Although far from negligible, the part played by women in the life of a savage tribe is very apt to be overlooked by a man. The reasons are obvious; the African woman is not obtrusive; she is perpetually busy, and one rarely comes into contact with her. Her inner thoughts and beliefs are a sealed book to the investigator, and one is at first inclined to believe that her influence is not worth consideration. The longer the experience, the more clearly one realises that this lack of information about the woman is one of the weak points of any inquiry.
Among the Kikuyu there is a council, or kiama, of old women in every district; they collect goats periodically and present them to the elders of ukuru, or priestly class. They occasionally fine troublesome women, and the fine, usually a goat, has to be obtained by the culprit either by extra work or by begging one from her father. The men fear the women’s kiama, as it is believed that the members of it have the power to bewitch people.
It is to be regretted that so little is known about the methods of initiation and the scope of their activities in this direction, but complete information could only be obtained by a female investigator who has exceptional opportunity and great sympathy.
The official recognition of the wife of a candidate for admission into the grade of ukuru among the Kikuyu has been described at another place. This is unusual in African ritual, but can readily be understood [275]when one learns that old women, past the child-bearing age, can participate in sacrificial ceremonies at the sacred trees. This is due to the fact that the growth of cereal and other vegetable food falls to the woman, and they alone are responsible for the food of the family.
This leads to great difficulty, as the women are intensely conservative, and when an energetic district officer wishes to improve the economic products of his district and distribute better seeds he is invariably up against the opposition of the women, which is very difficult to overcome. The woman knows by long experience that, given a certain area, a certain seed, and a certain rainfall she can feed the family, and one can understand that she should be loth to waste labour on experiments, the result of which is doubtful. This feeling is very deep-rooted, and consequently most difficult to overcome: the same obstacles are met with in connection with the introduction of big European hoes for agriculture. The African woman has for generations done her planting with either a digging stick or the small African hoe; the tiresome European comes along and worries the men to buy the big heavy hoe, and one can hear the annoyed woman inquiring of her husband why she is being bothered to give up the implement she has been brought up to use with one hand, for a strange thing which is more expensive and requires two hands. For all that, however, the European hoe is making good progress, and will eventually win. It is hoped that this, and the introduction of ox-drawn ploughs, will result in the male section of the population taking a more active part in agriculture, and alleviating the lot of the women. It is believed that if instructors could be detailed to travel about and demonstrate the benefits of utilising oxen to plough, women would soon champion the cause of progress.
The male African in his home life is not noted for persistent steady work; the women, on the other hand, [276]are never idle, and are withal cheerful and uncomplaining about their lot, and not nearly so down-trodden as some people believe. In most tribes they are well-treated; their lot among the Masai is probably harder than among agricultural tribes; the old women have to go on watch at night in the cattle kraal and often get beaten if they fall asleep. In Kavirondo, on the other hand, the mother of the head of the village is often the most important person in the village, and her opinion is generally sought even on political matters which lie outside the ordinary sphere of a woman’s influence; the affection of the Kavirondo for their mothers is, however, a very marked trait in their character. Among the A-Kamba the fact that manifestations from the spirit would nearly always come through the mouths of women undoubtedly proves that the sex plays an important part in the life of the people. The fact that in both Ukamba and Giriama old women have in recent years turned out to be at the bottom of serious political agitation also demonstrates this point. The influence of a woman over her children is the same all the world over, but owing to the long period of lactation prevalent in African society, and possibly among any polygamous community, the African mother might be expected to be more tied by her children than a European mother; such, however, is not the case, and the baby is taken everywhere with the mother—to market, to the field, out into the bush when firewood has to be gathered, and to the river or water-hole. The first separation is when the small boy first goes out to herd the goats; the small girl stays on with her mother and trots by her side and assists her in her various duties. This continues until the boy is promoted to herd cattle and then goes out into the wider world and comes into contact with civilising influences and European progress which cannot fail to enlarge his horizon and increase his knowledge of men and affairs. The girl, however, stays on with her mother in the narrow life of an African village. The difference of environment at [277]the formative stage of life is thus ever producing a great disparity between the mental development of the two sexes, and must, as time goes on, prove more and more a disturbing factor in tribal life.
Owing to the marriage value of girls their parents are loth to allow them to go far from home; the missionaries complain of this as one of their greatest difficulties. Boys can be attracted to the missions for instruction, but it is very difficult to induce parents to allow their daughters to go to school. The old women say that if they go to school their heads will be turned, that they will want to be fine ladies, as the saying goes, and will not take kindly to agriculture, the collection of firewood, and other household duties. There is probably a large amount of truth in the accusation, for education would undoubtedly open their eyes to the life of drudgery they lead; they would, as far as physical labour goes, have an easier time while at a mission, and would feel the return to a harder life. The whole question is a problem which time alone can solve, and a proper adjustment of the sphere of activity of the two sexes will take many years.
It may be of some interest to review the class of work which is the special duty of the women. Their primary duty may be said to be the raising of food, be it in the form of grain, beans, bananas, sweet potatoes, etc. They sow, they tend the fields during the growth of the crop, and then reap the grain, thresh it, store it, crush it in wooden mortars, and grind it into meal. In most tribes the clearing of the bush and the heavy work of breaking up new ground devolves on the men, and in Kavirondo the men assist to a great extent in actual agriculture. Where natives irrigate, this branch of agriculture is always in the hands of the men.
As the producers of food, it naturally becomes the duty of the women to make the supply of beer for the family. In Kikuyu young girls crush the sugar cane in mortars made out of a log of wood with round holes in [278]it, and they then squeeze out the sweet sap and brew the beer. They understand the art of malting grain and the manufacture of beer from cereals.
Having grown the food, the cooking of it naturally falls to them; they know the wild green herbs which are used as green food, particularly in times of scarcity, and the wild edible roots which are sought for at such periods.
The collection of firewood to cook the food and the transport of the water used also falls to the women.
The manufacture of the cooking pots and other household utensils is generally women’s work. In Uganda, however, it is as a rule done by men. Smith’s work is never done by women, this industry being a monopoly of man; there would be a prejudice against any arms or weapons made by women, and by analogy it is therefore believed that the persons who made the stone implements which we are beginning to find in Africa were men.
The collection of honey and the manipulation of bees is also never done by women.
The basket work used in the villages is almost always made by women, and also sleeping mats. The rule is, however, not invariable, for an old influential elder in Giriama was recently seen plaiting a mat, possibly because he was too infirm to do more active work. The string bags, singular, chondo, plural, vyondo, used by the A-Kamba are always made by the women.
Wood cutting or rude carpentry is the work of the men; if bedsteads are used they are made by the men, also the ornamental staves and stools so extensively used.
If skin garments are worn, the woman will bray the goat skins she wears and that in which she carries her child. When the men have not reached the blanket stage they usually go naked or wear an ox hide, and this they generally prepare themselves. [279]
Leather work for weapons is always done by the men.
In Uganda the bark cloth is made by men.
The bead work affected by some tribes is nearly always done by the women, but in Kikuyu a young dandy will often be seen sewing beads on to a bit of hide.
Metal work used as ornament is always done by the men; the beautiful iron chain work of Ukamba is man’s monopoly; any working in ivory, such as armlets, must be done by men.
Each wife in an African family usually has dedicated to her particular use a certain number of cattle; they are not her property, but she has the sole disposal of their milk for the use of her children. The adult A-Kamba and others also drink a considerable amount of curdled milk, and each wife keeps a supply for her husband and his friends.
To what extent women have assisted in the domestication of animals is now a matter of some conjecture, but there is little doubt that the men caught the animals, probably young ones, when out on hunting expeditions, and handed them over to the women to rear. It is noticeable that among African tribes a woman never owns live stock, and probably never did, even in matriarchal times.
The women are largely responsible for the handing on of the folk lore of a tribe and undoubtedly teach it to their children, as is done in Europe to-day. The men, however, often unconsciously help in this, for at a friendly beer-drinking gathering elders will recount folk tales, out of the stores of their experience, to the assembled company, and one tale will remind someone of another and he will try to cap the previous story by one more wonderful.
Women have done a good deal, however, for the development and blending of folk lore. In times past when inter-tribal conflict was common, women were frequently carried off and thus became incorporated [280]with another tribe; they carried their folk tales with them, and unconsciously the stories, as well as the blood of a tribe, became modified.
The influence of women in fixing a language must not be overlooked; the mother teaches it to her children, not actively perhaps, but the young child is in closest association with the mother and assimilates her speech, and, of course, captured women will, if in any number, bring foreign words with them, and may be instrumental in their general adoption.
European women may consider that none of her sisters, even in Africa, could willingly acquiesce in a polygamous life; such, however, is not the case. The burden of life falls heavily on the African woman, and she is, as a rule, only too pleased to welcome a new wife to share her burden of work.
Several cases have been observed of women worrying their husbands to take a second wife, and a senior wife will often lodge a new wife in her hut until she becomes settled down in the village and her own hut is ready. There are doubtless quarrels, but, on the whole, the family lives in amity and it is believed that jealousy in the European sense does not loom very large; fierce feeling is, however, sometimes aroused if a husband unfairly favours one wife in the allotment of cattle. [281]