Rice is an important staple crop, along with millet, sorghum, and peanuts. When they have time, the men are also involved in other activities. Some have small part-time businesses to supplement their incomes. They may keep goats, sheep, bees, poultry, and dogs. In addition, they keep cattle for prestige, as bride-price payments, or as sacrifices.
Men usually do the heavy farm work, while the women do both domestic and farm chores.
Women have the jobs of cooking, cleaning, tending to the young children, and gathering forest products. The Malinke are a patrilineal society, with the oldest male as the leader of the lineage. The next larger unit is the village settlement, which contains the houses of men of the same clan name. The men of one village attend ritual meetings together. Malinke marriages were commonly arranged when the girl was still an infant.