Martha Akawa: The sexual politics of the Namibian liberation struggle
PhD-thesis, Institute of History, University of Basel (2010)
Similar to many African countries during the 20th century, Namibia went through a process of decolonisation whereby the whole nation was called to unite in order to fight Apartheid. Namibian women as well responded to that call. This thesis looks at the women that fought against Apartheid under the auspices of SWAPO and the gap that seems to exist between the liberation struggle SWAPO's public pronouncements of women empowerment and gender equality and the actual implementation of those pronouncements during and after the liberation struggle. The dissertation explores the various arenas and dynamics where the correlation between the women's contribution to the liberation struggle and the pledges of women empowerment and gender equality do not match.