Pages 604-605

In Africa, during precolonial times, women were always active farmers. They worked with their husbands to farm the land, planting crops and harvesting them. Along with that the women were expected to care for children, and food preparation. Women were expected to feed their families.

But during colonial times as economic demands grew, women’s work load grew much more. Cash crop farming became very popular. Men withdrew from subsistence farming and began to become involved with all money aspects of cash crops. This left the women with a doubled workload. They had to feed their family and husbands, and they had to work hard to produce the cash crops that their husbands were selling. Their work hours went from 40 a week to 70 a week from precolonial times to 1924. Also, men moved to cities seeking employment, leaving the women alone on the farms. The women had to complete all domestic work, and they had to provide food for their husbands because the wages in the cities were very low. Women headed 60% of households, because 60% of men migrated to urban areas.

Women began to face economic opportunities. They would sell cloth, various foods, and inexpensive imported goods, while their husbands dealt with the more profitable goods. Women began to be viewed as independent head of households, and tried to escape patriarchal values.