Lately I've been struggling with the rigid, and unequal gender roles that are present in Ghanaian society, especially in the rural context in which I am living. The men essentially just work the farm, which doesn't seem to be something done all that often, and otherwise they simply lounge around and are waited upon by the women. Women on the other hand are responsible for all the household tasks, some of these being, cooking, cleaning, child rearing, washing, and water fetching (no easy task I assure you!). All of this is done in addition to the long hours the women are expected to put in working the family fields as well! For me coming from Canada, and particularly my family where both of my parents have been professionals for the entirety on my life, this has proven to be more than a little disconcerting. Which leads me to my most troublesome question at the moment, how do you break down this barriers without alienating/offending those around you? At work I believe, I've managed to at the least chip off a few bricks. After some explanation the women no longer instantly differ to me, I clean my own dishes after lunch, and, thankfully they no longer ask permission to go home for the day. That one threw me for a loop when it first happened, I don't know how to explain it other than it left me shocked, and immensely uncomfortable. Any progress I've made at work though I think is largely attributable to the women I work with being aware of their own self worth and empowered by their independent business ventures. This is in stark contrast to my rural life in Pagazaa, where I would guess few, if not none of the women are educated and have been firmly boxed into their roles. When I try to interact with them while they are cooking, they look at me warily, and wonder if they've done something wrong or ask me if I want something from them. Anytime I try to convey an interest in what they are doing, it gets hung up in cultural barriers to the point where I simply make them uncomfortable or am reduced to a side-show. Which by the way, the numerous children of the community almost always guarantee I am, I can't even go "free-range" in the bush (I'll let you all figure that one out), without a pack of children chasing after me. Never though it would be children that would make trying to fit into a community so difficult. Anyway, back to my previous point. The most stunning image of gender roles I've encountered was when I endeavored to get my own water from the village bore-hole (about 5-10 min away walking), and was chased done on the trail by my host Mustapha. He adamantly explained that their was water in the house and that it was the women's place to make sure it was there. I countered by trying to use, not wanting to be a burden on the family, as well as seeing the whole of the village lifestyle as my shield and in the end he said he would allow it for today. Which, as all of you who know me even a bit can attest too, lead me to nearly chirp with off in true prairie fashion, allow me!? Managed to bite it back though.The really awkward moment came when I returned to the house with the water, and the first wife (the landlord has three I think, but I'm not sure) can to me and tried to convince me that I should just let her fetch it next time. I guess that in my head I thought that women would be enthused and excited about someone taking an interest in their way of life as well as possibly lightening the load a bit. Never for a minute did I consider the angle that they would push against my attempts to learn and achieve autonomy from the patriarchal structures.
In addition to my firmly held beliefs that men should respect women and that gender roles are antiquated/stupid in the first place, I think two of my other worries with regards to the topic are somewhat selfish. I worry about creating a barrier between myself and the community by pushing too hard against their traditions. This being something I'm going to try and overcome by sitting down with Mustapha and explaining how are ways are different in Canada, and while I can't imagine that he'll come over to my way of thinking, I hope we can work out a way for me to go about my business with minimal friction. The flip side to this worry, is the comprising of my own principles. I think it's easy to have beliefs until they are tested, be it gender roles or sustainable commuting. If I accept the roles here I am no less a hypocrite than if I bought a car the minute I could afford one despite all my campaigning to the contrary. Along with this comes the fact that I fear I may lose myself out here in the African plains. I don't think I've ever been in a better place mentally than when I left for this trip, I have an incomparable group of friends, a great relationship with my family, and while I'm forever reflecting and improving, I am content with my development as a human being. What if I subconsciously buy into this system and lose that essence of what makes me, me? Abstract stuff I know, but thought controlling nonetheless, as the fear of losing my life back in Canada feels quite real over here.
Jumping back to the first topic though, I feel it is important to mention that all the gender inequalities in the community are balanced by the fact that the people are beautiful, welcoming, and their way of life, at least for the moment, is incredibly intriguing for me, so I'll try to write a post soon about the positives instead of focusing on the negatives.
Anyway, keep your stick on the ice, but your elbows up.
Cheers,
-Oh and somewhere someone do a jag shot for me, you know who you are, take a picture and send it my way...
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2 comments:
Hullo'z Henry,
Your blog has been wicked so far, maybe because it's so wildly exciting compared to my tower of solitude in Calgary. Keep it up!
Re. gender roles: I'm going to be a stick in the mud here by asking whether you should be actively interfering with their gender roles in the first place...in my own rambling way.
This may be my very fluid sense of right and wrong speaking, but gender roles are very deeply rooted in religion and culture, and I feel that a society-transforming gender roles revolution needs to be based on very powerful ideas, and as such has to be initiated by a community's members to be effective. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that most women in patriarchal societies don't sit and pine for equality until the society is on the verge of a transformation in any case (my grandmother, like the women you deal with, will defend their beliefs and way of life), and that the society will come to that point through increased freedom as well as access to education and leisure, leading to the creation of internal leaders, not through us forcing our liberal philosophy (read "religion") on people who are not prepared for it. By personal stance is that what we are trying to do is assist under-developed countries in these things by increasing income through pressure in Canada and technical aid in Ghana.
Keep the thoughts coming!
Something I'm extremely curious about is how acute the background deficit is...for example, how familiar are "farmers" ("" = I realize you will have to generalize) with chemistry and plant science? Do they understand atomic theory and do they think in terms of balancing the soil's nutrient levels to achieve desired foliage, root structures, and fruit size? Or do they use analogy and personal experience to describe the results of a crop? I realize that these questions have little to do with your placement, but you could probably apply them to shea butter production e.g. how scientific is the approach taken by the producers?
Hey Sias! Ok, so taking a shot a answering your question. The farmers that I've talked to in my community, they all want me as labor, seem to understand the concept of soil degredation and nutrient replenishment in broad scientific terms as well as specific agricultural examples. Many have traditional processes that have worked for them in the past, and that they now religiously follow. I'm heading out to make some yam mounds this weekend so I'll try to dig up some more info then.
Cheers!
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