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The role of women is changing, especially in urban areas and in the business community.
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In the rural areas, women are essentially property with little more rights than a minor child. Men often have more than one wife and it is also common, in addition to several wives, to have girlfriends as well.
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Women have no say in men’s affairs and have no property rights. If a husband dies, the husband’s brother can, and often does, tell the woman and her children to leave.
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Some of these issues have been addressed in the recent constitution, which gave women legal rights as adults for the first time, but there is a clause that essentially states that culture “trumps” constitution, so it will be interesting to see how effective the constitution will be in ensuring women’s rights.
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Women in rural wear skirts, typically to their ankles. Young women should wear skirts just below their knees in rural areas. Depending on the chiefdom, unmarried women can wear long shorts or capri pants. Married women are expected to wear a head wrap and in some communities women can be fined or beaten if they wear pants or do not wear the head wrap.
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In urban areas, it is fine to wear pants, shorts (still knee-length), and capri pants. You will find that fashion is very important to Swazi women and “dressing up” is more common than “dressing down.”
- In the urban areas, women’s roles are closer to the roles of Western women. They work, having high positions such as business owners, members of Parliament, lawyers, executives or head teachers (principals). Even with such a strong existence in the work force, women are expected to get married in their early twenties and have children. On top of work, they must tend to the household with cooking and cleaning. They often serve the males (and guests) of the household dinner before giving food to the children and other females.
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Drinking alcohol in both rural and urban areas is less common for women than men. But in the urban areas foreign women should not be concerned with breaking any drinking taboos. They will likely find other women drinking.
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