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Conclusion: A note on Inter-disciplinarity
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One will readily agree that the magnitude, depth and complexity of
analysis that the foregoing questions warrant cannot be tackled univocally.
There is an increasing corpus of scholars who argue for an
interdisciplinary approach in studying the rapidly changing nature of
African lived realities (Chege 2004, Achieng 2010) through unravelling
its complexity and multidimensionality, and understanding the segmentation
and fragmentation of different processes. Borrowing from
sociological studies, demography and political philosophy, the paper
at hand has shown how an interdisciplinary inquiry could proceed.
The paper departed by asking a basic question, i.e. why there is a
continuous lack of articulation of a critical voice by a significant group
in society. In it, I showed that two conflicting processes are evident. On
the one hand, whereas indeed young African women are articulating
a critical voice, there seems to be reluctance from the rest of society to
integrate these issues into broader ones that being put across. In this
manner, social inclusion of this significant group is denied. Young African
women’s issues are either being reduced or ridiculed, and in this manner
ridding them of a strong social base from which to legitimize their voices
and institutionalize their actions. On the other hand, young African
women as a social group are continually ignored as a group that has not
yet come of age. Although young African women using their agency
have come up with strategies in a bid to create rooms for manoeuvre for
themselves and thus get their issues across, the need for a strong social
base on which to rest these concerns and thus give these a wider legitimacy
is still lacking. Indeed, as one author in a recently ended conference
expressed, it is a matter of gaining an edge, being relevant and obtaining
preferential status [9] . This calls for research into social contexts and
processes that are integrating young women’s voices, legitimizing their
concerns and institutionalizing decisions arrived at. This is critical given
the demographic shift that is on-going and the democratic processes that
are being institutionalised in many African contexts.
9
Calif, Ofer, 2010, Forms of domination in Liberal Democracies: Power, Hegemony,Alienation
and Inequality, a paper presented at the International Conference on Political Philosophy
and Political Theory: Democracy Today- Participation, Abstention, Representation and
Exclusion, Braga, Portugal, 3 rd – 6 th November 2010