The volume presents a pan-African perspective, giving an overview of the 'African debt dilemma', causes, effects and policy options. It presents case studies on virtually all the southern, central- southern, and east African countries, and comparative studies on debt and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa in general, and in the SADC region in particular. An entire section is devoted to theoretical perspectives, covering topics such as debt forgiveness initiatives and poverty alleviation; debt, poverty, compliance and the classics of regression; the urbanisation of poverty, and dichotomous poverty alleviation strategies; and population variables.

A publication of the Gender Research in Urbanisation, Planning, Housing and Everyday Life (GRUPHEL) Research network, aiming to play an active role, and adopt a capacity building approach to meet the huge challenges of human settlement development, sustainable urban housing, and changes in social structures in Southern Africa. The book brings together contributions from thirteen women and six men from seven Southern African and Scandinavian countries. Contents: housing provision and home-ownership schemes amongst low-income groups; a gendered case study of Bulawayo; exploration into changing gender roles in self-help housing construction in Botswana; women and housing insecurity in Malawi; housing policy and institutional practice in Swaziland; participation and sanitation technology from a gender perspective; housing and survival strategies of Basotho urban women tenants; black women building contractors in South Africa; and the privatisation of public housing and the exclusion of women: a case study in Lusaka, Zambia.

Despite claims that men are in crisis, the domestic and public realms of Southern Africa are still dominated by men. This examination of modern men aims to show that the power of man is not a fixed concept, and that it is not true that all men share the spoils of dominance.

Africa has witnessed massive changes in the last fifty years – from independence through structural adjustment, rule by military juntas in several countries and to a period now where the focus is on how best to prioritize their needs based on resources, national goals and human potential. There is general agreement that human capital is important in economic growth and development. There is always the need to ensure that resources and human capital are used appropriately to advance development. Gender disparities, whether in treatment, access to resources, resource utilization and the law, may in themselves retard or slow down development. Resources and human potential in all societies include how best to ensure there is no gender disparity and to fully tap the resources inherent in women for personal, social and national development. Beginning with the women’s suffrage movement, there has been the push to encourage gender equality worldwide. The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 embodies the commitment of the international community to implement policies that will enhance the political, social, economic, educational empowerment of women. This book highlights the issues affecting women in Eastern and Southern Africa – what role does custom and patriarchy play in gender disparities in education, access to health, problems in the workplace and family relationships? How have women writers in the last twenty years presented the issues of patriarchy, women’s rights, globalism and women’s holistic development? What are recent developments that have helped improve the situation for some women? These are some of the issues that are covered in this book. The thesis of this book is that there have been policies and strategies developed that have worked to empower women. However, vestiges of sexism, gender disparities in several fields still remain and traditions/customs and patriarchy have aided in still keeping women down.div“/div>

This book is a result of concerns and views expressed by participants at a Gender Planning Workshop which was organised by the SAPES Gender Project in July 1991. The contributions in this collection are essentially posing issues and questions which have not been handled by mainstream scholarship. The authors are challenging women and men to liberate mainstream scholarship from its male biases which limit our understanding of socio-economic and political processes which have contributed to the underdevelopment of this region.