African Feminist Perspectives on African Culture

1. Introduction

All human societies have their own peculiar practices and ways of doing things that have developed over time. These practices and ways of doing things have been modified and sometimes maimed as they traverse the different epochs and milestones of human history in those societies. The practices are cherished, revered and closely guarded by members of the peculiar societies to ensure visibility, continued existence and identity of their people. This is culture: the way people define themselves; practice and theorise life in their own setting; relate to fellow members and the outside world; feel each other; and so on. In a healthy and self-respecting society, people, both the strong and the weak members of society, take pride in their ways of doing things, in most cases resulting in self-referencing criterion or ethnocentrism on how they view other people’s ways of managing the business of life. Africa is not an exception. Having traversed and passed through different contours of human life, the continent still has something referred to as culture, although seriously maimed by countless years of outside world contact (voyages of discovery, slavery, colonialism, imperialism, globalisation, and so on). This explains the present confusion on “African culture” vis a vis status of women and feminism in the continent.

It should be clear from the start that African feminists are not saying African culture is ideal. Like any other human culture, it has its own pitfalls and harmful practices. Neither are they saying there is no unfairness in the treatment of the girlchild and the boychild, no. Their argument is on the limelight and the heightened and exaggerated harmful practices, most of which are misrepresentations and formations of colonialism and imperialism. If in Africa we modify our genitals for a better sexual experience, what is wrong with that? They ask. What about clitoridectomy to stop girls from masturbation in the UK and the USA? Today Western women claim to be doing all sorts of aesthetics and enhancements ranging from tattoos, to piercing and cutting off some sensitive parts of their genitals the same way Africans do these things under the cultural banner. It should be noted that there is no society in Africa which requires its girl child to pass through some rites of passage without requiring the boy child the same. African feminists argue that should there be any harmful practices it is them who are more qualified to talk about them and find solutions to the issues at stake. The major bone of contention is that Westerners have not been as genuine and honest as they claim to be in their assessment and portrayal of the African woman situation. African culture should not be portrayed as static because it has proven to be flexible and receptive to new ideas and ways of doing things, they argue. It is therefore the age-long othering and dehumanising of Africans, their culture and their women which African feminists question and reject.

This chapter explores the concept of culture and how it is viewed in relation to feminism in Africa. The chapter starts by discussing the concept of culture, the status of women in precolonial Africa and developments during colonialism to demonstrate that gender inequality does not have its roots in Africa. Next, the chapter coins and discusses two views on the relationship between African culture and the status of women in Africa: one derived from Western sisters and other “sympathisers” arguing that African culture is detrimental to women freedom and empowerment and thus it reduces African women to objects of pity; and the other one derived mainly from within Africa arguing that if African women are really oppressed today, African culture is not to blame, but contact with the Western world, African culture is very supportive to women empowerment. The chapter then discusses genital modification, including female genital cutting and elongation of the labia among many others, as some of the controversial customs and traditional practices in African culture. The same modifications are part and parcel of Western women practices designed to enhance sexual pleasure, but major controversy comes when they become cultural traditions for African women in Africa as they are seen as dehumanising, a violation of women rights and eating into women’s dignity. Nevertheless, the practising women themselves say they benefit from the practices and therefore they do not want to stop the practices.