Women-headed households within the Catholic church in Kavango west region in Namibia: exploring the intersection of gender, theology and development.

Abstract

This study aims at using the logic of the “three-legged” African pot to depict the intersectionality of Gender, Theology and Development. It discusses the lived reality of women heading households within the Catholic Church in Kavango West Region. Central to the choice is developing a grassroots theology from below that springs from the role of their faith/theological resources drawn from the Catholic Religious rituals in sustaining themselves and contributing to social development in the area. As it discusses the lived reality of Catholic women heading households using the logic of the “three legged” African Pot, the “first leg” is gender which depicts the disruption of the dominant narrative of patriarchy within the intersection. The “second leg” is theology which is developed from grassroots faith experiences from below. The “third leg” is development which is an integration of climate change, urban migration and economic growth. This third leg is mainly where the study seeks to apply these women‟s developed theologies from grassroots faith experiences from below, in sustaining their livelihoods and contributing to social development and transformation. This study proposes two theologies from grassroots faith experiences of Catholic women heading households. The analogy of the “three legged” African pot further serves to demonstrate the intersectionality of the themes in the study, namely; women and economy (women in development + women and gender + gender and resilience), gender and theology, theology and development as proposed by Haddad as key theorist in the study in dialogue with Ackermann, Swart and Adonis.