Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-r6qrq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T20:20:41.870Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Precarious Socio-Economic Position of Women in Rural Africa: The Case of the Kaguru of Tanzania*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Jeffrey Meeker  and
Dominique Meekers
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Research on the socioeconomic position of rural African women has been hampered by a lack of appropriate data. Indeed, macro-level data are not ideal to gain understanding of how the social and familial realities experienced by rural African women might limit their access to limited resources (Bryceson 1994; International Labour Office, 1984, 57; Whitehead 1994). Furthermore, a male head of household may not be able or willing to accurately evaluate women's economic contribution to the household. Therefore, it is necessary to interview or survey rural African women about their lives (Russell 1984). In this paper, we present Kaguru women's own opinions of how social and familial realities affect their access to resources.

In rural African societies, women are typically engaged in agricultural, household and income-earning work. Although African women often have a heavier workload than do men in these three spheres of their daily work, they typically do not experience equal access to resources, both educational and economic (Boserup 1970,1985; Goody 1976; Meena 1992; Staudt 1988). The fact that husbands and wives do not fully cooperate, and may even compete for economic resources, is problematic for many development programs.

Type
Articles
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , April 1997 , pp. 35 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This project wa s supported by a grant from the Research and Graduate Studies Office (RGSO), The Pennsylvania State University, to Dr. D. Meekers. Additional support was provided by the Population Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, which has support from a grant for international demographic research from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and core support from a grant from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development. The data collection for this project was funded by a grant from The Rockefeller Foundation to Dr. Etienne van de Walle, University of Pennsylvania. The authors are grateful to the University of Dar-es-Salaam and the Tanzanian Commission for Science and Technology for granting research clearance, to Dr. Penina Mlama for her skillful supervision of fieldwork and translations, to Monica Kimwaga for conducting the interviews, to Natasha Deer and Li Zhan for transcribing the interviews, to Nadra Franklin, Edith Ericson and Michael Zimmerman for library assistance and to Pat Draper, Etienne van de Walle, Sheryl McCurdy, Constance Mugalla and Amy Stambach for their comments and suggestions during various phases of this project.

Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Sociological Society, Session on Ethnographic Studies, held in State College, PA, October 21-23, 1994, and at the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) Seminar on Demography and Poverty, held in Florence, Italy, March 2-4, 1995.

References

Asayehgn, Desta. 1979. The Role of Women in Tanzania: Their Access to Higher Education and Participation in the Labor Force. Paris: International Institute for Educational Planning.Google Scholar
Beidelman, Thomas O. 1972a. “The Kaguru House”, Anthropos 67: 690–707.Google Scholar
Beidelman, Thomas O.. 1972b. “The Kaguru of Central Tanzania,” in Molnos, Angela (ed.) Cultural Source Materials for Population Planning in East Africa, Volume 2: Innovations and Communication. Nairobi: East African Publishing House, pp. 237–42.Google Scholar
Beidelman, Thomas O.. 1973. “The Kaguru of Central Tanzania,” in Molnos, Angela (ed.) Cultural Source Materials for Population Planning in East Africa, Volume 3: Beliefs and Practices. Nairobi: East African Publishing House, pp. 262–73.Google Scholar
Beidelman, Thomas O.. 1980. “Women and Men in Two East African Societies,” in Karp, Ivan and Bird, Charles (eds.) Explorations in African Systems of Thought. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 143–64.Google Scholar
Beidelman, Thomas O.. 1983. The Kaguru, a Matrilineal People of East Africa. Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press.Google Scholar
Beidelman, Thomas O.. 1986. Moral Imagination in Kaguru Modes of Thought. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Beneria, Lourdes. 1981. “Conceptualizing the Labor Force: The Underestimation of Women's Economic Activities,” in Nelson, Nici (ed.) African Women and the Development Process. London: Frank Cass and Company, pp. 10–28.Google Scholar
Bledsoe, Caroline. 1976. “Women's Marital Strategies among the Kpelle of Liberia,” Journal of Anthropological Research 32: 372–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bledsoe, Caroline. 1980. Women and Marriage in Kpelle Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Boserup, Ester. 1970. Woman's Role in Economic Development. New York: St. Martin's Press.Google Scholar
Boserup, Ester. 1985. “Economic and Demographic Interrelationships in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Population and Development Review 11(3):383–97.Google Scholar
Bryceson, Deborah Fahy. 1994. “Easing Rural Women's Working Day in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Development Policy Review 12:59–68.Google Scholar
Bryceson, Deborah Fahy, and Mbiliniyi, Marjorie. 1980. “The Changing Role of Tanzanian Women in Production,” Jipemoyo: Development and Culture Research (2): 85–116.Google Scholar
Bryson, Judy C. 1981. “Women and Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for Development (An Exploratory Study),” in Nelson, Nici (ed.) African Women and the Development Process. London: Frank Cass and Company, pp. 29–46.Google Scholar
Bujra, Janet. 1990. “Taxing Development in Tanzania: Why Must Women Pay?” Review of African Political Economy 47:44–63.Google Scholar
Caplan, Pat. 1981. “Development Policies in Tanzania-Some Implications for Women,” in Nelson, Nici (ed.) African Women and the Development Process. London: Frank Cass and Company, pp. 98–108.Google Scholar
Chijumba, B. J. 1985. “Husband's Attitudes Towards Wives' Employment,” Tanzania Notes and Records 92/93:37–44.Google Scholar
Daddieh, C.K. 1989. “Production and Reproduction: Women and Agricultural Resurgence in Sub-Saharan Africa,” in Parpart, J. (ed.) Women and Development in Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 165–93.Google Scholar
DeLartcey, Virginia. 1981. “Wage Earner and Mother: Compatibility of Roles on a Cameroun Plantation,” in Ware, Helen (ed.) Women, Education and Modernization of the Family in West Africa. Changing African Family Project Series, 7. Canberra: Australian National University Press, pp. 1–21.Google Scholar
Dinan, Carmel. 1983. “Sugar Daddies and Gold-Diggers: The White-Collar Single Women in Accra,” in Oppong, Christine (ed.) Female and Male in West Africa. London: Allen and Unwin, pp. 344–66.Google Scholar
Dolphyne, Florence Aben. 1991. The Emancipation of Women: An African Perspective. Accra, Ghana: Ghana University Press.Google Scholar
Due, Jean M. and Gladwin, Christina H.. 1991. “Impacts of Structural Adjustment Programs on African Women Farmers and Female-Headed Households,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 73(5):1431–39.Google Scholar
Fortmann, Louise. 1982. “Women's Work in a Communal Setting: The Tanzanian Policy of Ujamaa,” in Bay, E. (ed.) Women and Work in Africa. Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 191–206.Google Scholar
Gittinger, Price. 1990. Household Food Security and the Role of Women. World Bank Discussion Papers 96. Washington D. C.: The World Bank.Google Scholar
Gladwin, Christina, Staudt, Kathleen, and McMillan, Delia. 1984. “Reaffirming the Agricultural Role of African Women: One Solution to the Food Crisis,” Paper presented at the Fifth General Conference on Food Security, Association of Faculties of Agriculture in Africa, held in Manzini, Swaziland, 04 22-28, 1984.Google Scholar
Goody, Jack. 1976. Production and Reproduction: A Comparative Study of the Domestic Domain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gordon, April A. 1992. “Women and Development,” in Gordon, April A. and Gordon, Donald L. (eds.) Understanding Contemporary Africa. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, pp. 201–22.Google Scholar
Hafkin, Nancy and Bay, Edna. 1976. “Introduction,” in Hafkin, N. and Bay, E. (eds.) Women in Africa: Studies in Social and Economic Change. Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 6–11.Google Scholar
Hakansson, Thomas N. 1994. “The Detachability of Women: Gender and Kinship in Processes of Socioeconomic Change among the Gusii of Kenya,” American Ethnologist 21(3):516–38.Google Scholar
Hyde, Karen. 1989. Improving Women's Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of the Literature. Washington D. C.: The World Bank.Google Scholar
International Labour Office. 1984. Rural Development and Women in Africa. Geneva: International Labour Office.Google Scholar
Kabadaki, Kyama. 1994. “Rural African Women and Development,” Social Development Issues 16(2):23–35.Google ScholarPubMed
Karanja, Wambui. 1981. “Women and Work: A Study of Female and Male Attitudes in the Modern Sector of an African Metropolis,” in Ware, Helen (ed.) Women, Education and Modernization of the Family in West Africa. Changing African Family Project Series, 7. Canberra: Australian National University Press, pp. 42–66.Google Scholar
Komenan, André G. 1987. World Education Indicators. An Annex to Improving the Efficiency of Education in Developing Countries. Washington D. C.: World Bank.Google Scholar
Kurwijila, Rosebud and Due, Jean M.. 1991. “Credit for Women's Income Generation. A Tanzanian Case Study,” Canadian Journal of African Studies 25(1):90–103.Google Scholar
Little, Kenneth. 1973. African Women in Towns. An Aspect of Africa's Social Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lockwood, Matthew. 1993. “Marriage, Family Structure and Women's Economic Opportunities in Coastal Tanzania,” Paper presented at the IUSSP Seminar on Women and Demographic Change in sub-Saharan Africa, held March 3-6, 1993, in Dakar, Senegal.Google Scholar
MacGaffey, Janet. 1988. “Evading Male Control: Women in the Second Economy in Zaire,” in Stichter, S. and Parpart, J. (eds.) Patriarchy and Class: African Women in the Home and the Workforce. Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 161–76.Google Scholar
Mbiliniyi, Marjorie. 1989. “Women as Peasant and Casual Labor and the Development Crisis in Tanzania,” in Parpart, J. (ed.) Women and Development in Africa. Comparative Perspectives. New York: University Press of America, pp. 209–56.Google Scholar
Mbiliniyi, Marjorie. 1991. Big Slavery: Agribusiness and the Crisis in Women's Employment in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Dar es Salaam University Press.Google Scholar
Mbiliniyi, Marjorie. 1992. “Research Methodologies in Gender Issues,” in Meena, R. (ed.) Gender in Southern Africa: Conceptual and Theoretical Issues. Harare: Sapes Books, pp. 31–70.Google Scholar
Meekers, Dominique. 1994. “Education and Adolescent Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa,” International Review of Modern Sociology 24(1):1–43.Google Scholar
Meekers, Dominique and Franklin, Nadra. 1995. “Women's Views of Polygyny among the Kaguru of Tanzania,” Ethnology 34(4):315–29.Google Scholar
Meekers, Dominique, Franklin, Nadra, and Meeker, Jeffrey. 1994. “Conflict of Interest: Gender Relations among the Kaguru of Tanzania,” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Miami, 05 5-7, 1994.Google Scholar
Meena, Ruth. 1992. “Gender Research/Studies in Southern Africa: An Overview,” in Meena, R. (ed.) Gender in Southern Africa: Conceptual and Theoretical Issues. Harare: Sapes Books, pp. 1–30.Google Scholar
Mlama, Penina. 1990. Tanzanian Traditional Theatre as A Pedagogical Institution: the Kaguru as a Case Study. Ph.D. Diss. Dar es Salaam: University of Dar es Salaam.Google Scholar
National Research Council. 1993. Demographic Effects of Economic Reversals in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington D. C.: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Nelson, Nici. 1981. “Introduction,” in Nelson, Nici (ed.) African Women and the Development Process. London: Frank Cass and Company, pp. 1–9.Google Scholar
Oppong, Christine. 1988. “Les Femmes Africaines: des Épouses, des Mères et des Travailleuses,” in Tabutin, Dominique (ed.) Population et Societés en Afrique au Sud du Sahara. Paris: L'Harmattan, pp. 421–40.Google Scholar
Pala, Achola O. 1976. African Women in Rural Development: Research Trends and Priorities. Overseas Liaison Committee Paper 12. Washington D. C.: American Council on Education.Google Scholar
Parkin, David. 1978. The Cultural Definition of Political Response. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Potash, Betty. 1989. “Gender Relations in Sub-Saharan Africa,” in Morgan, Sondra (ed.) Gender and Anthropology: Critical Reviews for Teaching and Research. Washington D. C.: American Anthropological Association, pp. 189–227.Google Scholar
Russell, Margo. 1984. “Closer Focus: A Plea for More Small-Scale Face to Face Interviewing in Contemporary African Social Research,” Paper presented at the ARPT/CIMMYT Workshop on the Role of Rural Sociology in Farming Systems Research and Technological Generations, held in Lusaka, Zambia, 27-20 11 1984.Google Scholar
Sender, John and Smith, Sheila. 1990. Poverty, Class, and Gender in Rural Africa. A Tanzanian Case Study. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Smith, Sheila and Sender, J.B.. 1990. “Poverty, Gender, and Wage Labor in Rural Tanzania,” Economic and Political Weekly (06 16-23): 1334–42.Google Scholar
Staudt, K. 1988. “Women Farmers in Africa: Research and Institutional Action, 1973-1987,” Canadian Journal of African Studies 22(3):567–82.Google Scholar
Tanzania Gender Networking Programme. 1993. Gender Profile of Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Tanzania Gender Networking Programme.Google Scholar
United Nations. 1992. Seminar on Women in Extreme Poverty: Integration of Women's Concerns in National Development Planning. Report [Unedited]. Vienna, 9-12 11 1992. United Nations Office at Vienna Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs Division for the Advancement of Women. SWEP/1992/1Google Scholar
United Republic of Tanzania. 1988. Tanzania Sensa 1988. 1988 Population Census: Preliminary Report. Dar es Salaam: Bureau of Statistics.Google Scholar
van de Walle, Etienne, Kamuzora, Chris, Meekers, Dominique, Mlama, Penina, and Franklin, Nadra. 1993. The Life Histories of Kaguru Women. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Weil, Gordon. 1992. “Caught in the Crisis: Women in the Economies of Sub-Saharan Africa,” in Kahne, Hilda and Giele, Janet Z. (eds.) Women's Work and Women's Lives. The Continuing Struggle Worldwide. Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 47–68.Google Scholar
Whitehead, Ann. 1994. “Wives and Mothers: Female Farmers in Africa, in Adepoju, Aderanti and Oppong, Christine (eds.) Gender, Work and Population in Sub-Saharan Africa. Geneva: International Labour Office, pp. 35–53.Google Scholar
Wieringa, Saskia. 1994. “Women's Interests and Empowerment: Gender Planning Reconsidered,” Development and Change 25:829–48.Google Scholar
Wilk, Richard R. 1989. The Household Economy. Reconsidering the Domestic Mode of Production. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, Tamar Diana. 1990. “Women's Economic Contributions in the Peasant Economy: A Critique of Development Paradigms,” Anthropology U.C.L.A. 17(1):26–40.Google Scholar
Winter, Edward H. and Beidelman, T. O.. 1972. “Tanganyika: A Study of an African Society at National and Local Levels,” in Steward, Julian H. (ed.) Three African Tribes in Transition. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, pp. 57–204.Google Scholar
World Bank. 1988. Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies for Adjustment, Revitalization, and Expansion. Washington D. C.: The World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank. 1992. African Development Indicators. Washington D. C.: The World Bank.Google Scholar