According to Koopman, how does whether a society’s mode …



Study Guide on Koopman

Jeanne Koopman, “Women in the Rural Economy: Past, Present, and Future”

1. In precolonial Africa the sexual division of labor in agricultural societies varied, depending on the type of farming system. Citing Baumann, Koopman explains that in precolonial Africa about 40 percent of agricultural societies had a woman’s farming system; 15 percent had systems in which men did most of the agricultural work; and about 45 percent were mixed farming systems. Describe the characteristics of each of these systems, and the types of conditions in which they were found.

2. Describe the normal sexual division of labor in: a) pastoral and nomadic societies, and b) hunting and gathering societies.

3. According to Koopman, how does whether a society’s mode of production is pastoralist, agricultural, or hunting/gathering affect degree of patriarchy, and the degree of women’s autonomy? What explains the differences, according to Sacks (cited in Koopman)?

4. Colonial conquest “fundamentally changed precolonial economies.” Explain.

5. Some analysts claim that colonial rule had negative effects for women, while others cite positive gains. What are these two different perspectives, and how can one account for them?

6. Researchers agree that “during the colonial period women’s workload increased substantially.” Why did this occur?

7. The principle of “cooptation” shaped how the colonial state exercised power. Moreover, Koopman argues, “patriarchal control over women was upheld in the interests of colonial profits.” Explain.

8. Changes introduced by the colonial state did little to change “women’s status as social and economic dependents of their fathers and husbands.” Does this mean that women were not capable of supporting themselves and their children? Discuss.

9. What is the relationship between taxes imposed by the colonial state on rural populations, and cash crop production? How did increased production of cash crops affect rural women?

10. Koopman shows that “self-sufficient households” became “peasant households.” What is the difference?

11. According to Koopman, policies of colonial regimes in Africa supported patriarchal control of land and cash. Why?

12. Discussing wage labor during the colonial period, Koopman notes that “it was the unpaid labor of rural women that subsidized the colonial wage,” and that the majority of workers’ wives did not accompany them to town. Explain.

13. Koopman suggests that “the past is still evident in the contemporary working lives of rural African women.” What does this mean?

14. According to Koopman, what are the effects of SAPs on rural women in Africa?

15. What policy recommendations does Koopman make, and why are these necessary?

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