PART 1
Folks this interesting Article from New Internationalist Magazine about the issues of Women's right in the Gambia by Nikki Van Der Gaag.
For most of the World's population, daily life is based on unspoken aggreements between men and women. Nikki van der Gaag reports from the Gambian coastal village of Gunjur. Money in Gunjur smaells of fish. Not the larger, more pristine 50-dalassie notes: the red 5, the green 10 and the small tinny silver one dalassie coins with the alligator on the back.
It is not surprising, for fish is the daily staple. Together with groundnuts it provides the protein that keeps everyone going: spicy ' benechin', fish and rice, or 'domida' fish and groundnuts.
On the coast where the brightly coloured wooden boats brave the waves, the women run into the sea when the catch comes in; helping to carry the fish to the shore, gutting them on the sand, and taking them to be dried by the thousands in the sun on wooden racks, or smoked, or sold fresh to the surrounding villages. The smell of fish here is overpowering.
But fish is not just the staple, it is also a symbol of relations between men and women. While men do the actual fishing, women make up[ 80 percent of fish-offloaders, and do 99percent of fish processing. 'Fish money' is what a husband is supposed to give his wife or wives every day as part of his side of the conjugal bargain; money to keep his family fed.
He is also responsible for building and maintaining the compound where he lives with his lives extended family. For the rest-school fees, soap, clothes sandals, cooking pots, firewood, matches- the women p[rovides by selling a few green tomatoes, chilis,m sweet potato or manoes from her garden; small tidy piles stackd neatly in the market.
There are other parts of the bargin too. Women and girls undertake all the domestic tasks, which include fetching firewood and water from the well-most rural areas in the Gambia have no electricity and no running water. The agreemnts on marriage rest on the fact that most Gambians are Muslims, and Islamic beliefs on marriage fit neatly with those of earlier p[olygamous societies. A man may have up to four wives, but he must treat them equally. The womn accept that this is what the Qur'an dictates, but they are not alway happy with situation. Muna, who has three children, says: ' My ideal would be one man, one wife, with all things shared. He puts in 50, she puts in 50.
Normally a man will spend the same number of nights each week with each with wife, who during that time will cook for him, wash his clothes and bear his children. Then he moves on to the next, who is usually in an adjacent room along the verandah that fringes ther compound.
Women make up[ half the agricultural labour force in the Gambia and account for 99percent of rice production, but the main cash crop-groundnuts-is largely a male preserve. In Gunjur, few women are involved in paid work, because the majority have never progressd beyond a rudimentary education. They have many skills, but they cannot read, write, tell the time or use a telep[hone.
So the one thing that is likely to bring most change to women's lives in the future is that the majority of girls today are going to school. At present, 73 per cent of women in the Gambia cannot read or write. In rural areas women's litracy is very low-in one province, Basse, it is only 7.4 percent. Three years ago the president, Yahya Jammeh, responding to the UN's Millennium Develoment Goals, declared that girls' education at primary level would be free. This has already made a difference, as Fatou, one of the handful of educated women in Gunjur, who teaches at the local school, pointed out: ' Where before I would have more boys in my class than girls, now it is at least half and half'. In practice, not all schools benefit from the handout, and as it is given to individual families, sometimes the money simply does not arrive. But it is a start.
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Express yourself with Y! Messenger! Free. Download now.
[input] [input] [input] [input] [input] [input] [input] [input] DeleteReplyForward Move...
Previous | Next | Back to Messages Save Message Text
Check Mail - Compose - Search Mail | TG: UI: SFI: SFV: -->Mail Upgrades - Mail Options
Move Options
[New Folder]
Inbox
Forward Options
As Inline Text
As Attachment
Reply Options
Reply To Sender
Reply To Everyone
Mail Shortcuts
Check Mail Ctrl++C
Compose Ctrl++P
Folders Ctrl++F
Search Ctrl++S
Options
Help Ctrl++H
Address Book Shortcuts
Add Contact
Add Category
Add List
View Contacts
View Lists
Quickbuilder
Import Contacts
Synchronize
Addresses Options
Addresses Help
Calendar Shortcuts
Add Event
Add Task
Add Birthday
Day
Week
Month
Year
Event List
Reminders
Tasks
Sharing
Synchronize
Calendar Options
Calendar Help
Notepad Shortcuts
Add Note
Add Folder
View Notes
Notepad Options
Notepad Help
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
