathic to national development, as leftist First
Ladies abound who have been vanguards of democratic values by engendering peace,
security, unison and national development.
If anything, therefore, the office should be reconceptualised, reorganised and
constitutionalised with a strategic vision, for it is clear that First Ladies have a
150 O. Eweka
crucial role to play in democracy. These roles, it has been suggested by Agina-
Ude (2003a, b: 94), ought to be constitutionalised with precise guidelines as to how
they must be performed. Probably, the most obvious challenge of a First Lady is
assuming an undefined or a poorly defined position. More often than not, their roles
and responsibilities are dictated by custom and tradition rather than policy, and this
privileges power abuse. Granted that this affords them the needed degree of flexibility
to function effectively in that they are able to model their roles to suit their interests
and the particularities of their personalities, it equally poses a unique challenge of
justifying their leadership podium.
A decisive identification of where sits the roles of First Ladies on a spectrum
ranging from a very institutionalised office on the one hand to a completely informal
one on the other would play an active role in understanding how the challenge of
national development plays out for First Ladies in Africa. Several First Ladies lack
any institutionalised role for their office. In spite of competing priorities and persistent
constraints, development and implementation of a strategic vision would aid First
Ladies in executing their developmental roles in society as much as it would serve as
a means of keeping the rightists in check. Furthermore, this chapter contends that in
spite of insufficiency of resources and ambiguity in customarily assigned roles, First
Ladies, owing to the unique prominence of their position, are capable of breaking
grounds and advancing developmental causes and opportunities for policy action,
that is, when the office is put in proper perspective.
In the same vein, First Ladies are also useful in engaging with citizens at the
grassroots and mainstream levels particularly in times of conflict. As Gonnella-
Plattz and Fritz (2017) rightly observed, First Ladies possess a rare opportunity
of transcending boundaries which enables them to effortlessly gain access to the
citizenry at all strata of society and turn borders to bridges in negotiating issues of
national importance. For instance, Dame Patience Jonathan, Nigeria’s First Lady
from 2010 to 2015, divulged that, worried about how Nigerian women were being
maltreated, she successfully prevailed on her husband the President to accommodate
many women in governance and decision-making while she also worked with them
to empower them for the task through free education and counselling, thanks to the
platform accorded her by her husband (Jonathan 2018). Such goodwill would thrive
better when the office of the First Lady is constitutionalised, depoliticalised and
separated from the presidency.
Where effectively harnessed, the social capital of a First Lady can be likened to
a bridge between government institutions and civil society. Moreover, First Ladies’
communicative engagement with predecessors, foreign counterparts and potential
successors opens up windows for exchange of developmental ideas in line with
international best practices. This could lead to national development at various levels.
First Ladies, being characteristically relentless in their initiatives, are known to
possess a high degree of force of collaboration which is capable of producing desired
change in society. Such collaborations could play out first in uniting citizens on
individual and group levels towards national cohesion, then in partnerships of their
quasi-governmental organisations with local and international analogous organisa-
tions with like cause. In so doing, the promotion of the values of women as leaders
is of paramount importance because as noted by Gonnella-Plattz and Fritz (2017),

women’s leadership matters at every level of society.
When women are educated, their children are more likely to be educated. When
women have access to quality health care, their families are healthier. When women
have equal entry to the economy, their communities are more prosperous. With a
distinctive ability to engage civil society and government institutions, spouses of state
leaders are moving the needle forward on critical issues at local and international
levels (Gonnella-Plattz and Fritz 2017). The podium of a First Lady inspires policy
advocacy and action when put to effective use as catalyst for social transformation.
Nevertheless, the office of the First Lady as it is today known should be con-
stitutionalised, classified as a public, apolitical, non-governmental organisation for
the utility of social works funded by local and international NGOs, and rechristened
“Office of the Wife of the President” (or Prime Minister, as the case may be) so as for
the occupants to channel their established political energy and lobbying techniques
towards societal development on a full-scale, non-governmental pedestal without
unduly interrupting governance. Furthermore, the office ought to be constitutionally
and conventionally dissociated from the presidency in particular and from the gov-
ernment of the day in general. That way, the excesses of rightist First Ladies would
be curtailed and they would seize to constitute a distraction to their husband the
president and to his administration.
The present contrastively generous status of the office of the First Lady of the
United States being adopted by Africa where the Presidency not only lends its plat-
form but also solely bears the financial cost of running the office must be actively
negotiated. Currently, Ethiopia seems to be reforming First Ladyship in its new
recognition of the office as an official unit within the office of the Prime Minister,
yet the office has no direct or remote place in the country’s or Prime Minister’s
annual budget. The wife of the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Mrs Roman, executes her
social and humanitarian functions on a purely voluntary and unpaid basis, yet she is
achieving a lot towards the peace and development of the country and at once giving
her husband the necessary ambiance to administer the country uninterruptedly. In a
similar vein, the former First Lady of Chile, Cecilia Morel, shares the story of Mrs
Roman, and she has continued to make developmental waves in the country beyond
her husband’s administration through collaborative efforts of local and multinational
NGOs.
Conclusion
I hope someday someone will take the time to evaluate the true role of the wife of a President
and to assess the many burdens she has to bear and contributions she makes.
—Harry S. Truman
President Truman’s quote above, which unearths his stance on First Ladyship as
contrary to President Buhari’s, points to the acceptance and appreciation of First
152 O. Eweka
Ladies in the Global North more than in the Global South where the office of the
First Lady is practically the only guaranteed entry point for women’s political and
developmental voice to be heard out of repressive silence. Thus, their private and
public socio-political activities, as dictated by their developmental ideology, weigh
heavily on their husbands’ regimes.
While the socio-political activities of leftist First Ladies drive their husbands’
administration to success, those of rightist First Ladies foster personal aggrandise-
ment through regime perpetuation and induce conflict and underdevelopment which
are indices of poor performance of regime. However, the poor performance of a
regime cannot be legitimately blamed on the First Lady as she is neither bound by
oath nor constitutionally mandated to govern.
Therefore, there is need to reconceptualise and constitutionalise the office of the
First Lady in African countries as this would not just widely open up a public,
participatory window for more women to richly contribute to the peace and devel-
opment of the enduringly patriarchal continent of Africa while firmly shutting the
window of stealthy regime manipulation, but as well establish a legitimate platform
of accountability for them.
To curtail the excesses and tackle the issue of ethics relating to First Ladyship,
what is presently known as “Office of the First Lady” in African countries should now
become an apolitical “Office of the Wife of the President” and completely detached
from government in structure, function and funding, to assume the responsibility of
coordinating all activities related to women and children affairs of the country.
References
Abati, R. (2016). Lucy Kibaki’s death: Africa’s most violent First Lady. The Guardian.
Agbalajobi, D. T. (2009). The role of African women in peace building and conflict resolution: The
case of Burundi. Global Media Journal, 8(15).
Agina-Ude, A. (2003a). The First Lady Syndrome and all that Jazz. Africawoman, 4.
Agina-Ude, A. (2003b). Alternative Political Platforms for Women. In E. Bassey & N. Toyo (Eds.),
Nigerian women and political entryism: Power, intrigues and obstacles around the 2003 election.
Lagos: Gender and Development Action.
Björkdahl, A. J., & Selimovic, M. (2016). Gender: The missing piece in the peace puzzle. In O. P.
Richmond et al. (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of disciplinary and regional approaches to peace
(pp. 181–192). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Borrelli, M. (2011). The politics of the President’s wife. College Station: Texas A&M University
Press.
Burns, L. M. (2004). First Ladies as political women: Press framing of presidential wives, 1900–
2001 (Ph.D. dissertation). Department of Communication, University of Maryland, USA.
Cooke, M. (1993). Wo-Man, retelling the war myth. In M. Cooke & A. Woollacott (Eds.), Gendering
War Talk (pp. 177–204). New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Dawkins, F. (2018). African First Ladies who were neck-deep in their husband’s affairs and got into
trouble. Face 2 Face Africa. https://face2faceafrica.com/article/african-first-ladies-who-were-
neck-deep-in-their-husbands-affairs-and-got-into-trouble/4. Accessed August 23, 2018.
De Beauvoir, S. (1974). The second sex. New York: Random House.
Ehrenreich, B. (1997). Blood rites. Origins and history of the passions of war. New York:
Metropolitan Books.
Eweka, O. (2017). Hostile political communication: Triadic examples from Africa. In S. A. Omotoso
& A. Olukotun (Eds.), Political communication in Africa (pp. 101–120). Cham, Switzerland:
Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48631-4_7
Eweka, O., & Newman-Dieyi, T. O. (2019). Rethinking displacement and gendered violence in
Africa: The Somali experience in Kenya. Kaduna Journal of Humanities, 3(3), 77–95.
Eweka, O., Omotoso, S. A., & Olukotun, A. (2017). The African Policom Stew. In S. A. Omotoso
& A. Olukotun (eds.), Political communication in Africa (1–13). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48631-4_1
Fraser, A. (2001). Marie antoinette (1st ed.). New York: N.A. Talese/Doubleday.
Gonnella-Plattz, N., & Fritz, K. (2017). A role without a rulebook: The influence and leadership of
global First Ladies. ICRW, George W: Bush Institute.
Gutin, M. G. (1989). The President’s partner: The First Lady in the twentieth century. New York:
Greenwood Press.
Ibrahim, J. (n.d.). The First Lady syndrome and the marginalisation of women from power:
Opportunities or compromises for gender equality? Abuja: Global Rights.
IRIN. (2005). Cote d’Ivoire: UN confirms existence of blacklist of human rights abusers.
Jonathan, E. (2018). My transition hours. RevMedia Publishing.
Jordan, A. (2003). Women and conflict transformation: Influences, roles, and experiences.
Development in Practice, 13(2/3), 239–251.
Kindersley, D. (2012). Fashion: The definitive3 history of costume and style (pp. 146–149). New
York: DK Publishing.
Knapp, A., Wright, V. (2006). The government and politics of France. Routledge.
Mama, A. (1997). Feminism or femocracy? State feminism and democratisation. Africa Develop-
ment/Afrique et Développement, 20(1), 37–58 (Dakar: CODESRIA).
Manchanda, R. (2005). Women’s agency in peace building: Gender relations in post-conflict
reconstruction. Economic and Political Weekly, 40(44/45), 4737–4745.
McCandless, E. (2007). Peace and conflict studies: Origins, defining issues, current status. In E.
M. Bangura, Peace research for Africa: Critical essays on methodology (p. 40). Addis Ababa:
University for Peace Africa.
Mernissi, F. (1993). The forgotten queens of Islam. London: Polity Press.
Moosa, Z., Rahmani, M., & Webster, L. (2013). Does the inclusion of women in peace building
processes make an important difference to the process and outcomes? Gender and Development,
21(3), 453–472 (Oxfam: GB).
Navidian, A., Bahari, F., & Kermansaravi, F. (2014). The relationship of interpersonal conflict
handling styles and marital conflicts among iranian divorcing couples. Global Journal of Health
Science, 6(6), 245.
Nicholson, L. (1995). (ed.). Feminist contentions: A philosophical exchange. In L. Nicholson (Ed.),
Thinking gender. London: Routledge.
Nigeria’s President Buhari: My wife belongs in kitchen. BBC News Africa, October 14, 2016. https://
www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37659863. Accessed October 25, 2019.
Okeke, P. (1998). First Lady syndrome: The (En)gendering of bureaucratic corruption in Nigeria.
CODESRIA Bulletin, 3 & 4.
Pely, D. (2011). Women in Sulha—Excluded yet influential: Examining women’s formal and infor-
mal role in traditional dispute resolution, within the patriarchal culture of Northern Israel’s Arab
community. International Journal of Conflict Management, 22(1), 89–104.
Porter, E. (2003). Women, political decision-making and peace building. Global Change, Peace &
Security, 15(3), 245–262. https://doi.org/10.1080/0951274032000124965. Accessed September
23, 2018 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0951274032000124965.
Reskin, B., & Rose, C. E. (1992). Jobs, authority and earnings among managers: The continuing
significance of sex. Work and Occupations, 19, 342–365.
154 O. Eweka
Reuters. (2011). UN troops surround Gbagbo’s last defenders. Af.reuters.com. Retrieved April 23,
2011.
Sage, A. (1998). Premières Dames et First Ladies: La Femme du Chef est-elle le Chef du Chef?.
Bordeaux: L’Afrique Politique.
Schirch, L., & Sewak, M. (2005). The role of women in peacebuilding. Issue Paper, Global
Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict. Utrecht: European Centre for Conflict
Prevention.
Shepherd, L. J. (2016). Victims of violence or agents of change? Representations of women in UN
peacebuilding discourse. Peacebuilding, 4(2), 121–135.
Shiva, V. (1993). Ecofeminism, kali for Women. New Delhi; London: Zed Books.
Strickland, R., & Durvvury, N. (2003). Gender equity and peacebuilding: From rhetoric to reality.
Washington, DC: International Center for Research on Women.
Tyler, T. R. (2006). Psychological persepctives on legitimacy and legitimation. Annual Review of
Psychology, 57, 375–400.
Weber, A. (2006). Feminist peace and conflict theory. Routledge encyclopaedia of peace and conflict
theory.
Wyk, J.V. (2017). The First Ladies of Southern Africa: Trophies or trailblazers? Politikon: South
African Journal of Political Studies, 44(1), 157–172.
Acada-Activism and Feminist Political
Communication in Nigeria
Introduction
Feminism in Africa, when placed in historical and critical contexts, cannot ignore
the place of female scholars and researchers; women of African descent who by
career choice have found themselves at the ivory towers across the continent and
beyond. These women popularly referred to as “female academics” or “academic
women are scholarly, intellectual females teaching or conducting research at an
institution of higher learning” (Muberekwa and Nkomo 2016: 2). Africa’s academic
women emerge from within the larger mass of African women1 drawn from vari-
ous strands of the society; some, born of elite parents, were encouraged to pick a
career in higher institutions; some, married to male academics and got influenced
to equally join the profession; others saw academia as their calling and ventured in.
Without casting aspersion on why any of these women became academics, Africa’s
twentieth-century female academics aligned in certain senses with second-wave and
third-wave feminists who recognized how politicized women’s lives had been and
sought means for self-assertion among other objectives. With the consciousness that
social justice is fundamental to women empowerment and must, of necessity be pur-
sued from different quarters, they equally saw the need to reclaim their identities and
re-rewrite women’s narratives within their cultural and social milieu. They focused
on women empowerment, breaking new grounds and debunking androcentric foun-
dations of the academia, which reckoned largely with “founding fathers” as forbears
1 African women in this study is as conceived by Omotoso, 2019 as female members of African
communities who hold such identities by birth, marriage, naturalization, or association (Omotoso
2019a).
S. A. Omotoso (B)
Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
e-mail: sa.omotoso@ui.edu.ng
156 S. A. Omotoso
of intellectual traditions and systems. This was marked by the emergence of several
“firsts” among female scholars in earlier male-dominated fields. Within a decade
of the establishment of Queens College in 1927 as a “girls-only” secondary school,
Southern Nigeria was able to produce “the first crop of women who later became
megaphones for other less privileged women—Lady Kofoworola Ademola became
the first Nigerian woman to obtain a bachelor’s degree from Oxford University in
England; Elizabeth Abimbola Awoliyi graduated from medical school in Britain and
became the first female Medical doctor in the country; while Stella Thomas, the
first female Lawyer, graduated from Britain” (Aina 2014: 3–4). By 1948 when the
University College Ibadan was established, more women gained admission into the
University, most of whom thereafter proceeded abroad for their graduate studies.
Of interest to this chapter is the fact that these women were not just pre-occupied
with campus activities; they also came into political and public spaces, decrying
women’s exclusion in strategic arenas. Inspiration to write this chapter came, first
from my participation in the Gender Policy Audit Committee of the University of
Ibadan (2017) where our findings propelled the need for more concerted effort toward
gender equity on campus. Secondly, of concern is how the contributions of female
scholars to social and political issues in Nigeria have lacked sufficient documentation
and have been largely downplayed. In an earlier work on Nigeria’s survival, Omotoso
and Akinpelu (2014) note scholars’ submission that the academics have vital roles
to play as they theorize on Nigerian politics; hence, “a return to history; to the works
and writings of past Nigerian leaders and a careful interpretation of such works such
that they can be translated for pragmatic use in governance and state administration”
(p. 115). I have chosen to use a Nigerian conversational word, “Acada” drawn from
the word “Academe” (a scholarly person, accustomed to the environment of a Univer-
sity) exploring how such persons gain relevance in vigorous advocacy for social and
political change. Hence hereafter, female scholars and researchers will be referred to
as Acada women, and a critical discussion of Acada-Activism of women in Nigeria
will ensue. This is taken further into enquiries on what necessitated female schol-
ars’ political interventions in Nigeria’s twentieth and twenty-first centuries; how such
gestures, which brought women into political spheres, were communicated, and what
lessons could be learnt for female scholars’ future political participation in Nigeria.
The next section (section II) of this chapter provides a background to influences
of African feminist scholars, using them to establish that women in the academia
across Africa have contributed to politics via both scholarship and activism; section
III presents political communication (hereafter policom) tools from the academia
with corresponding theoretical frameworks; section IV presents case studies from
four Nigerian female professors (Bolanle Awe, Zaynab Alkali, Remi Sonaiya and
Dora Akunyili). Each of these women have peculiarities for the study; Bolanle Awe
as foremost advocate for women’s empowerment since her youth; Zaynab Alkali, an
icon from Northern Nigeria known for questioning strong patriarchal stances since
the twentieth century. Remi Sonaiya, a scholar who aspired for the highest ebb of
political office; and, Dora Akunyili as a force in the mainstream politics of Nigeria in
more recent past. Changes, continuities, challenges and prospects of female scholars
in politics will then be teased, followed by summary and conclusion.
Acada-Activism and Feminist Political Communication in Nigeria 157
African Acada Women in Public Space
The late twentieth century marked the emergence of female scholars across Africa.
Having gained exposure to education mostly from England, France, Portugal and
other countries largely traced to their colonial history, women were a significant
part of the educated masses who according to Mama (2005: 94) were “schooled in
contradictions”. The women had come to understand connections between racism,
sexism and classism; they also have experienced social exclusion at their campuses
as Black, as African students and as females. Just as the second-wave feminism led
the proliferation of civil rights movements, Freeman (1973: 28) notes that women
campus groups were formed because “women often are excluded from the infor-
mal networks of communication among male faculty and students through which so
much information necessary to professional socialization is passed”; this led to the
proliferation of women groups on campuses. For Mama (2005: 95), “the persistence
of gender injustice and inequality in all major post-colonial political and social insti-
tutions, including Africa’s particularly beleaguered campuses also stimulates critical
reflection among the growing pool of educated women in Africa in and beyond the
academy”. Freeman has earlier identified two groups in the political organization of
women: “the ‘radical’ engage primarily in educational works concentrating on tradi-
tional female concerns of love, sex, children and interpersonal relationships” (1973:
4) while the “so called reformists are the activists” who seek complete changes in
societies (pp 4–5). Freeman’s categorization is similar to that of Hooks (2000: 3–4)
in which reformist feminist thinking focused primarily on equality with men in the
workforce while radical foundations of contemporary feminism called for reform as
well as overall restructuring to achieve anti-sexist society. African intellectual iden-
tities have since gained multiple identities, thus rendering this categorization rather
narrow; as some Acada women did not stick strictly to radicalism through writ-
ing, having displayed greater traits of reformists than radicals and vice versa. This
perhaps informs Mama’s (2005: 95) assertion that “in African contexts, the intensifi-
cation of contradictions between policy and practice, between rhetoric of rights and
the reality of neo-liberal economic strategies, informs and energizes many kinds of
counter-hegemonic intellectual activity”. While both reformists and radicals often
collaborate in achieving collective goals, this chapter presents the Acada-Activism
across Africa as a combination of reformist and radical traits. Examples of such com-
bination are drawn from African states. The first Eastern African woman to receive
a Ph.D., her doctorate in veterinary anatomy, Wangari Maathai, deployed both her
writing skills and political activism for the improvement of women in Africa. The
Kenyan environmental political activist and Nobel laureate through her Green Belt
Movement is widely acknowledged for standing against oppression. It was attested
that, “her unique forms of action have contributed to drawing attention to political
oppression—nationally and internationally. She has served as inspiration for many
in the fight for democratic rights and has especially encouraged women to better their
situation” (T he Norwegian Nobel Committee 2004). The Ghanaian academic, poet
158 S. A. Omotoso
and playwright, Professor Ama Ata Aidoo who also served as a Minister of Educa-
tion in Ghana under the Jerry Rawlings’ administration, was equally affirmed to have
portrayed the role of African woman in the contemporary society (www.lesideesnet.
com). By arguing that the idea of nationalism has been deployed by recent leaders as
a means of keeping people oppressed, Prof. Aidoo criticized literate Africans who
profess to love their country but are seduced away by the benefits of the developed
world (Horne 1996; Aidoo 1999). As an academic, Hikmat Abu Zayd is a significant
achiever in the history of Egyptian women (Badran 1996), being the first female
cabinet minister. She became minister of social affairs in 1962; by her leadership
between 1962 and 1965, many charitable organizations came under state control and
women’s literacy programs expanded (Zayd 2018).
Aisha Fofana Ibrahim is the Director of the Gender Research and Documentation
Centre at the University of Sierra Leone’s Fourah Bay College. In 2009–2010, she
was the Helleiner Visiting Research Fellow at The North-South Institute, an IDRC-
funded fellowship. While at The North-South Institute, Ibrahim’s work focused on
affirmative action as a means to overcome barriers that limit women’s entry into
politics. Aisha also serves as President of the 50/50 Group of Sierra Leone, which
focuses on advocacy, policy and capacity building for women’s leadership. These
few cases exemplify how women in the academia across Africa have contributed
to politics via their activism, as many more Acada women have since emerged and
contributed significantly to politics from different regions of Africa.
Political Communication (Policom) Tools from the Academia
Political communication transcends the discourse of democracy, spanning into con-

tent creation, dissemination and evaluation of effects among political actors to achieve
politically oriented objectives. Popoola (2017: 18) describes policom as application
of communication strategies in achieving political goals. Furthermore, ideas, poli-
cies, personnel, structures, organs/channels, problems, people, messages and even
feedback involved in political activities are the core of policom as identified by Nnadi
(2008: 250). Similarly, Ezeah and Gever (2015: 148) define political communication
as “purpose-driven communication, involving political players, channeled through
a medium to the citizens”. These definitions show how policom provides various
platforms for political actors to keep abreast of happenings in political spaces, while
also cultivating perceptions on burning political issues. Oftentimes, the categories
of players remain the media, citizens and politicians; however, contents and subject
matters are very dynamic. It is on this note that Omotoso (2018a) aver that Policom
may be used to develop paradigms that will take into cognizance the communicative
components of political realities. Reckoning with politics as a game of influence
and communication as a guided missile to influence, the task here is to recognize a
double-edged attempt by African women to seek relevance on two prominent plat-
forms of a public sphere; having strove to excel in the academe and then moving into
politics. This section discusses Acada women as political players with intentions2
and unique body languages3 to influence their political environments. This is in tan-
dem with Idiong’s (2008) assertion that scholars have been principally concerned
with three basic issues in political communication; the production process, contents
and ultimate effects. While this work recognizes internal politics within the academe
and how women survive within such as equally worth studying, this section estab-
lishes that Acada women have specific intentions for their foray into politics, and
they employ strategic means to gain prominence in public spaces.
Policom involves agenda-setting, framing and priming. Agenda-setting affords the
media to sway public support toward particular issues or persons, thereby providing
the masses with what to think about. Framing involves selective emphasis on certain
aspects of a perceived reality so as to make them more salient in a communicating text,
“in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation,
moral evaluation, and/ or treatment recommendation for the item described” (Entman
1993: 52). This is done regularly by the media to spotlight certain aspects of an
issue, while downplaying other aspects. Political media priming ensures deliberate
presentation of a half-processed idea, providing a context for public discussion of an
issue to increase the masses’ familiarity with the idea/situation while also triggering
a temporary interest in the subject and leaving the masses to fill in the gaps (Weaver
2007; Okigbo and Onoja 2017). Agunbiade and Akiode affirm how media agenda-
setting, framing and priming have not favored women in leadership. They aver that
When granted interviews, they are not engaged on the “hard” national issues and their visions
for the country. This is due to the underlying paternalistic and sexist language which drives
newspaper coverage of women politicians. The template is that the female suits catchy and
sensational headlines and visual journalism. (Agunbiade and Akiode 2017: 162)
Discussions below would show how the selected Acada-Activists have managed
to communicate politics in the face of unfavorable media environment and how they
have cultivated the media to achieve their goals.
Academic cultures of teaching, research and community service are values already
imbibed by Acada women as they rose through the ranks in their institutions; these
are expectedly apolitical, but they were handy tools and remain so in contempo-
rary times. Applying these three cogent tools of teaching, research and community
service from the academe consequently provides a unique pattern in women’s politi-
cal/leadership roles. Most of these women get noticed by their written works in form
of journal articles, chapters in books, literary texts and newspaper articles. Their
interactions with their communities and state became profound as they participated
in governmental programs and projects and as they reacted to state policies from
their professional perspectives which are usually a departure from the patriarchal
status quo of the state to focus specifically on gender differences on issues and how
women and girls are affected, included or excluded.
2 Referring to intentions here, I follow Denton and Woodwards’ assertion that content and purpose
of political communicators are what make their communications political (1990: 11).
3 See Graber (1981).
160 S. A. Omotoso
Teaching
Normatively, higher institutions should be largely neutral in their dissemination and

impartation of knowledge and skills; however, curriculum designs are not neutral.
Evidences can be drawn from colonial curriculum which was largely developed for
racial inferiorization and gender subordination (Oyewumi 1997: 124). Teaching as a
tool is utilized to propagate values, criticize extraneous views, establish continental
focus and also employ the avenue through personal interactions for role-modeling
and mentoring. The views and experiences of teachers often shape the mindset of
their students, influence students’ lifestyle and determine their career decisions as
well as dispositions to issues.
Park (1996: 57) notes that:
in addition to spending more time on their teaching, women, …, may place a greater priority
on advising students because they are more likely to perceive themselves as having a special
responsibility to student members of their own demographic constituency. They may be
more aware of the social, personal, and academic difficulties…, more knowledgeable about
(institutional and extra-institutional) sources of support, and better able to provide pragmatic
advice.
Acada women since the twentieth century were powerful in their spheres of influ-
ence as teachers. They showed that women could multi-task, maintained close con-
tact with students and influenced their thought patterns. Most of their students found
their voices in their female teachers as they picked them as role models and were
directly mentored by them. Teaching thus became a tool for political communication
when the few African women who were exposed to Western education found that
not all content of what they were taught had relevance for the desired development
of their countries. They resented curricula which reinforced faulty homogenizations,
assumptions supporting beliefs in the universal subordination of women, and the sep-
aration of public and private spheres into gendered spheres (Amadiume 1997; Nnae-
meka 1998; Steady 2004). Acada women began to mobilize from the classrooms,
comparing and contrasting issues across communities, and sending their students to
grassroots to implement what has been learnt, thereby communicating politics via
classroom activities.
Research
Research entails the process of critical scrutiny of trends within specific fields of
study for the purpose of reporting the findings and proffering plausible solutions
to identified challenges. Research processes include laboratory experiments, field-
works, literature search and careful academic writings which are repeatedly done
by an academic for purposes including public recognition, community develop-
ment and career advancement. The cycle of research is not complete until it has
been published in reputable academic platforms such as journals, books and other
special publications. Research provides scholars’ contributions to knowledge, thus

also serving as reference materials for future investigations. It must be noted that
research is never conducted in a vacuum; in certain cases, for its intrinsic value
and in other cases to prove or disprove long-standing order. Whether research is
for either purposes above, it is certain that it could be political, particularly within
Harold Lasswell’s context of politics as “who gets what, when and how” (Lasswell
1936) and Omotoso’s (2018: 555–556) description of African politics as “identi-
fied with natural and nurtural constitutive elements of the African experience…” In
“an attempt to dig into the root of Africa’s problem by seeking a commitment to
formulation and reformulation of political thoughts considered relevant to Africa”
(ibid, 556), most Acada women since the twentieth-century Africa sought to apply
theories to extant issues on the continent in “a search for African solutions to African
problems” (ibid). Research for Acada-Activists thus became a platform for decon-
structing and re-constructing thoughts, questioning existing orders, then formulating
and reformulating new approaches, models/theories. Inferentially, research would
also be described as a political communication tool; that which is used to influence
stakeholders’ decisions on governance.
Community Service
The blend of teaching and research birthed attempts at developing local commu-
nities, necessitating the translation of research findings and teaching experiences
into practical solutions. This is done to give back to both grassroots and elites in
recognition of scholars’ mandate to establish town–gown interactions. Community
service as an academic tool therefore paved way for activism and movements which
are also constituents of political communication as they often enlighten the masses
on government policies and encourage them to critically analyze events within and
beyond their borders.
An overall assessment of these Acada policom tools of teaching, research and com-
munity service can be placed on the theoretical framework of Idealistic-pragmatism.
This is a fusion of two distinct philosophical thoughts, Idealism and Pragmatism, sig-
nifying a union of the normative and the descriptive, on grounds that as much as the
ends are important, the means must not be neglected (Omotoso and Razak 2015). The
theory recognizes the primacy of the mind and ideas in the scheme of life, while also
seeking to embrace what is practicable (Omotoso 2019b). By Idealistic-pragmatism,
Omotoso (2013) highlights how the ideals are carefully drawn into practice to address
knotty social issues. Seeing how sociocultural issues connects with and transforms
into political issues, the theory fits adequately to explain how Acada women employ
academic tools to communicate politics. In the context of this work, curriculum
content, scholarly ideas and research findings developed for classroom and campus,
largely academic populace (ideals) are translated for action (praxis), then introduced
and applied through the sojourn of academics into partisan politics. Although the
162 S. A. Omotoso
extent to which academics pragmatize the ideal remains questionable, this could
generate a body of research for future pursuit.
Case Studies of Policom from Four Nigerian Acada Women
This research study adopted a qualitative research method by purposively sampling

four Acada women who had connections with politics by political appointment or
by seeking to be voted into public offices. The periods of their activism and politi-
cal appointments/elections were considered in order to tease trends of changes and
continuity. In-depth interviews were conducted for three (still alive) out of the four
women, while key informant interviews were conducted on the fourth (deceased).
Two different interview guides were deployed; the first is to elicit information on
three of the respondents who held political appointments, the second is to elicit
information from one who has not had any political appointment but contested for
political office. These were then thematically content analyzed to explain the political
communications of feminist Acada-Activism.
Prof. Bolanle Awe
Prof. Bolanle Awe was taught by scholars who recognized systemic and systematic
violation of women’s rights across the world. She recalls how as far back as her
secondary school days in Nigeria, and she became aware of apartheid issues in South
Africa. Later in the University, she participated in protests about South African issues
and became a member of the South African Relief Fund Organization. Although there
were very few women, Awe became an executive in the Nigerian Students Movement.
She organized Ghana’s independence celebration at St. Andrews. She later joined
African Students Union at Oxford and spoke fiercely for women at the 1951 Nigerian
Constitutional Conference held in London. In her words;
In my secondary school days, I was Secretary of the literary and debating society. Proceeding
for A-Levels at Cambridge as the second African woman, my teacher awakened my interest
in women beginning with the Queen as the head of Commonwealth. The school emphasized
female scholarship, especially women’s colleges. My History teacher was very active, asking
political questions, positioning me for public speaking which attracted media coverage.
(Interview with Prof. Bolanle Awe 2017)
As the first woman to run a post-graduate program in African history, she was
burdened with tasks including proving that women must visibly contribute to gov-
ernance; hence, she spoke fiercely alongside Chief Mrs Wuraola Esan at Nigeria’s
constitutional conferences held in London. Having had contact with top women,
her activism began to gain public attention as she became the General Secretary of
the National Council of Women’s Societies (NCWS). They set up a press confer-
ence kicking against the male-dominated constitution making body of 1979. Ear-
lier, Prof Awe was invited by leaders of Action Group (AG) to become a partisan
politician, but she refused, maintaining willingness only to serve on appointments.
Bolanle Awe’s various appointments outside the University are indications of her
exceptional achievements in making the University relevant to the larger society.
She was first National Secretary, Nigerian Association of University Women (1962–
1963); Commissioner for Education, Oyo State (1975–1977); Commissioner for
Trade, Industries and Cooperatives, Oyo State (1977–1978); Chairperson UNIDO
Workshop on Women in Industry, Vienna, Austria (1977); Chairperson, WHO Inter-
regional Workshop on Leadership and Participation of Women in Maternal and Child
Health/Family Planning, Brazzaville, Congo (1990); Chairperson, Nigerian National
Commission for Women (1990–1992); Country Coordinator, Fund for Leadership
Development in the Population Field, MacArthur Foundation (1993).
On the description of her feminist contributions to society, Awe states that hers
was a mixture of scholarship, activism and movements. On scholarship, she wrote
extensively about women’s lives across Africa, highlighting outstanding roles women
play in societies, their challenges and their prospects of improved livelihood (Awe
1991, 1992). Her activism began to gain attention first, with her writings and then
her criticisms of government activities beginning with her attendance of the London
Constitutional Conference with Chief Mrs. Wuraola Esan. She was active in Nigerian
Students Movement, Students Representative Council, Students Union at school;
took leadership roles at the Academic Staff Union and became Secretary of National
Council of Women’s Societies. For Awe, her policom tools include press conferences,
lobbying, media advocacy and petition writing to call public attention to the plight
of women.
I recall that the constitution drafting committee (CDC) inaugurated by General Murtala
Mohammed and chaired by Chief Rotimi Williams in 1975 had fifty men and no woman;
so the campus women set up a press conference to call attention to the lapse. Although they
did not include women in the committee, I was later invited by Chief David Jemibewon (the
then Military governor of Oyo State) to discuss the issues and my husband accompanied me
to the meeting where I insisted on women’s involvement in governance. This brought about
the inclusion of two women across the states, in government.
Although she was invited to join politics, she neither joined any political party
nor contested for any elective post; but was offered political appointments to serve
on various government platforms. In her policom style, Awe was described to have
always been on the war-path.
Although the cabinet was small and there was no need to employ special methods as a woman
in governance, there were instances where I could not speak up because I was a lone voice.
I remember an Indian who wanted to set up a similar business to knock off a local a popular
local trader called Obelawo in Osogbo. I sensed injustice but could not intervene as much
as I would have loved to.
On personal identity traits which portrayed her personality in leadership, Awe is

known for her grassroots fashion sense as she appears in her Adire fabrics and scarf.
164 S. A. Omotoso
Since my studentship at Oxford, I admired Indian students in their Saris and even though
my colleagues were more fashionable, I chose to be simple and this helped in duties as
political appointee. I enjoyed shopping at the Mokola and Ogunpa markets without being
accompanied by security aides. Grassroots women fondly called me “the book woman”.
Returning to campus after each political appointment was not a challenge to Awe,
as she kept in close touch with the academia for continual support in her services to the
nation. Although she recognized the dilemma of combining research, consultancies
and activism (Awe 1996), she carefully played the roles as the need arose all for the
good of womenfolk and the society at large. This mindset enabled her to establish one
of the oldest Women’s Research and Documentation Center (WORDOC) in Africa, a
platform which enabled her and her colleagues to combine activism with scholarship.
For her, “the academia must set examples for politicians to follow. Many politicians
are ignorant of existing frameworks for leadership and governance, therefore Acada
women must judiciously use any opportunity they have to participate in politics”
(Interview session with researcher).
Prof. Zaynab Alkali
Born in 1950 at Tura-Wazila in Borno State, Prof. Zaynab Alkali attended Bayero
University and graduated with BA in 1973, obtained a doctorate in African Litera-
ture in English in the year 1979 in the same university and became the principal of
Sakera Girls’ boarding school. She was a Senior Lecturer in English at the University
of Maiduguri, Borno State. She later left University of Maiduguri for the National
Primary Health Care Development Agency in Abuja for three years before she left
for Nasarawa State University. She spent 22 years at the University of Maiduguri and
some years in Bayero University, Kano. As the first woman novelist from Northern
Nigeria, Alkali rose from Assistant Lecturer, Bayero University, Kano, to Lecturer at
University of Maiduguri (1981–83). She is Lecturer and Coordinator of English and
General Studies, Modibbo Adama College (1984–85), Yola, to become Dean in the
Faculty of Arts at Nasarawa State University in Keffi. Her activism is reflected in her
literary works having studied endemic patriarchy in Northern Nigeria. Alkali’s fem-
inist contributions to society are more of literary activisms exemplified in her works
including: “The Stillborn” (1984), “The Virtuous Woman” (1987), “Cobwebs and
Other Stories” (1997) and so on, as she worked with associations and organizations
such as the Association of Nigerian Authors.
Zaynab Alkali’s first and current political appointment is Board Chair of National
Library of Nigeria which she took up in March 2018. “I did not clamor for the
office and electorates’ votes are not involved. I was called upon to serve by the
Presidency through the recommendation of the Ministry of Education. I have taken
the appointment to contribute to building a befitting National Library that can assume
her rightful place in the comity of nations.” (Interview with Prof. Zaynab Alkali
2018). On her specific tools for leadership, Alkali points to her experience having
served in leadership positions in the academia. She describes her personality traits
in leadership as natural.
I am in the academics, but I have experience of administration by virtue of my various

appointments as Deputy Vice Chancellor Administration for four years and as an Acting
Vice Chancellor. I do not use specific patterns of dressing, speaking or unique leadership
style in my leadership assignments; I am natural. (Interview with Prof. Zaynab Alkali 2018)
Prof. Zaynab Alkali believes that peculiar value that females from the academia
bring into politics are honesty, sincerity of purpose, focus and discipline. She is not
attracted to contesting for political office in future. In her words, “I shall not campaign
for any post, to take on political offices or campaign to be elected into government
in future but if I am called upon to serve, I will answer the call.”
Prof. Remi Sonaiya
Prof. Oluremi Comfort Sonaiya was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, where she completed
her primary and secondary school education at St. Luke’s Demonstration School,
Ibadan and St. Anne’s School, Ibadan. In 1977, she graduated from the University
of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), where she studied French (Varghese
2015). She later obtained a Master of Arts degree in French Literature and her PhD
in Linguistics from Cornell University in the USA.
Oluremi Sonaiya became an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Foreign
Languages, Obafemi Awolowo University, in 1982 and rose to the position of Pro-
fessor of French Language and Applied Linguistics in 2004. In 2010, she retired
from her position at Obafemi Awolowo University and became politically active. On
the description of her feminist contributions to society, despite being fully aware of
Acada women’s struggles in universities, Sonaiya neither claimed to have been an
activist on campus, nor participated in politics at her early days. She freely spoke
truth to power as required, but was not an activist or member of social movements.
Her interest in politics began after she noticed fallen standards on her return to com-
mence her teaching career in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Growing up, she
lived and learnt under the tutelage of independent women who were not in any way
oppressed of felt inferior to men.
I consider myself from a line of strong, tough women …. I consider the women in my
ancestry as strong, courageous women. Glass ceiling breakers is what they would be called
in our days ….I grew up in a world where women excelled in whatever they did and were
treated with, and equally commanded respect and dignity. (Sonaiya 2018: 18–21).
She expressed shock later in life as she found how “men look down upon women
and treat them with disrespect” (p. 21). With this, she resolved to venture into politics.
In her words, “something was ignited in me which would not rest until it had tried
in whatever way possible to seek to correct occurrences which my mind perceived
as acts of injustice against fellow human beings” (p. 21). Sonaiya attests to positive
impacts that intellectuals can make in terms of leadership and governance, as she
alludes that “the intellectual discipline that comes with the training to become an
166 S. A. Omotoso
academic must equally have contributed in no small measure to the path which my
life’s journey has taken thus far” (p. 21).
“Personally, I started feeling that I had done my bit after thirty years in academics.
I see politics a tool to normatively deploy national resources for all” (Interview with
Prof. Remi Sonaiya 2019). She joined the KOWA Party, was voted its National Public
Relations Officer, and went on to be the party’s candidate for the 2015 Presidential
election.
On personal identity traits, Sonaiya laid no claim to any specialized political
communication style. “I used simplicity. I went as my natural self. I think that is
the best that I am. I spoke from my heart each time I was in public and I’m happy
to be like anyone else” (Interview). “Simplicity” in itself could be described as
a political communication tool. No special catchphrase, mannerism hair style or
dressing pattern. Indeed, public perception of Sonaiya was linked to her “policom of
simplicity” as she never presented herself to the masses as one of the political class
popularly known to be ostentatiously clad. Her simplicity is, however, not without
underlying personal policies as she registers her distaste for godfatherism; “I hate to
do godfathers-having God as a Father is enough!” (Sonaiya 2018: 31). Sonaiya did
not allude to any feminist project as an Acada woman; she, however, acknowledged
how much she has been helped by feminist agenda. “I went into politics out of sheer
passion and personal conviction, as an ordinary citizen of my country; I was realizing
that being a female citizen was adding a lot more value to the whole endeavor”
(Sonaiya 2018: 77). Although she came 12th in the 2015 Presidential election with
13,076 votes, she led her campaign team by inspiring members to see her dream of
a new Nigeria. “Leadership means inspiring and having people buy into your vision.
People read the dispositions of their leaders on governance and once they see that
you have a vision, they key into it” (Interview with Prof. Remi Sonaiya 2019).
When asked about returning to the academia, Sonaiya feels it could be interesting
if it is flexible but asserts that; “I’m done with universities, although I still write. I
cannot be out of intellectual discussion as I still get invitations to deliver keynotes,
lectures and public speeches”. This corresponds with her assertion in the book “One
Woman’s Race” that “I had burnt my bridges to the academic community; there was
no going back to pick up lecturing in any university, even though the opportunity is
available” (Sonaiya 2018: 29). Currently, Prof. Remi Sonaiya has not given up on
politics; she remains an active member of Kowa Party and commits to mentoring
young leaders via her intellectual discourses on social media.
Prof. Dora Akunyili (1954–2014)
Prof. Dora Nkem Akunyili was born Dora Edemobi in Markurdi, Benue State, on
July 14, 1954. Her parents recognized the need to educate their daughter and sent
her to Queen of the Rosary College, Nsukka, from where she progressed to the
University of Nigeria in Nsukka, where she studied pharmacology. She proceeded
for graduate studies at the University of London. She worked briefly as a university
hospital pharmacist on returning to Nigeria and then as a graduate assistant. She

enrolled for her Ph.D. in ethnopharmacology and rose through the ranks to become
a professor in 2000.
Having seen the challenges of the masses in her locality, Dora Akunyili decided
to approach women with a proposal for a community hospital; she equally succeeded
in getting the men of the community to buy into the idea of equipping the hospitals.
From there, she gained the masses’ attention and support. She alluded that “I was an
accidental politician, I was a lecturer hoping to be a global scholar”, but since the
community recognized her courage, her foray into politics began. Akunyili served in
these state appointments alongside her academic work. She served on several state
government boards and then was named supervisory councilor for agriculture in
Anambra State. In 1996, Akunyili became Zonal Secretary of the Petroleum Special
Trust Fund in Nigeria’s southeastern states. She later became the Nigerian Minister
of Information and Communications from 2008 to 2010.
Akunyili’s activism could not necessarily be captured within feminist spheres,
although she reckoned that gender was an issue in her appointment, “it was hardly
brought to the table” (Prof. Dora Akunyili’s Interview on NTA’s news and current
affairs program, Late Edition with Ibrahim Ismaila Ahmed 2014). She was a fierce,
prudent and focused woman who frowned at social ills without holding back. Her
commitment to human development traversed the academia to professional life and
administration.
As Director-General of Nigeria’s National Agency for Food, Drug Administration
and Control (NAFDAC) in 2001, Akunyili began by creating mass awareness for
stringent regulations for production and importation of food and drugs. Having lost a
relative to the scourge of fake drugs, she asserted that “drug faking or counterfeiting
is the greatest evil of our time, … malaria can be prevented, HIV/AIDS can be
avoided and armed robbery may kill a few at a time, but fake drugs kill en masse.”
(Interview with Time magazine 2005). She therefore created a system of registration
for manufacturers of food products, sachet water and imported drugs; a move which
drastically reduced incidences of disease outbreaks and drug counterfeiting in the
country.
Akunyili knew the power of political communication and used it. She was more
direct and confrontational than subtle and withdrawn. Hers was a radical-reformist
approach. A major feminist political communication tool she used was the engage-
ment of women as inspectors. She averred that “women are less corruptible than
men” (African Business 2006: 11). In an interview with Innovations for Successful
Societies (September 4, 2009) on her success at NAFDAC, she said that “awareness
is part of the fight”. “We were able to build public and government support for NAF-
DAC because of our sincerity of purpose, honesty and level-handedness in dealing
with everybody. When you work, people watch and if they trust you, especially Nige-
rians, they follow you and support you” (Interview with Innovations for Successful
Societies, September 4, 2009).
She equally understood that political communication must be carefully managed.
“I tried to deal with threats by not talking about it …. When NAFDAC structures in
Lagos were burnt, I just decided to say nothing because I didn’t want to start crying;
168 S. A. Omotoso
that would not be too good for me” (ibid.). In the face of the psychological trauma
of losing offices and labs, Akunyili employed “bold-face approach” by instructing
her staff not to show that they were distressed, “I felt that we needed to pretend that
we are not shaken, that we could still go on” (Ibid).
Akunyili later moved on to become the Minister for Information where she
embarked on the popular re-branding of Nigeria with the catchphrase “Nigeria: Good
People Great Nation” which she described as people-driven and not government-
driven. Her passion for the re-orientation campaign was contributory to her success
as Minister for Information. For her, “an institution assumes the character of lead-
ership. Responsible and honest leadership is critical to the survival of any establish-
ment or institution” (Interview with Makgetla 2009). This was the force behind her
re-orientation campaign toward re-branding Nigeria.
On her personality traits, Akunyili was always modestly dressed; mostly in col-
orful fabrics. She was widely eulogized in the dailies as a role model and a projector
of the typical Nigerian woman’s way of dressing (Nworji 2014). She was described
by friends and colleagues as a pleasant woman to be engaged in conversations, as
she was very courteous. Despite the challenges, she remained resolute about partic-
ipating in politics until her death, saying: “I am still very much in politics and if it is
the will of God I will still run for Senate.” Prof. Dora Akunyili died at 59 on June 7,
2014.
Changes, Continuities, Challenges and Prospects of Female

Scholars in Politics
Having discussed Acada-Activism of selected women in Nigeria, this chapter finds

that: First, not all the four identified as feminists, given the erroneous perception and
coloration of the concept. This is not the only reason why people do not identify
as feminist. Some claim to be womanist, and some eschew labels even though they
believe in women’s rights. Some choose to revoke feminism because of the Western
ethnocentric belief that its ideas and philosophies are superior to the African ideas
and philosophies or even because some of the tenets of Western feminism have been
found incongruent with African diverse experiences. Yet others point to assertion of
women’s power having been manifest earlier in Africa than in Europe, arguing that
claiming to be part of a later movement doesn’t make sense in that regard.
However, by virtue of their intentions and activities, they each (although in varying
ways) displayed feminist attributes including, identifying sexism, speaking vehe-
mently against exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism
and systematic violence.
Second, all the scholars studied were not only passionate about leadership in the
academia, but also about translating theories to practice at levels of governance.
The four scholars have each believed in themselves and been exposed to platforms
that gave them the privilege of maximizing their leadership capabilities. The Acada
women in this study were found to be lovers of their country and their people. They
each recognized the efficacy of political communication through their confidence in,
and reliance on media power which they used in numerous ways to achieve their
goals. Also, they had specific tools of communicating politics some of which were
unconsciously deployed.
All four scholars differed in their approaches to political issues. Their family back-
grounds and childhood experiences played key roles in their political dispositions.
While Sonaiya and Akunyili were boldly committed to full political participation,
Awe and Alkali would only embrace state assignments given by appointment. Com-
pared to the early post-independence era, Nigeria’s politics has grown and the com-
plexities makes it more difficult for women to emerge in elective positions, even the
appointive seats retain sparse population of women strengthening the myth that only
bold women dare venture into politics and often reinforcing the claim that politics
is largely ventured by women who have no regard for family values. This is similar
to the USA where the idea of “family values” is used by right wing conservative
anti-feminist groups as a phrase that asserts their moral superiority and feminists’
lack of moral fiber. Contributory to this is the huge role of money in the political
system, and women’s inability to compete on an even footing with men, who tend
to be wealthier and also to have wealthier sponsors. In addition, there’s significant
violence and the intimidation of opponents, which repels peace-loving folks. Fur-
thermore, there’s still much stigma directed at women who are politically active, as
well as men reducing or eliminating women’s meaningful participation through the
use of administrative practices that diminish ability to participate. Suffice to say that
media coverage on these women have shaped public perception of their personal-
ities and contributions to politics. In similar vein, media dispositions to women’s
participation and representation in politics will contribute immensely to how Acada
women would participate in politics in the nearest future.
Conclusion
This chapter began by recognizing the emergence of female intellectuals across

Africa. It notes the marginalization of women in the academia which led to the
creation of women groups to ensure a fostering of their aspirations. It equally notes
how the need for women to address hitherto ignored issues in their communities
birthed their foray into spheres beyond their campuses. With the central focus of
discussing Acada women’s political communication, the chapter argued that tools
from the academia do serve political communication purposes. The chapter then
proceeded to discuss four Nigerian women from the academia who have ventured
into politics by appointment or election. The political communication strategies of
these women were discussed by drawing on verbal and non-verbal cues. All four
scholars embodied personality traits portraying grassroots fashion sense, natural
gracefulness, simplicity and friendliness. They also employed strategic lobbying,
appeal to logic, subtle persuasion, bold-face approach and confrontational method
170 S. A. Omotoso
in their media, public and government relations. While future research may consider
which policom approaches are most suitable for women in politics and how policom
trajectories hinder most Acada women from returning to campus after their tenures,
this chapter has drawn salient policom strategies from the academia which could
equally be adopted by stakeholders from other climes.
In all, women’s level of education and exposure to global practices has been found
to be both central to their interest in politics and informing their policom tools. There
are ongoing debates on women’s representation in politics and by extension, debates
on whether Acada women should leave their primary concern in the academe to
participate in politics. This chapter has provided a perspective to the debates, noting
that Acada women have contributed and do contribute to politics in Nigeria. The
issues raised in this chapter may then serve as template for Acada women who are
hoping to join politics, for them to develop their leadership skills and critically map
out their policom strategies before venturing out of campus.
References
Agunbiade, T., & Akiode, J. (2017). Gender and political communication in Africa. In A. Olukotun,
& A. Sharon, Omotoso (Eds.), Political communication in Africa (pp. 159–170). Cham: Springer.
Aidoo, A. A. (1999). Unwelcome pals and decorative slaves or glimpses of women as writers and
characters in contemporary African literature. In Ada Uzoamaka Azodo and Gay Wilentz (Eds.),
Emerging Perspectives on Ama Ata Aidoo (pp. 11–26). Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Aina, O. (2014). Women in the Nigerian University System: Achievements, Challenges, and
Prospects. Lecture delivered at Iju Public Affairs Forum. April 4, 2014.
Akunyili, D. (2019). Contemporary Black Biography. Retrieved April 07, 2019 from Ency-
clopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/
akunyili-dora.
Amadiume, I. (1997). Reinventing Africa: Matriarchy, religion and culture. London: Zed Books.
Awe, B. (1991). Writing women into history: The Nigerian experience. In: K. Offen, R. R. Pierson,
& J. Rendall, (Eds.), Writing women’s history: International perspectives (pp. 211–220). London:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Awe, B. (1992). Women and politics in historical perspective. In: O. Omoruyi, J. A. Ayoade, E. J.
Nwabuzor, & A. Sambo, (Eds.), Women and politics in Nigeria. Lagos: Malthouse Press.
Awe, B. (1996). A brief overview of Nigerian women’s studies. In A. Mama (Ed.), Setting an agenda
for gender and women’s studies in Nigeria. Zaria: Tamaza Publishing Company.
Badran, M. (1996). Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the making of modern Egypt. Princeton
University Press.
Denton, R. E., & Woodward, G. C. (1990). Political communication in America. New York: Praeger.
Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of
Communication, 43, 51–58.
Ezeah, G., & Gever, C. V. (2015). Emerging trends in political communication. In O. F. Ike, & S. E.
Udeze (Eds.), Emerging trends in gender, health and political communication in Africa. Enugu:
Rhyce Kerex Publishers.
Freeman, J. (1973). Women on the move: Roots of Revolt. In A. S. Rossi, & A. Calderwood (Eds.),
Academic women on the move. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Graber, D. A., (1981) ‘Political Language’. In Nimmo, & Sanders (Eds.), Handbook of political
communication (pp. 195–223). Beverly Hills: Sage.
Hooks, B. (2000). Feminism is for everybody: Passionate politics. MA: South End Press.
Horne, N. B. (1996). The politics of mothering: Multiple subjectivity and gendered discourse in
Aidoo’s plays. In M. Umeh (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on Ama Ata Aidoo (pp. 505–532).
Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Idiong, N. (2008). Dynamics of political communication in contemporary society: A critical
appraisal. In V. Agbanu & C. Nwabueze (Eds.), Readings in mass communication: Global
perspectives on communication issues. Owerri: Top Shelves Publishers.
Interview with Prof. Bolanle Awe October 10, 2017.
Interview with Prof. Zaynab Alkali July 3, 2018.
Interview with Prof. Remi Sonaiya March 25, 2019.
Interview with Prof. Dora Akunyili (September 4, 2009) Innovations for successful societies, Bobst
Center for Peace and Justice Princeton University, USA. https://successfulsocieties.princeton.edu/
interviews/dora-akunyili www.princeton.edu/successfulsocieties. Retrieved on April 7, 2019.
Lasswell, H. (1936). Politics: Who gets what, when and how. New York, London: Whittlesey House,
McGraw Hill Book Co.
Mama, A. (2005). Gender studies for Africa’s transformation. In T. Mkandawire (Ed.), African
intellectuals. New York: Zed Books.
Muberekwa, E., & Thobeka, N. (2016). Exploring the perceptions of wits academic women about
women empowerment and the changing roles of women in 21st-century South Africa (pp. 1–12).
Sage open.
Nnadi, A. (2008). Contending issues in political communication in Nigeria. In V. Agbanu & C.
Nwabueze (Eds.), Readings in mass communication: Global perspectives on communication
issues. Owerri: Top Shelves Publishers.
Nnaemeka, O. (1998). Sisterhood, feminisms and power: From Africa to the Diaspora. Trenton:
Africa World Press.
Nworji, C. (2014). Thumbs up for Late Professor Dora Akunyili Newswatch Times. Available on
http://www.mynewswatchtimesng.com/thumbs-late-professor-dora-akunyili/.
Okigbo, C., & Onoja, B. (2017). Strategic political communication in Africa. In A. Olukotun, & S.
A. Omotoso (Eds.), Political communication in Africa (pp. 63–80). Cham: Springer Publishers.
Omotoso, S. A. (2013). An idealistic-pragmatic model as an ethical paradigm in advertising
(Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis). Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria: Olabisi Onabanjo University.
Omotoso, S. A. (2018a). Media and politics in Africa. In S. Oloruntoba & T. Falola (Eds.), The
Palgrave handbook of African politics, governance and development (pp. 553–571). New York:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Omotoso, S. A. (2018b). Political communication and the Nigerian democratic experiment: Critical
insights from Yoruba philosophy. Yoruba Studies Review 3(1), 189–210.
Omotoso, S. A (2019a) African women and the mass media. In O. Yacob-Haliso, & T. Falola (Eds.),
The Palgrave handbook of African women’s studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77030-
7_51-1.
Omotoso, S. A (2019b) A moral and gender analysis of King Sunny Ade’s Juju Music. African
Notes 43(1 & 2), 79–93.
Omotoso, S. A & Akinpelu, T. (2014). A discursive analysis of Zik’s and Osaghae’s theses on the
essentials for Nigerian survival. The African Journal of International Affairs and Development
18(1 & 2), 102–117.
Omotoso, S.A & Razak, D.O (2015) Exploring an Idealistic-Pragmatic Approach in Evolving
Strategies for Ethical Conflict Reporting in Nigeria, In O. Isola, & M. Popoola (Eds.), Journalism
practice and terrorism in Nigeria (pp. 131–151). Ibadan: John Archers.
Oyewumi, O. (1997). The invention of women: Making an African sense of western gender discourse.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Park, S. M. (1996). Research, teaching, service. Journal of Higher Education, 67(1), 46–84.
Popoola, T. (2017). Political communication: An evolving field yet to berth in Africa. In A. Olukotun,
& S. A. Omotoso (Eds.), Political communication in Africa (pp. 15–30). Cham: Springer.
Sonaiya, R. (2018). One woman’s race. Lagos: Gihon Spring Trans-national Ltd.
172 S. A. Omotoso
Steady, F. (2004). An investigative framework for gender research in Africa in the new millenium. In
S. Anfred, B. Bakare-Yusuf, E. Kisiang’ani, D. Lewis, & O. Oyewumi, F. (Eds.), African gender
scholarship: Concepts, methodologies and paradigms. Dakar: Codesria Gender Series 1.
Varghese, J. (2015, March 12). Nigeria Elections 2015: Who Is Comfort Remi Sonaiya, The Only
Female Presidential Candidate? International Business Times. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
Wangari, M. (2004). The Norwegian Nobel Committee, in a Statement Announcing Wangari
Maathai as the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Weaver, D. H. (2007). Thoughts on agenda setting, framing, and priming. Journal of Communica-
tion, 57(1), 142–147.
www.lesideesnet.com. Les Idées Net-. African Success: Biography of Ama ATa AIDOO. www.
africansuccess.org. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
Zayd, H. A. (2018). Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Retrieved June
20, 2018 from Encyclopedia.com. http://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-
almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/abu-zayd-hikmat.

10.1007@978 3 030 42827 3

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

10.1007@978 3 030 42827 3

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Contributions to Political Science

Sharon Adetutu Omotoso Editor

ISSN 2198-7289 ISSN 2198-7297 (electronic)

Political renaissance has improved awareness and participation of African women

Ibadan, Nigeria Sharon Adetutu Omotoso

Women’s Recipe for the African Policom Stew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Working Behind the Scenes: Rethinking Peace and Development

Adedoyin Aguoru University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

Sharon Adetutu Omotoso and Ololade Margaret Faniyi

Research on political communication hereinafter referred to as “policom” is being

S. A. Omotoso (B) · O. M. Faniyi

and contexts” harnessed to construct “prominent media philosophies” that constitute

This book is, therefore, a diverse collection of perspectives on feminist approaches

Zimbabwe, particularly the strategies by the movement, Zanu–PF Women’s league,

In 1983, the Organization of Mozambican Women (known as OMM for Organização

Women, Socialism, and “Traditional” Practices

Sheldon (2002) 119–132.

3.a Conferência da OMM (Maputo: Tipografia Notícias, n.d.), 7–8.

and regulations of OMM clearly place women’s issues in a subordinate position to

Attending OMM Meetings

My first opportunity to observe an OMM meeting in my neighborhood came a few

12 Geisler (1997), Arnfred (1990b).

15 Penvenne and Sitoe (2000), Vail and White (1991).

to play a national role. He faced severe problems as South African-supported anti-

Small Group Discussion: Initiation Rites

16 “First Conference of Mozambican Women,” Mozambique Revolution 54 (January–March 1973),

18 Naroromele (1984); also see Jossias (1983).

Small Group Discussion: Bridewealth and Marriage

25 Welch (1983), p. 2, published in a revised version as Welch and Sachs (1987).

27 “Vamos acabar com a prostituição,” Tempo 237 (20 April 1975).

Final Plenary Session

After the Provincial Meeting

29 “Moçambique: Frondosa Árvore com Variedade de Flores,” Diário de Moçambique (DM) (9

phrasing of what appeared to be a compromise statement, the document called for

36 Nielsen (2017), quote on p. 142.

Gengenbach, H. (2003). Boundaries of beauty: Tattooed secrets of women’s history in Magude

Conceptual Discussion of Coloniality

Coloniality is a system of power characterized by patriarchal, Western-

Coloniality and the Particularity of the South African

Representation of Marikana and Coloniality of the Media

by privileging exploitative relations of economic production. The media representa-

Media Data for the Analyses

Genderings in the Media Representation of Women

Fig. 1 Distribution of The Number of keywords in headlines

Women Widows Families Other

husbands were arrested in connection with the allegations of criminality concern-

Gendered Representations, Emotions and Complicated

Another paragraph highlighting the emotionality of the women, Ledwaba went

family members to get better lives. Mourning mineworkers symbolically elevated

A clergyman interviewed for a response on the commissioner’s behaviour, he

A “men-don’t-cry” masculine performativity was visible in the framing of men’s

The Political Agency of the Women of Marikana

The women were drawing on moral philosophical underpinnings of respect and

Even though Marikana was a site of intersecting struggles as opposed to a mere

Biographical Writings and Women Empowerment

these feminine self-narratives portray similar role-play. Udu Yakubu, a renowned

in the process of development (UNEPA 1994). Women empowerment thus signifies

Tales of Childhood, Education and Womanhood

other professional qualifications: one as a Chartered Secretary the other as a Char-

Maturation: The Venturing into the Public and Political

…Bidima’s reflection on visibility in the public sphere in Africa focuses on the

The contributions of Princess Elizabeth in portraying the dignity and uniqueness

Princess Elizabeth’s role as an international model was to effectively work as