Abstract
Sisala women occupy an inferior position in society relative to men. This is especially true when one analyzes the economic system wherein men dominate the control of the means and relations of production. This article describes the sex-role ascription in the technical relations of production, sexual inequality in the reproduction of the conditions and relations of production, and relates this sexual asymmetry to the structural rules of virilocal residence, bridewealth, and agnatic inheritance rules. A case is presented which shows that the accumulation of independent wealth is possible during one woman's lifetime, but its transmission to another female or to the woman's agnatic descent group is prevented by the existence of strict rules of patrilineal inheritance. The social control of women is seen as located in the social structure, while the conditions which alter that structure over time are material changes which occur in an historical context.
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Fieldwork was carried out among the Sisala during 1971–1972, and the summers of 1975 and 1977, under grants from the Smuts Fund at Cambridge University, Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria; and The African Studies Center at UCLA.
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Mendonsa, E.L. The status of women in sisala society. Sex Roles 7, 607–625 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00291748
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00291748