Participation of Swazi women in the traditional public sphere, Sibaya, in the Kingdom of Swaziland
The Kingdom of Swaziland has continued to use the cattle byre, Sibaya, for deliberations on issues of national importance. This deliberative public sphere is convened once in a while to discuss pertinent issues relating to the well-being of the Swazi nation. It is a public sphere that used to be th...
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| Language: | English |
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University of Johannesburg
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Communicare |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1583 |
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| author | Maxwell Vusumuzi Mthembu |
| author_facet | Maxwell Vusumuzi Mthembu |
| author_sort | Maxwell Vusumuzi Mthembu |
| collection | DOAJ |
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The Kingdom of Swaziland has continued to use the cattle byre, Sibaya, for deliberations on
issues of national importance. This deliberative public sphere is convened once in a while to
discuss pertinent issues relating to the well-being of the Swazi nation. It is a public sphere
that used to be the preserve of men but has since been opened up to accommodate women.
Despite their participation, women still have to follow certain laid down rules to make their oral
submissions in this space. In 2016, the King of Swaziland convened the Sibaya for seven days
and thousands of citizens attended to make oral submissions on social, political, economic and
cultural issues. This article focuses on the representations made by women during the 2016
meeting and their perception about this space. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse
the data on submissions, which were monitored on national television and recorded. Interviews
were also conducted with some participants to find out how they feel about this space. Grounded
on Fraser’s concept of the counter public sphere, the study reveals that interlocutors feel that this
is a restrictive and intimidating space that is and that there are too many rules that discriminate
against the free participation of women. Thorny issues raised by women pertained to education
(primary, secondary and tertiary), the welfare of widows, chieftaincy disputes, access to land,
provision of water and electricity and gender-based violence, among others.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8e9827665305449db798fd5ed6217745 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0259-0069 2957-7950 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | University of Johannesburg |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communicare |
| spelling | doaj-art-8e9827665305449db798fd5ed62177452025-01-20T08:55:47ZengUniversity of JohannesburgCommunicare0259-00692957-79502022-10-0137110.36615/jcsa.v37i1.1583Participation of Swazi women in the traditional public sphere, Sibaya, in the Kingdom of SwazilandMaxwell Vusumuzi Mthembu0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9872-5776University of Swaziland The Kingdom of Swaziland has continued to use the cattle byre, Sibaya, for deliberations on issues of national importance. This deliberative public sphere is convened once in a while to discuss pertinent issues relating to the well-being of the Swazi nation. It is a public sphere that used to be the preserve of men but has since been opened up to accommodate women. Despite their participation, women still have to follow certain laid down rules to make their oral submissions in this space. In 2016, the King of Swaziland convened the Sibaya for seven days and thousands of citizens attended to make oral submissions on social, political, economic and cultural issues. This article focuses on the representations made by women during the 2016 meeting and their perception about this space. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data on submissions, which were monitored on national television and recorded. Interviews were also conducted with some participants to find out how they feel about this space. Grounded on Fraser’s concept of the counter public sphere, the study reveals that interlocutors feel that this is a restrictive and intimidating space that is and that there are too many rules that discriminate against the free participation of women. Thorny issues raised by women pertained to education (primary, secondary and tertiary), the welfare of widows, chieftaincy disputes, access to land, provision of water and electricity and gender-based violence, among others. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1583Kingdom of SwazilandSwazi womentraditional public sphereSibaya2016participation of women |
| spellingShingle | Maxwell Vusumuzi Mthembu Participation of Swazi women in the traditional public sphere, Sibaya, in the Kingdom of Swaziland Communicare Kingdom of Swaziland Swazi women traditional public sphere Sibaya 2016 participation of women |
| title | Participation of Swazi women in the traditional public sphere, Sibaya, in the Kingdom of Swaziland |
| title_full | Participation of Swazi women in the traditional public sphere, Sibaya, in the Kingdom of Swaziland |
| title_fullStr | Participation of Swazi women in the traditional public sphere, Sibaya, in the Kingdom of Swaziland |
| title_full_unstemmed | Participation of Swazi women in the traditional public sphere, Sibaya, in the Kingdom of Swaziland |
| title_short | Participation of Swazi women in the traditional public sphere, Sibaya, in the Kingdom of Swaziland |
| title_sort | participation of swazi women in the traditional public sphere sibaya in the kingdom of swaziland |
| topic | Kingdom of Swaziland Swazi women traditional public sphere Sibaya 2016 participation of women |
| url | https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1583 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT maxwellvusumuzimthembu participationofswaziwomeninthetraditionalpublicspheresibayainthekingdomofswaziland |