WOMEN ROLE

In mostly every society women plays an important role; the African country isn’t too far from this important role of women. Women in Africa played a political role, social role, and economic role; this wasn’t smooth sailing, they faced obstacles along the way. Most African countries are largely agricultural people. Taking Ghana for example, they grow maize (corn), plantation, bananas, yams, cocoa, etc. Because many economic cultural and religious elements influence a womans role and status, descent and ancestry are very vital; as the matrilineal descent is the fundamental to Ashanti social and political organizations. Even though women might have a very symbolic attributes in political world, like the Queen mother who is also known as the “stool mother”, gender discrimination becomes one obstacle African women faced as “all chiefs… [were] male with queen mothers playing advisory and ceremonial roles”( Azevedo 447). This can be connected to the video “A girl who demanded school”, Kekenya Ntaiya when granted a scholarship to attend school in America the old men in her community stated “what a lost opportunity? This should’ve been given to a boy”. These two examples are a form of gender discrimination as African women whiles playing an important role in the society as advisory mothers and seeking education are limited to societal norms—in other words the knowledge of African men are much greater than that of an African women.

Socially, women become noticed in a community when they marry and reproduce children—the marriage role and reproductive role. Marriage and the family become or are the foundations of society, and it is the establishment which highlights the important role of women. In the family, “again” the father is the head of the family and the decisive authority and controller of properties; and mothers on the other hand, after the reproductive role becomes of no use, “they have no legal identity in the strict sense of word and they can and do inherit a property in the absence of the male heirs” (Azevedo 451). In similar connection to the video “A girl who demanded school”, Kekenya stated that “because my mother was a woman, she wasn’t allowed to own any property”. This is another form of obstacles as traditional African women responsibilities are to marry and produce children; limitations are being imposed on women—limiting their intelligence and lifestyle based on what a man wants.

As many opportunities shifts in the ways of women, modern Africa’s economic and social status is prospering with the full time, effort and contribution of women. African women have left the dark side of life and have now emerged as the backbone of the present society. Rural women contributes largely as they maintain grueling schedules working in the fields and at home; at home, they care for children, cook, fetch water and fire wood, whiles on the fields they cultivate food, plant, care for livestock, etc. “Rural agriculture is the most important economic activity in Africa and it involves more than 80% of rural women as farmers (compared to about 65% of men who farm)” (Azevedo 455). African women are becoming more and more active on their own behalf, and are looking for solutions; educated urban-dwelling women every so often clear concerns for other women who are not able to speak on their own behalf. For example, hunger and malnutrition have attracted the concerns of high status and high visibility women such as Maryam Babangida, former first lady of Nigeria and Kenenyan environmentalists Wangari Muta Maathai who received $100,000 African prize from the Hunger project—annually awarded by the New York based international non-profit organization(Azevedo 456,457). In connection to this transformation of African women is Kekenya Ntaiya from the video “A girl who demanded school”, who also faced an obstacle where she had to trade in a part of her body—female genital mutilation—in order to obtain education; she too in return have gone back to Africa and transformed the lives of 125 girls by building a school and admitting these girls. These girls, Kekenya said are the few so far who will avoid female genital mutilation—a performance that kills many of the 3 million girls who are victims.