Kyomuhendo, Grace Bantebya, and Marjorie Keniston McIntosh. 2006. Women, Work and Domestic Virtue in Uganda, 1900-2003.

Kyomuhendo, Grace Bantebya, and Marjorie Keniston McIntosh. 2006. WOMEN, WORK AND DOMESTIC VIRTUE IN UGANDA, 1900-2003. Oxford: James Currey. 308 pp., $55.00 (cloth); $26.95 (paper).

In this richly detailed historical study, Grace Bantebya Kyomuhendo and Marjorie Keniston McIntosh ambitiously trace women's participation in the Ugandan market economy during the twentieth century and beyond. This book makes a significant empirical contribution to the corpus of scholarly literature on Uganda and offers important theoretical insights that will be useful to feminist academicians in any number of disciplines. That the African Studies Association awarded the authors the 2007 Aidoo-Snyder Prize for the best scholarly work on African women demonstrates the book's value within the field.

The book is divided into ten substantive chapters, including an introductory section, summarizing the authors' analytical framework, and a conclusion, offering policy recommendations at state and local levels. The analysis of women's work is divided into five periods: early colonial (1900-1939), late colonial (1940-1962), early independence (1962-1971), Amin/ Obote II era (1971-1986), and the National Resistance Movement regime (1986-2003). These divisions usefully capture historical shifts in women's work over time. It is important to mention that this is a study of women's paid labor. Although the authors recognize the centrality of women in agriculture and unremunerated household production, they frame their study around income-generating ventures so as to set "manageable boundaries" for the project (p. 3).

Kyomuhendo and McIntosh argue that women's involvement in the cash-based economy has been promoted or hindered by eight key particulars: political factors, economic factors, demographic and health factors, legal protections, women's organizations, religious beliefs and practices, education, and ideology. The last is of special interest and forms the basis of their analytical toolkit, what they call the model of Domestic Virtue. They suggest that during the early years of colonial rule, an ideology defining "ideal" womanhood emerged. Based on gender norms and the late Victorian patriarchal views of British colonial administrators, this model firmly situated "good" women as wives and mothers. Although women were responsible for most practical duties within the household, they were not seen as decision-makers. Domestic Virtue thinking required them to remain submissive and deferential to male authority. As the nation's politico-economic climate shifted over the years, the model evolved. The first shift occurred during the 1920s and 1930s, as educated women began moving into highly respected service careers (e.g., nursing and teaching). The second shift took place in the early 1970s in response to the economic crisis that followed Idi Amin's infamous Asian expulsion. Poor women moved into the informal sector out of economic necessity to support their families. Both of these variations allowed women to work while retaining their virtue. The authors suggest that the nation is now on the cusp of another change, as more women become involved in political activities and large-scale entrepreneurial work. They predict that as long as such women maintain responsibility for their ...