WOMEN AS A FACTOR IN TRIBAL ORGANISATION
Although far from negligible, the part played by women in the life of a
savage tribe is very apt to be overlooked by a man. The reasons are
obvious; the African woman is not obtrusive; she is perpetually busy,
and one rarely comes into contact with her. Her inner thoughts and
beliefs are a sealed book to the investigator, and one is at first
inclined to believe that her influence is not worth consideration. The
longer the experience, the more clearly one realises that this lack of
information about the woman is one of the weak points of any inquiry.
Among the Kikuyu there is a council, or kiama, of old women in every
district; they collect goats periodically and present them to the
elders of ukuru, or priestly class. They occasionally fine troublesome
women, and the fine, usually a goat, has to be obtained by the culprit
either by extra work or by begging one from her father. The men fear
the women’s kiama, as it is believed that the members of it have the
power to bewitch people.
It is to be regretted that so little is known about the methods of
initiation and the scope of their activities in this direction, but
complete information could only be obtained by a female investigator
who has exceptional opportunity and great sympathy.
The official recognition of the wife of a candidate for admission into
the grade of ukuru among the Kikuyu has been described at another
place. This is unusual in African ritual, but can readily be understood
when one learns that old women, past the child-bearing age, can
participate in sacrificial ceremonies at the sacred trees. This is due
to the fact that the growth of cereal and other vegetable food falls to
the woman, and they alone are responsible for the food of the family.
This leads to great difficulty, as the women are intensely
conservative, and when an energetic district officer wishes to improve
the economic products of his district and distribute better seeds he is
invariably up against the opposition of the women, which is very
difficult to overcome. The woman knows by long experience that, given a
certain area, a certain seed, and a certain rainfall she can feed the
family, and one can understand that she should be loth to waste labour
on experiments, the result of which is doubtful. This feeling is very
deep-rooted, and consequently most difficult to overcome: the same
obstacles are met with in connection with the introduction of big
European hoes for agriculture. The African woman has for generations
done her planting with either a digging stick or the small African hoe;
the tiresome European comes along and worries the men to buy the big
heavy hoe, and one can hear the annoyed woman inquiring of her husband
why she is being bothered to give up the implement she has been brought
up to use with one hand, for a strange thing which is more expensive
and requires two hands. For all that, however, the European hoe is
making good progress, and will eventually win. It is hoped that this,
and the introduction of ox-drawn ploughs, will result in the male
section of the population taking a more active part in agriculture, and
alleviating the lot of the women. It is believed that if instructors
could be detailed to travel about and demonstrate the benefits of
utilising oxen to plough, women would soon champion the cause of
progress.
The male African in his home life is not noted for persistent steady
work; the women, on the other hand, are never idle, and are withal
cheerful and uncomplaining about their lot, and not nearly so
down-trodden as some people believe. In most tribes they are
well-treated; their lot among the Masai is probably harder than among
agricultural tribes; the old women have to go on watch at night in the
cattle kraal and often get beaten if they fall asleep. In Kavirondo, on
the other hand, the mother of the head of the village is often the most
important person in the village, and her opinion is generally sought
even on political matters which lie outside the ordinary sphere of a
woman’s influence; the affection of the Kavirondo for their mothers is,
however, a very marked trait in their character. Among the A-Kamba the
fact that manifestations from the spirit would nearly always come
through the mouths of women undoubtedly proves that the sex plays an
important part in the life of the people. The fact that in both Ukamba
and Giriama old women have in recent years turned out to be at the
bottom of serious political agitation also demonstrates this point. The
influence of a woman over her children is the same all the world over,
but owing to the long period of lactation prevalent in African society,
and possibly among any polygamous community, the African mother might
be expected to be more tied by her children than a European mother;
such, however, is not the case, and the baby is taken everywhere with
the mother—to market, to the field, out into the bush when firewood has
to be gathered, and to the river or water-hole. The first separation is
when the small boy first goes out to herd the goats; the small girl
stays on with her mother and trots by her side and assists her in her
various duties. This continues until the boy is promoted to herd cattle
and then goes out into the wider world and comes into contact with
civilising influences and European progress which cannot fail to
enlarge his horizon and increase his knowledge of men and affairs. The
girl, however, stays on with her mother in the narrow life of an
African village. The difference of environment at the formative stage
of life is thus ever producing a great disparity between the mental
development of the two sexes, and must, as time goes on, prove more and
more a disturbing factor in tribal life.
Owing to the marriage value of girls their parents are loth to allow
them to go far from home; the missionaries complain of this as one of
their greatest difficulties. Boys can be attracted to the missions for
instruction, but it is very difficult to induce parents to allow their
daughters to go to school. The old women say that if they go to school
their heads will be turned, that they will want to be fine ladies, as
the saying goes, and will not take kindly to agriculture, the
collection of firewood, and other household duties. There is probably a
large amount of truth in the accusation, for education would
undoubtedly open their eyes to the life of drudgery they lead; they
would, as far as physical labour goes, have an easier time while at a
mission, and would feel the return to a harder life. The whole question
is a problem which time alone can solve, and a proper adjustment of the
sphere of activity of the two sexes will take many years.
It may be of some interest to review the class of work which is the
special duty of the women. Their primary duty may be said to be the
raising of food, be it in the form of grain, beans, bananas, sweet
potatoes, etc. They sow, they tend the fields during the growth of the
crop, and then reap the grain, thresh it, store it, crush it in wooden
mortars, and grind it into meal. In most tribes the clearing of the
bush and the heavy work of breaking up new ground devolves on the men,
and in Kavirondo the men assist to a great extent in actual
agriculture. Where natives irrigate, this branch of agriculture is
always in the hands of the men.
As the producers of food, it naturally becomes the duty of the women to
make the supply of beer for the family. In Kikuyu young girls crush the
sugar cane in mortars made out of a log of wood with round holes in it,
and they then squeeze out the sweet sap and brew the beer. They
understand the art of malting grain and the manufacture of beer from
cereals.
Having grown the food, the cooking of it naturally falls to them; they
know the wild green herbs which are used as green food, particularly in
times of scarcity, and the wild edible roots which are sought for at
such periods.
The collection of firewood to cook the food and the transport of the
water used also falls to the women.
The manufacture of the cooking pots and other household utensils is
generally women’s work. In Uganda, however, it is as a rule done by
men. Smith’s work is never done by women, this industry being a
monopoly of man; there would be a prejudice against any arms or weapons
made by women, and by analogy it is therefore believed that the persons
who made the stone implements which we are beginning to find in Africa
were men.
The collection of honey and the manipulation of bees is also never done
by women.
The basket work used in the villages is almost always made by women,
and also sleeping mats. The rule is, however, not invariable, for an
old influential elder in Giriama was recently seen plaiting a mat,
possibly because he was too infirm to do more active work. The string
bags, singular, chondo, plural, vyondo, used by the A-Kamba are always
made by the women.
Wood cutting or rude carpentry is the work of the men; if bedsteads are
used they are made by the men, also the ornamental staves and stools so
extensively used.
If skin garments are worn, the woman will bray the goat skins she wears
and that in which she carries her child. When the men have not reached
the blanket stage they usually go naked or wear an ox hide, and this
they generally prepare themselves.
Leather work for weapons is always done by the men.
In Uganda the bark cloth is made by men.
The bead work affected by some tribes is nearly always done by the
women, but in Kikuyu a young dandy will often be seen sewing beads on
to a bit of hide.
Metal work used as ornament is always done by the men; the beautiful
iron chain work of Ukamba is man’s monopoly; any working in ivory, such
as armlets, must be done by men.
Each wife in an African family usually has dedicated to her particular
use a certain number of cattle; they are not her property, but she has
the sole disposal of their milk for the use of her children. The adult
A-Kamba and others also drink a considerable amount of curdled milk,
and each wife keeps a supply for her husband and his friends.
To what extent women have assisted in the domestication of animals is
now a matter of some conjecture, but there is little doubt that the men
caught the animals, probably young ones, when out on hunting
expeditions, and handed them over to the women to rear. It is
noticeable that among African tribes a woman never owns live stock, and
probably never did, even in matriarchal times.
The women are largely responsible for the handing on of the folk lore
of a tribe and undoubtedly teach it to their children, as is done in
Europe to-day. The men, however, often unconsciously help in this, for
at a friendly beer-drinking gathering elders will recount folk tales,
out of the stores of their experience, to the assembled company, and
one tale will remind someone of another and he will try to cap the
previous story by one more wonderful.
Women have done a good deal, however, for the development and blending
of folk lore. In times past when inter-tribal conflict was common,
women were frequently carried off and thus became incorporated with
another tribe; they carried their folk tales with them, and
unconsciously the stories, as well as the blood of a tribe, became
modified.
The influence of women in fixing a language must not be overlooked; the
mother teaches it to her children, not actively perhaps, but the young
child is in closest association with the mother and assimilates her
speech, and, of course, captured women will, if in any number, bring
foreign words with them, and may be instrumental in their general
adoption.
European women may consider that none of her sisters, even in Africa,
could willingly acquiesce in a polygamous life; such, however, is not
the case. The burden of life falls heavily on the African woman, and
she is, as a rule, only too pleased to welcome a new wife to share her
burden of work.
Several cases have been observed of women worrying their husbands to
take a second wife, and a senior wife will often lodge a new wife in
her hut until she becomes settled down in the village and her own hut
is ready. There are doubtless quarrels, but, on the whole, the family
lives in amity and it is believed that jealousy in the European sense
does not loom very large; fierce feeling is, however, sometimes aroused
if a husband unfairly favours one wife in the allotment of cattle.