We told people to show up around 6pm, knowing that the power does not come on until 7pm, but also knowing that it is very rare for any kind of event to start less than an hour late here, so people don't bother to show up until at least an hour after the scheduled time. Given that, we started right on time...around 7:15. Around thirty people showed up, with relatively equal representation of men and women. Most people were between the ages of 15 and 25, with a few older teachers mixed in. The film was a little less than 30 minutes long and featured interviews with a variety of inspirational Gambians, including teachers, community leaders, and even a woman alikalo (village chief). The film raised some interesting questions, not only about the role of women in development, but more specifically, about topics like how women can manage to balance work and women's numberous daily household responsibilities in a culture with inflexible gender roles and responsibilities. After the film, the touring team led a discussion about some of the issues the film raises, with a focus on defining terms like "role model" and "gender equality" in this cultural context. They also asked probing questions about where the participants would like to be in five years personally and where the direction they would like to see their country go (the participants were told to imagine that the people in the room were the government, and talk about what changes the group would make).
There were several threads of conversation that we found particularly interesting. One man raised the issue of religion and culture in empowering women. According to him, there are many instances in Islamic law where women are considered not equal to men. The one we remember is inheritance - in dividing an estate among surviving children, female children are explicitly allocated a smaller share of the estate than male children. Understanding potential religious and cultural barriers is essential in grappling with women's empowerment. Further discussion brought forth another cultural barrier - strict gender roles that are at the core of the culture here. One man asked why when men emigrate to America or Europe do they not bring their wives? His answer was because the men do not want their women to "betray" them. He felt that if Gambian women moved to a society where they had equal decision making power to men, they would want to leave their husbands (presumably for American or European men who would give them greater freedom). We found this particularly poignant because it revealed the difference between supporting women's right to education, employment, etc, and supporting equal liberty and decision making power for men and women, particularly in the home. There was much support for access to jobs and education for women (assuming, of course, they still do all their domestic duties) but there was significantly less support for women having any decision making power. Men still expect to have complete control over their wives, even if women are educated and have jobs. This is a very interesting distinction that we did not expect. A few of the young men also expressed frustration over the fact that girls education is heavily subsidized by the government here, while boys education is not, and the fact that some job advertisements explicitly target women. One young man even went so far as to say that since The Gambia has a woman vice president and some women ministers, women's empowerment and gender equality have been achieved, and if the above activities continue, very soon it will be men who are being marginalized. From the perspective of American volunteers who are constantly frustrated by watching women pounding/cooking/doing laundry/chopping firewood/fetching water/etc while men sit in the shade sipping attaya and occasionally pray, it is shocking to hear that anyone can think that women's empowerment and gender equality have been achieved here.
Cultural change of this magnitude is a long term project. For now, we can be happy that there is support for equal access to education and jobs. While actual equality is still a long ways away, this first step is a very important start. Through our presence here, we have the opportunity to provide a concrete example of a very different sort of relationship between a husband and wife. In our relationship there are no gender roles. We share all of our work and decision making power and we are in a happy, fulfilling relationship. While we do not expect Gambians to adopt this sort of relationship, particularly because they would have to turn their culture upside down to do so, we still believe it is valuable for them to be exposed to an alternative way of doing things.the two villages we were visiting were significantly closer than the previous two, and also, this time we were heading east, to an area where the roads are much better (portions are even paved!). Jacob had some other things he needed to get done, so he sat this one out, which allowed the rest of us to spread out a bit in the back seat :-)
A third year Peace Corps Volunteer introducing the film to the group (sorry for the white circles - it's the flash reflecting off the dust in the air and, as far as I know, there's nothing you can do about it)
Watching the film (we turned off the lights right after I took this picture, which made the film show up much better)
Discussion
1 comment:
I wonder if the ultimate goal for some men is to train women to do all the work both in the house and otherwise, while they never get an education and make the decisions.
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