Qn: Identify the traditional roles of women at family and societal level and evaluate how

they enhance the status of women.

Generalizations about the role and status of women in traditional African societies, as for

other aspects of African life, are not easy to make because Africa is not one cultural area. It is

marked by great cultural and linguistic diversities, and any statement which can be made

about one tribe may be altogether inapplicable to another, even in one geographical

subregion. A proper understanding of the status and role of women in traditional African

societies therefore involves an appreciation of the different cultural patterns within which

they are brought up, and of the family and tribal customs in each of those multitudinous

societies which decree the exact place given to each member, the respect due to each and the

duties und privileges which membership of a family confers.

Ethnological and religious studies point to differentiation in the status of men and women,

which eventually results from cultural conditions, and not from biological differences. Many

researchers indicate asymmetry connected with the gender, which also refers to the religious

sphere. The non-literate peoples consider life to be the fundamental value and that is the

reason why their cultural and religious traditions put emphasis on woman's biological

functions and see procreation as her main vocation and task. A woman performs the role of a

native doctor and healer among many African peoples, since the basic medical care takes

place within the family. In Africa older women, after menopause, perform priestly duties to a

smaller degree. Researchers of the African peoples emphasize that spirit possession takes

place more frequently in the case of women than men, which they consider a reaction to the

inferior status of women in the social, political and religious life. Both men and women are

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diviners among many African peoples. Among some peoples of Eastern and Southern Africa,

women control the earth fertility and they are renowned rainmakers.

Women belong to secret societies in some African peoples. Both men and women can be

sorcerers and witches, although among many African peoples it is more often older women

who are accused of witchcraft, which is explained by social and economic inequality and the

desire for power.

Women are the key to sustainable development and quality of life in the family. The variety

of roles the women assume in the family are those of wife; leader; administrator; manager of

family income and last, but not the least important, the mother.

Wife: woman is man’s helpmate, partner and comrade. She sacrifices her personal pleasure

and ambitions, sets standard of morality, relieves stress and strain, tension of husband, and

maintains peace and order in the household. Thereby she creates necessary environment for

her male partner to think more about the economic upliftment of the family. She is the source

of inspiration to her man for high endeavour and worthy achievements in life. She stands by

him in all the crises as well as shares with him all successes and attainments. She is the

person to whom he turns for love, sympathy, understanding, comfort and recognition. She is

the symbol of purity, faithfulness and submission and devotion to her husband.

Administrator and Leader of the Household: a well-ordered disciplined household is essential

to normal family life. The woman in the family assumes this function. She is the chief

executive of an enterprise. She assigns duties among family members according to their

interest and abilities and provides resources in-term of equipment and materials to

accomplish the job. She plays a key role in the preparation and serving of meals, selection

and care of clothing, laundering, furnishing and maintenance of the house.

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Manager of Family Income: woman acts as the humble manager of the family income. It is

her responsibility to secure maximum return from every cent. The woman in the family also

contributes to the family income through her own earnings within or outside the home. She

has positive contribution to the family income by the work she herself performs in the home

and uses waste products for productive purposes.

Mother: this is a role that has given women their greatest strength in the African community.

Every woman is expected to get married some day, and her worth is measured through

motherhood. The whole burden of child bearing and greater part of child rearing tasks are

carried out by the woman in the family. She is primarily responsible for the child’s habits.

Her contact with the child during the most formative period of development sets up their

behaviour pattern. She is thus responsible for the maintenance of utmost discipline in the

family. She is the first teacher of the child and transmits social heritage to them. As a mother

she is the family health officer. She is very much concerned about the physical wellbeing of

every member of the family.

The traditional African woman also play significant and somewhat exclusive roles at the

societal level as well.

Women as mediators: most families acknowledge the existence of female ancestors, though

they are normally under the authority of a male ancestor. Hence, one can talk of some spirits

of the deceased female relative. A variety of traits from deceased female relatives, like the

gift/spirit of healing or divination, can be passed on from generation to generation among the

existing female descendants. . Apart from being societal spiritual mediators, women as aunts

also play a pivotal role as mediators especially in conflict resolution of conjugal or

matrimonial matters.

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Women in religious rites: research of African divination seems to suggest that spirit

possession takes place more frequently in the case of women than men and is supported on

the ground by there being more women diviners than there are men (particularly in central

southern Africa). Older women after menopause perform priestly duties, and some are said to

control the earth fertility and they are renowned rainmakers. Women were treated with

unparalleled respect because they were seen to be closer to the creator than men ever had the

potential of being. This is because women themselves had the ability to create due to the fact

that they were able to give birth. As “creators” of life, they were charged with the sacred

responsibility of caring for the needs of the next generation.

The fact remains that no degree of stereotyping against women existed in traditional Africa.

The woman possessed the power to organize the family and the society at large. There was an

enormous task and responsibility conferred on womanhood. In fact the responsibility of both

men and women were seen as complementary to one another “there was a co-dependence and

a balance that existed” (St. Clair, 1994: 27).

In submission therefore, one could say that women have played indispensable roles in

traditional Africa. But in spite of the activities, roles, responsibilities and positions women

held in traditional Africa, the man in pre-colonial Africa was still the head of the family as

well as leader of the society; society was purely patriarchal in nature [tough some facets were

matrilineal]. The man still played the controlling agent in the family; women played

supporting roles to the men, and the roles of women were complimentary to men.

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