Why Is Zambia So Poor? And Will Things Ever Get Better?: We are talking about poverty here in Kitwe, what it looks like, what causes it.
“It’s you,” she says.
“… White people?” I ask.
“No, you men,” she says. “The men here are jealous of women’s earnings and education, and block them from getting employment.”
In rural areas, women do most of the farming, but the men are the ones who go to the market, sell the crops, pocket the money. Before they even get home, many of those kwachas have already disappeared into beer, sunglasses, and brand names. The wives have to resort to asking nicely for money for school fees, medicines, next season’s seeds and fertilizers.