Working for the future: elite women's strategies in Brazzaville

Abstract

This paper examines the strategies applied by elite women in Brazzaville, Congo, to achieve lifelong financial security and independence for themselves and their children. Amongst these strategies are a woman's position in the household and women's ways of identifying themselves socially. Women's empowerment has led to specific changes, such as the emergence of the 'deuxième bureau' (unmarried women having an intimate relationship with a married man) among the well educated. New lifestyle patterns emphasize the privatization of the family and promote considerable changes in gender relations, with significant implications for relationships between elite women and the extended family. The women in the study are between 30 and 40 years old and are all civil servants in Brazzavillian government departments. Data were collected during fieldwork in 1989-1990.