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Women Political Leaders in Rwanda and South Africa: Narratives of Triumph and Loss
[monograph]
Abstract Narratives of Triumph and Loss explores the successes, challenges and controversies of women's post-conflict political leadership. Through interviews with women who have held significant leadership positions, the book explores the relationships between their educational, professional, activist and p... view more
Narratives of Triumph and Loss explores the successes, challenges and controversies of women's post-conflict political leadership. Through interviews with women who have held significant leadership positions, the book explores the relationships between their educational, professional, activist and personal backgrounds. It situates their stories within historical and contemporary political contexts, illustrating the gendered ways in which women experience politics as citizens and politicians. Rwanda and South Africa have amongst the highest representation levels of women in national legislatures in the world. Consequently, the recent literature on women and politics in these countries mostly focuses on women parliamentarians only. However, there is a need to examine the nuances of women's political leadership, amongst and beyond parliamentarians. To this end, narratives were collected from eleven semi-structured interviews with women political leaders in Rwanda and South Africa. These narratives suggest new insights in the area of women and politics in these countries. Firstly, early life experiences influence their political priorities as leaders. Secondly, in relation to ordinary women, women political leaders are an educationally and professionally advantaged group of women. Thirdly, their experiences and positions within society and politics are still greatly influenced by their gender, and gender inequality. Lastly, their leadership is influenced by numerous factors, which ultimately affects the impact of their presence. In light of this, their experiences show that women political leaders are still affected by their gendered status within society, thus affecting the contributions that they are able to make in rebuilding their societies.... view less
Keywords
Rwanda; Republic of South Africa; political leadership; woman; ; executive position; gender-specific factors; Africa South of the Sahara
Classification
Women's Studies, Feminist Studies, Gender Studies
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Document language
English
Publication Year
2016
Publisher
Barbara Budrich Publishers
City
Opladen
Page/Pages
161 p.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3224/84740745
ISBN
978-3-8474-0905-2
Status
Published Version; reviewed