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Reprinted from AFRICA AND THE WORLD, June 1970 The battles for independence from colonial rule have borne out the indelible imprints of the African women's practical contribution to the political emancipation of the continent.
This truth at once removes any shade of doubt as to the ability, mobility and vulnerability of the African woman to the revolutionary struggle. But what becomes the real issue now that is the part she plays in social production.
The magnitude of the significance of this question can be properly percieved not only when estimation is made of the numerical strength of the women and the contribution which they towards the welfare of society in their capacity as an indivisable and indispensable part of Africa's labour force, but also, and this is primary, when the concept of the present strungle in Africa begins to embrace the question of liberation of the masses from economic exloitation and the abolition of all forms of social oppression, that is, the social emancipation of labour, this issue becomes a cardinal part.
Scientists and leaders of the liberation movements in Africa have defined the main character of the present struggle. It is generally accepted that Africa has entered the second phase of her National Liberation Revolution, for the consolidation of political independence and for winning economic power from Imperialism. But a lasting solution of these tasks is inconceivable within the capitalist system.
Capitalist development inevitably means foreign economic domination of Africa and therefore, the social and political hegemony of the few over the majority, thereby further developing, prolonging and intensifying the social conflict in Africa. The present battles in Africa throw both the willing and the unwilling, the conscious and the unconscious, the oppressed and the un-opp ressed, the exploited and the unexploited, into tierce contlicts over the question of which way capitalism or socialism- 1s to be the new path tor Africa.
Within the context of this class strue le although it is always unanimously agreed that the main struggle is between capital and labour, the woman question has remained obscured, un-:
touched and even obliterated. It is often, reprettably, even by some dedicated, progressive forgotten that women are an inseparable part of labour and hence the woman question is and indivisble part of the labour-capital conflict.
This may be due partly to the limited number of women at present in the contingent of African hired labour. But the chief reason is that many people, the majority of whom are men, still remain prisoners of their own prejudices which hold that women are no more than material supplements of men and that woman's real place is in the back yard. Lenin accurately described men's attitude to women as"the most deep-rooted, habitual, case-hardened and ossified... outrage and barbarism..."(Lenin, International Women's Day, 1918).
How far is it possible to draw the masses into the new struggle without the full aid and active participation of the women"-is the question we must ask ourselves. In "omen and Society", Lenin wrote inter alia: "It has been observed in the experiences of all liberation movements that success of a revolution depends on the extent to which women take part in it". Lenin's statement of fact has been borne out by the part played by African women, which no sensible African can deny; that it did substantially contribute to the successful victory overy colonialism. It becomes appropriate therefore to begin by asking - what is the woman question? It must be stated unequivocally that the woran question consists of her abominable position in African society, a position which impedes her full and active participation in the revolutionary movement.
She is the bearer of petty monotonous household work; in the majority of families she is the farm digger, child-rearer etc. In the rural society she bears more than her share of family problems which justifies her being called a slave of her husband rather than his equal partner. She is generally regarded as a mere instrument of production, both in the economic and social sense.
In the urban areas she enters into bourgeois relations. She joins the industrial labour force as a part of the exploited proletariat while retaining her household work. She becomes therefore
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the slave of both the urban employer and the husband, at the same time. Of course, if she married a well-off man, she would be relieved of the household taske by the employment of servants.
But the woman is still worse off in a polygamous family. Here her role becomes more economically motivated. She forms part of a communal (or family) labour force, that is the breadwinner; in addition, if she has financial earnings these are used to bolster the husbands private enterprises - a further source of his domination over her. Dowry is one of the many aspects of the woman question. Dowry expresses the woman's inferior position in relation to the social status of her husband. It is generally alleged that dowry is an expression of thanks to the girls parents. This is not borne out in reality. In practical life dowry enhances a man's material superiority over woman, it manitests the exchange relationship which places the woman in the position of an exchange commodity- a commodity received in exchange for another commodity.
The exchange terms in the dowry are regarded as the exchanre of two equivalents, and since this exchange takes place between the woman and another commodity, and does not take place between the man and any commodity or the man and the woman, shows the expressed inequality between man and woman. The position of wealth owned by the man accords him the right to buy a wife, and sometimes he buys more than one wite, while possesion of wealth by woman (which is rare ) does not give her the right to marry even one husband at a time. Moreover he would have to still pay dowry to her parents. In a number of African comminities the marriare is only supposed to be a free contract entered into purely on the free will of te two contracting but in reality, it is not a free will or contract. Parents, especially the poor peasants, artisans and workers, treat their daughte s as mere commodity stocks in which a revolvin? capital has been invested and will be disposed of when the time comes. The daughters are a source therefore, of family income and a family investment against the future. It is a common practice that the amount of dowry, in kind or in money, (the latter was less practised in pre- independence days) is decided upon exclusively between the girl's parents and the parents of the boy, sometimes with the participation of the The decision is reached through bargaining. Consent of the girl is rarely sought, but in case it does not always determine the fate of the marriage. The parent's decision is often paramount, It is a practice in some communities that when the marriage breaks down and there are no children, paid dowry under normal circumstanees. is refunded to the boy's family. If children were born during the marriage, a part of the dowry is left with the woman's family to balance up the production, children. That still confirms the fact that the property position by man is what gives him a dominant position over his wife (or wives ). Althourh she may be respected, even loved, both she and her husband think her backyard position is irreversible and is eternally provided by God.
She generally acknowledges the questionable right of her husband to marry more than one wite. This puts her in a situation of unequal respect and unequal love. The question posed by this private property - a factor which gives the man the role of dominant element in the family - raises another question. It is the question of the social emancipation of woman.
In the context of the present struggle, the social emancipation of the woman is a class question and may be solved only through class struggle. This is contrary to what some Africans (men & women alike ) think about this issue. It is often ideally suggested that it suffices only to bring about a change in the attitudes of men. It is further argued that the present position of women is due to her lack of education. This latter argument may be partly true but cannot be the answer to the whole problem of the social position of women.
Education may enhance the role of the women in society and may also contribute to the revolutionary strungle, This is evident in the case of women in the developed -industrial bourgeois states. But this cannot solve the problem of inequality between man and woman, the exploitation of her labour and that of household drudgery.
This is why it prompted Ienin to say in his message at the International Women's Day that:". the abolition of the private ownership of land, the factories and mills" is a principal step towards the emancipation of the woman from "domestic slavery" by passing from a petty, individual, domestic economy to a large scale social economy.
Africa is fighting for a new path of development. This new path therefore presupposes the birth and development of a new African. It means the redemption of the African people from archaic socialrelations and from all agencies of oppression which obstruct their unimpeded move towards a higher cultural, social, economic and intellectual growth.
In order to attain this goal Africa needs a down-to-earth social revolution, the establishment of a common ownership of the means of productiop, and the abolition of inequality in every sphere of social production. Under a revolutionary government, it is not only the enactment of the law abolishing all that which makes women inferior to men, but the implementation of those soeial reforms which would eliminate the material basis of that inequality which must play the decisive role.
WOMEN'S STRUGGLE: Bulletin of Women's National Co-ordinating Committee. Price 1/-, 10/- a year. 3 Rona Road, London N.W. 3.
Second issue of ENOUGH, price 2/-, write to Janet Parham, 8 Clifton Pk. Bristol 8.
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is the status of the moman, her position in the whole fabric of African society,