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Browsing History by Subject "critical mass theory"

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    The historical trajectory of women participation in the Swazi parliament: breaking the barriers of patriarchy 1968–2015
    (University of Zululand, 2021) Gama, Patience Vumile
    The integration of women's experiences in Swazi historical discourse is still at an elementary development stage. This is particularly the case if we consider the involvement of women in the parliamentary affairs of the country in both the colonial and post-colonial periods. The little that we have deals with women from the royal family and their experiences, which hardly represents the experiences of women at grassroots level. This thesis is a contribution to historical writing on Swazi women and focuses on the evaluation of the magnitude to which Swazi women contribute in the Swazi political system, particularly their access to Parliamentary positions. The study shows that the ideology of patriarchy, as perpetrated by the adoption of a traditional system of governance since 1978, has frolicked an important role in limiting the access of women to Parliamentary positions and the general participation of women in the country’s political affairs. The fundamental argument of the thesis is that, in spite of public pronouncements by the Swazi leadership, and in spite of the provisions of the constitution of the country, women participation and representation in the Swazi Parliament remains peripheral. The adoption and implementation of a democratic electoral process has also done very little to allow women easy access to Parliament as representatives of their local communities. The thesis shows that women still struggle against the barriers of patriarchism that are systematically reinforced and buttressed in all rural areas where voting takes place. Through the use of a qualitative research methodology, the thesis generated data that indicates that the paths and avenues for women's access to Parliament in Swaziland have been made narrow since the gaining of independence in 1968. The thesis is an input to the existing literature on Swazi history, particularly the history of Swazi women’s access to Parliament and the county’s general political/ parliamentary system.
University of Zululand