FACULTY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY | Seminar
Yvonne Jila: “Care as political practice in women’s movements"

Welcome to GP seminar, 8 April!

PhD Candidate Yvonne Jila (Sociology, Lund University): “Care as political practice in women’s movements: the case of Zimbabwe”

Speaker

Yvonne Jila is a PhD candidate in Sociology at Lund University. Her research examines women’s movements and the politics of care in authoritarian contexts. Her doctoral work focuses on women’s activism in Zimbabwe, building on earlier research on mobilization for gender equality among women activists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Grounded in feminist, postcolonial, and decolonial theory, her scholarship centers the lived experiences of activists and analyzes care as a political practice under conditions of surveillance and repression.

Abstract

This presentation draws on my PhD research on Social Movements and Care. It examines care as an everyday political practice among women activists in Zimbabwe in the post-2017 era, focusing on members of the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ). The research draws on life history interviews, in-depth interviews, and participant observation conducted in 2024. In a context of shrinking civic space, economic hardship, and gendered exclusion, the study argues that caring practices such as solidarity, mutual support, intergenerational mentoring, and the informal networks that sustain activist life are not peripheral to political life but central to it. Theoretically, the research brings feminist care ethics into dialogue with social movement theory, drawing on concepts of resource mobilization, collective identity, and political opportunity structures.

The analysis is grounded in a decolonial and African feminist perspective, centering the knowledge and experience of Zimbabwean women to understand care in a context shaped by colonialism, authoritarianism, and gender inequality. Findings reveal how women activists have sustained the movement across generations, not only through formal structures but through the everyday work of caring for one another. Yet care within the movement is not always unifying. Tensions around solidarity and betrayal also emerge, showing that care can divide as much as it unites. This research contributes to African feminist scholarship, social movement studies, and broader debates on women's political participation by showing that care is not apolitical. Rather, it is one of the ways women build collective power, sustain movements, and engage in political life.