EXPRESSION OF AFRICA WOMAN STATUS, A CASE STUDY OF "SOUS L'ORAGE"

 

CHAP.1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1.          BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY.

Traditionally, women were socially considered as inferior to men physically and intellectually. Both laws and theological principles undermined women in a way that they could not own property, engage into any kind of business or have any authority to household property as well as children, all these being headed by the husband, considered as the master of the entire family.

With regard to marriage, a young lady had no choice of her future husband as this was done for her by family elders. She was even prevented from loving anyone she could and the choice of her fiancé was determined by parents who in return could have marriage relationships with only those families they loved harmoniously. In La parole aux Negresses, Awa Thiam talked about the case of medina. This young woman was forced to marry a cousin that she never saw, and chose to never accomplish the conjugal duties or to sleep with her husband. She said:

 “Since my wedding day, I did not agree to have sex with my husband. Even though my parents could not let me get a divorce, I hoped that my behavior less reconciles to my husband would get him resolve that question quickly finding the cause of this action.” (1978:36) The choice of a fiancé

as also determined by the power of the young boy to give sufficient dowry. Here, rich candidates were given the priority of grabbing the lady. Guillome Oyono Mbia asserts this:

Juliet: What? Am I anything to be sold? Why do you need to give me to the big offer? Couldn’t you consult me by the marriage to which am concerned? (197:20)

Among many problems the African woman was confronted to, there was the problem of polygamy. Indeed, in traditional Africa, polygamy was commonly practiced before decolonization, but with the arrival of Western culture and law legacy of colonization, it tends to disappear and some countries have a law abolishing polygamy.

Although according to the African tradition, polygamy is considered as normal, it remains a problem for the woman because it does not allow her to flourish.

According to Rwanika : "it is true that if we talk about a full development, it is not in polygamy that women will find it.”(1997:45). 

In the pre-colonial society, women played a significant role in the fieldwork. The woman taken as an object of production was to provide food to her family. She was also seen as a source of prestige and wealth, and this is why the men were to marry several women not only to be highly considered, but also to raise a lot of fortunes.

According to A.O. ACAP and L. MADINA "Women were in charge of all agricultural work: soil preparation, weeding, planting, harvesting. They also devoted to domestic activities. During seasons of heavy rains, the women were in the fields from dawn to dusk "(1997: 137).
Thus we can say that only men took advantage of polygamy whereas it is a problem for women. D. Paulme, after a research conducted to wives from Dakar concludes that "the successive marriages of the husband cannot be without conflict and in some cases a divorce occurs.”(1960: 215).
An other reason forced men taking other women, also shown in the novel “Perpétue et l’habitude du Malheur” by MONGO Beti, is weariness with the first woman or just need a change. Marrying another woman, Edward did not need wealth from the production of women; on the contrary, he did not like Perpetua. Thus, in her return from a long and forced maternity leave with her first child, it was the presence of a rival installed in the marital home.
"Long time, Perpetua and her rival Sophie, was watched for a distance, avoiding either to compete or even to address, burning yet to gauge each other closely." (PHM 177).

Long time oppressed in her life, African woman engaged in a sexual battle. Her sex was considered as a commodity. So the product is inanimate which explains the women status belittlement.

With regard to the sex, in his book “femme du Cameroun”, J. C. Barbier said that “she is a horse-trading object and her body is moneygrubber like a cash value plantain or a bag of cola.”(1985: 367). However, the woman threatened as an object of the merchandise dragged into involuntary prostitution and misses the wife function.

Today, according to MONGO Beti, the trade of woman body against social function has become a universal rule where who don’t practice are “latecomers” or "stupid", at least in Cameroon supposedly independent but corrupted society.

In Perpétue et l’habitude du malheur, Edward admits that "this practice is now widespread throughout the country, especially in the city itself, since independence." (PHM: 211)

In “Perpétue et l’habitude du Malheur” is the husband who will enjoy the sale of his wife's body: Edouard, caused by megalomania, throws his wife Perpetua in the arms of a police Almighty M 'Barg' Onana, and thus becomes a character feared and honored, moreover, fervent activist of Baba Toura. That is the advice that Edward gave his wife: "By what privilege we escape the common law! There is no woman, except silly, who feels happy if, for so little, she manages to get a job for her husband. "(PHM 211)

So the author denounces the sale of African women. The African woman is valuable and his body should be respected and not to be enjoyed by anyone and no any matter.

According to the dowry, in traditional Africa, dowry meant symbolic character. It was an alliance between two families or two lineages contract. But with the market economy, because of the monetization, there was perversion of dowry. Dowry has become a commercial negotiation, economic case. So the dowry lost its symbolic character. According to A. KAGAME “on certain areas of sub-Saharan Africa, the term dowry should be squarely replaced by the term sale of the young girl.”He goes on saying in this intention that" the old values ​​of marriage, as an alliance between two families, are converted into tradable values between two individuals, the father-in-law and son-in-law. "(1954: 177).

Dowry as buying the woman does not give any value to her to the extent where she becomes a thing bought by the man and the dowry that the man had paid makes him enough to grant her the right to arrange his wife at will.

This new “culture” of selling the girl is mentioned in « Perpétue et l’habitude du malheur ». At the age of sixteen, the mother of Perpetua saw in her a commercial interest. For one hundred thousand francs CFA, Maria put her daughter in the hands of a corrupted person “gives her to an enigmatic fantasy” (PHM 71) she forced her daughter to consummate the marriage prematurely, thus behaved like “a trader committed to honoring a contract by delivering the goods which he has hit the price.”(PHM 103)

1.2.          STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM.

The main problem to focus on here is that of traditional African women social mistreatments in their own society. These women were undermined within their own families and society and these mistreatments ranged from cultural to social-economic aspects. My focus will be that of highlighting and discussing on these issues.

1.3.          RESEARCH QUESTIONS.

 Three questions will guide my analysis and need to be answered along my dissertation.

Ø  What is the value of women in African society?

Ø  What are the social-economic and cultural problems faced by an African woman?

Ø  What is needed to reach women emancipation in Africa?

1.4.            MOTIVATION.

My interest and motivation to work on this topic has been that of my appreciation of Negro-African literature, as well as the status of African women and the issue of uplifting and emancipating African women.

1.5.             OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY.

Considering the situation of African women, the essential goal of our study is to roll up through the work of Seydou Badian “Sous l’orage” the problem and social phenomena such as customs and traditions disadvantaging women and preventing them from developing and gaining emancipation. In other words, our objectives turn around unveiling the social mistreatments of women in the African traditional society.

1.6.          SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY.

This research identifies the indispensable role the woman plays in society. It seeks to address the sense of inequality which evolves around the concept of gender in contemporary society, which arguably fails to recognize the power the African woman possesses. The paper, nonetheless, examines the implications and consequences of the increased social and economic empowerment of the contemporary African woman in the light of her traditional roles as wife and mother.

1.7.          HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY.

Till now many African and Rwandan women are mistreated in their families under the pretext that the African woman has no choice but to perform her role as wife and mother in the family. She is liable to humiliation, harassment and unhealthy competition in the work place. Other common factors characterizing men as heads of families are:

Ø  Use of violence and emotional abuse to control their families.

Ø  Believe that they have the right to behave in whatever way while in their own home.

Ø  Think that a ‘real’ man should be tough, powerful and the head of the household. They believe they can make all the family decisions solely.

Ø  They believe women are worth for sexual intercourse.

1.8.          DIVISION OF THE WORK.

This work is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is the general introduction; the second chapter is concerned with the Presentation and Conceptual framework of the work; the third chapter is concerned with the thematic content of the work and women structure in traditional African society and the fourth one is about the emancipation of contemporary women.

CHAP.2.         PRESENTATION AND CONCEPUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE WORK.                

2.1.     PRESENTATION OF THE WORK.

The presentation of a literary work aims at identifying clearly this work and makes it well known by the audience. This requires to indicate the author, give its brief summary and significance in order to make it well understood in advance.

2.1.1.      THE AUTHOR AND HIS WORKS.

Born in Bamako, Seydou Badian Kouyaté studied medicine at the University of Montpellier in France before returning to Mali. Under President Modibo Keïta, he wrote the words for Mali's national anthem, Pour l'Afrique et pour toi, Mali. In the Plan of September 17, 1962 he was named Minister of Economic and Financial Coordination; however, with the coup d'état of 1968, and the rise to the presidency of Moussa Traoré, he was deported to Kidal before being exiled to Dakar, in Senegal. Associated from its beginning with the Sudanese Union-African Democratic Rally (the party in Mali), he was removed from the party in 1998 for having opposed part of its plan to refuse recognition to certain institutions participating in contested elections.

Kouyaté is also internationally known as a writer; even before Mali's independence, in 1957, he had published his first novel, Sous l'orage.  In 1965 he wrote Les Dirigeants africains face à leur peuples, which merit the price named Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire.This was followed by two other novels, Le Sang des masques in 1976 and Noces sacrées in 1977. In 2007 his novel La Saison des pièges was published.

2.1.2.      SUMMARY OF THE WORK.

Sous l’orage talks about two young Africans who had the modern ideas (Kany and Samou) and who had the reciprocal love which thwarted by the projects of father Benfa.

Benfa, according to customs, was ready to give in marriage his daughter Kany to the trader and rich man Famaghan who wished to make Kany his third spouse. After the omission of his daughter, Benfa sent her in the village to his elder brother Djigui. It was the occasion to Kany to take more contact with the ancestral traditions and to plead her reason beside his uncle Djigui who finally decided to intercede in her favor. When she returned, her father, without considering the decision but not disobey his elder brother Djigui, continued the plan of giving his daughter to Famaghan but at the end, the elders Mamari, Aladji, Koniba and Siré told him that they had advised Famaghan to give up and they all took the decision to let Kany marry his lover Samou and live fortunately.

2.1.3.              SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WORK.

Literary works as the production of the society, maintain the particularity describing society. The comprehension of work is according to its content in proportion of the vision of the world that it expresses. It will be useless if the reader does not discover the signification of the work; the reason why the significance of the content is important is to discover the significance to the reader.

2.1.3.1.          THE TITLE OF THE WORK.

The title of a literary work must attract the reader’s attention because it contains the significance of that work. The reader tries to compare the relationship between the title of the work and its content. It is the reason why the explanation of the title ‘Sous l’orage’ translated as ‘under the storm’ appears to us to be important. This is done apart from all syntagms.

Sous                =                      under

L’                    =                      the

Orage              =                      storm.

This is the composition of three syntagms in which under is a preposition or a grammatical word used to express the concept of being beneath or below something, the is the definite article, used before a noun denoting somebody or something that has already been mentioned or identified, or something that is understood by both the speaker and the hearer. And ‘storm’[1] is a situation in which people suddenly express very strong feeling about something that someone has said or done.

Briefly, Sous l’orage named Under The Storm as the title of the work of Seydou Badian Kouyaté means the expression of people’ strong feelings, let us go in the framework of the content of the work, especially young generation, about how the marriage of a young girl was done in the traditional Africa.

“I knew you were insolent, Birama, I just found out that you're crazy. You must be crazy to tell me what I’ve just heard. What about the point of view of Kany in this case? We are the ones to decide, as it is customary. And Kany is destined to follow. Since the world is the world, marriages were done as we do. You're too small to show us the way.”So, p53, 54.

This shows that the traditional young girl did not appear in over viewing about her marriage. Young girls were even more expected to be obedient to their fathers and families and had even less to say than young men. In fact, a very strong pressure might be brought to bear on a woman to do what was arranged for her.

Then the young generation did the contrary of what was done earlier by their elder fathers. This bored the conflict of generations and made boys worry to their sisters saying that these must have their choice of their future husbands.

"There is neither a name nor a family, but Kany. She is herself who is getting married. It is for her to choose. You think things should remain in the state it was centuries ago. Everything changes and we must move with the times. You understand that Kany is at school and cannot be Famagan’s wife. If you give him the divorce will follow immediately.”So, p55, 56.

2.1.3.2.          SOUS L’ORAGE AND THE AFRICAN SOCIETY.

The work being the production of the African society, it describes the social phenomena of the community in which the author lived or was born. This was published in Mali, a country in Africa where culture is nearly the same. The literary work is the social practice, the representation of the society it describes. In traditional Africa, all these actions took place.

2.1.3.2.1.      POLYGAMY.

Polygamy has existed all over the African continent thanks and it represents an aspect of culture and religion. This type of marriage has been present in the whole history of Africa than in no other continent in the world. One of the reasons why this has happened is because African societies have managed to see that children were a form of wealth and this way a family with more children was considered to be more powerful. Under these circumstances, polygamy in Africa was considered to be part of the way you could build an empire.

At first, polygamy was very popular in the western part of Africa, but as Islam started to diffuse in this region, the prevalence of polygamy reduced continuously due to restrictions that appeared to the number of wives.

Polygamy in Africa is a very common practice that you are going to find all over Africa, but it tends to be more popular in West African countries as Seydou Badian states it:

"Yes, mama Téné had been abandoned by the father Benfa since he had married his two young women." So, p73.

2.1.3.2.2.      DIVORCE AND REPUDIATION.

Divorce is a result of misunderstanding between husband and wife. When this situation occurs, the woman is sent to her parents’ home for a given period. This situation is demonstrated in “Sous l’orage” as follows:

“If you give Kany to him, the divorce will follow immediately." So, p56.

2.1.3.2.3.      WOMAN STATUS.

African women have always been active in agriculture, trade, and other economic pursuits, but the majority of them are in the informal labor force. African women are guardians of their children and have explicit responsibility to provide for them materially. They were the household managers, providing food, nutrition, water, health, education, and family planning to an extent greater than elsewhere in the developing world. These places put heavy burdens on them, despite their development in improved agriculture technology, availability of contraception, and changes in women's socioeconomic status, which one might think would have made their lives easier. In fact, it would be fair to say that their workload has increased with the changing economic and social situation in Africa. Women's economic capabilities, and in particular their ability to manage family welfare, were being threatened. 'Modernization' has shifted the balance of advantage against women. The legal framework and the modern social sector and producing services developed but the independent African countries have not served women well.

Most African women, like those all over the world, face a variety of legal, economic and social constraints. Indeed, some laws still treat them as minors. Women end up working twice as long as men, 15 to 18 hours a day, but often earn only one tenth much. With such a workload, women often get old prematurely. Harrison correctly observes that: “Women's burdens - heavy throughout the third world - are enough to break a camel's back in much of Africa” (Harrison 1983).

Female education affects family health and nutrition, agricultural productivity, and fertility, yet there is a wide gender gap in education. Lack of resources and pressures on time and energies put enormous constraints on the ability of women to maintain their own health and nutrition as well as that of their children. As a result, women are less well equipped than men to take advantage of the better income-earning opportunities that have emerged in Africa. Although food and nutrition are women's prime concerns in Africa, and they are the principal participants in agriculture, independent farming but women have been relatively neglected.

Social attitudes to women were responsible for gender differences in both the education system and the labor force. Differential access to educational and training opportunities have led to low proportions of women in the formal sector and their subsequent concentration in low paid production jobs with limited career prospects. So, although women play an important role in African society, they suffer legal, economic and social constraints.

2.1.3.2.4.      African women and education.

Women's participation in national educational systems was again biased due to the socio-cultural and economic environments. There was also a lack of genuine political will to ensure that girls are given equal access to education in Africa. More than two-thirds of Africa's illiterates are women. Women were regarded as inferior to men and were not expected to aspire to higher positions as men, especially in what are considered as 'male' fields (engineering, computing, architecture, medicine, etc.). It is largely assumed that educating women would make them too independent; in other words, they would not do what they are expected to do - look after the house, bring up children, and cater to their husband's needs.

In poor countries, extending access to education and training was often difficult when the cultural and monetary costs are high or the benefits are limited. When families face economic problems they prefer to invest their limited resources in the education of boys rather than provide what is considered as 'prestigious' education for girls who would eventually marry and abandon their professions anyway. Nevertheless, girls were increasingly getting some limited education, and the focus of concern is gradually shifting to providing access to the same range of educational opportunities open to boys. In poor families, boys are often given first claim on whatever limited educational opportunities are available, although the global policy climate today is more supportive of measures designed to expand the educational horizons of girls than it was twenty years ago.

Even when parents can be persuaded of the value of sending their girls to school, there remains the problem of helping the girls to complete their studies. Dropout rates in the primary grades are higher for girls than for boys in many African countries. In Tanzania, for instance, half of the school dropouts each year are girls of 12 to 14 years who have to leave school because of pregnancies. Such early pregnancies are often blamed on the absence of family life education and the imitation of foreign life styles.

Very few schools allow pregnant girls or young mothers to complete their education. The other half of the Tanzanian pupils who drop out do so for a variety of reasons, including poverty, traditional norms, increases in school fees and deterioration in the quality of learning. Child marriages are also very common in Africa: although the law in many countries does not allow girls under 16 to be married, parents marry their daughters at an early age so they have one less mouth to feed.[2]

Differences in national and regional educational patterns are in part due to differences in population pressures and resource availability, but they have also reflected differing policy priorities. But there have been signs, in recent years, of a growing international consensus on the importance of investing in education for the quality of life in society and for national development generally (UNESCO, 1991).

Although the number of females who have been continuing on to the secondary level in Africa has increased, and the gap between male and female enrolments is narrowing, the increase in the number of women continuing to tertiary education has been minimal. The figures for Africa are the lowest in the world. As mentioned earlier, in most developing countries, the opportunities for girls to advance beyond the first level of formal education are still significantly less than for boys.

All along the work we will see how the woman status is also undermined This is shown by the explanation of mama Téné to her daughter Kany. "Kany, listen well, you are no longer a child. You know seeing and understanding some of the things, I suffered in this house I still suffer." So, p73.

2.2.     CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE WORK.

2.2.1.              Introduction.

Before undertaking the scientific research, the definition of key concepts proves important to make readers pick up the general idea of the subject. But in critical study of the novel, the conceptual specification is far to be sufficient for understanding that the novel to the reader measures the literary study containing the suitable information to the society. Every writer adopts his/her manner to succeed in turning up his/her ideas to the readers. He/she uses the imaged style, inaccessible to every reader. However, the critic has the duty of clarifying the contained idea or information.

In fact, it is important for us to present the work “sous l’orage(under the storm)” to set and identify it in its context. The identification consults the author and his works because sometimes with effect of the literary work we can constitute the biography of its author. With action, the presentation of the writer’s life and his works is necessary because his/her life can be the reflection of the production of his work. Apart from an identification of the work, the explanation of the title of the novel, its summary and its significance are also indispensable to make clearly “sous l’orage(under the storm)” understandable.

2.2.2.             Conceptual framework.

In scientific research, the conceptual framework is the part which consists of defining its specific characteristics compared with target objectives. It is not only the assistance to perceive, but also the manner of conceiving. It organizes the reality and retains the distinctive characters, significant of the phenomena. In this part, the key words which are going to be explained are:  a woman, African woman, the literature and the expression “under the storm”.

2.2.2.1.          A woman.

The dictionary Oxford Student’s Dictionary for learners using English to study other subjects defines a woman as an adult female person. We often call a “woman” every human being of feminine sex married and for the single we call her a “girl”. In our study the word woman points out every human being of the feminine sex resigned, and submissive.

In traditional Africa, a woman had less value than a man. Her duty was only to obey the husband’s recommendations. She was either required to be the householder and do the agricultural works. She was supposed to be a forgotten person, and be at beneath of the social scale.

According to the husband’s domination towards the woman, it was not evil for maltreating their women fearing to be crushed by them. With this, at home, the husband was a lion, a supreme leader, feared by her wife and his children.

Briefly, it is this resigned and submissive woman whom we are going to be interested in during this study. In the work “Sous l’orage” the image of this woman is Mama Téné and the image of this child is Kany.

2.2.2.2.          An African woman.

As we have seen the definition of a woman, an African woman is an adult female person who comes from Africa. But we cannot forget that we call an African woman a whole number of black women from all over the world sharing the same life.

An African woman faced many problems including the inferiority in the face of her husband, polygamy, repudiation, punishment, bullying, question of marriage, and so forth. Women were treated with unparalleled respect because they were seen to be closer to the creator than men. Women are considered as creators or life givers since they are the ones who bear pregnancy and ultimately give the birth to children. It is worth to consider women as life providers and should be regarded as active participants in developing our world. For this reason, women need to be economically and socially empowered in order to perform their task better. 

2.2.2.3.          Literature.

The Encarta Dictionary defines the word literature as written works with artistic value: written works, e.g. fiction, poetry, drama, and criticism that are recognized as having important or permanent artistic value. Literature has the target of teaching and warning the public or the society.

Literature has the power of communication, in particular within the society. Throughout this communication, a writer criticizes, informs, and teaches the society. Literature is the means of communication which can reach the good part of the society. The message transmitted by the novel seems to be more comprehensible than that of the poem. In Africa, even after decolonization, literature remained a way of denouncing political mistreatments. The African writer is taken as the voice of the voiceless. The wishes of the people are communicated through writings.

In Africa longtime colonized, even after its decolonization, literature remained the means of denouncing political maltreatments. The African writer is considered as the people’s voice. Throughout his writings, he communicated the wishes of his people. However, some writers have been chased and the appearance of some works has been forbidden. In the present work, we chose to resort to the novel to tell more about the tragedy lived by an African woman.        

2.2.2.4.          The expression “under the storm”.

The expression “Under the Storm” means the expression of people’s strong feelings; let us go in the framework of the content of the work, especially young generations, about how the marriage of a young girl was done in traditional Africa. This shows that the traditional young girl did not appear in over viewing about her marriage. Young girls were even more expected to be obedient to their fathers and families and had even less to say than young men.

Then the young generation was on the point of contrary of what the elders had been doing. This bored the conflict of the generations and this made the boys worry to their sisters saying that these must have their choice of their future husbands.

CHAP. 3. THEMATIC CONTENT OF THE WORK AND WOMAN’S STRUCTURE IN TRADITIONAL AFRICA.

            3.1.     THEMATIC CONTENTS OF THE WORK.

To produce a literary work, the writer draws the ideas in society. He produces the social realities. His work must be aimed at well describing events, which makes the reader understand its content. That aim is that of informing the society to correct its habits, etc. Nevertheless, to tell his/her story, it requires being at first a knot on which this must turn around. That knot is called “theme”.

In this work we have the following themes:

3.1.1.             The conflict of generation and the conflict of cultures.

The conflict between generations is a result of different views and concepts. Some believes that it springs from parents experience and opposed to lack of experience of adolescents. The English writer George Orwell said that “Each generation imagines that it is smarter than the previous generation and wiser than the next generation.” Young people of all generations have had always a tendency to stand out by clothing, vocabulary, music, etc.  And all times, their behavior was criticized and commented. If the man would change, would stop the progress of evolution. Each generation has its problems, aspirations and desires.

In this work, the elders are contrary to modernism that threw them in the conflict with the young generation that wishes to follow modernism.  The desire of young people to quit the tradition makes elders think that they are losing their value.

"Old people are rather unfortunate. Imagine a man who, still very rich yesterday, today remains with nothing. He is announced that his wealth will have no value, his granaries are full of millet, and he is coming to know that millet is worthless (...) "SO, p172.

The conflict between generations has always existed, through never has reached so high levels as nowadays. The question raises is to ask if it is the fault of the society which is in continuous transformation, to be the concepts teenagers or parents. The fact is that we are witnessing to a split between generations that affects the family relationship. Hear cases in which teenagers, because lack of communication with family, recourse to unexplained gestures.

In their thoughts, the elders said that even to be at school makes children disobey their parents. They prefer not to send them to school frightened that if they reach this place will be the self-reliance and while it requires sending a girl there, she will be the decision maker for herself and refuse her parents’ customary decisions. For example Fadiga le Muezzin said:

"School is the enemy of the family. (...) Girls attending this environment need to solve all problems by themselves, and some go so far as to want to choose their husbands (...) my girl will never see the doors of this place. "SO, p22.

3.1.2.              The African woman and modernity.

On this stage, there is some mistake done by the young generation to try to reject all traditional way to follow the European way.

"Yes, you are wrong to want to ignore all. You are wrong to try to imitate the Europeans at all. The European man is only one of many aspects of man. We do not ask you to be Europeans. We don’t ask you to misrepresent. "SO, p142, 143

But wrongly, they don’t think that even though they want to be modernists, they can’t leave the traditionally completely, because they still are Africans.

"Without them, what would we do? European dances maybe! That party has made me ​​clearly understand the truth. Humanity would be really poor if we all want to become Europeans. It is desirable that in such meetings everyone can bring his singing, his dancing. "SO, p144, 145.

3.1.3.              The acculturation.

This is remarked by the young generation that chose to throw out the tradition totally to follow the modernism. This is appeared when Birama was talking his elder Sidi.

"All this is exceeded, Birama told Sidi his elder brother; the civilization demands something else. We have been not done for this life you're talking about; it’s good for the ignorant. (...) For my hand, I decided I would never let me being old-fashioned and exceeded by others. "SO, p30

This is also shown by Tiéman when told Birama when he refused to go to the Tam-Tam.

"Oh yes ... I see, you are not interest in this. Of course, you are not alone to say this; all young people like you are advanced. "SO, p142.

3.1.4.              The women status.

In this work, the condition of the woman was not ameliorated. We see Mama Téné mistreated between her two young newcomers rival spouses especially Mata new newcomer how this one made the laws to home and how Benfa always scold to mama Téné. This is what caused Téné to say to her loved daughter Kany.

"I have suffered in this house, I still suffer. For you and your brother, I accepted everything and I'm ready to continue.”SO, p73. This shows that Mama Téné was not happy in her house. Even though young generation was contrary to what have been done by the elders and denounces their actions, they sometimes accepted to be vulnerable not to make their parents sorrowful and be worry to their mother mistreated.

Yes, now Kany saw all these. She saw her mother selling campaigns to market, spinning cotton morning and evening, making dyeing, weaving for the women of the neighborhood and all this in order to clothe her children: Birama, Karamoko, Nianson and herself Kany. S.O. p74.

3.1.5.              The marriage of a young African girl according to the tradition.

According to Bryan(1999) in his Black’s Law Dictionary, marriage is defined as a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife; though polygamous marriage or polyandrous one is illegal in many societies including Rwandan’s where people do practice a form of “serial polygamy” due to the fact that people remarry following divorce or death.

In traditional Africa, young girl was even more expected to be obedient to his father and family and had even less say than young man. The marriage in African societies was a linking of 2 families, not simply a linking of 2 individuals. Marriage was not approached with romantic notions; personal affection between the individuals was not the prime consideration in arranging a marriage.

 Most marriages were arranged by the families. In sous l’orage the family of Kany was charged to negotiate with her future husband:

"Yes, we have the right to require everything we want to Kany because Kany has something to us: she takes our family name" Sidi Told Birama. SO, p54, 55. He goes on saying that:

“There is no question of love, said mama ​​Tene, you must obey, you do not belong to yourself and you must not decide anything, it's your father who is the master and it is your duty to obey. The things are forever.” SO, p72.

Even though the marriage were arranged so, the young people who was required to follow the families’ decision was unhappy to merry the husband or the wife of their families choice often they didn’t take them in love. But because their mothers fear to be mistreated by their husband, they beg their children to follow the families’ decisions. This is appeared in Toiles d’araignées written by IBRAHIM LY with Hawa’s reaction while her daughter refused to merry Bakary the tuberculosis infected one.

"Streams of tears flowed from Hawa tired eyes, reddened by the thoughts that consumed her. So you want my death Mamouni? Your father will never forgive me your stubbornness. Whole village depart from me, because only a bad wife can cause cursed children. My smile is taken for mud (...) do you measure that your refusal would mean to me, your mother?” (1990:56)

Also this appears in Sous l’orage when Kany told her mother:

Ma! Said Kany who had recovered strongly. Forgive me but I cannot be the wife of Famaghan. Do for me what you want, I would rather die. (...) and continue saying: No Ma! But I want you to understand that what you are considering is impossible. Why do you refuse Samu? What had he done wrong to you? Why do you push him? Why do not you let me continue my studies? I beg you!

And when she sworn that she will not merry Famaghan, her mother begged her to follow his father’s order.

"There is no question for love, said Mama ​​Téné, you must obey, you do not belong to yourself and you must not decide anything, it's your father who is the master and your duty is to obey. The things are done in this way forever. "So, p72.

3.2.     THE ANALYSIS OF THE CHARACTERS.

3.2.1.              The characters.

BENFA:                       Patriarch, responsible of the family, who wanted to sell the knowledge of her daughter.  He is a spouse and an authoritarian father and has a terrible temper. He is marked by his regardless of the modernism and everyone who is pride on it.

 KANY:                         A modern young girl and educated. Her best wishes is to acquire the   profession and to merry Samou. She is contrary to her father by not to considering of what is traditional.  

SAMOU:                 Collegian, like Kany and her lover. He also is not on the hand of traditional.

SIBIRI:                          The eldest authoritarian son of Benfa; pure production of the tradition. To him, the tradition is the reference, confident of his father and all their social traditionalists

BIRAMA:                    The symbol of the new generation more closed to Kany. He dared to confront and to contradict Sibiri. He considered that it is needed to go with the steps of the time

MAMAN TÉNÉ:     Spouse of Benfa and mother of Kany. A resigned mother, she couldn’t dare neither to affirm nor to disowning the decisions of his husband, neither his alliance with Kany.  

DJIGUI:                       Lived in village. He is the wise of the tradition; he tried mediation between his younger Benfa and his modern children, Kany and Birama

TIÉMAN LE SOIGNEUR: A nurse, he chose to stay in village. Faithful to tradition, he is an initiator of Birama and Kany. Man of synthesis, he proposed a possible solution: equilibrium between the tradition and modernism.

3.3.                 KEY ELEMENTS THAT CONSTITUTE THE WOMAN STATUS.

In traditional African society, there were many elements that constitute hindrance of woman status. In fact, the woman was placed in closed space.

3.3.1.               Woman’s inferiority.

 From early a woman was considered as a weak sex. She had no role to play; she only took the second role only to take care to the children and to and to execute the decision took by husband in which she couldn’t assist. Briefly, we can say that she only had to get married, to work for home and to give birth as far as his husband need.

3.3.2.              Punishment and bullying.

These were daily diet to the woman. She suffered all abuses. When a woman says a word which makes the husband nonsense he collected her, means to beat her without any doubt and no trial to that aggression.

41% of women report being beaten or physically harmed by their partner in Uganda. (José chameleon in Jamila.) When this woman named Jamila said:

He has been coming home late, and when I asked him why he just beat me and pushed me out. I’m fed up with him and in fact am going back to my parent.

3.2.3.              The polygamy.

In traditional African society even nowadays, the polygamy is being practicing. This includes having more than one woman. We can’ forget the Islam culture where a man is allowed to merry more than 4 wives. The advantages of polygyny are most obvious in a subsistence economy. Every woman was an important producer and a polygynous family thus had greater resources and security. Also, children begin to contribute economically relatively early.
In traditional Africa, having many children had the signification of the treasure. This was the fortune, where everyone was proud to bear as to fulfill the world. To achieve this goal, a man had to merry many wives.

3.3.4.              Repudiation.

This is running in our society. When a woman refuses to follow his husband’s recommendations, he sends her to her parents for a no determined time. This is the repudiation, which is most practiced in a whole Africa especially in Maghreb  society as we see in Rachid BOUDJEDRA’s book called La Répudiation.

3.4.          AFRICAN MARRIAGE.

Note that marriage in African societies was a linking of 2 families, not simply a linking of 2 individuals. Marriage was not approached with romantic notions; personal affection between the individuals was not the prime consideration in arranging a marriage. Although it was almost universal practice that after initiation young people would begin to ‘sweetheart’, this was not usually part of a courtship for marriage. Most marriages were arranged by the families.

3.4.1.         What role did the prospective groom and    bride have in  arranging a marriage? 

3.4.1.1.        Bridegroom.

Unless he was an older, established man (and certainly it was case for young men) negotiations and decisions were in the hands of elders in the family. Young men were expected to go along with whatever arrangements were made (few young men would have the resources to arrange a marriage for themselves so the assistance of the family was essential). However, there were constraints on the family: If the young man was unhappy with his wife and failed to treat her properly, she could return to her family, and all or much of the lobola would be forfeited. Thus, families would not normally try to force a man to marry a woman he disliked. Also, in practice, they might even ask him for his preference, and if they could not find a strong reason to oppose that choice, they might try to arrange it.

3.4.1.2.                    Bride.

Young girls were even more expected to be obedient to their fathers and families and had even less say than young men. In fact, very strong pressure might be brought to bear on a woman to do what was arranged for her; this might even include beatings.

3.4.2.               The issue of coercion.

The issue of coercion is complex: girls were not supposed to be happy to leave their parents and were expected to display grief (often having to be dragged from home to the groom’s homestead, this provided grist for missionaries’ criticisms that African girls were being sold like slaves and were dragged crying and screaming to their new masters!).

However, there were examples where girls did run away to missionaries pleading to be saved from unwanted marriages, so there were certainly elements of coercion.

Nevertheless, many authorities claim that if a girl were absolutely opposed to a marriage and was determined enough, she could in fact usually avoid it.

3.4.3.               Elopement/Abduction.

There were shortcuts which cut out many of the preliminaries. Elopement would take place when the girl went with her prospective husband to his family’s homestead. Immediately, emissaries would be sent to initiate negotiations. Once things had been precipitated in this way, it would give great offense to refuse such a marriage and it would not be refused unless there were very serious objections. Once an agreement was reached, the girl would return home, but the marriage ceremonies and the girl’s move to the groom’s family homestead would be completed relatively quickly. This was one way that young people could force the hands of their elders.
In abduction, the groom and some of his friends/family members would abduct the girl and take her to his family’s homestead. Often the ‘abduction’ would be arranged with the assistance of the girl’s father (it would reduce expenses). As above, only very serious objections would allow either family to refuse to carry out the marriage.

3.4.4.       Divorce and end of marriage options.

What we would call divorce involve a woman leaving her husband’s home. Lobola payments meant that disentangling the economic ties between the families became very complex and difficult after several years.

In patrilineal societies, which were probably the majority, children born while married were considered to belong to the husband’s family (in this case, few or no cattle would be returned). If the children were young when the marriage ended, they would normally go with the mother, but when they grew up, the men would usually return to the father’s family (that is where their right of inheritance was). A daughter might not return to live with the father, but the father would likely insist on being involved in her marriage and would receive most of the lobola cattle.

On the death of a husband, a woman had several options: 

Ø  In some societies, the levirate was practiced and the widow would remain with the husband’s family; i.e., a brother would take the widow as his wife, although any children born would be considered children of the dead husband. In societies where the levirate was not, the widow could remain with the dead husband’s family (unless they didn’t want her). She could take a lover(s), who could be a brother but not necessarily; again, any children born would be considered children of the dead husband.

Ø  She could return to her family.

Ø  She could stay with a son, especially if he had established his own homestead.

On the death of a wife, much depended upon whether or not there were children. If there were, then no dowry was repaid; if there were not and she was still young, then the husband could demand return of dowry or ask for a second wife (frequently a sister of the deceased wife).

3.5.       DOWRY.

This was not a purchase or sale; women were not chattels; Women controlled the results of their labor; they were expected to contribute to the husband and to the household and there were strong social pressures to be generous, but her produce could not be taken from her. Similarly, cattle belonging to her house could not be disposed of without her permission. Thus, they had some elements of independence and standing.

Dowry was what legitimized a marriage both in law (“Was dowry paid?”) and in attitudes. Missionaries who tried to abolish it found that men who did not pay dowry might not really consider themselves married and were more likely to abandon the woman.

Dowry also provided a religious sanction; cattle were a special means of communicating with the ancestors and cattle sacrifices were the most efficacious means to please and mollify them. Thus, for those societies where cattle had great ritual importance, dowry in cattle provided a religious legitimization. For women, dowry gave a feeling of value and worth.

3.6.     RIGHT TO THE LABOR OF THE WOMAN OR COMPENSATION FOR THE LOSS OF HER LABOR.

This explanation has been given by some anthropologists and was the explanation most often given by Africans themselves. Just as a woman was becoming an adult and thus a full-fledged producer, she was married and went off to join her husband’s family; therefore, dowry was compensation for the loss of her labor and her contributions. Or as Africans often expressed it, it was compensation for all the trouble and expense of raising the woman. The husband’s family was getting the benefits without having incurred the costs.

3.7.          CHILD-BEARING CAPACITY.

In view of the importance of children and the strong desire to perpetuate the family by providing new members, a woman’s child-bearing capacity was very valuable and highly prized. Dowry was compensation to the bride’s family for the loss of her child-bearing, reproductive capacity; it was important also in that it provided a means to secure a replacement for her.

It is supported by a couple of other facts. If there were children, dowry was not returned either when a wife died or there was a divorce. The children belonged to the husband and his family and were considered ample return for dowry. Also, if a woman failed to produce a child, the husband’s family could demand a return of the dowry or that a replacement wife (often a sister) be sent.

3.8.          GLUE FOR AFRICAN MARRIAGE.

This was also an important function. Payment of dowry gave both families a stake in the marriage and its success. Breakdowns and divorce created endless tangles and difficulties, tracing cows over several years, plus their increase or death, etc. These were the most complex and difficult court cases to resolve.

Thus family members on both sides would have an interest in maintaining the marriage; the husband’s family would work to control his behavior and treatment of the wife; the wife’s family would try to persuade her to stay or to return if they thought she was frivolous and likely to be blamed for a breakdown.

3.9.          AN INCENTIVE TO PRESERVE A GIRL’S VIRGINITY.

In many societies (especially patrilineal ones) girls were supposed to remain virgins until marriage. An unmarried girl who was no longer a virgin or who became pregnant was disgraced; at the very least she would command a much lower dowry and might be unmarriageable. Thus, mothers in many societies inspected their marriage aged daughters regularly and kept a close eye on them. Some missionaries came to regret the disappearance of this practice as pregnancies among unmarried girls in Christian families began to mount.

It should be noted that ‘fault’ where a unmarried girl became pregnant did not rest primarily with the girl. The man (and his family) was held to have the primary responsibility for seduction and the girl’s family could sue for a payment of cattle that was almost equal to dowry.

CHAP.4.         THE RAISE OF EMANCIPATION OF AN AFRICAN WOMAN.

4.1.             INTRODUCTION.

There is no gainsaying the obvious that women have played leadership roles in the development of various African societies from pre-colonial days till now. Even though the patriarchy system in Africa cannot be denied, yet, the African woman possesses the power that binds the society together. In traditional African society, the survival of the family and the future of marriage depended a great deal on the African woman. Thus, the African woman played a key role in the education and the teaching of children social, ethical and moral values which were part of the cultural standards for evaluating proper social behavior. Even in contemporary Africa where most women are now more equipped and empowered, the traditional care-giving, home-making and nurturing roles of women in the African family which formed the basis of their identity as wives and mothers are gradually been abandoned, as they have become increasingly involved in new roles and relations outside the home.

General areas of concern about African women have multiplied since the 1960s to include political emancipation; education and training; economic empowerment; problems of Structural Adjustment Programs; women’s access to better jobs; women’s easier access to credit for income generating businesses or purchase of land or property; women and health, which highlights women’s need for access to health services, particularly reproductive and sexual health; environment and health; women and the state: the question of war, violations, repression, and state violence; women and politics: the question of leadership and political participation; women and rights and social justice : that is policy, legal reform, and concrete actions to empower women; and so on. You can never completely exhaust the demands for rights, not because women are greedy, but because women are as diverse as societies themselves and therefore women’s conditions and needs are equally complex.

The literature, the example of other estates of the creation like painting, sculpture, and music, has its geniuses, its hidden faces and its mechanism of exclusion. Thus, for a long time, it has been the privileged domain to the man.  Not only them who wrote, but also the theme of the women has taken the place. The African women started to express their miserable condition in the year of 1970. “La parole au Négresses,” published in 1978 by Awa THIAM had played the detonative role. These caused the denunciation of abusive practices like excision, forced marriages, polygamy etc…which made the minor life to the woman.

We can’t thus forget that there was the timidity steps of some novelists who attempted to rehabilitate the woman. There is an example of Cheikh Hamidou KANE with that positive image in L’Aventure Ambiguë or in Les Bouts de Bois de Dieu of SEMBENE Ousmane where he talked about the heroine Ndeye Touti who had the energetic impulsion who new implemented the women’s right. We can add some playwright who defended the women where we can quote Guillome Oyono MBIA with his work Trois Prétendants… un mari and Bernard Dadié’s Béatrice du Congo where Dona Béatrice played a jump of revolt and of the dignity, is the symbol of hope and the renew of Africa.

With the raise of emancipation, we can’t go ahead without talking about gender and sex. Today sex and gender have much confusion associated with their usage. Many researchers have tried to make the distinction between the above terms but still some people confuse them. Some think gender equals woman.

It means when you utter the word gender you mean woman. This emerged from the fact that since many years, women movements have used this term while claiming gender inequality.

It is on this regard that some researchers like Linda define gender and sex stating “gender refers to social cultural and psychological aspect of men and women in a particular social context but sex is biologically based. It involves characteristics that differentiate males and females in terms of chromosomal, anatomical, reproductive and hormonal and other psychological characteristics. She continued that sex is viewed as ascribed status but gender as achieved one.” (1990:2)

4.2.             EMANCIPATION.

Emancipation means the freedom of somebody especially from legal, political or social restrictions. So the emancipation of women means to set the women free from any kind of bondage. Women in Africa are politically exploited, socially oppressed and neglected. And the need for their emancipation arises from this social environment.

4.2.1.                Meaning of emancipation of women.

The phrase "Emancipation of women" is frequently used to describe a process wherein the powerless can gain a greater share over resources and decision-making. Generally, the emancipation of women is a process through which women in general and poor women in particular tend to gain control over resources and ideologies. The emancipation of women ensures the freedom of self-fulfillment and self-development as well as equal access to domestic and community resources.

The emancipation of woman, i.e.  their liberation from religious, legal, economics and sexual oppression, their access to higher education and their escape from narrow gender roles is not easily achieved. The struggle for sexual equality has a long history and is likely to continue for some time. Even if it should soon be won in industrial nations, it may well rage on in many “underdeveloped” countries.

4.2.2.          Condition of women in Africa.

Despite the constitutional safeguards, women role in the public service has been negligible (see the background of the research). But violence against women is alarmingly on the increase.

4.2.3.             Cause of disempowerment of African women.

The reasons behind the disempowerment of women are many. However, we can sort out the major causes into the following three heads.

4.2.3.1.        Economic Causes.

The majority of the women are dependent on men for their economic insolvency. Up to now we have seen that women are disadvantaged by cultural, educational, political and religious factors. Furthermore, we can assume that these are key factors to the development and economic growth. So it is not strange to say that the position of women in economic sector is the poorest among others. For a long time, there were delayed to access, to resources and other kind related to management.

4.2.3.2.    Socio-cultural and religious causes.

(i) Illiteracy: The most of the women in Asia and Africa are illiterate. The rate of literacy of women is less than that of men.

(ii) Negligence: In Asia and Africa women are ignored. So people usually do not tend to welcome a girl baby in their family.

(iii) Cultural Indifference: The culture of Asia also affects women to a great extent. They are considered inferior to men. On the other hand, the system of dowry on the part of a bride is detrimental to women development.

4.2.3.3.              Political causes.

In Asia and Africa women has a very few political rights. They do not get support by the men. Women representation in the party committee and other bodies is very rare.

To emancipate women, the following measures should be taken.

(i) The obstacle to the development of women should be removed.

(ii) The attitude of men towards women should be changed.

(iii) Women should be encouraged to take part in development activities.

(iv) The government should give women accessibility to credit and other monetary assistance for income generating activities.

The new millennium has come with hopes and aspirations for the women-folk. The active co-operation between men and women is a must for the real development. In this regard, collective efforts by the government, Non-Government Organizations, and international organizations as well as by the conscious people of society can ensure their emancipation from the so-called bondage.

4.3.          AFRICAN WOMEN AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION IN GLOBAL CONTEXT.

In the 1980’s, women studies scholarship in Africa was largely dependent on policy-oriented applied research methods; it was donor driven, under theorized and depoliticized. By the 1990s, the discipline gained strength as a number of women entered the field of gender studies. Despite the dominance of Western theoretical constructions, African women emerged as the central subject of social inquiry, raising questions about which aspects should be visible, which should be silenced, and what are the consequences of both in theoretical and practical terms. While it is undeniable that historically women have been disadvantaged relative to men, perpetually looking at them as victims creates a discourse of lamentation that negates rather than promotes knowledge about them.

Every continent has its own peculiar crisis. In Africa, wars, population displacement, and global economic marginalization converge to amplify the problem of poverty in people’s life, and in feminist research as well. When research is continually driven by the plight of women, we breech the thin line between politics and academia and produce scholarship that is mired
in lamentation. Although such research does alert societies and governments of the need for drastic change, its emphasis on development (i.e., an ideology driven by development policies) empties it of imaginative content. This loss of critical insight is further aggravated by the instrumentalist insistence of governments and donors to treat women as newly discovered resources to be harnessed and exploited.

The issue we face today is: How do we actively build a body of knowledge that addresses the problem of development without necessarily falling into the trap of development? How do we build critical feminist resources? Hence, for this special issue of Gender: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies, we opt for a conceptual framework and an orientation that treats African women as social agents. We aim to harness hitherto silenced knowledge by, for, and about African women; we seek to highlight positive images of movers and resilient actors quietly transforming their societies; and we strive to unearth critical voices in cultural and feminist knowledge.

The selected thematic areas below are based on an urgent need to articulate the place of African women in social transformation, and to contribute substantively to developing African feminism. Contributors are invited to look at social transformation holistically, and to forcefully articulate the centrality of African women’s agency in maintaining and upholding societies. Historical pieces, stories, poems and narratives of the contemporary are all welcome.

4.4.                AFRICAN WOMEN AS MOTHERS, SPOUSES AND EDUCATORS.

From a current observation of African society, women are generally banished from the public spheres of power. When they are urged to participate in the political life of their countries through civil and political authority, for instance, they often become indebted to the "chief" to whom they owe their "promotion". Women can pay back this debt in a humiliating way. Outside of the political arena, however, African women demonstrate their merits in another way. This ambivalent role is disclosed through the figures of mother, spouse and educator. Through these eminent and unique roles, whereby women hold the indispensable function of life giver and peacekeeper, they exercise the power to protect life in dignity and pride more so than anyone else in African society.

"It is the mother to understand the inexplicable. It's mother to illuminate the ‘darkness’. It is mother to smolder when lightning streaks across the night when the thunder violates the earth, when mud bogging. It is mother to love without neither beginning nor end (...). It is mother to face the floods. " (Ba, Mariam 1979:121)

Firstly, as a mother, the woman has a privileged relationship with her son, despite whatever the son becomes. This ascendancy of the son lasts forever and the mother can usefully use her prerogative to advise or even to command her son. In most cases, the son listens to his mother more than he does his father. She is the foundational pillar upon which all the family and community structures rely. The African mother is more than a "domestic cook" in charge of managing the household. In a way, she manages the entire community and is more efficient than any "First Lady" or Mme Minister. 

As a personage in the shadow of her son, the African mother indirectly exercises her power through her motherly attributes. There is an African depiction of the process of decision making where the role of the woman as mother is omnipresent, in contrast to the Western traditions of relationships of power. In her capacity as mother of the most influential persons in the society, she is respected and feared, as well as honored and admired. In traditional Africa, I noticed the role played by queen mothers in the foundation of the empire and the establishment of civil peace. Nowadays, women of great importance still play a deciding role in the construction of their society. There are some African societies that are marked by matriarchy where the obvious political influence of the mother, source and principle of power, is recognized. 

Secondly, as spouse, the African woman is not just a "female": she is a partner equally involved in the process of building the family, an important element of the community. The subjugation she suffers from today on the grounds of her being the "weak sex" is falsely determined by the difference in role from men which is only slight. In effect, her role as a responsible spouse, in partnership with her husband, is possible if both are trusting in each other. The ideal is that husband and wife become "friends: one taking the advice of the other into consideration. This is possible only through communication. Here again the African difference is disclosed by "invisible spaces" of communication.

African spouses do not protest, in a democratic way, to claim equality with their husbands in times of conflicts. They are not expected to vociferate their demands because the society has provided them with adequate room to air their grievances without demonstrating against what they think the right things are. Consider the meaning of the African dictum. "la nuit porte conseil" Advice does not come from the nightmares which can challenge the lonely man much concerned with his problem. This saying is a request for more time in order to consult one's wife during the night. Nights are the best time to discuss important issue as family business and professional and other issues.

The third specific attribute of the African woman is her role as an educator. Education entails not only the teaching of human and cultural values, but as mothers and educators, women lead their sons and daughters on the road to a good life. Genuine education involves the shaping of character through the example of the educator. This challenging aspect of the role of the African woman requires that she live a life worthy of imitation. In African tradition, women are the first pedagogues in the sense that they are the first to lead their children. It is this attribute that explains why African women are capable of doing anything they can to sustain a disrupted family.
They do whatever possible to meet the needs of their family, as they assume their unique role as educator when men abdicate their responsibility. They sacrifice their lives, if necessary, in order to educate their children. With economic bankruptcy and the collapse of many African institutions, women try to maintain life in many African countries, through daily food supply to the long-term investment by way of paying education fees for kids. If African communities are surviving the economic crisis, it is largely due to the ingenuity of women who are still fulfilling their roles while men are run away from their duties. The question, then, is to know who ultimately retains the legitimacy of power in African societies in order to make development possible. 

4.5.          WOMEN AS AGENTS OF THE DEVELOPMENT.

Even if women in Africa are destitute and experience suffering and humiliation, there remains a great deal of human values that can only be transmitted by women in the process of rebuilding the damaged African society. In this process, they can be referred to as agents of a genuine development. Let us explore now the foundation of women's role in Africa, which I labeled earlier as life giver and peacekeeper. I want now to propose an African anthropology of development, whereby women, as agents, can sow the seeds of the peace that nourish the lives they give. Because they give life, they are more concerned about what threatens life as well.

Simply put, development, as theorists argue, aims at bettering the quality of life, by fostering human progress. We have seen from the African setting that women, in their roles as mothers, spouses and educators, deal with the transmission of the values that keep and promote life. Consequently, an African anthropology of development is probably woman-centered. The issue should not be only the economical, nor must it be political. In the situation of the endemic violence in African societies, the function of peacekeeper must be viewed as an agency of development led by the African woman. She is already playing this role in the family setting when she returns the power of a husband and a son inclined to immoderate use of force. 

Traditional organizational structures have changed so much in African society due to colonial legacy. Women, traditionally in the shadow of power, can no longer play the discreet but efficient role assigned to them. Nowadays, they are too often overshadowed by powerful men known as dictators. Their presence must be more visible. Their status, as I have argued all over this paper, claim some rights to be recognized as favors for woman. Rather, what matters is a question of recognition de facto of the prevailing situation: there is no development of African societies when women who are the agents of this policy of well-being are left aside.

GENERAL CONCLUSION AND RECOMANDATION.

1.     GENERAL CONCLUSION

As every work has an introduction, it has also the conclusion. Then globally, after the study of the expression of African woman status as it is reflected in “Sous l’orage”, there is a little question on what a woman can do or cannot in stepping ahead to modify the situation for the better.  Again, one is hardly to wonder whether she can do as his man counterpart. It is obvious that women always talk about legendry, mythical, fictional, if not over stated. However, all of those narratives and literary works have been collected by both men and women. What was their real intention? Nothing except making the story and experience the spread in order to change the minds of many people: women and men.

It would sound naïve not to consider a certain meaningful percentage of reality wrapped up in myths, legends and fictions. It’s moreover logic suggesting that human society could improve lifelong but if and only men let women be, both mentally and physically.

Much have been said and written highlighting and explaining the way women are able. Most of the concerned writings are read and others are not. What are read by both women and men. Now, why there still exist many ideas that hold down a woman? The answer may be that some of women are belittled and oppressed by beliefs, culture, and are never touched by the so called democracy and modernization.

African women are expressing views about women’s conditions and rights, and feminist discourses about these rights as I asserted in previous chapters. Because women are essential to the progress of their societies and Africa’s future, it is important to understand the nature of discrimination and injustice against women in various countries of Africa. It is equally important that we acknowledge differences in women’s conditions and concerns. I argue that African women can and do speak out about their conditions, needs, and rights, and have played an important role in the cause of social justice. African women’s conditions and concerns got onto the agenda of national and international institutions and agencies due to real sacrifices and bravery of African women themselves acting as feminists, even if not quite identifying themselves as such.

Because women know the price of life more than anyone else, they would do whatever they can to protect fragile lives. And in times of peace, when development is possible, women manage the dying organizations with their practical marketing skills for the benefit of the whole national community. Women can use their ability as peacekeepers to play other important roles only if their places as mother, spouse and educator are recognized. It is only by recognizing the feminine role with its specific primacy on life issues that the development of African nations will be effective because there is no development without such recognition.

2.     RECOMMENDATION.

After finding the subjection faced by a traditional African women and how inferior they are, I just want to point out some major concerns by way of recommendations. The role of African women in the context of violence is to restore peace. The survival of African society depends basically on women as we recognize their function as life giver and peacekeeper. Only women can shape developmental policies as they scrutinize whether the proposal of a better life by development theorists does not really promote life in Africa. Then women are recommended to fight for their rights in their walk of life, to get equal opportunities like men within any society and they should advocate gender mainstreaming. For the decision makers, leaders should uproot the inequality which has existed between men and women. Therefore, my full claim is to provide for African women socio-political structures and spaces nationwide where they can lead to conflict resolutions. 

REFERENCES.

ACHOLA O. Pala et Madina Ly: La femme africaine dans la societé précoloniale, UNESCO, 1979.

Amadiume, Ifi. Daughters of the Goddess, Daughters of Imperialism: African Women, Culture, Power and Democracy. London and New York: Zed Books, 2000.

Awa THIAM: La parole aux negresses, Editions Denoël / Gonthier, Paris, 1978

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[1] Meaning of storm in LDOCE5.

[2] http://archive.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu37we/uu37we0t.htm.