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A Mutually Complementary Relationship?
The Condition of Single Women in Both Village and City in Kenya
Wakana SHIINOTokyo University of Foreign Studies

Introduction
It is clear that the recent drastic urbanization in Africa that promotes economic growth and haschanged the forms of family and people’s life styles.
In this paper, I would like to analyze the changes concerning single women’s life in
Kenya. Firstly, I will focus on single women’s situation in rural Luo society where customary
regulation and beliefs strongly exist. Secondly I will tackle on the elite single women’s life
style in Nairobi. Elite single women employ single women from rural areas as maids or ‘housegirl’. I could observe that they form a family-like relationship and depend on each other. I
attempt to show these single women’s life by combining the ethnographic data from rural Luo
and city in Kenya.
Research Area and the people
I have been doing anthropological research among the Luo of Kenya since 1995. The Luo isWestern Nilotic people; inhabit the shores of Lake Victoria and its interior regions in Western
Kenya. The population is 4.04million [Kenya National Bureau of Statistics 2009]. People plantmaize, a variety of beans, sweet potatoes and groundnuts. Sugarcane is not popular in this area
as a cash crop. They do not keep many head of cattle, the average being less than five cattle
per household. Many people engage in small businesses: women sell crops and home products
at the local markets, while some men sell daily commodities, such as soap, cooking oil, bread,biscuits, notebooks, pencils, at the markets and kiosks, or engage in other work in towns andcities such as Homa Bay, Rongo, Kisumu or Nairobi.
Luo Society
Luo society is strongly patrilineal and polygamy are relatively common, especially in rural
areas. Normally, Luo people prefer to marry someone who has been introduced by a close
relative or neighbour. The payment of bride wealth is a necessary condition for the approvalof marriage in the community. On the other hand, the return of bride wealth is a condition
required for divorce (Wilson 1954: 138; Ocholla-Ayayo 1986: 141). As with the Nuer, Luo38

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marital unions are considered to last even after the husband dies, which is why a widow
continues to live on her late husband’s property even when it has been inherited by his sons orbrothers (Evans-Pritchard 1938: 319).
Marital life in the Luo community is considered to belong inside the compound (sing. dala),
the property of a married man with authority to regulate members of his compound. Typically,
two to three generations live within the compound where are a married man, his wives, theirchildren and grandchildren. The word ‘dala’ means both the compound where residents live
and the residential group itself. Luo village onsists of these dala and most of them have thecommon ancestors.
They also conduct ‘ter’, which is the so-called leviratic relationship in Social Anthropology.
Luo’s Customary regulations and beliefs
In the compound, each wife and sons have a personal hut. These huts are situated in theorder of birth for sons and that of marriage for wives. This order is called ‘duong’, and Luo
people believe that they may suffer misfortunes if they do not follow this ordering. Thus,
duong’ is considered very important throughout daily life in the compound. At the beginningof every seasonal agricultural activity, at the death of close relatives, at the birth and deathof one of their own children or on other extraordinary occasions, members of the compoundare obligated to engage in special sexual intercourse in the order of this hierarchy. Failing to
do so, or so they deeply believe, will result in chira (misfortune) brought against them by asupernatural power.
To control behaviors and keep peace in this polygamous residential group, there are othercustomary regulations. People say those are ‘Luo’s way in our life’. The regulation are known
as ‘kwer’ and ‘chik’.
kwer is the rule of prohibition. The rules that ‘you have to do’ are called chik. The Luo saythat kwer causes chira’ (Abe 1981: 127). Furthermore, as Abe and Parkin mentioned, ‘chira’ isconcerned with both sexual intercourse and seniority (Parkin 1978: 149-164, Abe 1981: 128).
If people behave out of those rules, people belive chira will come in form of punishment.
That is why the fear of chira makes people follow those rules. The sexual relationship out of
marriage is extremely prohibited. That is why there are this kind of customary regulation andpunishment.
The position of men and women
In Luo society, boys start to have their own huts in their father’s compounds when they
become 14-15years old. They get married in these huts and then make their independent dala
when their wives start to be given birth baby boy. A man becomes an adult when he has built acompound of his own with his father as a witness.

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In the case of a woman, she gets married when she becomes 16-17 years old. And then she
is regarded as an adult after she has given birth to a boy. A woman has the right to use land
for agricultural or other purposes only after she has married. Conversely, her sons will inherit
parts of their father’s land through their own mothers. Women also can get a space where
they can be buried at the husbands’ home. That is saying that women can get land and space
to live only through marriage. This implies that, un-married women have a lot of difficulties
integrating in this society. Due to such a limited condition for women, most widows remain attheir late husband’s home and start to have ter-relationships with pro-husbands. Through terrelationships, widows maintain or increase late husband’s family members in his land. Veryfew widows go back to their natal home or go away from their late husband’s land because it
is so difficult to live without land to stay and dig for their living [SHIINO 2005].
Since the reforms in Kenyan Law in 2010, women also get a land right. But, because thisKenyan Law is opposed to most of customary laws, women should apply to the court if theywant to get their land. It is not easy for villagers who are not good at writing and do not haveenough money to pay for lawyers to appeal in the court.
The position of single mother and kids in rural society
There is a strong moral belief that, mature women1 must have husbands. Moreover, it isbelieved that unmarried mature women may bring misfortunes especially to their marriedfemale relatives, because unmarried women are believed to harbour a strong wish for ahusband even when they die. For this reason, people fear the death of an unmarried woman. In
fact, the spirit of a dead unmarried woman is the most feared in Luo society. In the event thatan unmarried woman dies, her bereaved family tries to find a man who will accept her deadbody as his wife.
Traditionally getting pregnant before marriage is also prohibited. The child out of marriage
is called kirumira, and who is highly discriminated in the village. If a mother get married toa man with her kirumira, who does not have good condition and could not inherit land andproperty as same as any son. Most of the time, a single mother left her baby at her parents’home and she went to marry another man. Before colonization by British, kirumira would bekilled by a mid-wife on request from the mother’s husband.
Since around 1990s, the rate of single mothers has been increasing. There were
grandmothers called ‘pim’ who stayed with the girls and educated them on sexuality. But aftercolonization the western school system was introduced and girls started to go to school. Girls
lost time with ‘pim’ to learn sexuality and adulthood in Luo society. And then girls started tohave sexual relationship with boys and men without knowledge of how to protect themselves.
This is one of the reasons why nowadays there are higher rates of school dropouts among girlstudents.

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But still because the customary regulation is strong, single mothers’ and their children’ssituation is very hard in the village. Abortion is illegal in Kenya, therefore, many girls go toillegal clinics or traditional doctors to abort but the bad sanitary condition often causes thedeath of many. Unmarried girl’s pregnancy should be highly hidden, so going to the hospitaland even burying her is done secretly. Unmarried woman is not supposed to be buried in thefather’s compound, so the body is buried in the bush.
It is not so easy for a single mother with her kid(s) to get married to another man. The
condition is changing in the last 10 years though at a slow pace. As I mentioned, Luo women
do not have land rights. Women get a right to stay, right to dig on a land only through theirmarriage. Unmarried women should look for the space where they can stay and earn for theirliving. If she does not have special skills to earn money, it is very difficult for them to live
in towns. Most of them should attach prostitution to their survival. If she is running a small
business, like a kiosk, hoteli (diner), or selling fish etc., to raise more income, they haverelationships with businessmen [Béné and Merten 2008]
As detailed above, the position of single mother is quite difficult in the village and local
towns.
Single elite women in Nairobi
The big modern city like Nairobi has quite different conditions. Here there are many single
people who have some different backgrounds and reasons why they are single.
Especially highly educated women have difficulties to find men who match them. Because
the women want men who are also highly educated with better salary to match their social
position and pride.
Late Professor Wangari Muta Maathai (1940-2011) was the first lady to become a female
professor in Kenya. She was born during colonialism but she got several chances to learn
abroad, and then she got a doctoral degree. But her husband became very jealous about her
career and fame when her social activities were getting active and powerful which influenced
a lot of people. He even became her serious political enemy. After fighting in the court they
finally divorced [Maathai 2008]. The cause was male-domination, which is still common
among most Kenyan men. This idea affects highly educated women a lot. And also these elite
women have very strong pride. That is why most of them have difficulties to get partners whomatch their education and position.
Most of singles that I met in Nairobi either graduated at least college, University with
first degree or some with master’s degrees. One of them said ‘I am looking for a man, but heshould fit my CV. At first, I will show him my CV so that he can see whether or not he is fit forme. Another lady told me, ‘I am tired of Kenyan men. They are very jealous and they want a
lot of things. Basically they think women should do everything at home.’’ But it is interestingA Mutually Complementary Relationship? The Condition of Single Women in Both Village and City in Kenya

41

that not all single women are unmarried. Some of them gave birth without marriage, others
divorced after giving birth.
Discussion: The relationship between an elite single woman and ‘house girl/maid’These elite single mothers look so proud and self-independent. Are they really managing
their life both as mothers and working ladies in the office by themselves? Or do they havesomebody assisting them without the kids’ fathers? —Those are ‘house maids’ or ‘housegirls’. Most elite women choose women as their ‘house girls’ from the same ethnic group as
theirs. They try to look for maids through their relatives in home villages. Most of them say
they cannot trust any other tribe other than their own. ‘I cannot ask somebody I do not trust to
take care of my children’ one of the women said.
Actually a ‘house girl’ is expected to do a lot of house work—washing clothes, cleaning therooms, buying food, cooking, washing plates, feeding kids, caring of kids, and helping the kids
sleep and so on. Since a ‘house girl’ starts to stay at home to do such work, kids get used to bewith her and they become fine even though their real mum is not at home. Even young baby
can stay without mother for several nights to weeks. In most cases kids like to sleep with ‘housegirl’ even when mother is around. For the elite woman, she goes to work early in the morningand when she comes back home in the evening, she finds her dinner ready, clean rooms andcheerful kids. That is why elite women can leave their kids with ‘house girls’ at home and thenthey can go out after work for drink and dance with friends.
These women who become ‘house girls’ or ‘house maids’ are mostly single mothers,
widows or women who have reasons to leave their natal homes or (late) husbands’ homes.
Some women want to run away from customary regulations in the village and, others want
to start a new life in a new place where nobody knows about their past. People believe thatgenerally customary regulation can only be effective in the village setting. Most single mothers
leave their kids at their parents’ homes or relative’s homes to be ‘house girls’ or ‘house maids’
in towns.
Conclusion: Matrifocal ‘Family’?
As mentioned above, women do not have a right of land ownership except if she can buy it or
get married. Generally women have difficulties to be independent herself through working in
town if they don’t have at least secondary education. That is why working and staying withelite women and kids is a very good opportunities for uneducated women that cannot stay inthe village. As for the elite single mothers, they need ‘house maids’ to go about their life. Thereis a mutually complementary relationship between elite single mothers and single women fromthe villages. And since they start to stay together in the same residence, they become ‘familylike’ connected. When they are in trouble, they try to solve each other. For example, when

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the house girls’ kids, parents or close relatives get sick, elite women give financial and moral
support.
They live together just like as a matrifocal family’ in which the elite women are the center
who have authority and economical power, kids, and ‘house girls’ as the ‘second mothers’ forkids in the house. This way they depend on each other. Elite women and single women fromthe village find their way of life in this type of family life.
But it is obvious that, this mutual relationship is based on the background of Kenya
characterized a strong patrilineal ideology and gender bias as well as the big economic andeducation gap between the village and town elite women. There is strictly patrilineal ideology
in the village, but if women enter the highly educated elite course, there is somehow genderequality in terms of salary etc. Looking at the ranking of The Global Gender Gap Report,
Kenya is 34th, Japan is 104th, and Korea is 117th among 142 countries in the world [TheGlobal Gender Gap Report 2014]2. It is clear that for any single person, it is not easy to work
fully and play the role of a mother at the same time. It can be possible when especially single
working mothers have the assistants so-called ‘house girls’. As for women with reasons toleave their villages, finding elite women’s homes to work is a great opportunity to start a newlife.
What is the big difference between Japan and Kenya? It is easy in Kenya to employ ‘maids’
not only for the rich people but also for working middle class people including primary school
teachers. Kenyan elite women can just give birth even though they are not sure about marrying
the men. On the other hand, they are so sure about themselves because they have good salaries
and they can employ maids to help cater for the kids without fathers. Japanese single womenface the big wall when they think about ‘their own children’ without the role of the father.
They have to choose a childless life when they cannot get ‘right’ men. While Kenyan single
mothers never give up searching for the ‘right’ men. That is the biggest difference between
Kenya and Japan. A Kenyan single lady told me ‘I am now checking a man from Ghana. He isvery intelligent and gentle. He is different from Kenyan men. I got tired of Kenyan men, so I
will see men from other countries.’
References
Abe, Toshiharu “The Concepts of Chira and Dhoch among the Luo of Kenya: Tradition, Deviation andMisfortune.” In Themes in Socio-cultural Ideas and Behaviour among the Six Ethnic Groups of
Kenya, ed. Nobuhiro Nagashima. (Tokyo: Hitotsubashi University,1981), 125-139.
Béné, Christophe and Sonja Merten, ìWomen and Fish-for-Sex: Transactional Sex, HIV/AIDS and
Gender in African Fisheries,î World Development 36 (5) 2008.: 875-899.
Evans-Pritchard, E.E. Some Aspects of Marriage and the Family among the Nuer. Zeitschrift fur
Vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft, 52(1938).

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43

Maathai, Wangari . Unbowed: My Autobiography, Arrow Books. (2008)
Ocholla-Ayayo, A.B.C. Traditional Ideology and Ethics among the Southern Luo. Uppsala: The
Scandinavian Institute of African Studies. (1976)
Parkin, David, Neighbours and Nationals in an African City Ward. (Berkeley and London: California U.P.,
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969)
Parkin, David, The Cultural Definition of Political Response: Lineal Destiny among the Luo. (London:
Academic Press, 1978).
SHIINO, Wakana, “Widow’s Practice ‘Pro-hussband Choice’ in a Rural Luo Community”, in『東アフリカにおけるグローバル化過程と国民形成に関する地域民族誌的研究』, ed. Matsuzono Makio.
(Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan University 2005), 85-107.
Wilson, Gordon, Luo Customary Law. (Nairobi: Kenya Government Printer,1954).

URL
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, “Census 2009 Summary of Results, Ethnic Affiliation”.<http://
www.knbs.or.ke/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=151:ethnic-affiliation&catid=112&Itemid=638> Accessed on 2nd October, 2015.
The Global Gender Gap Report 2014<http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2014/rankings/> Accessed on 1st October, 2015.
Notes
1 In traditional Luo society, there appears to have been seven stages to life. However, due to thedecline of certain customs, such as teeth-pulling and shield-making by men, and the effects ofwestern culture, people have stopped paying attention to such initiation rituals. In theory, an adultwomen is ‘a woman who is mature enough to get married (nyakomoromo kendo)’, but generally, awoman is understood to have attained womanhood when she is married and has a son in the rural
Luo community.
2 Every year World Economic Forum do research about ‘The Global Gender Gap’ since 2006. They
make a framework for capturing the magnitude of gender-based disparities to track their progress.
They said ‘The Index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education and healthcriteria, and provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across regions andincome groups.’(http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2014/part-1/ accessed on 30th
Sep 2015)