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Somali Women’s Place in the Community
Somali women live in a well-organized network of family and social ties. In such a patriarchal network, women view their roles chiefly in relation to child-bearing, child rearing and tasks around the home. Their responsibilities are largely pre-defined, especially in nomadic and agricultural settings. The decision-making rests with the male head, which serves as both the arbiter in disputes and the custodian of family properties.
However, in her maiden family, a Somali woman is always a daughter (Inan) and asks for assistance from her neighbors. It is said that a brother will often risk his life and sacrifice obligations to his wife and children if his sister is in distress. A woman has greater power as a sister or a daughter than as a daughter-in-law or wife. This observation holds perhaps greater force for wives in a polygamous household. In both nomadic and agricultural families where a division of labour is gender-related, the woman is a key contributor to the family in live stock, form, and its male progeny. Family lifestyles, however, assume different hues depending on the mode of production and habitat, whether of nomads, agriculturists, or urban dwellers.
Women in Somalia are hard workers, and keep themselves engaged in a variety of roles from morning to night. The woman’s role is very important and when not fulfilled, the whole family suffers. In order to share some of the burden, women have created information groups to help their community through illness, death, marriage, delivery and farming. These groups serve to help each other. Similarly, they have established informal credit groups. These most often involve ten to fifteen women contributing small sums of money on a weekly basis. The money is then given to one woman each week on rotation to meet her needs. Thus, traditional women’s organizations play an important role in mobilizing rural and urban women in collaborative work.
Long-standing Violation of Somali Women’s Rights
Whenever you hear the term female, you realize how much women are the subject of frequent oppression, despise and denial of their own rights. They are filled with bouts of worry from the time they conceive a baby until the day of delivery. Women plunge deep into an ocean of self-whispering in hopes of giving birth to baby boys. If a woman has a baby boy, she receives abundant and pleasant coddling, executive care and mercy; bullets are fired into the sky with glee and happiness. The man whose wife gives birth to a son becomes very satisfied. He would sit with friends in daily conversation under the shade of their homes or trees, saying that his wife gave birth to a child equal to total “blood money”, a word often used to refer to boys. He raises his head up in discernible gaiety, a smile permanently on his face, his nostrils flaring with pride.
The family to whom a girl is born feels a lack of jubilation. The girl’s mother is bitterly loathed during her post-natal period, and her husband anxiously awaits for the time his wife can resume her daily household chores. When asked who his wife gave birth to, the father of the newly born girl answers “only a girl”, in a fit of despise without even looking at the person who asked him.
If a family has five girls consecutively, there is a general conviction that the fifth is the worst, perhaps a jinx, although other daughters before the fifth are likely to be met with frequent animosity and feelings of hatred. Ululation, a high pitched shrilling sound used in times of extreme happiness and celebration, is an aspect of Somali culture, and is often used after the birth of boys. In ancient Somali history, Somalis reserved preferential treatment for baby boys as tribal feuds and conflicts were of frequent occurrence, mainly originating from camel-rustling. A boy was believed to be a camel-rustler, armed with traditional weapons spearheading sudden tribal attacks. He was also believed to an elegant speaker and a shrewd manipulator. Gallant with unyielding bravery, he had the characteristic of giving “no quarters”–a term meaning to show no mercy.
Women are not encouraged to pursue an education. They are confined to the home, forced to do all of the household chores. When fathers arrive from their jobs, boys from day schools, you find only girls working around the clock. Girls and women are ordered to prepare a pail of water for bathing and then serve them food. The men or boys totter towards their sleeping rooms, while the women start washing the utensils.
Most husbands always try to restrict their wives’ freedom of movement, for they think if the wives meet together for a chat, they may discuss openly the brutality inflicted upon them by their husbands and refuse to accept his beatings.
Somali Women in Literature
Many Somali women believe that men’s long-standing disdain for them emanated from literature prejudiced against women. As one saying goes, “Naagi been baa lagu soo Xera galiya Rua waa lagu dhaqaa”, or “Lie you can make women arrive at your home, but truth you manipulate her.”
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Ahmed Ali Mire
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Comments
It is quite amazing how your article open my eyes wider Istar A | Apr 22nd, 2005
I am a women, black-african, muslim, somali women. I am advacate for social justice in-equality. I am amazed to learn all the proverbs that has been used by our brothers for the past view centuries. I wonder why we cant change the perspective of some of our brothers regarding women's rights.
One suggestion is that all these proverbs must be deleted from the Somali Literature.
thanks
Mexican woman here! Andrea Arzaba | Oct 30th, 2007
Very interesting text! congratulations
Can We Post this Article in our webpage? Center for Reconciliation & Human.. | Jul 15th, 2008
I want to know if we are allowed to post this article on our webpage.
www.cerehra.blogspot.com
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