African Journal of Gender and Women Studies

African Journal of Gender and Women Studies | Vol. 11, No. 9, September 2026 | pp. 15–28

DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001296

Article Type: Research Article

Title: Transnational Care Chains and the Emotional Labor of Migrant Domestic Workers in Europe

Names of Author: Dr. Elena Rostova¹

Author's Affiliation: ¹Department of Gender Studies, Central European University, Vienna, Austria.

Abstract:
Global demographic shifts and the privatization of eldercare in Western Europe have fueled a growing demand for migrant domestic workers from Africa, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. While remittances sent by migrant women sustain families and local economies in their countries of origin, these transnational care arrangements often rely on restrictive visa regimes that strip workers of labor protections. Live-in domestic workers frequently endure social isolation, wage theft, and intense emotional strain as they nurture employers’ families while separated from their own children. This paper investigates how African and Eastern European migrant women negotiate agency, dignity, and collective resistance within private domestic workspaces in Austria and Italy. Anchored in transnational feminist theory and sociology of care, the study draws on life-history interviews with 38 domestic workers and ethnographic observation within migrant advocacy networks. I argue that grassroots worker collectives foster vital spaces of mutual aid that challenge the racialized and gendered devaluation of care labor.

Keywords: Transnational care chains, migrant domestic workers, emotional labor, transnational feminism, labor rights, care economy, Europe, migration

Manuscript Timeline: Received: June 15, 2026; Revised: July 22, 2026; Accepted: July 27, 2026; Published: September 15, 2026.

Citation: Rostova, E. (2026). Transnational Care Chains and the Emotional Labor of Migrant Domestic Workers in Europe. African Journal of Gender and Women Studies, 11(9), 15–28. DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001296

African Journal of Gender and Women Studies | Vol. 11, No. 9, September 2026 | pp. 1–14

DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001295

Article Type: Research Article

Title: Algorithmic Bias and Gendered Surveillance in Digital Financial Inclusion Across the Global South

Names of Author: Dr. Priya Nair¹ & Dr. Olumide Adeyemi²

Author's Affiliation: ¹Centre for Internet and Society, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India; ²Department of Computer Science and Digital Humanities, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Abstract:
Fintech platforms and mobile micro-lending applications are increasingly promoted as transformative tools for empowering unbanked women across Africa and South Asia. While digital financial services expand access to credit without requiring traditional physical collateral, proprietary credit-scoring algorithms frequently rely on invasive behavioral data that reproduce structural gender biases. Women who share mobile devices with male relatives or engage in irregular informal-sector cash flows are routinely penalized with higher interest rates or automated loan rejections. This paper examines the intersection of algorithmic governance, financial surveillance, and gender equity in India and Nigeria. Drawing on feminist science and technology studies, the research combines an audit of mobile lending interfaces with qualitative interviews involving 60 female micro-entrepreneurs. The findings demonstrate that without transparent regulatory oversight and gender-responsive algorithmic design, digital finance risks entrenching predatory debt cycles and undermining women’s economic self-determination.

Keywords: Algorithmic bias, digital financial inclusion, fintech, feminist technology studies, gender surveillance, micro-lending, India, Nigeria

Manuscript Timeline: Received: June 12, 2026; Revised: July 20, 2026; Accepted: July 24, 2026; Published: September 15, 2026.

Citation: Nair, P., & Adeyemi, O. (2026). Algorithmic Bias and Gendered Surveillance in Digital Financial Inclusion Across the Global South. African Journal of Gender and Women Studies, 11(9), 1–14. DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001295

African Journal of Gender and Women Studies | Vol. 11, No. 8, August 2026 | pp. 131–144

DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001294

Article Type: Research Article

Title: Rewriting the Archive: Precolonial Female Leadership and Indigenous Feminist Historiography

Names of Author: Dr. Ndidi Eze¹

Author's Affiliation: ¹Department of History and International Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria.

Abstract:
Colonial historiography systematically obscured the political, spiritual, and economic authority wielded by women in precolonial African societies, imposing Victorian gender binaries that relegated women to the domestic sphere. By reading colonial archives against the grain alongside oral traditions, indigenous feminist historians have uncovered robust traditions of dual-sex political systems, queen mothers, and female military leaders. Yet mainstream historical curricula continue to treat women’s historical agency as peripheral rather than foundational to African statecraft. This paper interrogates the erasure and recovery of precolonial female governance institutions among the Igbo and Akan peoples of West Africa. Anchored in decolonial feminist historiography, the study synthesizes colonial administrative records, oral praise poetry, and indigenous proverbs. Through critical historical analysis, I demonstrate how reclaiming precolonial models of female authority challenges contemporary patriarchal claims that gender equality is alien to African culture, providing an indigenous intellectual foundation for modern feminist advocacy.

Keywords: Precolonial leadership, feminist historiography, colonial archive, dual-sex system, oral tradition, African feminism, Igbo, Akan

Manuscript Timeline: Received: June 08, 2026; Revised: July 15, 2026; Accepted: July 18, 2026; Published: August 14, 2026.

Citation: Eze, N. (2026). Rewriting the Archive: Precolonial Female Leadership and Indigenous Feminist Historiography. African Journal of Gender and Women Studies, 11(8), 131–144. DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001294

African Journal of Gender and Women Studies | Vol. 11, No. 8, August 2026 | pp. 118–130

DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001293

Article Type: Research Article

Title: Informal Cross-Border Trade, Masculinity, and Shifting Household Power Dynamics in West Africa

Names of Author: Dr. Kwame Boateng¹ & Dr. Adwoa Asante²

Author's Affiliation: ¹Department of Sociology, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana; ²Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana.

Abstract:
Informal cross-border trade represents a vital engine of regional commerce in West Africa, with women accounting for over seventy percent of traders moving agricultural produce and textiles across national borders. As economic restructuring and formal sector unemployment erode traditional male breadwinner roles, female traders increasingly serve as primary financial providers for their households. However, women’s upward economic mobility frequently triggers complex renegotiations of domestic authority, marital expectations, and hegemonic masculinity. This paper examines how cross-border trading along the Abidjan-Lagos corridor reshapes gender relations and household decision-making. Utilizing relational gender theory and concepts of African masculinities, the study analyzes qualitative interviews with 40 dual-earner couples in Ghana and Togo. The findings indicate that while female economic empowerment enhances women’s control over household expenditure, it also generates marital friction and defensive patriarchal posturing unless accompanied by shifts in men’s attitudes toward domestic care labor.

Keywords: Informal trade, masculinity, household power dynamics, female breadwinners, West Africa, gender relations, economic empowerment, marriage

Manuscript Timeline: Received: June 05, 2026; Revised: July 12, 2026; Accepted: July 15, 2026; Published: August 14, 2026.

Citation: Boateng, K., & Asante, A. (2026). Informal Cross-Border Trade, Masculinity, and Shifting Household Power Dynamics in West Africa. African Journal of Gender and Women Studies, 11(8), 118–130. DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001293

African Journal of Gender and Women Studies | Vol. 11, No. 10, October 2026 | pp. 99–112

DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001322

Article Type: Research Article

Title: Gendered Impacts of Sovereign Debt, Structural Adjustment, and Privatized Social Services

Names of Author: Makena Njoroge¹ & Lorenzo Bianchi²

Author's Affiliation: ¹School of Economics, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya; ²Department of Economics and Management, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.

Abstract:
Escalating sovereign debt repayments across low- and middle-income countries have revived creditor-mandated austerity measures, including public sector wage freezes, subsidy removals, and the privatization of healthcare and water utilities. Feminist economists have long demonstrated that macroeconomic adjustment policies are never gender-neutral; when public infrastructure contracts, women absorb the resulting deficit through intensified unpaid care work and precarious informal employment. Furthermore, user fees for privatized essential services disproportionately exclude low-income women and girls. This paper analyzes the gendered socio-economic consequences of recent debt restructuring agreements in Kenya and Zambia between 2020 and 2025. Utilizing feminist macroeconomic modeling and household expenditure data alongside community focus groups, we illustrate how debt-driven fiscal consolidation erodes gender equality gains and advocate for human-rights-based debt cancellation and progressive wealth taxation.

Keywords: Sovereign debt, feminist macroeconomics, austerity, privatization, unpaid care work, social services, Kenya, Zambia

Manuscript Timeline: Received: August 20, 2026; Revised: September 20, 2026; Accepted: September 24, 2026; Published: October 15, 2026.

Citation: Njoroge, M., & Bianchi, L. (2026). Gendered Impacts of Sovereign Debt, Structural Adjustment, and Privatized Social Services. African Journal of Gender and Women Studies, 11(10), 99–112. DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001322

African Journal of Gender and Women Studies | Vol. 11, No. 8, August 2026 | pp. 105–117

DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001292

Article Type: Research Article

Title: Queering African Feminisms: Representation, Resistance, and Lived Realities in Contemporary Visual Art

Names of Author: Dr. Zanele Dlamini¹

Author's Affiliation: ¹Department of Fine Arts and Visual Culture, Faculty of Humanities, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.

Abstract:
Dominant nationalist and conservative discourses across many African societies frequently frame non-normative sexualities and gender identities as un-African imports, erasing precolonial histories of fluid gender expression. Within this contested cultural terrain, contemporary queer African visual artists utilize photography, performance, and mixed media to challenge heteropatriarchal surveillance and reclaim bodily sovereignty. At the same time, these artists navigate complex tensions between local censorship, community safety, and Western art market commodification. This paper explores how queer female and non-binary artists in South Africa and Kenya deploy visual storytelling to expand the boundaries of African feminist thought. Grounded in queer African studies and decolonial aesthetics, the analysis examines selected visual exhibitions produced between 2018 and 2025 alongside artist interviews. Through visual semiotic reading, I argue that queer visual art functions as a radical archive of resistance, affirming marginalized subjectivities and envisioning liberatory futures beyond binary gender norms.

Keywords: Queer African studies, African feminism, visual art, heteropatriarchy, decolonial aesthetics, bodily sovereignty, South Africa, Kenya

Manuscript Timeline: Received: June 03, 2026; Revised: July 10, 2026; Accepted: July 13, 2026; Published: August 14, 2026.

Citation: Dlamini, Z. (2026). Queering African Feminisms: Representation, Resistance, and Lived Realities in Contemporary Visual Art. African Journal of Gender and Women Studies, 11(8), 105–117. DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001292