Exposition of Culture and the Space of Women: An African View for Policy Consideration

Abstract

This conceptual article, framed around Marxism, highlighted the fact that, over time, African women have persistently questioned the ways in which understandings of culture have both valued and devalued them. Relying on the experience of women in some randomly selected African countries – South Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Ghana, this research shows clearly that the space of women as members of the household and at a macro level is shaped by an existing culture to which they must confine their lives. Also, culture, as shown in this research, is deeply contextualised and highly contested. As such, their transformability, through questioning, is fundamental to policy formulation and implementation.

Keywords: culture; women; African experience; policy; Marxism