"SHE IS A MAN AND A WOMAN"
Influential Women in a Rural District of Western Zambia
September 1996
Masters Thesis Cultural Anthropology University of Amsterdam
Written by Emestien Jensema Palmgracht 32
1015 HM Amsterdam
CONTENTS
PREF ACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS SUMMARIES
LIST OF MAPS
Map 1. Location of Masese Agricultural Project Map 2. Lipumpu
Map 3. Mushukula
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale
1.2 From Victim to Actor 1.3 Set-up
CHAPTER 2. THE LOZI AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT 2.1 Zambia: country and history
2.2 Research Area 2.3 The Lozi People
CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODS CHAPTER 4. TEN INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 4.1 The Trader
4.2 The 'Male' Woman 4.3 The Nurse
4 .4 The Benefactress 4.5 The Healer 4.6 The Mulena Hae
4.7 The Traditional Birth Attendant 4.8 The Old Woman
4.9 Two Politicians
CHAPTER
5~;~~URCES
AND CONSTRAINTS OF INFLUENCE 5. frs·ources of Influence5 .2 Constraints and Obstacles of Influence
CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 6.1 Conclusions
6.2 Recommendations
GLOSSARY OF SILOZI TERMS APPENDIX REFERENCES I II
v
VI VII 12
4 5 6 6 6 8 14 2122
26 28 29 31 32 34 36 37 41 41 49 53 53 55 59 60 69PREF ACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Finally time had come, I would go on fieldwork as a part of my Masters degree in Cultural Anthropology. But where to go, what to do? Many different subjects had been going through my mind, till Anne Marie van Swinderen gave me the opportunity to do a research which was not only of interest to me, but also likely to benefit others. On top of that the research would give me the occasion to see what it is like to work for a Dutch development organisation (SNV). My mind was quickly made up. From July 1995 to January 1996 I did a research among the Lozi people in the Sesheke district, Western province, Zambia (see map 1). The research looked into the activities of the influential women, hence the title of the dissertation: She is a man and a woman. This is the translation of a Silozi phrase used to praise a strong, independent woman.
In this dissertation I use the real names of the influential women presented. I decided to reveal their identity since it is in the line of the research. As influential women they have public positions, the community is aware of their activities. The women themselves are proud of what they do and if I did not use their real names they would probably be dissapointed. Only in illustrative cases containing less positive information I hide the identity of the people concerned.
When a Silozi term appears for the first time in this dissertation I will explain the meaning the text or in a footnote. Thereafter the meaning of the term can be found in the glossary.
My stay in Sesheke would not have been a success if it was not for the support Anne Marie gave me while I was there, I would like to thank her for that. I am especially grateful to Agatha Mufuti who has worked with me the three months I stayed in the field. Without her commitment this research would not have been possi-ble. Furthermore I would like to thank all the other people in Lipumpu, Mushukula and Sesheke who have helped me carrying out the research, especially the Kangombe family and the 'influential women'. Mr. Mutendewa drew the beautiful map of Mushukula and sent it to me after I had left the field. I also thank my supervisor Prof. Dr. S. van der Geest, his advices have been of great value to the research and to the writing of this dissertation. Mrs. H. Heldring-Stolk corrected the biggest part of the English in the text. Without my father's study the writing of this dissertation would probably have taken much longer, I'm glad he did not mind too much the mess I created there. The encouragement and interest of my parents, family and friends did me a lot of good.
SUMMARY
In the Lozi community a contradictory social situation exists. Many women are heads of households, produce most of the foods the households consume and often generate cash incomes on top of that. Despite this the Lozi women are subordinate to men. Only few women have managed to achieve a gender equality in access to the key processes in the village and to resources such as land and money, they are 'influential women'.
Influence is not something which comes automatically when one grows old or when one neatly corresponds to the conventions of marrying and having children. The most telling outcome of this research is that women gain autonomy or influence by their own efforts, often against the current of conventions. To be able to do so the women need some basic resources to support their initiatives. These sources can be intellectual for example a proper education or the possession of skills. They can also be material e.g. economic success and the possession ofresources such as land. Women's groups are a resource for gaining autonomy as well. In a group women can achieve collective control and take part in shaping their social environment. This shaping of a social environment can go very far, as the initiation ceremony proves. Initiation provides women with a social space where they have absolute autonomy, a female field of power which is not intruded by men.
An autonomous woman has a say over her own life whereas an influential woman can determine her own life and influence other people's lives as well. In many cases autonomy will lead to influence. The community respects an independent woman and her advice will be sought in different situations. But only women with a positive self-image who use their resources extensively will become influential.
The male society has trouble accepting influential women and shows this in various ways. Often a husband hinders his wife in her initiatives to achieve autonomy because he feels she should be solely dedicated to him and the household. In other cases the respect the community has for influential women turns into envy. Envy can be directly or indirectly expressed. Either way it is harmful and will deter women to hang on to their influential position or to become influential in the first place. The envy and the fear of envy leads to social levelling.
If a woman does reach an influential position, despite all the above mentioned constraints, she can exercise her influence on an inter-personal level and on a community level. A number of women in the project area indicated they would like to gain autonomy. The Sesheke Gender Group wants to support the women in this. The group's aim is to improve women's self image and make them more independent. Especially women who have achieved influence through economic success and women who possess skills such as healing or ploughing can be of use to approach other women. They show interest in change and like to work for the community.
SAMENV ATTING
In de Lozi gemeenschap is sprake van een paradox. Veel vrouwen zijn het hoofd van een huishouden, produceren het grootste deel van het voedsel voor hun gezin en zorgen ook nog voor een inkomen. Toch zijn Lozi vrouwen ondergeschikt aan de mannen. Slechts enkele vrouwen hebben een zekere mate van gelijkheid veIWorven in de toegang tot besluitvomling en hulpbronnen. Zij hebben macht over hun eigen leven en kunnen zich ontrekken aan andermans macht. Ze zijn invloedrijke vrouwen.
Invloed is niet iets dat een vrouw automatisch verwerft wanneer ze oud wordt of door precies te doen wat van haar veIWacht wordt: trouwen en kinderen krijgen. De meest opvallende uitkomst van dit onderzoek is dat vrouwen autonomie en invloed kunnen veIWerven door hun eigen inspanningen die vaak juist tegen het veIWachte patroon ingaan. Orn dit te kunnen doen hebben de vrouwen hulpbronnen nodig die hun initiatieven kunnen onderstellllen. Deze bronnen kunnen immaterieel zijn zoals een gedegen opleiding en goede vaardigheden, ofmaterieel, bijvoorbeeld land of economisch succes. Vrouwengroepen zijn ook een bron voor het verwerven van autonomie. In een groep kunnen vrouwen tot collectief zeggenschap komen en een vorm geven aan hun sociale omgeving. De initiatie ceremonie bewijst dat dit vormgeven erg ver kan gaan. De initiatie geeft vrouwen een sociale ruimte waar ze absolute autonomie hebben, een vrouwelijk machtsveld dat niet kan worden binnengedrongen door mannen.
Een autonome vrouw heeft enkel zeggenschap over haar eigen leven terwijl een invloedrijke vrouw behalve baar eigen leven ook bet leven van anderen kan bepalen. In veel gevallen leidt autonomie naar invloed. De gemeenschap respecteert een onafhankelijke vrouw en vraagt in uiteenlopende zaken om haar advies. Alleen vrouwen met een positief zelfbeeld die bun mogelijkheden ten volle uitbuiten kunnen invloedrijk worden. De mannnengemeenscbap beeft moeite invloedrijke vrouwen te accepteren en laat dit op verschillende manieren zien. Vaak zal een echtgenoot zijn vrouw tegenwerken in haar initiatieven om autonomie te verwerven omdat hij vindt dat ze zich volledig aan hem en het huishouden moet wijden. Ook kan het respect van de gemeenschap veranderen in afgunst. Deze afgunst wordt direct of indirect geuit. In beide gevallen is afgunst schadelijk en kan het vrouwen ervan weerhouden bun invloedrijke positie vast te bouden of om zelfs een dergelijke positie te ambieren. Afgunst en de angst ervoor leiden tot sociale gelijkmatigheid. Als een vrouw echter de tegenwerkende krachten kan weerstaan dan slaagt ze er misschien in haar invloed uit te oefenen op persoonlijk en gemeenschapsniveau.
Een aantal vrouwen in het project-gebied heeft aangegeven dat ze meer autonoom zouden willen zijn. De Sesheke Gender Groep wil hen hierin steunen. Het doel van de groep is het verbeteren van het zelfbeeld van de vrouwen waardoor ze onafhankelijker kunnen worden. Met name vrouwen die economisch succes hebben, vrouwen die werkzaam zijn in de gezondheidszorg en vrouwen met speciale technische vaardigheden, zoals
ploegen, kunnen helpen bij het benaderen van andere vrouwen in de gemeenschap. Deze vrouwen tonen interesse in verandering en willen zich graag inzetten voor de gemeenschap.
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Precious Songiso was born in Simbala village, Mushukula in 1964. She was the last born of a family of seven children. As a young girl she lived in Simbala village with her mother and her brothers and sisters. Her father was living in Livingstone and after her primary school she was sent to live with him so that she would be able to go to secondary school. She only stayed two years with him; in 1978 rebels fighting the civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), made Livingstone unsafe and Precious' father decided his daughter had to go back to Simbala.
She married a man from the neighbouring village. The marriage did not last very long and after their third child was born they divorced. Now two children are living with her and one child with a brother of her ex-husband. Her mother is also living with her. This is not very logical because her elder brother is one of the biggest farmers in Mushukula so he could easily take care of his mother. Precious says it is her sister-in-law who prevents her brother from supporting his mother. He is no support at all to Precious either so she takes care of her household by farming, brewing beer and doing piecework. However she cannot do all the jobs within the household, for instance when her house needs thatching she will have to ask a man to help her as it is absolutely taboo for a woman to thatch. Because her brother does not want to help her she asks other men, and in exchange for the work she will brew them beer, this trade is called lubile.
Despite the hard work Precious enjoys being a single woman, she feels it gives her considerable freedom. She does not have a husband who interferes with her activities: she can join a women's group, organise meetings and express her opinion freely. Besides she feels people respect her, because of her independence and her care for her family. This is clearly shown by the fact that she was sent to attend the conference for influential women in Sesheke without even being present at the meeting where the community decided which influential women were going to represent their agricultural camp. Apparently the community appreciated her and thought she would be able to make a valuable contribution.
This case story raises several questions: How does Precious manage to be independent whereas many other women depend upon their male relatives? Does the fact that she is divorced have an impact on her position in the community? And what do her children contribute to her status? Where did she learn to organise meetings? What influence does she have in the community? All these questions relate to one main question: What role does Precious play as an influential woman in the community?
The field research explored the lives and roles of influential women in two Lozi communities. Precious' life story is only one of the many life stories I collected during the research. Of course each influential woman has her own story, still some elements appear again and again, and the focus will be on these elements.
The research was carried out from July to December 1995 in the Sesheke District, Western Province of Zambia. I was given the opportunity to this research into the role of influential women in the Lozi community by Anne Marie van Swinderen, SNV Gender Issues and Monitoring Officer, and the Sesheke Gender Group.
1.1 Rationale
In May 1994 the Sesheke Gender Group (SGG) gathered for the first time. The group consisted of ten members, six women and four men, from six different departments, including the departments of Health, Agriculture and Education. The main purpose of the group was to have an inter-departmental forum in which gender issues could be discussed. The aim of the group was also to organise inter-departmental activities on gender. In the plan of action mid 1995 to mid 1996 the SGG redefined the objectives as follows: their overall objective was to improve on gender equality in access to resources, e.g. money, land, human resources, services. They tried to achieve using three practical objectives: In the first place they wanted to create gender awareness with the staff of the departments, other institutions and the wider public. Secondly they planned to coach, monitor and screen development workers in the district on gender awareness and compile a profile on same. Lastly the SGG wanted to be a strong and competent group working merely on demand.
The first activity of the group was the gender survey at Mutuwapa:fa in August 1994. This activity was :financed by the Masese Agricultural Project. The objective of this survey was to obtain data on the gender situation in the district, it looked into questions such as: What is the social construction of the sex roles and the relationship between the sexes? The SGG found a seemingly contradictory situation. In some villages up to 50% of the households are female headed, with women producing most of the food the households consume and often generating a cash-income on top. Despite this, women are not powerful, on the contrary they even appear to be subordinate to the men in the community.
The main problem the female headed households have is that they must pay someone to do those things which are ordinarily thought of as man's work. A number of women expressed their unease about this situation and said they would like to be able to do these activities themselves. The community also indicated another problem: Mostly men participate in decision-making on village level, even though all women are invited to village meetings only few women participate, namely the influential women. Still many other women would like to have a say in the key processes in the village as well. The SGG obtained the
community's suggestions on how to approach these gender issues. Three recommendations followed from the survey:
1. To conduct a workshop for indunas1, stimulating gender awareness. The community and the SGG
recognise that gender equality would be impossible without the help of the indunas. In this workshop the
indunas indicated what type of social changes they would find acceptable and feasible.
2. To conduct a workshop for influential women, to give them a chance to exchange views on what responsibilities they have 'steering' their community, and how this steering could effectively include gender. 3. To conduct a course for women who are head of their household training them in skills which are gender bound and which they indicate they want to learn.
The follow-up of these recommendations started in January 1995 with the indunas workshop on gender.
Sixteen indunas from Maondo Agricultural Block discussed the local gender situation. They were given
training in various ways of reducing gender imbalance in their area. The second recommendation was followed up in July 1995 by a conference for influential women (see under Appendix: Report of the Influential Women's Conference). This conference was organised with fimds from SNV Zambia. The SNV Program Officer on Gender coached the SGG in making a program for the conference. The 19 women invited were identified by the camp officers2 of the seven different agricultural camps.
Because these women have succeeded in achieving a level of gender equality which many other women in the project area would like to reach, the SGG was much interested in influential women and decided the conference alone did not give enough attention to influential women. In view of this the SGG and the Masese Agricultural Project requested a research to explore the role influential women have in key processes within a village community3, the basis of their influence, their role in guiding other women, and in changing and maintaining traditions. The SGG expected that knowledge of the role of these women would make it possible to approach other women and improve gender equality within the project area.
During the survey the submissive behaviour of the women was discussed, some people had the opinion that there is a kind of 'women's culture' in which older women encourage younger women to act submissively. Others said that men put women in a subordinate position. From the literature I studied when writing the research proposal in the Netherlands I gathered these influential women would mostly be elderly women. Therefore my main hypothesis was that age was an important determining factor in acquiring influence. However in the course of my research a new understanding developed and I slightly adapted the proposal.
1
Village headman or judge a the Royal (traditional) Court in Mwandi.
2 Each agricultural camp has its own camp officer. 'Ilris officer is the link between the community and the Department of Agriculture. He keeps the community in his camp informed about the activities of the department.
3
1.2 From Victim to Actor
, It has taken some time before anthropologists became interested in the role women play within society. In the first place the attention was focused on men and gender roles were not considered. If women were at all a topic, they were seen as passive and subordinate (di Leonardo 1991). In the 1960s the international women's movement saw to it that women were given more attention. In 1970 E. Boserup published her book 'Women's Role in Economic Development". In this book she came to the conclusion that women's part in world economics is far bigger than suspected, though they have less access to means of production (Moore 1988:45, Postel-Coster 1987:12). After this publication many more books on the role women play in society were published. In the 1970s people started to analyse the universal male dominance and women's low status. A new vision came into being: women were actors instead of victims. In spite of their apparent powerlessness and low status they have a lot of influence. " ... women, like men, are social actors who work in structured ways to achieve desired ends" (Rosaldo & Lamphere 1974:9). The nature of these strategies depends upon the power structures found within a community, this of course varies per culture. This research investigated the ways which are available to the Lozi women to become influential.
Influence
Women in all societies have possibilities to influence their environment to a certain extent, even though at first sight it may look like they do not have any say. Raphael puts it like this: "Females [sic] are depicted primarily and dominantly involved with decisions and authority in the home sphere but having a large influence as well on public decisions and power" (197 5 :2). Collier thinks women in a patrilocal and patrilineal community are able to exercise this influence because they are political strategists who use sources that are within their reach to achieve political goals. They will influence politically active men by means of "domestic tragedies" (e.g. a domestic quarrel). Collier argues that the cumulative result of all domestic quarrels should not be overlooked (Collier 1974). In this Collier suggests: women cannot independently achieve influence; they will have to work through men because the latter make the decisions in the community. Contrary to Collier's theory the research showed Lozi women can independently achieve influence.
But what is the influence I have been talking about? Lamphere, after Parsons (1963), defines influence as follows: "A woman exercises influence when she is able to bring about decisions on an other's part to act in a certain way, because it is felt to be good for the other person, independent of changes in his or her situation and for positive reasons, not because of sanctions that might be imposed." (1974:99). The fact that influence brings decisions about for positive reasons turned out to be a key concept in this research.
The SGG has narrowed this definition down to the following: "Influential women are generally women who are very active in participating in development, who coach other women, who lead others in their community, who talk freely" (minutes SGG meeting 17 march 1995).
During the research I considered women to be influential when they have a position in the social hierarchy within a village that allows them to make decisions that have an impact on themselves and on others. This means that influential women can easily be identified by other villagers (men, women and children). This definition excludes all less obvious forms of influence (through domestic tragedies for instance). The subject of the research had to be restricted this way because it would be impossible to cover all forms of influence in three months.
In this dissertation it will become clear that women can become influential outside the 'women's culture' and without manipulating men.
1.3 Set-up
In the following chapters I will first give a short history of the Lozi people and their land and give a description of the villages I lived in and the conditions under which the research was carried out. In the third chapter I will explain the methods of research.
The findings follow in chapter four. I distinguish four fields of influence namely the social, the economic, the cultural and the political field. However none of the influential women restricted their activities to one field, I will present ten different influential women and give a brief analysis of each woman's life-story. The analysis will be based on the information I gathered in the field. What were the sources of the influence of these women? Are there any positive or negative forces which had an impact on the influence of woman within a community?
Chapter five explains the findings and elaborates on the theoretical background. The final chapter consists of the conclusions, were the research questions answered, has the objective of the research been reached? In what way are the findings of interest to the SGG? What recommendations follow from the research?
CHAPTER2
THE LOZI AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT
2.1 Zambia: country and history
Zambia is landlocked and bordered by eight countries. The climate is tropical and the vegetation is mostly savannah. The area is semi-arid and since 1978 the rainfall has been mostly irregular and insufficient, which has led to a decrease in food production. Women do about 60% of all the necessary work in agriculture (Chabala and Gichira 1989). Many different tribes live in Zambia, most of them are patrilineal. The government officially acknowledges seven 'tribal' languages which are taught in schools. English is the language people are expected to speak next to their 'tribal' language, the schools are using history and science books written in English.
Zambia's written history starts about 100 years ago with the arrival of the British. In 1889 the British South-Africa Company and the Lozi king, Lewanika signed a contract. The British began exporting ivory, slaves and copper to the West, while at the same time European planters settled in the south of Zambia (then called Northern-Rhodesia). Northern-Rhodesia became a British Protectorate in 1924. Kenneth Kaunda and his United National Independence Party (UNIP) led Northern-Rhodesia to independence which was granted in 1964. Since that time the country is called Zambia. With Algeria and South Africa, Zambia is one of the most urbanised countries in Africa. This is due to the copper mines and the government policy after the independence to subsidise life in the cities with the money that was earned by exporting copper, which made urban life very attractive (van der Lans and Nooter 1988).
2.2 Research Area 4
The Western Province of Zambia is divided into six districts: Kalabo, Kaorna, Mongu, Senanga, Lukulu and Sesheke. The research was carried out in the Sesheke district. The Masese Agricultural Project area, covers roughly one-third of the south-east of the Sesheke District (map 1). It is an area with a population of about 30,000 people. The area has a low potential for agriculture due to poor soils and an average rainfall of only 700 mm annually. Consequently, the population is involved in traditional subsistence farming of a 'slash-and-burn' system. The rainy season lasts from about mid-November till the end of February. However, rain-fall varies considerably. This unpredictable rainfall appears to be a determining factor in the shortage of farming outputs. Sesheke district is one of the poorest districts of Zambia.
4
Source of information: the research proposal as it was vvritten by AM. van Swinderen (1994 ).
The research covered only two small parts of this area, the two agricultural camps Lipumpu (map 2) and Mushukula (map 3). Lipumpu was chosen because the Gender Survey during which the research topic was identified partly took place in this camp. I selected Mushukula because it is very far away from the basis of the project, Masese, and the area is said to be more traditional. It gave me the possibility to investigate if there was a difference of influence between women in Lipumpu and in Mushukula.
Lipumpu
In Lipumpu I stayed in Lichaha village, at about 6 km from Masese, the basis of the project. The village consists of fifty households of which 21 are female headed, in comparison to neighbouring villages the female headed households (FHH)5 form a high percentage of all the households. The overall population consists of about 200 people.
Lichaha village is situated on the banks of the Loanja river. Nowadays this river has completely dried up and turned into one big plain. To find water people have to dig very deep wells in the plain or go to the pump. At the pump there was always quite a crowd because the wells in the plain could only be used for a limited
time a day before they dried up.
The village has three shops. These shops sell basic necessities such as cooking oil, pens, exercise-books, cigarettes, buns and soft-drinks. One of the shops is the co-operative shop where also hybrid maize seed is sold. Apart from the shops there is also a very small market place with a few stands with similar merchandise.
Next to the co-operative shop is the hammermill where people can bring their maize to have it hammered into mealie-meal (maize meal), the basis of the staple food bohobe6. The shops and the hammermill are all grouped together on either side of the main road, together they are called the station because there are always people waiting around hoping for a lift.
There are two churches in Lichaha, the Catholic and the New Apostolic Church, in Masese they have the United Church of Zambia (UCZ) and the Seventh Day Adventists (SDA). Almost everybody in the village is a member of one church or the other.
To get a better view of the position of influential women in different parts of the project area, the field research was continued in Mushukula, Sampuo village.
5
A farm household headed by a woman who is single, divorced or widowed. I also include women who live separated from their husband and are not supported by him.
6
Mushukula
Mushukula (map 3) is situated 45 km north of Masese. The people in Lipumpu consider the people in Mushukula very conservative and traditional. They even call them Tote/a which means backward people. It was interesting to find out if there was indeed a difference in conservatism. One very obvious difference is the fact that the people in Mushukula have less access to cash. There are no shops so it seems the cash economy is still fur away. This logically implies that only very few women are trading in Mushukula whereas in Lipumpu trading is one of the most common activities of influential women. Further more education especially for girls is not considered as important as it is in Lipumpu. The level of education is lower than in Lipumpu.
Sampuo is a village with about 100 inhabitants. The percentage of FHH is as high as it was in Lichaha (50%)7. However in the neighbouring village, Mwanza village, most of the households seemed to be male headed8.
Because Mushukula is almost 50 km upstream the Loanja river, the river has not yet completely dried up. During the time I spent there (October-November 1995) the water was no longer running, the river consisted of a number of puddles. The plain around the river is always very green and provides fresh grass all year round. A brooklet with crystal clear water forms the border of Mwanza and Sampuo village. This stream, the Isungo, provides running fresh water in all seasons. At various spots women wash clothes, children swin1 and play and men or women take a bath. On the banks of the Isungo maize is growing. Many people dig their own well in the plain of the Loanja river where water can be found at 0.5 to 1.0 meter depth. Beside these wells Sampuo village has two pumps, one at the school and one next to the rural health centre. So compared to Lipumpu water is plentiful.
In 1993 the only hanlillermill in the area broke down and since then the women have been pounding their maize again by hand, which is heavy labour. All women and children spend at least two hours a day pounding, without the help of men.
Mushukula school has recently been renovated and is the centre of the activities in the area. All meetings are held at the school and it is the place where visitors are accommodated. Both the SDA and the UCZ have their services in a school building.
2.3 The Lozi People
The main population in the district is Lozi, as it is throughout the Western Province. The Lozi are patrilineal. Silozi is their mother tongue, it is one of the seven acknowledged 'tribal' languages.
7
Source: the ward COllilcillor ofMushukula ward, Mr. Mutendewa.
8 Source:
Mr. Mwanza, village-Induna ofMwanza village.
The Lozi probably originate from a group of Aluyana who came to the Zambezi plain at the beginning of the 19th century. Aluyana was corrupted via Luyi to Lozi or Barozi. Barotse land is the area where the Lozi live (Turner 1952).
Politics
The king of the Lozi is the Lttunga, who has the National Council (}vfulonga) to support him. In this council you will find the indunas, who are the representatives of the people (Gluckman 1951). The first female
indunas have recently been appointed in the Mulonga in Mwandi. Three of them were present at the
conference and everybody treated them with great respect. Their traditional dress showed their status. They wore at least five skirts on top of each other as a sign of dignity.
The traditional political structure has remained in tact up to today. The indunas continue to have a lot of influence, though it has adapted to the national political situation. Within the Barotse land there are several
silalo indunas, an induna who has jurisdiction over several villages. He is the representative of the Litunga in
the area. Each ward in the project area has its own silalo induna. After my arrival in Lichaha village Agatha
took me to the silalo induna to introduce me and to ask his permission to carry out a research in his ward.
The si la lo induna is also the presiding judge at the traditional court, the kuta. The judicial system shows the
integration of the traditional and the national structure. Very serious crimes are not tried at the kuta but at the
local national court.
All silalo indunas and village indunas are men. A village induna is assisted by a village committee, when
matters have to be discussed. In Lichaha village the committee consisted of three men and a woman, in Sampuo village only men were members of the committee. The kuta is sought for advice whenever a problem
needs to be solved within the village community. The court gathers once a week, three to five village indunas
assist the silalo induna, they also act as judges. Especially in the period July-September the court is very
busy. People do not have anything to do in the fields, and spend much time drinking so there are a lot of arguments. As soon as the rainy season is approaching people prefer working in the fields and the court is quiet. The popularity of the silalo induna determines the frequency at which a kuta is attended. In Lipurnpu
the silalo induna is very popular and the kuta is well attended. The silalo induna in Mushukula, on the
contrary, is not popular at all, he is generally considered to be a weak leader and ill tempered. In case of a dispute in Mushukula people mostly take counsel at the Zambian local court or the ward councillor. Each ward has its own ward councillor, a representative of the Zambian government in Sesheke district. The ward councillor travels to Sesheke about once every three months to discuss the district plans with other ward councillors, the district planner and others who are involved in the (Zambian) government of the district.
In Mushukula the ward cmmcillor, Mr. Mutendewa, is very active and he is highly respected by the people in his area. One case makes this very obvious:
In Sampuo village a thief was caught while he was trying to steal soap and sugar. It was the second time this young man was caught stealing and the people in the village were extremely angry with him, because he was also said to hassle young girls. He was captured by the villagers and taken to the local court. This court was right next door to us in Mushukula. Most of the cases concerned marital problems. The court was supposed to be open and gathering every weekday, but it was closed most of the time. There were either no cases or a person of the staff (either one of the two judges, the secretary or the court-orderly) would be away collecting his salaries in Sesheke. This collection of salaries was at least a week long expedition. The day the villagers caught the thief the court was closed so then they took the thiefto Mr. Mutendewa, even though the latter did not have the proper authority. He decided the thief should really be taken to the police, but nobody felt like walking to the police (a three days' walk). So instead he released the thief after some blows and kicks from the angry villagers. Mr. Mutendewa advised the thief not to return to the village because it was not unlikely the villagers would lynch him next time.
Mr. Mutendewa's importance is also shown by the fact that Agatha first introduced me to him and only much later I met the silalo induna.
Food production
Officially the Litunga was the owner of all the Barotseland and he allocated it among his people. In practice
the induna, the village headman divided the land. Once a family possessed a right to land, this right became
inheritable. Generally this is still the case, both sons and daughters inherit land in the village of their father's family. In case of a dispute over these rights those involved will first turn to their village induna. Ifhe fails to solve the problem the case will be taken to the kuta. Mostly the case will be solved by now, if not it will then be taken to the Litunga; however this hardly happens.
During the rainy season the Zambezi river is flooding, this flood used to determine the Lozi life: "The flood dominates Lozi life. It covers and uncovers gardens. All life in the Plain moves with the flood: people, fish, cattle, game" (Gluckman 1951: 11 ). Nowadays most Lozi live on the highlands and the extent of flooding has
been much less, consequently people do not have to move as they used to. Though in some parts of the project area moving is still prevalent.
On the fields people grow mainly maize, sorghum, millet and groundnuts, in some areas also cassava and rice are grown. The availability of the fields, seeds and oxen for ploughing influence the choice of crop. Especially oxen can be a problem, in Sampuo village for instance only two households have a plough and oxen. To prepare the fields for the sowing-season the whole village asks their assistance. Of course this is impossible so many households, especially FHH, are forced to plough the land with a hoe (by hand). Hoeing a field is heavy labour and this forces people to cultivate a smaller plot.
Owning cattle is a form of social security since it is thought of as a reliable source of cash and gives status. In day time men and boys tend the cattle on the communal grounds. Cattle is used for ploughing and fertilising the soil with manure. Besides milk is a popular drink, especially sour milk. However the milk production of the cows is little, so milk is not abundantly available and quite a luxury.
Maize porridge, bohobe, is the staple food. It is eaten as breakfast or lunch and dinner together with a relish. This relish must have a high nutritional value since the bohobe is made out of white maize and is not nutritious at all.
Meat is a delicacy as a relish but generally people do not like slaughtering their animals for consumption, an animal is only slaughtered as a last resource to get ready money or for barter. If a cow is slaughtered the meat will be sold in the market. A chicken will usually be slaughtered to provide food for a welcome guest.
Sometimes men go out at night to hunt duikers or other small antelopes, unfortunately game is rare in most of the project area and often the hunt is unsuccessful. Still in Mushukula game is much more abundant than in Lipumpu and some men even hunt for a living. To preserve meat it is cut into small pieces and dried in the sun. Fish is another favourite relish, again it is not easy to come by. Most of the rivers in the project area have dried up, only in the Zambezi river fish can be caught all the year round. So people in the villages have to buy dried fish if they do not live on the banks of the Zambezi.
Vegetables are the only relish which everybody can provide for themselves. Many people have a small vegetable garden in the comer of their courtyard and are growing just enough to provide for their own household. They mostly grow rabe9 and Chinese cabbage as these seem to be quite resistant to pests.
Gender roles
The Lozi have strict gender roles. In general men and women have their own activities. Especially elderly hold on strongly to the gender roles in the Lozi society. Because of the respect that people have for elderly, people will listen to the elderly when they claim a certain activity is gender related (source: Ms. Mulobela). An incident at Lipumpu school concerning the out-door activities expresses clearly the rigidity of the gender system. The activities teach children practical skills which come in handy in the daily life. In these activities
job-segregation is applied. The girls collect the sand and smear the mud in the latrines, the boys cut trees, thatch roofs and make fences. Once the deputy-headmaster, Mr. Sankondo, tried to introduce mixed outdoor activities however many parents protested and so it was decided to segregate them again. Obviously this job-segregation at school contributes to job-job-segregation at home.
"There are certain periods of the year in which men are busy (August-September for 'building houses' and 'fencing' and October-December for 'ploughing'). Other times of the year they appear to have nothing [ .. .]. Women's tasks, although varying in type over the seasons, are continuous over the year" (Report of the Mutuwapafa Gender Survey 1994:5). The main finding of the Mutuwapafa Gender Survey was that "indeed women perform a lot more duties and are responsible for a larger share of the household tasks than men" (Report Gender Survey Mutuwapafa 1994:3).
In daily life men and women almost seem to live in separate worlds. Because they have very different activities during the day they do not work together. In village meetings there always is a men's side and a women's side, they do not sit mixed. In case ofa death women are mourning in the house and the men sit outside. Drinking is also not done in a mixed setting, often men sit under a tree on benches whereas the women sit in a courtyard on mats. The hierarchy between men and women is clearly expressed by the fact that generally men sit on a chair whilst women sit on a mat surrounded by children.
Lozi marriage is based on lobola, if the price for the bride has not been paid the marriage has not been contracted. When a woman marries she will usually leave all her possessions and move to the village of her husband. She will have to live in the village of her in-laws and this will give her a subordinate position, as they can call on her labour force whenever they like. A well known Silozi phrase explains the situation: Musali hanna munzi, which means a woman does not have a home. Several marriages end in a divorce because the in-laws were too demanding.
As soon as a couple is married they are expected to have children. Childlessness is a ground for divorce. I even met a woman who had been married five times but none of her husbands stayed with her because she could not have children. Contraception is not commonly used and it often happens a woman has born seven or more children. Some women told me they feared they would never be able to become pregnant again if at any time they had been taking the contraceptive pill.
Lozi men can be married to five wives at the same time, but polygamy is fading because only very few men can afford it nowadays. A husband can have as many girl friends as he likes, to the Zambian court of law girl friends are no ground for a divorce, if a wife has a boy friend the court does recognise it as a ground for divorce. Divorce is a very common thing and during the research I met only very few women who had been married only once.
Land is allocated to the newly-weds in a village meeting. In principal man and wife work on these 'family fields' together but in the last decades a lot of young men have left the area to go and work elsewhere. In many cases a woman has to do all the work on her own, with her husband absent and no (male) relative willing to assist her on top of the drought of the past few years, this fact has decreased the agricultural production dramatically.
Usually everybody is invited to village meetings, but it is mostly men who participate in the decision-making. Women fail to attend meetings or are afraid to speak because it is not 'proper' for a women to do so when men are present (ibid. 1994:4). This is also related to the fact that in the old days women were not allowed to contribute unless their opinion was specifically asked for. In some cases the husband determines whether or not a woman can contribute. Some men encourage their wives to attend and speak out. Others disapprove of a woman giving her opinion, they say: "She just wants to be clever" (which is not considered to be an asset in women), or even forbid their wives to attend at all. Sometimes the women themselves fear they are ignorant and their opinion has no value. Still some women do not seem to be restricted by this and definitively contribute to the decision making processes in the village. I will come back to this later.
CHAPTER3
RESEARCH METHODS
During the first week after my arrival in Sesheke the SGG organised the conference for influential women.
This conference was a follow-up of a recommendation which ensued from the Mutuwapafa Gender Survey. The SGG had arranged for a research-assistant, Mrs. Anjanganjanga, who was to be my interpreter at the same time because I did not speak any Silozi. She was an elderly woman with a lot of knowledge of Lozi traditions. We both attended the SGG meetings where the programme of the conference was planned.
The Conference
At the conference 19 influential women from different agricultural camps were present. These women had been identified by their camp officer because they were active in participating in development programs, they coached other women, led others in their community and talked freely.
During this conference the SGG introduced the research and the research team (Mrs. Anjanganjanga and me) to the influential women. The women reacted positive and they all promised their assistance. The conference played an important role in steering the research.
The main objective of this conference was to strengthen women's leadership skills. Other objectives were: a. Explain what gender is.
b. Find out what makes these women influential, what role they play in society. c. Build confidence in the women themselves by meeting each other.
d. Hear the participants' experiences being influential (successes and failures). e. Find out how they overcome their limitations and constraints.
f. Formulate an action plan per camp.
The conference took place at the Farmers' Training Centre (FTC). The day before the conference started the women had gathered in Masese. The project provided the women's transport from Masese to Sesheke. The Gender Group had arranged the women's accommodation at the FTC and provided their breakfast, lunch, tea
and supper.
The first morning the three indunas wanted a VIP treatment and distanced themselves from the others. They
took their breakfast after everybody else and sat in the middle of the square the tables formed in the conference room. In the beginning of the conference they dominated, but this changed in the course of the conference and everybody became free to speak their minds.
Each SGG member was responsible for a part of the programme. This part was related to the department where they came from. In most cases the participants were asked to contribute and together they reached a general conclusion. A video camera filmed the course of the conference.
The conference started explaining gender to the participants, this was done by means of a role play played by the participants themselves. Obviously the women enjoyed exchanging views on the gender situation in their villages. The following day two women explained their activities in their villages, and one induna explained how she became an induna. Then the women continued to discuss constraints and limitations on their influence in the community. Husbands, envy and gossip were often mentioned. Together they discussed how to overcome these obstacles. They decided more efforts should be made to inform their husbands about their activities so they would be less suspicious and more supporting. To avoid envy the women agreed that it
would be best to involve as many people as possible in their activities.
During the conference the SGG members gave the women a workshop on public speaking and information on inheritance rights and on maternity care. The last day of the conference the women had to come together per camp and decide upon their plan of action once returned to the village. Every camp presented their action-plan in the conference room. The influential women have been following up these action-action-plans by organising meetings to explain what gender is about and inform people about the activities planned at the conference. Some of these activities are the follow-up of the third recommendation, as they propose to give training in skills women do not possess due to their gender (like ploughing or building a latrine).The meetings the influential women organised in their camps proved the conference had built confidence in their abilities.
I wrote a report of the conference and in the evaluation of we could conclude that the main objective of the conference had been met. The leadership skills of the women had definitely been strengthened, but two practical objectives were not reached: (b) What makes these women influential and what role they play in society remained vague and was not answered sufficiently. Another objective the conference failed to fulfil was to hear the participants' experiences in being influential ( d), only few experiences were being shared and the different types of influence did not get clarified. The research was partly aimed at these objectives.
Research Proposal
In the research proposal I had written in the Netherlands I assumed that the influential women would mostly be elderly women. However at the conference it was apparent that age was not a major determinant for influence. After an analysis of the conference I rewrote the research proposal, introducing the findings of the conference. My first month in Sesheke was mostly spent behind the computer of the Masese Agricultural Project.
In the 'Field'
After rewriting the proposal I went into the field, finally. It was decided it would be best to stay with a local woman who would be the interpreter at the same time. I went to stay with Agatha Mu:futi in Lipumpu, Lichaha village. The project had successfully worked with her before because she was a very open minded person and willing to try new things. Agatha was a 34 year old widow and mother of one child. The fact that she was single meant that she was very mobile, she did not have to take care of a husband. She was generally respected which contributed to the fact that everybody welcomed us and answered our questions seriously. In both Lipumpu and Mushukula she introduced me to the silalo induna and the village headmen and we asked
their permission to do the research, they all agreed and wished us good luck.
Agatha had attended the conference, so she was aware of the research and was an influential woman herself. This added an interesting perspective to the research: the research object becomes researcher. Especially when we were discussing the questions referring to the conference this was a great help. It also meant the research subject interested her and she was as enthusiastic as I was to find the answers to the questions. Because she was not shy she did not mind asking my questions. On the other hand she would inform me how to behave and give me background information on certain situations we ran into. It was obvious that in time our co-operation improved and we really became a team.
Lichaha village is closely situated to Mutuwapafa and also took part in the Mutuwapafa gender survey. In the village I was accommodated by Agatha, sleeping in a tent in her courtyard, this gave me the opportunity to experience and participate in family life (a family headed by a woman). Many people were visiting Agatha during the day (she was always selling something either snuff, salaula10 or wine), so I had the possibility to talk to many different people. I spent five weeks in Lichaha.
None of the influential women from Mushukula who attended the conference could speak English. Luckily Agatha Mufuti was willing to join me as interpreter. She arranged we would be accommodated by the Kangombe family in Sampuo village. Agatha slept in the hut with the Kangombe children and I slept under a
big Monzauli11 tree in a tent. This tree was the centre of our activities and if we were not out we would sit
under the tree. Mrs. Kangombe was pounding her maize under the tree, Agatha was selling her salaula and
people came to visit us there. Mr. and Mrs. Kangombe had built us our own latrine, and the pump was about five minutes walking. We could wash and bathe in the Isungo. Mr. Kangombe even built me a table under the
Monzauli tree, so I would have a table to work at (the desk with the most beautiful view in the world). Mr.
Kangombe was very concerned about the research and because his English was good I could discuss some of
10
Second-hand clothes.
11
A tree producing red edible beans.
my :findings with him, sometimes this would give me a new perspective. Especially his remarks about the initiation ceremony, which is a subject men generally do not talk about, were clarifying.
Staying in a male headed family gave me the opportunity to observe the way the different jobs within the household are divided (and compare with the situation I witnessed in Lichaha), even though Mr. Kangombe is the judge at the local court and not a fanner. I found the people in Mushukula generally very helpful, especially the concern of the ward councillor (Mr. Mutendewa) and the headmaster (Mr. Wambulawae) were a great help to the research. In total we spent 25 days in Mushukula.
Interviews
In the field we arranged at least one interview, visit or assignment a day. These activities would mostly take place in the morning. Especially if we had to walk a long distance before reaching the place of the activity we would get up at dawn and tryto be back before 11.00 AM, to avoid the heat of the midday.
Before an interview I would prepare questions. No standard list of questions was used though some questions kept returning in each interview (for instance: Who do you consider influential women in the area and why?). Most of the interviews were in Silozi translated by Agatha, in this paper I do not always state whether the infonnation was translated or not. If the person being interviewed spoke English Agatha was not present at the interview. Her absence gave me the opportunity to cross-check earlier :findings and make sure Agatha had not been steering the answers people gave me.
Group Discussions
In Lichaha we tried to arrange a group discussion twice. The first time only one of the five invited women showed up because of circumstances beyond our control. The second time the discussion was more successful, in this discussion both men and women participated. Because four of the seven people present spoke English the discussion was held in Silozi and English simultaneously, all contributions were translated in either Silozi or English.
We organised three group discussions in Mushukula, because only few people spoke English in Mushukula the discussions had to be in Silozi. Except for the discussion in which the ward councillor, the camp officer and the silalo induna participated, then we talked English. The groups differed in formation and discussed different topics. During these discussions I found not being able to understand Silozi a considerable handicap: it soon became clear that the discussion dropped dead as soon as Agatha translated for me. To avoid this she would give a summary at the end of every discussion before moving to the next topic. She was also taking notes in English during the discussion, which I read and could asked to be clarified if necessary. Luckily Agatha and me had been working together for quite some time so I trusted her to lead the discussion.
Mapping
To find out more about the different households and to get a picture of the area, Agatha drew a map of Lichaha village. Unfortunately I did not have such a detailed map of Sampuo village so for the composition of the different households I had to trust the information given to me by the ward councillor and the village induna. I do have a map of both Lipumpu and Mushukula (Maps no. 2&3).
Initiation Ceremonies
During the field research I witnessed two initiation ceremonies, at both ceremonies I taped the songs the people sang. I do not have a literal translation of each song, but I did manage to get an idea what the songs were about and to discuss the meaning with the female members of the SGG. The first week in Lichaha an initiation ceremony took place in Lukuku village, across the plain. I had the chance to attend this ceremony,
I
but did not have the time to prepare for it properly so I did not get all the possible information. Women are generally very secretive about the things the malanguo12 is taught during these lessons, and Agatha found it difficult to explain the lessons to me. Luckily two friends in Lichaha village were not shy to tell me the contents of the lessons.
I witnessed a second initiation ceremony in Sampuo village during the last month of my field research. This time I knew what to focus on and I gathered much more information, I was even allowed to attend a lesson given to the malanguo when she was kept in the house.
Essays
Lipumpu school and Mushukula school both assisted to get the opinion of children on the subject for which they were rewarded with sweets. In Lipumpu the question was: "Write a story about the most important woman in the village and explain how she is helping and advising other people or in what way she is an example to others". I caught some children cheating: one story was literally repeated five times. To make sure my question was not leading the children I changed the formulation slightly, in Mushukula I simply asked the pupils to write a story about the most important woman in the village. The essays of both schools contained many similar determinants of importance but the children in Mushukula had been less specific in the age and the marital status of the women they mentioned.
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Girl to be initiated.
Village Meetings
To get an impression of the follow-up of the conference I attended the meetings organised by the influential women and the meetings organised by the Lipumpu Gender Promotion Group. This group was set up to organise the activities proposed on the Lipumpu action-plan designed at the conference.
I attended several village meetings not only the meetings organised by the women at the conference but also a meeting on the renovation of the school for instance. These meetings gave me the opportunity to observe who was participating and who was not. Later on I would ask for an explanation of the participation I witnessed. On Independence Day Agatha and me were invited to be guests of honour at the festivities. It was interesting to see who was leading these festivities and what the allocation of tasks was.
Court
In Lipumpu Agatha and I witnessed several court cases of both the traditional Lozi court and the Zambian court. We interviewed the silalo induna and the court secretary to get an understanding of the procedure in
such a kuta. I did not have the opportunity to go to a traditional court in Mushukula because it was closed. The rains were coming, and people did not have much time to go to court. Besides the silalo tnduna was not
popular, so he was not trusted to solve problems. However I did visit the local Zambian court where Mr. Kangombe was working as a judge and talked to him about this court.
Women's Groups
I also tried to give some attention to women's groups within church organisations. I spoke to several women about their church activities and visited services of different churches.
Reports
Each time I returned to Sesheke I would assess my findings. I wrote three brief reports for the gender group and discussed my findings with them. It was a good way to keep a review of the research and identify what was needed to be found out next time in the field.
At the end of the research I wrote a report for the project and gave three presentations of my findings to different audiences. One to the camp officers at their bi-monthly meeting, concentrating on the findings and the recommendations which followed from the research. These recommendations would need the co-operation of the camp officers, so it was a presentation from a mainly practical point of view.
The second presentation was for the SGG and other interested parties and was much more elaborate and corresponded with the written report.
The last presentation was the most interesting. Agatha and I went to Masese and presented the findings to the Lipumpu Gender Promotion group many of whom had been personally involved in the research because they had been interviewed. We also discussed the recommendations with them and asked their advice on the implementation. The people reacted enthusiastically. They supported the recommendations and even provided me with some extra infonnation and ideas for the implementation which I added to the report.
In Retrospect
Looking back on the course of the research and the methods used, I have a few remarks. To have the support of the project was very convenient: They arranged for my transport to the village, I could use their computer when I was in Sesheke and they provided me with a very capable interpreter. The conference in Sesheke provided me with an excellent introduction. Whenever I was in Sesheke I could discuss my findings with the SOO and Anne Marie van Swinderen. They wanted to be informed about the progress of the research, and when I was in Sesheke I would give them an update. This forced me to arrange my findings regularly and enabled me to keep a review of the research. The presentations which were given at the end of the research were especially enlightening, and it was fruitful to take back the results of the research to the people who had provided the information.
The main obstacle in the research was the fact that I did not speak Silozi. Agatha was a very good interpreter, but of course she could not translate everything, especially ordinary daily conversations eluded me. I think a lot of information could have been gathered during these casual conversations. On the other hand I am convinced Agatha's co-operation was essential to some of the information I gathered.
Looking back on the research methods I think the right approach was used. Of course I sometimes ran into surprises: The first day of the conference I caused great confusion by wearing pants and a big shirt, the participants were wondering whether I was a boy or a girl. I had not realised how keen people were on proper clothes, a woman should wear a long skirt. And when visiting the women's groups in churches it became clear to me that a minimal knowledge of the bible was required, which is something I lack completely.
I am aware of the fact that I collected purely qualitative data. It is impossible to generalise the findings from these two more or less arbitrarily chosen villages. But the data do give the SOO and the Masese Agricultural Project sufficient information on the role of the influential women within the project area which was the objective of the research and I was able to deduct some practical recommendations.
CHAPTER4
TEN INFLUENTIAL WOMEN
As I mentioned earlier it is possible to discern four fields of influence within a community. Firstly the Economic field, women in this field have economic activities. Some women have a shop, others sell vegetables or scones. They earn money which they can keep to themselves, no husband is claiming it.
Especially ifthe trade is prosperous, people will often come to these women to ask them for advice or a loan. Agriculture is part of this field because it is the way most people earn their living. A woman who is a successful furmer is highly respected. The Social field concerns activities depending on the co-operation of groups of people e.g. developmental issues, education, health care and churches. Especially in health care and church groups women are involved. The community appreciates the women's activities because it benefits. Thirdly the Cultural field, the activities in this field aim at conserving the Lozi culture: the music, songs and dances but also the norms and values. In the cultural field I include the mulena hae13 and elderly women in general as they are the ones trying to preserve beliefs and taboos. In the fourth place I consider the Political field. The politics in this field are related to the local government: women who join political parties gain influence through their position within a party. Often they will be experienced in public speaking this will enable them to participate actively in village meetings. I have found most women started to be politically active with UNIP, some told me UNIP gave women training when they were active members.
Usually women are influential in two or more fields at the same time: when a woman achieves influence in one area she is likely to be asked to participate in other activities so naturally she will extend her influence beyond the first field.
In Lipwnpu many women were active in the economic field. In Mushukula people mostly considered the social or the cultural type of influence as most important. Politics did not get much attention. The participants at the conference were mostly socially and/or economically influential.
In the next paragraphs I will illustrate the above mentioned generalisations with the help of case studies. I will also shed a light on questions such as: What does their influence encompass? What are the characteristics of a woman's influence in a certain field? What qualities give a woman influence and what fuctors have an impact on these qualities?
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