'If a person had no children, he troubled very much': status and stigma of childlessness among African women converts in Southern Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries

Discourses of motherhood as a rallying cry to political action resonated strongly with black women from the earliest phases of nationalist protest in South Africa. As scholars such as Walker (1995) have shown, ‘motherhood’ came to be virtually synonymous with ‘womanhood’ in public political discourse. Indeed, Healy-Clancy’s paper in this panel probes the notion of ‘public motherhood’ in this very context of nationalist politics.

Such powerful connotations of motherhood tapped into social expectations of women’s role – duty, even – that prevailed in both ‘traditional’ social and political institutions and those promoted by missionary bodies and the state.  What were the options, then, for those women who did not bear children, for whatever reason? It is possible to identify a few prominent female figures in this position and the paper seeks to explore the ways in which they sought to accommodate to, or depart from, discourses of motherhood.

Concepts of and attitudes towards childlessness in southern Africa will first be analysed, and the developing argument will be illustrated with case studies spanning the decades from the 1890s to the 1950s, including Nokutela Dube, wife of John Dube, first president of the African National Congress (ANC); Bertha Mkhize, prominent organiser in the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union; Charlotte Maxeke, founder of the Bantu Women’s League; and Emmeline Gumede, active in the ANC in the 1950s.

Reference: Cherryl Walker (1995) Conceptualising motherhood in twentieth century South Africa. Journal of Southern African Studies 21, 3. 417-437.