By Mitzee Goheen
On the occasion of the Rural Woman’s Day on October 15th, The Frontier Telegraph here presents the Nso’ Woman as seen through the eyes of another woman, the Urban Western Woman.
Introduction
Seated in smoky kitchens, women of Nso’ gather at the end of a long hard day of farming to share gossip and food. At the centre of their talk are allusions to their men folk, often the subject of derision. Men are frequently referred to as incompetent, unable to care for themselves and too irresponsible to take care of their children. Women chuckle, or ruefully shake their heads and declare, ‘Men are like children. What good are they? Who feeds the household? Men are useless some bodies! They only live to drink raffia wine and converse!’ In their words we can hear the echoes of women’s statements to the British anthropologist Phyllis Kaberry over four decades ago: ‘Important things are women. Men are little. The things of women are important. What are the things of men? Men are indeed worthless. Women are indeed God. Men are nothing. Have you not seen?’
