Significance of Women in Vatsonga Culture: An Africana womanist perspective

Abstract

Tsonga women are an integral part of the society and they play a crucial role in portraying African culture. Most people are much concerned about gender equality at the expense of positive aspects of African culture which values different roles played by women and men in the society. This paper focuses on Vatsonga women. The Vatsonga culture specifically assigns various functions to women as a way of preserving their culture. It may be viewed as if there is no equality between men and women when looking from the Eurocentric perspective. It is the aim of this paper to discuss the importance of women in Vatsonga culture. It also shows that in various aspects of life women have important roles to play in a Tsonga society. Their powers should not be underestimated since they can also help make crucial decisions in resolving disputes and other important matters. This paper discusses the notion of gender equality by taking into consideration what women themselves know what they are capable of in Vatsonga society unlike some quarters of the society would perceive it. Some consider it to be a situation in which there is equality in every aspect of life. The paper demonstrates the significance of women in the preservation and safeguarding the Vatsonga culture from an African perspective using Africana womanist theoretical framework.