The Nature of Female Power and Authority in Pre-colonial African Societies

The Nature of Female Power and Authority in Pre-colonial African Societies

            Arguably, African women in the pre-colonial period had a different adverse relationship with the state authorities. For instance, societies limited the political and economic power of women. They were protected if only they obeyed the rules of patriarchal power where they could remain legal minors throughout their since they could not make decisions for their own. They were under the instructions of their husbands and, therefore, could not exercise political powers in their lives. Ideally, the African women lacked power and authority in everything they undertook; for instance, they depend on their husbands for all the basic needs since they did not have power over production resources. During the pre-colonial period, African women could not defy any order from their male counterparts since they were ‘political,’ meaning that they had absolute powers and could make significant decisions without necessarily consulting the females.

Moreover, the autonomy for African women started even before the wake of colonial domination in the African continent. The rationale is that warfare, diseases, and slavery, which was introduced during 1800, exerted a lot of force on African women to keep reproducing to replace the loss of population in the continent (Wig 511). Societies from Africa were integrated to enable expansion of the capitalist economy, mainly controlled by the European powers. The introduction of the cash crop in agriculture changed the gender division of work in a manner that disadvantaged the place of women in society. Ideally, as men were taught how to grow cash crops in European farms, women were tasked to produce food crops for local consumption. During the pre-colonial period, men were forced to work in European mines, plantations, and towns at a low wage while the power of women remains in the rural areas taking care of children and the household at large.

Further, women’s sphere and woman’s power provides insights in comprehending the place of woman in sub-Saharan Africa. Political systems during the pre-colonial period could be built by women when they controlled the marriage institution in society. Arguably, the women during the era of the pre-colonial period controlled the domestic domain, but the male remained the source of power or ‘political,’ meaning he was the only person entitled to decide for the family. Besides, scholars argue that the economic roles of African women during the precolonial period are private as well as public (Wig 515). The idea that the world recognizes men as dominant over women is not fit in the African continent because Africans assert that the value of power in African depends on the women. Therefore, Africans hold dual sex systems, which opines that men should be prepared to adhere to the rules set by the females, a policy which advocates that Africans maintain the power of women in the society.

Organizations of women during the precolonial period strengthened their power and authority in societies of Africa.The functional status of the power of African women is evaluated by the level of solidarity among them, which would further help them to protect their interests from being abused by the male species (Akyeampong 44). Ideally, the active groupings of women during the pre-colonial period gave them more powers since the men could not dominate over them because they collectively protected their customary rights like owning property, such as land and herds of cattle. They also enhanced the material control, like exercising executive powers over their proper, thereby enabling them to make their own decisions. The organizations of women also provide an avenue for them to exercise their political powers.

Conventionally, men and women were exploited for expansion of the European economy, which saw them work for long hours at low wages. The women receive little or no primary education while their male counterparts were privileged to be educated, which made the women less powerful in society (Wig 519). Men could access more resources like money and land, further resulting in women becoming less potent in the community since they could not afford their basic needs. Men were more politically advantageous than women since the customary sources of female powers were threatened and undermined by the whole society. European granted men more powers than women who made them submissive to their husbands, who they felt ran the family matters. For instance, all the native authorities were vested to men, thus controlling everything in society. Women did not possess any powers to excises their independence like men. They could not do anything without the intervention of the men.

Besides, the tradition during the pre-colonial period was interpreted in a way that favored the male species making them control the lives of women. Men mostly exerted customary rights like those of land labor of wives during the pre-colonial period, which led to men becoming wealthy hence suppressing the previous authority of women. For example, Cameroon tribe men such as Beti married several wives to provide labor to the large plantation of the husband (Wehrs 113). Nevertheless, in Zambia, wives were expected to exercise their customary rights of domestic services in town since the husbands worked in urban areas for the Europeans. They had no political powers which would otherwise enable them to control the resources for their husbands. Therefore, women sold sex and illicit brew in towns since they did not have a job to meet their daily needs. During the pre-colonial period, women had to provide food and still were responsible for justifying their economic rights.

Scholars opine that networks of women during the precolonial period were a source of power. For instance, they could exchange resources and labor to boost their economic status, which was undermined by society (Akyeampong 48). Arguably, African women rose to their little independence during the pre-colonial period due to their cohesiveness and strong relationship with one another. Susan Rodgers, a proponent of the power of African women, asserts that authority and power are very different, and autonomy is not essential is gauging the power supremacy of society, especially where mutual dependence and gender roles are seen. Women became more powerful and independent during the precolonial period because communication networks and heterogeneous backgrounds brought them together to claim their lost independence, which resulted in mistreatment by their husbands.

Arguably, the powers of women during the pre-colonial period increased when they were mandated to provide food and economically support themselves despite their rights to have their land being undermined by customary laws. For instance, most of the arable land was given to the men to grow cash crops while the society threatened to deprive the women of their rights to inherit land parcels. Private land ownership land policies led the women to be rendered powerless (Wehrs 143). Moreover, Swynnerton act concerning land in Kenya provided only men to have property as opposed to the African land tenure, which held that everybody had a right to own land. This approach negatively affected the economic status of women during the 1950s. Further, African male elders and the colonial officials worked jointly to control the powers of women. For instance, the officials from the colonial masters reduced the powers of women, arguing that they should not be allowed in towns as they only need the labor force from men. Since wealth is power, the women were powerless because they did not own any means of production or any property for their economic prosperity.

The power of women was also undermined because they could not form movements to question the mistreatment from their male counterparts. In pastoralist societies, women’s power status was eroded when the elders and traditional rulers enacted new property and commercial laws. Nonetheless, in Kenya, women were deprived of the right to possess cattle and any other property in society. Therefore, during the pre-colonial period, the power of women was greatly diminished. Ideally, the ownership rights of property were governed by the western commercial terms, which held that only men could decide on a property in the family as well as the society (Wehrs 137). Women lost control of their labor, thus becoming another property of the society to be controlled by the males. Women, during the period of the pre-colonial era, were expected to work for their husbands for them to survive since they had no powers to control the income-producing property.

In precolonial Africa, some societies considered women to have absolute influence and authority, especially in the economic and social setting of a nation. For instance, African women engaged in gathering and hunting activities. Despite women having less or no power and authority, they could control some economic aspects during the pre-colonial period, which positively influenced the economic status of the society. Differently, the powers and authority of African women kept on changing from one community to another in the various countries in the African continent. For example, in agricultural states, women were mandated to control the production of food crops in the farms while in other countries, they could not even step on the farms leave alone managing the farm activities.

In conclusion, in the purview of exploring the nature of African women during the precolonial period, I found that those societies with distinct and well established political institutions gave the women the right to accumulate wealth as well as controlling the means of productions (Wehrs 163). They could also exercise authority in making decisions, unlike in other societies without political institutions. In some instances, women held political offices hence controlling all means of production the way male leaders do. The assumption of political office by women could either be through election or succession by inheritance, thereby giving them considerable power and authority. The women could also perform essential rituals of the society, such as celebrations and social rituals to appease their gods. During the pre-colonial period, women had the power and authority to elevate themselves to be the head women who were able to make important decisions for society just like their male counterparts.

Works Cited

Akyeampong, Emmanuel, and Hippolyte Fofack. “The contribution of African women to economic growth and development in the pre-colonial and colonial periods: historical perspectives and policy implications.” Economic history of developing regions 29.1 (2014): 42-73.

Wehrs, Donald R. Pre-Colonial Africa in Colonial African Narratives: From Ethiopia Unbound to Things Fall Apart, 1911–1958. Routledge, 2016.

Wig, Tore. “Peace from the past: Pre-colonial political institutions and civil wars in Africa.” Journal of Peace Research 53.4 (2016): 509-524.