Abstract:
Since the late 1990s retrenched Basotho mineworkers have been returning in steady numbers
to the rural areas of Lesotho. While marital and household relations have been rekindled in
the process, there is currently much curiosity about how the large-scale presence of men in
rural areas is reconfiguring married women’s livelihood strategies and their striving for
financial autonomy. The Legal Capacity of Married Persons Act of 2006 has been celebrated
as a victory for married women, but customary practice and societal perceptions of the
legitimacy of men’s marital powers continue to restrict women’s activities and livelihood
efforts. This reflection on ethnographic research in Mafeteng, Lesotho, illustrates key
constraints, in particular gender ideologies and debilitating health conditions that aggravate
rural households’ economic crises. It is argued that more institutional interventions are
required in order to socialise the values and promote the cause of gender equality between
married partners and to tackle persisting familial and cultural impediments affecting
women’s lives.
