Mulheres rurais em ação: costumes, questões agrárias e formas de resistência em Kwazulu-Natal

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the experiences of rural women in KwaZulu-Natal, discussing their social condition and their access to goods and services, such as land and housing. There are cases of conflict, resistance and mobilizations for access to land and natural resources, relationships engendered between men and women, situations of violence and loss and gains and expectations, and the connection of these processes with the world of customs, codes and the civil laws which governs South Africa. The work addresses the proposals of the Rural Women’s Movement (RWM), a non-governmental organization that works in rural areas of that province, developing projects for training, training and encouraging production among rural women, as well as promoting discussions on gender, citizenship and human rights. In face of deepened social exclusion processes during Apartheid, there are forms of resistance, initiatives and mobilizations undertaken by women throughout South Africa, in order to circumvent the social barriers imposed both in macro-structural terms and in more specific areas of their communities. Struggles for women’s rights continued to be the focus of debates in the post-Apartheid period, as can also be seen from the experiences of rural Zulu women.