African Women

Kathleen Sheldon is an independent scholar who has a research affiliation with the Center for the Study of Women at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is author of Pounders of Grain: A History of Women, Work, and Politics in Mozambique and the Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The author's book adds an impressive contribution and paints a comprehensive picture about the role of ordinary African women in the African history and development. The book is a valuable addition to several fields including gender, political studies, and history studies.(Leeds African Studies Bulletin) This comprehensive work on African women decisively adds to the understanding of the subject. . . . Highly recommended.(Choice) This is an essential book that will enrich undergraduate classroom discussions and, hopefully, bring more attention to the rich and creative scholarship produced by scholars of gender and women's studies.(Canadian Journal of African Studies) This book should be regarded as a magisterial achievement, and will no doubt find a well-deserved place on a whole host of undergraduate reading lists.(Gender & History) Sheldon has made an important contribution to the field of African women's history with this text, and African Women will become a staple in undergraduate courses while also serving as a handy reference text for graduate students and scholars.(African Studies Review)

• Acknowledgements Introduction1. Women and Gender in Africa before 17002. Market Traders, Queens, and Slaves in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries3. Religion and Slavery in the Nineteenth Century4. Colonial Era, 1850s to 1945: Work and Family5. Politics, Leadership, and Resistance to Colonialism until 19456. Liberation Struggles and Politics from the 1950s to the 1970s7. Work, Family, and Urbanization from 1970s to the 1990s8. Women and Politics after Independence9. Women at the Beginning of the 21st CenturyBibliographyIndex