MARRIAGE AND ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES: CAREER PATTERNS OF HAUSA WOMEN IN KATSINA CITY

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Date
1979-12
Authors
Pittin, Renee Ilene
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Abstract
ABSTRACT This thesis examines the social life of Hausa women in the Nigerian city of Katsina, and focuses on their perceptions and manipulation of available statuses and roles. Seen objectively, Hausa men dominate the wider political and economic life of the community: the men view women as subordinates whose lives they control. The ideology of women's seclusion supports this male view, but its most important 6ocial consequence is to define an arena from which all males are virtually excluded. This women's arena is domestic in two respects: the women's domain is the residential compounds, and the women's economic contributions are largely based on commodity production within these units. However, the domestic sphere is not a residual area of social life. Women's profits and other sources of income are the basis of extensive ceremonial exchanges which may involve hundreds of women in any single event. Informal and flexible women's networks operate in many contexts, most strikingly in protecting women threatened in times of unrest. Women's and men's perceptions of women and their social life differ substantially, particularly in the women's emphases on the variety of positive choices open to them, and their active role in making decisions which affect their lives. Yet when women are with men, they preserve their exclusive social arena from male interference by deliberately behaving in ways which confirm male expectations of their passivity. A central theme of the thesis is the structure of the often contradictory male and female models of women, and the reasons for and consequences of their coexistence in Hausa society. The study considers the wider social context within which women act, and outlines the historical processes resulting in a diminution of women's authority in the political sphere. Opportunities provided by seclusion, and women's distinct perceptions of their social life, allow them considerable economic self-sufficiency and autonomy, and satisfy social and psychological expectations. The women's arena is complex, and the alternative career strategies available to women are highly structured. Case studies and quantitative data are used to analyse these strategies, and their advantages and disadvantages. Although Hausa women begin adult life as secluded married women, divorce is easily obtained, after which women may choose to remarry elsewhere, or to remain non-married. Or they may become prostitutes and achieve more complete independence and great personal freedom of movement. Women move easily between these statuses, and this mobility which is both spatial and social is extensive, yet much of it is virtually invisible to men, independent of male control, and ignored by the male model of women. The choices which women make are based on their own perceptions and priorities. The thesis is intended as a contribution to West African ethnography, to the study of women in Muslim society, and, in a wider framework, to the debate concerning the existence and the nature of women's models of society.
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Submitted for the degree of Ph.D. in Anthropology School of Oriental and African Studies University of London
Keywords
MARRIAGE,, ALTERNATIVE,, STRATEGIES:, CAREER,, PATTERNS,, HAUSA WOMEN,, KATSINA CITY
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