Empowering the Voiceless Rural Women: A Daunting Task in African Society Mutendwahothe Walter Lumadi University of South Africa, College of Education, Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies E-mail: Lumadmw@unisa.ac.za KEYWORDS Rural Women. Empowerment. Indigenous Culture. Unemployment. Entrepreneurial Skills. African Society ABSTRACT Illiteracy among the voiceless rural women is widely viewed as the root cause of unemployment and poverty ravaging African society. The purpose of this manuscript is to shed light on the concept of empowering unemployed rural women to sustain their indigenous culture so that they become self-reliant, both socially and economically. These silenced mothers are unable to participate in a wide variety of activities, such as contributing equally to household finances, standing up for their rights and campaigning against social ills. They are forever confined to looking after livestock and walking barefoot over long distances, carrying buckets of water and heavy bundles of fuel wood on their head, with their children on their back. Either by custom or constitution, rural women on the African continent still and inherit property. They are unable to obtain access to credit, attend school, earn an income and get promoted at work, free from discrimination. INTRODUCTION Govender (2012) is of the opinion that rural women, who constitute one-fourth of the world’s population, continue to face more difficulties than men in accessing public services, social protection, employment and markets, owing to cultural norms, security issues and lack of iden- tification documents. Empowerment instils con- fidence in unemployed rural women and inspires them to take on leadership roles in their com- munities. Nevertheless, it is sad to note that unemployed rural women’s equality is under- mined by historical imbalances in decision-mak- ing power and access to resources, rights and entitlements for women. Furthermore, rural women are still widely underrepresented in de- cision-making in all spheres, both in the house- hold and in the public domain. They give birth to numerous children and are supposed to take the lead in looking after their families. In this regard, rural women are being recognised by the United Nations as important catalysts for sustainable development and powerful agents against poverty and hunger (Peters 2001). Of the children denied education around the world, two-thirds are rural girls. Yet studies show that educated women have healthier children who are more likely to live longer and attend schools themselves. Educating rural women is thus an important first step towards beating poverty and hunger (UNICEF 2005). To address the gaps between reality and experience, stories have to reflect past life and realise its events and ac- counts of reality as filtered through rural women’s consciousness (Antikainen and Houtsonen 2001). Rural women’s stories relate to personal change, which is linked to behavioural change. On the African continent, rural women are subjected to all forms of ill treatment, such as abuse, rape, unemployment and many arduous activities. Rural women toil for longer hours than men, and their remuneration is grossly inadequate. The poor wages lead to poverty and starvation, and men take advantage of this situation by undermining rural women. Kamara (2012) is of the opinion that rural women make up 43% of the agricultural labour force worldwide. Hence financing for rural and agricultural de- velopment must prioritise rural women. Some of the rural women are construction workers who build and maintain the water, sanitation and irrigation infrastructure to ensure clean water and healthy crops in rural areas. Their contribution is essential to ending poverty and hunger. In subsistence economies, rural women spend much of the day performing tasks to main- tain the household, such as carrying water and collecting fuel wood. In many countries, too, rural women are responsible for agricultural production and selling. Often they take on paid work or entrepreneurial enterprises as well. Despite progress in reducing educational dis- parities, there remains a wide gap in school at- tendance between boys and girls in many re- © Kamla-Raj 2012 Stud Tribes Tribals, 10(2): 123-130 (2012)