By Akosua K. Darkwah
This special issue on African women workers in a changing world discusses several themes that have long been the concern of feminist scholars with an interest in women’s work: transnational capitalism and its implications for women’s productive activities, the debilitating impact of land tenure arrangements in Africa on women’s productive and reproductive responsibilities, as well as state actions and inactions in support of women’s productive activity.
Transnational capitalism’s interest in the African continent dates back five hundred years beginning with the slave trade through to the colonial project and is evident today in the principle of trade liberalisation embedded in the neoliberal project. Scholars who work from a feminist political economy perspective highlight how the activities of transnational capital impact the daily existence of women across the globe (Agenjo-Calderón, 2021).Those who work from an intersectional perspective acknowledge that whether or not women feel the positive impact of transnational capital depends on many other socio-demographic characteristics such as race and class.
Geographic location is also of crucial importance in this discussion as transnational capital’s impact varies depending on where in the world it travels, with women living in postcolonial spaces impacted differently than those in other spaces (Desai and Rinaldo, 2016).
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01.FA_April-2023_Volume-4-Issue-1_Editorial