Ndebele and Zulu-speaking communities in southern Africa for whom beadwork holds significant social and symbolic meaning, particularly in the lives of women. In comparison to other African cultures, where both men and women are involved in beading, for Ndebele, women are the sole designers and creators of these arts. The elaborate and labor intensive designs are made by hand, and each aspect, from the size and shape of the garment, to the color of the beads, signifies something about the wearer, such as age, social class, spiritual state, and marital status. Throughout many Zulu-speaking groups, the symbolic aspects of beadwork—the colors, patterns, and materials—can be understood as operating with the same complexities and meaning as a language, and like languages, similarities are shared among the numerous cultural groups that can be found throughout southern Africa. For Ndebele in particular, the complex designs are often geometrical, rather than figural, and they resemble patterns that are found in murals painted on the sides of Ndebele homes. These murals are also painted primarily by women; the fact that these two art forms are in dialogue with one another can be understood as a way for Ndebele women to further cement their social and cultural identities through the language of beadwork.