Reaction Paper to McFerson's African Women - Essay Example

    Reaction Paper to McFersons: African Women Synopsis The reading illustrates the responsibilities and situation ofAfrican women in all periods. In addition, it highlights the different factors that determine the status and position of women in African societies. The reading also underlines essential concepts that have an impact on African women. Moreover, the reading looks at women in Somalia and the Ashanti society. Finally, it looks at things that affect women in contemporary Africa.Question 1aThe role of women in Somalia is central to social organization.

Somali women in domestic areas make a tremendous contribution to the society through domesticating animals like sheep, goats and cows, some of which they pose, and in the form of labor provision. These women are the nomad community’s architects. They construct and are the owners of the nomadic houses. The construction of these houses is a form of wedding ritual and is one of the events women perform collectively. In some areas, women in Somalia work collectively to fetch water, collect firewood, make food and take care of the children.

Question 1bPre-nuptial gifts are from the groom’s family or himself to the girl she wants to marry or bride. In a number of cases, pre-nuptial gifts together with dowry are given by the husband as a fraction of the total wealth for the new household (McFerson 443). The nature of the pre-nuptial gifts depends on the events that occur in the marriage union, for example, if the marriage union collapses without the wife’s fault or if the head of the household dies, the pre-nuptial gift is used to support the wife.

Similarly, in Western cultures, there are a number of gifts that bypass amid the groom and bride and their respective relatives during marriage. There are rules that regard the nature of these in the occasion of divorce or death, and they vary with area or time (McFerson 444).Question 2 The traditional Ashanti society has a high regard for ancestors, ancestor worship and matriliny. They use ancestors as an element of worship. The ancestors are perceived to be superior and powerful to human beings.

Additionally, they honor and acknowledge the presence of the ancestors (McFerson 446). The poem presume the dead or ancestors are immortal and appear in the form of wailing children, the firebrands, the grass, dying fire, whimpering rocks, forest, and in the house. This community feels the presence of the ancestors. That is why the poem insists the dead are not dead. The poem highlights matriliny in the form of inheritance. That is why ancestors or the dead are in the form of wailing children.

Question 3Ancestry and gender are linked in the traditional Ashanti society. Almost all of the Ashanti people continue to practice the matrilineal custom. They use elements of ancestry to control inheritance, responsibilities and duties of its members and their privileges. For example, when children of a respectable person are born, the male child would work at court or become a political head, while a female child would be a wife of the king. Moreover, a person who came from a poor ancestry was disregarded and deemed useless.

The male privacy was respected whereas females encountered abundant restrictions (McFerson 448).Work CitedHazel M. McFerson. African Women. Virginia: George Mason University, 2007. Print.