ABSTRACT
Economic research on women in Africa has focused largely on their hitherto neglected role in economic development. The economic importance of children is highlighted by their virtual equivalence with the value of cattle. Virtually all explanations of the economic impetus behind the guerrilla war of the 1970s in Zimbabwe stress that population pressure led to a steady deterioration in the rural African standard of living. By 1950 Zimbabwe had the lowest overall mortality rate in Southern Africa, and life expectancy continued to improve between 1950 and 1980. Sex discrimination is virtually the only form of discrimination that is not outlawed in the new Zimbabwean constitution. In a pattern reminiscent of recent Chinese history, Zimbabwean policies have weakened the power of fathers over children but reinforced the power of husbands over wives. The concept of a patriarchal social formation poses a constructive challenge to the modern Marxist tendency to marginalize feminist theory.
