Description
Book SynopsisCombining Catholic Social Teaching, feminist and African liberation theology, and the social sciences, Joseph Loïc Mben, SJ, develops a contextual gendered African Christian social ethic that addresses the oppression and marginalization of working women in Sub-Saharan Africa. He focuses primarily on African women from working and poor classes living in either in urban or rural settings, particularly in Cameroon, and thus shows the necessity of inflecting Catholic Social Teaching along the differential of gender.
Trade ReviewCatholic teaching on labor justice is one of the best known aspects of Catholic social thought. What is less common, however, is an application of that general teaching to specific situations. In this book, Joseph Loïc Mben, S.J. provides an excellent illustration of how to employ Catholic social teaching in a concrete setting; he develops an ethical methodology that is faithful to the Catholic social tradition and richly informed by the African context.
-- Kenneth R. Himes, OFM, Boston College
Table of ContentsPart 1: Catholic Social Teaching (CST) and the Empowerment of the (Female) Worker
1.Overview of Catholic Social Teaching
2.Populorum Progressio, Laborem Exercens, and the Evolution of Catholic Social Teaching
3.African Bishops on Workers’ Empowerment
4.Evaluation of Catholic Social Teaching on Workers’ Empowerment
Conclusion to Part 1
Part 2: The Reality of Women’s Work in Cameroon
5.Feminist Criticism of Neoclassical Economics
6.General Characteristics of Women’s Work
7.The Reality of Women’s Work in Cameroon
Conclusion to Part 2
Part 3: Elements of a Gendered African Social Ethics on Labor
8.African Liberation Theology and Women’s Work
9.Key Elements of a Gendered African Social Ethics
Conclusion to Part 3
Part 4: Empowering Working Women: Concepts and Practices
10.On Empowerment
11.Looking at Concrete Practices
Conclusion to Part 4
