Flame, Nyaradzo, and Pretty

This chapter examines three types of women that are central to the book's study of the promises of feminism in Zimbabwe: women combatants/veterans (“Flame”), feminist activists (“Nyaradzo”), and beauty and modeling contestants (“Pretty”). There are seven categories or classes in Zimbabwe, according to education, income, residence, occupation, ownership of property, and attitudes toward family and social change. Groups 3, 4, and 5 constitute the middle class—this is the group to which Flame, Nyaradzo, and Pretty belong. Each of these women wants more from her society, all are eclectic in their principles and goals, and at one time, they each had reason to hope. All resist the stasis of an overwhelming presentism that is an alternative to cruel optimism. The chapter also considers several paradoxes in assessing the effectiveness of women's movements in changing policies in African countries.