Experiences of Batswana Women during the Second World War

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Periodical article

Title:	Experiences of Batswana Women during the Second World War
Author:	Sobott, Gaele
Year:	1999
Periodical:	Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies (ISSN 0256-2316)
Volume:	13
Issue:	1-2
Pages:	93-107
Language:	English
Notes:	biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:	Botswana Southern Africa
Subjects:	gender relations World War II Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Women's Issues History and Exploration colonialism Labor and Employment Historical/Biographical Cultural Roles History, Archaeology Tswana (African people) World War, 1939-1945 Women's role food production history
External link:	https://d.lib.msu.edu/pula/284/OBJ/download
Abstract:	During the Second World War the Bechuanaland Protectorate government (Botswana) sought to increase food production for export. With so many Tswana men away in the army or in the South African mines this required an intensified use of women's labour. Women took on traditional male roles in addition to their own, but their control over their products was in fact eroded as compared to prewar practice. Exports increased but the food supply within the Protectorate diminished. In many cases women continued to carry out tasks that had previously been performed by men. They saw themselves as carrying out a role and coping with hardship in a way that men could never do. This article is partly based on interviews with 31 women, conducted in 1990. Notes, ref., sum.