For decades now, the development industry has thrived on the stereotypical image of an African woman who is its “target” or “beneficiary”. Always poor, powerless and invariably pregnant, burdened with lots of children, or carrying one load or another on her back or her head, this is a favourite image, one which we have come to associate with development.
From the United Nations, to large international agencies, to multilateral/bilateral donors, to small non-governmental organisations (NGOs), most of us have used and abused this image time and time again. Like the fly-infested and emaciated black child that is so often used by international news agencies, the bare-footed African woman Sells. Without her uttering a word, this poor woman pulls in financial resources. Any researcher worth their salt has to go to the “most remote” village to find her for their statistics on issues like access to water, to be valid. Similarly, the gender programme officer in any institution has to always demonstrate that her work is about the very poor and marginalised woman, for her to be regarded as legitimate.
But is this image an accurate one? Does it tell the full story of black African women’s complex realities? And does this image encompass all levels of “marginalisation” and “disempowerment” that development work must deal with? In this new era of rights-based approaches, is this the only woman that development organisations should be concerned about? Is resource poverty the only lens through which we should look at women’s rights denial and violations? As one of those women often forced to negate my own needs and experiences in the work that I do, I seek to challenge this image and consequent focus.
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This article comes from the IDS Bulletin 35.4 (2004) Not Very Poor, Powerless or Pregnant: The African Woman Forgotten by Development
