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Womyn's Day program in Dakar, Senegal |
This was not the case everywhere and in every instance--for example, southern Sudan might have been an exception--but I would say that there were many more avenues for African female empowerment than there were for women in white societies. GI
"Let us focus on African women’s agency, not just their oppression"
by Jenn Jagire
Much has been advocated about the violence meted out against women by their husbands or intimate relations. However, it must be appreciated that, somehow, women have always tried to speak out against violence, or helped each other to fight against spousal perpetrated violence. For example, in the past, there have been communal songs coined about violence against women and their efforts to overcome violence. Such songs praised women’s resistance to spousal violence.Activism for women’s causes must be based on local people’s experiences, not foreign experiences that overlook the successes of local women. The much-loved over-emphasis on African women’s failure and disaster is done from a Eurocentric perspective which insults our dignity as Africans. It is worth noting that the present day type of patriarchy in Uganda was exported from Britain during the colonial era. Colonialism was violent in many ways.
On the other hand, in talking about African satirical communal songs, there are songs recorded about women fleeing wealthy but violent husbands and settling for more humble ones. For example, in present day Tororo District in Uganda, there is a song about Nola (which was not her real name) who left a rich man, Opondo (let’s suppose it was not his real name either), who owned much property to go to a man who had reeds for a bed. The communal song stresses that the woman’s decision was probably because of roasted meat or some potion from the humble man. The bottom line is that it was that woman’s initiative to take an appropriate action that enabled her to escape violence.
This is powerful evidence for the success of an individual woman from the community in fleeing a violent partner. She did not need empowerment made in London, though there is sometimes no harm in borrowing alien ideas. No one could persuade Nola to return to the wealthy and powerful, but negligent polygamist. Nola was free to choose her course of action and did not need to be taught about her liberation from a conventional feminist. Her unique experiences led her in making a decision in what to do with her life. She settled down with the poorer man who made her happy. We can argue that women’s capacity to think, plan and strategise their next move has always been salient. This brings us to the unacceptable concepts sometimes powerfully used by those determined to define African women as docile. African women are not docile, waiting to be liberated from the West.
Further, African women are not commodities, slaves or chattels, regardless of the marriage system involved. It is the demeaning of African marriage systems by activists with mistaken concepts who have thrown their culture out of the window, or seem to have undergone personality changes, that must be addressed. Activists, for whatever cause, need a lot of deEuropeanisation of their thinking. Europeanised Africans deny their African identity.
If we do not deEuropeanise our minds, we remain mentally colonised; enslaved to serve foreign masters or foreign cultural interests. And if we are mentally colonised we perpetuate the recolonisation of Africa and Africans by the very people who had previously been kicked out. We might then do the work of the neo-colonialists even better, as they have really never let go of Africa and want to maintain some presence there with the aim of continuing to dominate. In fact, it is quite safe to say that colonialism is ongoing in many subtle ways. We could elaborate on this later, if there was room.
Lately, however, too much emphasis, from European perspectives, has been put on the oppression of African women as if they have never tried to do anything about it themselves. Too much focus on African women’s oppression sabotages the power of women’s agency. It is better to focus on what women can do for themselves, which is far more empowering.
African feminists should not behave like the ‘first or second wave’ of mainly Western or white feminists. You cannot empower women when you pose as some saviour coming from the outer space with some extraterrestrial powers, or a foreign vision. Such methods are geared towards encouraging a dependency syndrome among those being ‘emancipated’, in this case African women.
Read entire essay @ Pambazuka - Decolonising African feminism
Update #1 8/13/2010 - Added a summary of a research project on female empowerment among Tijaniyya Muslims in Niger. See "related articles" section below.
Update #2 8/13/2010- Added a short note on female autonomy in precolonial Africa at top of post.
tags: afro-feminism
image credit: epacha.org
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