Women’s Struggles for Innovation in Colonial Southern Africa

This chapter examines the influence of missionaries’ wives on Basotho women’s struggles for innovation. During the colonial era, Basotho women were forced to find innovative ways to manage their homes as well as protect their communities. Factors that triggered innovation are outlined and discussed in-depth, while their impact on women during the colonial period is analysed. Stories of women as documented in archival materials are used as point of reference because the chapter centres on “her story”. Archival study on Basotho women during colonial times is undertaken in order to trace and appreciate the level of innovation that was driven by women in Lesotho. The chapter contributes to rethinking the gender archives in Southern Africa, with specific focus on Lesotho as it reveals the untold stories created by Basotho women during the epoch under study. The findings from the archival analysis show that Basotho women engaged in the calm struggle towards reinventing their lives as well as tapping into economic opportunities outside their households.