Read first chapter of The Emancipation of Women, “Traditional Practices”
Africa is a huge continent so we cannot make any generalizations about all women in Africa — if we went to the continent we would find modern cities, remote and impoverished villages and everything in between those two extremes. The reading provided for this module is by Dr. Florence Abena Dolphyne, a linguist from Ghana who gives a broad outline in this chapter of some of the cultural traditions and expectations for many parts of Africa. Her book was first published in 1991 and has been updated several times — the version you are reading is from 2008. While there have been a few changes in select areas of Africa, the information she provides is still very much in place in most of the continent. Therefore, you should plan on writing in present tense rather than past tense.
Prompt:
Discuss three cultural traditions and/or expectations African women experience, as outlined by Dr. Dolphyne. What impact do each of these three have on how women live or options they may want? For example, if the expectation is that women will marry young and have large families, are they encouraged or not to also get an education?
