Women’s Migration Pre-1920

Abstract

In colonial Botswana, drought, poverty, other ecological disasters, the ravages of the male migrant system, and social ostracism drove women, especially the most vulnerable women, from their rural homes to seek paid employment to survive. Before World War I, married women dominated the ranks of those who did migrate, with small, but rising, numbers of divorcees, widows, and single women slowly becoming more common during the first two decades of this century. Different categories of migrants at different points in time dominated the movement of women from Bechuanaland to South Africa. This chapter explores the cultural history of early Botswana, women’s traditional roles in Tswana culture, forced migration of women, the implications of male migration, and farm labours in the Western Transvaal pre-1920.