Description
With the rise of evangelical Christianity in Africa, new feminine ideals are emerging which seem to be re-shaping gender roles in various disciplines (van de Kamp 2012, Gilbert 2016, Frahm-Arp 2010). In extending this growing body of scholarship, this paper will explore how newly religiously mediated femininities are re-shaping gender roles in politics particularly during periods of transition. It will do so by investigating how young Zimbabwean women’s religious beliefs, values, and imaginaries are shaping their performances of femininity in the political sphere in response to, and amidst the growing pressures of neoliberalism and globalisation. And consider how they are reconciling their religious and secular commitments and practices of self. The paper will broach women not as passive but active agents in appropriating religious messages and imaginaries to construct their own realities mainly in: re-thinking their place in society; in giving them greater mobility; and in realising their political aspirations. The paper is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Harare, Zimbabwe, consisting of in-depth interviews and participant observation from the period of 2018 to 2023.
