Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-02-16
WOMEN IN AFRICA.
Degraded Among Many Tribes, but
Possessed of influence Among Others.

From the Womens Journal of Berlin.
| Among natural people women have to
| suffer on account of their want of physical
| strength, and this is especially the case
| among the African tribes, where polygamy
! adds to the degradation of the weaker sex.
| But their lot is not without mitigation.
| 1t is Influenced by the same factor that
| raises woman to her high position among
civilized people-the love Of her children.
| The laws OF the barharous African tribes
give much influence to the mothers in reg
ulating heritage and succession, which
| gives them a more important position in
| the family and IN the tribe The mothers
and sisters of an African chief are often
his most Influential advisers, even the real
| rulers. On the whole, however, the old
| maxim holds good: If the intellectual state
| of tribe is very low, their women are
| treated badly. With the lowest of the
African tribes, the Bushmen, woman is
nothing but a slave and beast Of burden.
During the travels of Bushman family
the wife has TO carry everything, and if
| there is scarcity of food, the woman has
| to suffer first. If she becomes weak and
old she is abandoned to the mercy Of The
wild beasts. Very different is the treat
| ment accorded to the woman of the gen.
uine negro. All things considered, their po-
sition IS the same with us. Men and
women share in the necessary work. True,
if the man thinks fit to beat his wife, no
one is likely to interfere. On the other
hand the woman will find the laugh on
her side if she succeeds in getting the
| better of her spouse by iudicious use of
her teeth. her nails, and-her tongue.
The Zulus are patriarchal race. The
father is master of the family and owner
OF its female part; therefore the position of
the woman is much lower If her husband
has high rank. The wives of the chief
never take part in his councils and may
only move about on their knees before him.
The principal reason for this degradation
is the custom OF selling women. The price
varies between ten and hundred mead of
cattle for the daughters of a chief. Other
| women may be had for three or four cows.
If the wife does not suit the husband in
every particular, then he sends her home
and demands another, or else part of the
price paid must be returned to him. But
# she proves to be specially valuable the
relative who sold her will demand some
extra payment A bad wife may also be
sold as a slave.
Among the Dualla tribes, on the west
coast, the women have not the slightest
vestige of a right. They are sold and
sold at the pleasure of the men. They
may be given away, lent and hired out.
They must do all the work In the fields,
and. If they fail to bear children, they
may be killed. And yet they often manage
to hold their own against their masters.
The natural result of their position is that
the women combine against their husbands
IN most alarming manner. The traveller
Bastian tells of rich man in Okolloma,
with whom he stayed for some time. The
poor fellow was at loggerheads with his
women, and had to barricade his hut at
night time. Twenty Infatuated women in
habited his place and refused to come to
terms.
The Importance of the women among the
Dahomeyans is we'll known. Their female
warriors were much more dangerous to
European troops than the men. The enor-
nous extent to which decapitaton was
carried on among the Dahomeyans during
Behanzin's reign accounts for the great
predominance Of women in point of num-
bers. A procession Of the king included
fifteen of his daughters, accompanied by
fifty female slaves, $50 of his wives, thirty
Anazons of the body guard, six companies
Of Amazons of seventy each. $50 slaves
and rear guard of another sixty ANA
zons-but only $50 male warriors. The in
fiuence of the women among these people
has been felt by both the Germans and the
French in their colonial troubles