And Still They Dance: Women, War, and the Struggle for Change in Mozambique

Gaining Independence in 1975, Mozambique’s government proclaimed a progressive approach toward women’s liberation, seeing it as essential for the continued success of the revolution. Stephanie J. Urdang, who traveled often to Mozambique, examines women’s status there ten years later, talking with women in factories and fields, village co-operatives, and state farms. Urdang produces an inspiring yet sobering picture of how African women continued to struggle for their survival and their liberation. Drawing on scholarly research as well as first-hand investigation, And Still They Dance says much about the daily lives of women living in independent Mozambique after the revolution. Although they may have gained formal independence, these women still needed to overcome obstacles of class, gendered division of labor, underdevelopment, and—during the reign of South African apartheid—external aggression on the part of the South African-sponsored MNR proxy army. Urdang shows us a country rife with contradictions and tells the stories of the women who continue to struggle on numerous fronts for a better life.

Stephanie J. Urdang was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She is the author of two books on Africa, including Fighting Two Colonialisms: Women in Guinea-Bissau. She has worked as an anti-apartheid activist, journalist, academic writer, university lecturer, and freelance consultant, as well as gender specialist and senior advisor on HIV/AIDS for the United Nations. She lives in Montclair, New Jersey and returns regularly to South Africa.