AfricaBib 
bibliographic database
| Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | 'The Politics of the Womb': Kenyan Debates over the Affiliation Act |
| Author: | Thomas, Lynn M. |
| Year: | 2000 |
| Periodical: | Africa Today |
| Volume: | 47 |
| Issue: | 3-4 |
| Period: | Fall |
| Pages: | 150-176 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Kenya |
| Subjects: | illegitimate children Women's Issues Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Law, Human Rights and Violence Law, Legal Issues, and Human Rights Marital Relations and Nuptiality Cultural Roles |
| External link: | http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/africa_today/v047/47.3thomas.pdf |
| Abstract: | This article examines reproductive struggles and debates in late colonial and early postcolonial Kenya by reconstructing the history of the short-lived Affiliation Act, a law that granted all single women the right to sue the fathers of their children for paternity support. In 1959, the colonial government enacted this law in a bid to address the social problem of 'illegitimacy' through familial channels, and to demonstrate the government's commitment to a nonracial future. The Affiliation Act proved extremely controversial. Although welfare and women's organizations hailed the Act as a crucial step toward providing for children born outside of marriage and protecting women from irresponsible men, many male politicians and members of the public complained that it was a foreign imposition that made men the 'slaves' of women, and encouraged female promiscuity. In June 1969, the all-male National Assembly repealed the Act. The article demonstrates how material struggles stemming from pregnancy and surrounding child rearing - 'the politics of the womb' - have been important to the elaboration of gender and political relations in postcolonial Kenya. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. |
