Peasants, Traders, and Wives: Shona Women in the History of Zimbabwe, 1870-1939 (Social History of Africa)

Dr. Schmidt argues that women were central to the formation of African peasantries in Rhodesia. Yet women's status declined over the course of the colonial period. As political mechanisms threatened the survival of peasant households, women's labor was intensified in the last ditch attempt to stave off the need for male labor migration.