Empowering rural women crafters in KwaZulu-Natal: The dynamics of intellectual property, traditional cultural expressions, innovation and social entrepreneurship

• Published date: 17 March 2020
• Citation: (2020) 137 SALJ 145
• Pages: 145-172
• Author: Oriakhogba, D.O.
• Date: 17 March 2020

145

EMPOWERING RURAL WOMEN CR AFTERS

IN KWAZULU-NATAL: THE DYNAMICS OF

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, TRADITIONAL

CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS, INNOVATION AND

SOCIAL ENTR EPRENEURSHIP

DESMOND O SARE TIN ORI AKHO GBA†

Postdoctoral Research Fello w, University of Cape Town;

Lecturer, University of B enin, Nigeria

This arti cle, based on qualitative and desk resear ch, explores the intellectual p roperty,

traditional cultural e xpression, empow erment, innovat ion, and entrepren eurship

dynamics at pla y in the work of a group of women crafte rs (bead-makers) parti cipating

in the Woza Moya project of the Hillc rest AIDS Centre Trust in KwaZ ulu-

Natal, South Afr ica. The study foun d that, in this partic ular case, collabo rative

and inclusive inn ovation practice s and social entrepr eneurship modalitie s appear to

generate signi cant empower ment for the craft speople, regardless of th e fact that the

intellectual pr operty system does n ot oer easily ac cessible oppor tunities. Inclusive

innovation and soc ial entrepreneu rship would thus, in this ca se, appear to be some

eective mec hanisms for empow ering rural wom en crafters.

Intellect ual proper ty — cult ural r ights — empower ment — social

entrepreneurship

I IN TROD UCT ION

Intellect ual propert y (‘IP’) reg imes are genera lly viewed as a me ans of

empowering in novators and creators by vesti ng them with exclusive right s

over their innovation a nd creation. Such ri ghts enable the in novators and

creators to dec ide whether, or not, to allow t hird part ies to use their

innovation and c reation, and the ter ms and condit ions under which the

use may be al lowed. The exclusive rig hts, which are usu ally subject t o

justia ble limitat ions and exceptions , are meant to incent ivise creat ivity

and innovation for t he benet of innovators, c reators, and the so ciety in

† LLB LLM (UniBen , Nigeria) PhD (Ca pe Town). This research was c arried

out under the auspic es of the Open Af rican In novation Research (O pen AIR)

network, in pa rtners hip with the Un iversity of Cape Town (South A frica),

Universit y of Johannesbu rg (South Afr ica), Universit y of Ottawa (Can ada),

America n Universit y in Cairo ( Egypt), Str atmore Universit y (Kenya), and the

Nigeria n Institute of Adva nced Legal Stud ies (Nigeria). The aut hor acknowledges

the support prov ided for this re search by Open A IR, the Socia l Sciences

and Human ities Resea rch Council (SS HRC) of Canada , the Interna tional

Development Resear ch Centre (IDRC), the U K Department f or Internat ional

Development (DFI D), and the Canadi an Queen El izabeth II Schol arship

program me (OES). The opinion s expressed , as well as any er rors, are e ntirely

those of the author.

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(2020) 137 SALJ 145

© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd

146 (2020) 137 THE S OUTH AFRICAN L AW JOURNA L

general. To enjoy protection under I P regimes, a work mu st meet certai n

requirement s. For instance, u nder patent regimes, an invention mu st meet

a number of patentabi lity requ irements to be reg istered, such as new ness,

useful ness and non-obv iousness. Simi larly, under copyr ight regi mes,

although reg istrat ion is not required, a c reative work (e g a book, piece of

art,  lm) must satis fy the requi rements of orig inalit y (and xation), and

authorship (and owner ship) for the creator to cla im copyri ght.

From a gender perspe ctive, however, a growing bod y of studies ha s shown

that IP reg imes, in fac t, can be disem powering to women innovat ors and

creators, e speciall y rural A frica n women crafter s whose works, created i n

collaborat ive communitie s, are shaped by ind igenous knowledg e.1 Thus,

the extent to wh ich IP regimes con form to local a nd internat ional norms

on gender equal ity is inc reasing ly attract ing attention f rom academics and

policy-ma kers. The overall concer ns, from a gend er perspective, inc lude

how to empower innovative and c reative women, especia lly those f rom

rura l Africa n communities, to promote thei r recognition and value, in the

process enabl ing them to har ness the social and economic bene ts of their

work within ex isting I P regimes. 2

The article pr oceeds from the prem ise that a solution t o the challeng e

mentioned above may be found in ad opting busine ss strateg ies such as

social ent repreneurship a nd inclusive innovat ion, which do not emphasise

IP ownership a nd enforcement but promote collaborat ion and knowledge-

shari ng among rur al craf t women. It then provides evidence of how r ural

women crafter s in South Af rica are empower ing themselves a nd their

communit y economical ly and social ly throug h social entrepr eneurship,

inclusive innovat ion and a platform t hat promotes coll aboration and

knowledge sha ring. In pa rticul ar, the paper draws f rom a case study of t he

rura l Zulu women bead-ma kers under the Woza Moya (isiZu lu for ‘come

wind of chan ge’) project of the Hil lcrest AI DS Centre Trust (‘HACT’),

a non-prot organ isation (‘NPO’) s ituated in Hi llcrest, KwaZu lu-Natal,

South Afr ica. The rur al women reside in the r ural com munities th at

make up the populou s Valley of a Thousand Hi lls in KwaZulu -Natal.

1 Boatema Boateng ‘Wal king the t radition–mo dernit y tightrop e: Gender

contradic tions in tex tile product ion and intel lectual pr operty law i n Ghana’

(2007) 15 Jour nal of Gender, Soci al Policy & the Law 3 41; Terra Gea rhart- Sema

‘Women’s work, women’s knowing: Intelle ctual prop erty and t he recognit ion

of women’s traditiona l knowledge’ (20 09) 21 Yale Journal of La w and Feminism

372; Dan Burk ‘Copy right and fem inism i n digita l media’ (200 6) 14 Journal of

Gender, Socia l Policy & the Law 519; Ann Ba rtow ‘Fair u se and the fai rer sex:

Gender, femi nism, and copy right law’ (2006) 14 Journal o f Gender, Social Poli cy &

the Law 551 .

2 Gearhart- Sema ibid; UN ESCO Gender E quality: Heritage and C reativity

Report (2014), avail able at http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/les/documents/gender-

equality-heritage-and-c reativity-2014-en_1.pdf, accessed on 18 July 2019.

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