DIARY OF A MAD BLACK AFRICAN WOMAN

Black women in Africa have come a very long way to be where they are today. Before colonialism, they were oppressed and suppressed from the very day they were born, right up to the day they took their last breath. When colonialism did come, they had the double tragedy of being both black and female. It is only in the last decade or two that women in Africa have truly gained their place on the planet.

BEFORE COLONIALISM

Before colonialism, most societies in Africa were patriarchal, as such; male domination was the status quo. Female oppression started at birth. A male child was more valuable than a girl child, hence, if twins were born, the female one would be the one to be killed, because twins were a taboo. In the homestead, a girl’s brothers and father were as good as her masters. They determined her present and future. When she moved to her matrimonial home, her husband became her new lord. He could do as he willed with her and it was nobody’s business. No matter how tortured they were, it was a disgrace for a woman to leave her husband. If she chose that path, she would have disgraced herself, her children, her family and her whole clan. That being said, many would rather endure the pain of marriage and put on a good front for society.

DURING COLONIALISM

When colonialism came, being black was a curse – double tragedy if you were a woman too, for in addition to the traditional oppression by their black society, women were also oppressed by the white system. In the beginning, there was no place for them at any learning institution. When at last they were allowed education, they had second preference. If the family could only afford to send one child to school, the girl child would not be among the options. The working world was even crueller. At first women were not allowed in the working environment at all. With time, they began entering the working class bit by bit. But even with that, they would get a lower salary than their male colleagues. Promotion was also very difficult for them to get and often they would fall victim to sexual harassment. It was also not until the last twenty to thirty years that women were allowed to exercise their right to vote.

AFTER COLONIALISM

For a while after many countries had attained independence, things remained the same as the new black governments carried on the colonial legacy. Thanks to the calls for the emancipation of women by many institutions including human rights activists, NGOs, feminists and many others, universal suffrage was made to include women, affirmative action was introduced to give women equal opportunity with men in schools and labour laws were put in place to save women from their plight. Today, we have a lot of black women on the continent who are among some of the most powerful and influential people in the world. Black women in Africa are doing big things now world over. Talk of Castor Semenya – South African Athlete; Dlamini Zuma – Chairperson of the A. U Commission, Tsitsi Dangarembga – Zimbawean author playwright and film maker; Joyce Banda – President of Malawi; Yondo Sister – Congolese suokous singer who made Africa go mad with her music in the ‘90s for example. And for that, we definitely have a lot to be proud of because we have indeed come a long way.