Review and appraisal at the national level
Independence in 1990 provides an important benchmark for measuring change in Namibia. Although the 1985 Nairobi Conference increased awareness of gender issues in the liberation movement, consideration of the status of women took a back seat to the goal of national liberation and racial equity. At that time, race, not gender, was the variable for analysis. Despite their contribution to the struggle, rural women stood in the margins, both in official policy and in the public consciousness. To understand the historical context which affects women farmers at present, it is necessary to look separately at the situation of agriculture and the development of women's movements.
The apartheid policies and neglect of rural areas of the South African government impeded the social, political and economic development of communal farmers.7 They were denied access to a range of institutions and resources which supported the commercial sector. In 1980, the government passed legislation to create separate, Second-Tier Authorities to administer each of the nine 'self-governing territories' which had been created out of the Odendaal Commission in 1964. Thus, separate agricultural support services, together with provision of health, education and rural water supply, were administered and financed for each separate ethnic group. Most farmers had little or no access to extension services outside of sales of fertilizers and seed. Differential resource allocation created great disparities not only by race but by ethnicity.8 Women were the least served of all. In general, the least skilled and trained officers were assigned to the communal areas, and they frequently worked on infrastructure projects, such as road construction.9 Little research, if any, on communal crops and improved farming systems was undertaken. Marketing, inputs and access to credit services were all neglected.
In contrast, white farmers, under the Administration for Whites, enjoyed the benefits of a network of credit, marketing and supply institutions, designed to advance their interests and to subsidize the sector. AGRA, the supply and marketing cooperative, only operated centres in the commercial areas. In 1979, the Land and Agriculture Bank was formed to assist farmers in financing the purchase of land and inputs. By requiring farmers to have surveyed, freehold land as collateral, the Bank excluded communal farmers. The low interest rates served as a readily available subsidy for white farmers, and just prior to independence a 4% long term loan ensured that freehold land would remain in the hands of whites.10
The Meat Board, Agronomic Board and Karakul Board regulated pricing and exports of meat, wheat, maize and other commercial crops and karakul pelts respectively. Until recently, millet, the main crop grown in the northern communal areas, was not in the purview of the Agronomic Board. Because the veterinary fence cuts off the densely-populated North -- and in the absence of quarantine facilities -- many communal farmers could not market cattle for export. Communal farmers, whose livestock often did meet the boards' standards, sold them through auctions run by AGRA and Meatco, or to independent buying agents, often at less than market prices. Namibian marketing boards remain closely allied to the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU), the main body representing white farmers.
One institution which did work in the bantustans was the First National Development Corporation (FNDC), a parastatal set up in 1978.11 Based on a vision of free market development in the reserves, the FNDC's strategy has been to channel government resources into commercial ventures in the communal areas. For example, the FNDC set up wholesale outlets to supply implements and offer short-term credit facilities. FNDC's operations, which enjoyed tax breaks and government loans, effectively precluded any competition, individual or cooperative.12 Its agricultural projects, run primarily in the Okavango and Caprivi regions, have primarily been large mechanized and/or irrigated schemes oriented towards individual farmers with entrepreneurial potential. During the 1980s, the Corporation established farmer support programs, supplying technical assistance, inputs and credit, to farmers able to produce commercial crops such as cotton or livestock for market. Thus, the programs targeted elite farmers and were of little benefit to women, who are engaged in small holder agriculture.
The creation of a black farming elite exacerbated the divisions -- ethnic, racial, and social -- which apartheid carved into rural communities. To weaken its opponents and further fragment rural communities, the government rewarded cooperative individuals and groups of potential supporters with subsidies and infrastructure projects. Resources were often channelled through traditional authorities, some of whom actively collaborated with the South African Defense Force (SADF) and ruling administrations.
At the same time, black farmers were inhibited from forming their own groups. The Cooperative Societies Act of 1964, currently being redrawn, imposed a complicated set of registration procedures and organizational requirements. These cumbersome restrictions precluded the establishment of small, grassroots cooperatives, seen as potential vehicles for political activity, and effectively limited the formation of cooperatives to large-scale agricultural and consumer cooperatives for whites. The absence of indigenous cooperatives helped to marginalise the participation of black groups in the mainstream economy.13 Importantly, as Independence loomed closer, the FNDC and extension officers worked with more commercially-oriented farmers to establish farmers associations, such as the Likwama Farmers Union in Caprivi. Here again, the focus was on improved marketing, and women's participation was limited. However, these groups have become important models for emergent farmers associations throughout the country.
Efforts to improve the status of women differed among exiles outside the country and the women and institutions that remained in Namibia. The demands of the liberation struggle forced men and women both to abandon a rigid division of labour. Women in exile often took on roles and authority not accessible to them within the country. Many fought in combat and trained military cadres.14 Others took responsibility for running and managing camps, including setting up clinics and kindergartens. Many benefitted from improved access to education. A recent study found that female returnees were 5 times more likely to have Standard 10 levels or higher than stayers of both sexes. They also achieved higher education levels than men in exile. They gained exposure to countries with greater numbers of women in political and professional positions, and many returnees now challenge traditional gender roles and stereotypes. This has not been without high personal and social costs. The study found that returnee women were considerably more affected by mental stress and other psychological strains caused by life in exile.15
Although the experience in exile raised awareness of women's issues, the liberation movement did not highlight or press gender issues. Even after the formation of the SWAPO Women's Council, the liberation of women was subsumed under the struggle for national liberation. As one historian notes, "Women's mobilization for the struggle was regarded as strategically important, yet there was no idea that this might imply changes in gender relations or a transformation of the struggle itself."16 Only as liberation became achievable did women begin to stress the equality of women as integral and part and parcel of independence. No doubt, participation in the Nairobi conference, where SWAPO participated in the government forum, also heightened the awareness of women in the movement.
Inside the country, the war irreconcilably altered the lives of rural women, particularly those in the North. Military recruitment by both sides tore families asunder. The eventual withdrawal of the South African army devastated some households, who had become reliant on the wages of soldiers. Women struggled to survive, as agriculture declined in the wake of crop destruction by the army, severe drought, and the loss of vast numbers of able-bodied young gone into exile or military service.
In the mid 1980s, community organizations began to emerge. Although spurred on by the fight against apartheid, churches and other institutions began to mobilise people around everyday concerns. Self-help groups promoting health, creches and better housing conditions began to crop up in the Windhoek townships and in the South, which was far removed from armed conflict. Some large companies undertook social responsibility programs, resulting in organizations such as the Rossing Foundation, which provided agricultural and skills training to black Namibians. Although these programs were identified with the status quo, their initiatives did enhance the access of Namibians, including women, to training.
Sensing the significance of this movement, the South African regime deployed a hearts and minds campaign, which drew on the emergence of community development schemes, to support development projects, such as clinics and schools in the former reserves and, in some areas, to provide highly subsidized agricultural services. The regime also promoted cultural organisations in an effort to foster ethnic divisions.
Ultimately, the arena of grassroots activity did not extend much beyond the efforts of churches and political party organizations; the base for community development work disappeared in a web of political tensions, suspicious motives, and identities along party lines that to a certain extent persist today.
It is important to note that within the country, calls for jobs, housing, and education were also couched in terms of race not gender. Gender issues took a back seat in efforts to raise the welfare of poor Namibians. A group formed in 1985, the Namibian Women's Voice, attempted to bring women together across party-political lines to promote awareness and action around gender issues. Under the weight of tensions within the organization and pressures from outside, the organization dissolved in 1989. White women, although enfranchised to vote, were largely absent from the liberation movement, and did not play the activist and advocacy role as many of their counterparts in South Africa. Even the election campaign, which sought to woo the female electorate, targeted urban women, stressing issues such as improved working conditions.17 In sum, neither the exiled liberation struggle, nor the internal grassroots movements, gave priority to rural women per se.
