The Politics of Difference and Women's Associations in Niger: Of "Prostitutes," the Public, and Politics

Abstract

It is argued that womens groups in Niger do not have female solidarity culture as described by Renee Pittin. Womens groups reflect an emerging Muslim consciousness. Field research was conducted in the Maradi region during 1988-89 and among the womens wing of the political party in power the Association des Femmes du Niger (AFN). Discussion groups were formed from among neighborhood subunits of the AFN. The association of the researcher with AFN members placed her in conflict with the unmarried women of Samaria youth organization who were antagonistic to the AFN. This study traces the historical movement of women into political and public spheres by using existing social forms to create new political possibilities. Language forms are used in neither fixed or uniform way to describe differences in womens status. A previously married woman who earns living from selling sexual favors is treated as being in transitional state as part of career move. Movement in and out of is also career move. Single woman is not term. The same term is used for divorced and widowed woman. Never married older youth and women are the hardest group to identify. Men identify a woman outside of marriage in terms of courtship while women are more likely to identify this same woman as bajawara which indicates she lives with kin and is under senior male authority. Her kin are seeking remarriage for her. A karuwa is an unmarried woman living on her own without sexual favor income and not immediately interested in marriage. Bajawara is more desired and positive term. It is used even if in fact the woman is not seeking marriage. The history of the womens movement is related. AFN members who were concentrated in the major cities of Niamey and Zinder affected Maradi women by redefining womens roles. AFN members were proper and respectable even if unmarried and had influence over their husbands. Samaria members were different and less respectable but still allied. It is suggested that feminists analysis of culture include the links between culture and social arrangements.