Women politicians in africa: war of symbols and the struggle for political legitimacy
In post-conflict periods in Africa, as a result of women’s limited access to means of meaning production, and various forms of censorship, patriarchal gender hierarchies are often restored and reinforced in part through scripts written primarily by men, and women are relegated to supporting actors, whose roles reflect masculinist notions of women’s proper 'place'. This impacts on women’s claim to political legitimacy since, in many African countries, political parties and leaders often justify their political authority morally by emphasizing their roles in liberating their nations from, for example, colonialism and dictators. Much of the current research on the topic of women in African politics tends to focus on increasing women’s political participation through quota systems and other formal mechanisms, or examining the relationship between women’s political influence and gender discrimination in society and social institutions. There is minimal focus on the experiences of women politicians and the precarious positions they often find themselves in their struggles for political legitimacy. Focusing on four African women politicians, my proposed study, WOMPOL-AFRICA, will fill this gap by examining how representations in various sites of meaning production, of the women’s roles and experiences, impact their claims to political legitimacy. The sites of meaning production to be examined include history books, news media, documentaries, biographical films, published biographies and recorded interviews. My main aim is to explore the insights that these sites of meaning production offer in relation to the struggle over meaning and women’s political legitimacy. The project intersects multiple disciplines, including history, postcolonial, political, cultural, gender and feminist studies. Research results therefore promise strong potential for dissemination, communication and exploitation across academic and development and international institutions in the EU and abroad.