1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«Lorsque les femmes congolaises émigraient vers la ville de Léopoldville à l’ère coloniale, elles étaient confrontées à de nouvelles attentes sociales. Il était attendu qu’elles se ‘modernisent’ et se ‘civilisent’ tout en gardant leur rôle ‘traditionnel’ au foyer et auprès de leur famille. Je voudrais démontrer que ce paradoxe continue d’influencer les représentations de la vertu féminine à Kinshasa aujourd’hui, notamment en établissant une distinction entre la femme ‘vertueuse’ et ‘non vertueuse’. Cette thèse explore les façons dont les femmes participent et négocient leur nouveau statut et rôle à la lumière de ce paradoxe.» (p. i)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
The sample contains «over twelve ‘danseuses’» (p. 190), 4 female journalists, 15 ‘Mama Nzango’ female sports team members, 8 ‘Mama Cambistes’ female moneychangers, 2 women in politics, 4 female Pentecostal pastors, 4 housewives, 2 female medical doctors and 10 market women.

Instruments :
Guide d’entretien semi-directif

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

«I discuss how notions of female virtue have been shaped and influenced by what can be referred to as a ‘triple patriarchy’, consisting of ‘traditional’ values, colonial and postcolonial state-led initiatives, and Christian Pentecostal discourse. I also examine how these factors have engendered new perceptions of female virtue that put women in a position of double bind, having to carefully manage impressions of themselves in public.» (p. iii) For example, «[a] woman who lives alone is considered abnormal and suspicious, whether she is old or young. People directly assume that a single woman living alone is a prostitute. For this reason, women who wish to live away from kinship networks will often take responsibility of one or more of their family members’ children. […] The stigma associated with women living alone is linked to the fact that it is very difficult for a woman to support herself without help from family or boyfriends.» (p. 178-179) Furthermore, «[m]any Kinois men from the poorer families are incapable of securing the survival of their family, and therefore, their wives must often enter the workforce to assume greater, if not exclusive, economic responsibility. […] Despite the pressure on women to contribute to family resources, men continue to perceive the act of staying at home main [sic] symbol of female virtue.» (p. 235)