Traditional and colonial governance practices and their impact on women’s identities and experiences in French Cameroon: a retrospective study

Abstract

ABSTRACT In African traditional societies, women oversaw the maintenance of the household by assuming responsibilities such as mother, wife and caretaker. In addition to this, women were involved in economic and political affairs. During the colonial era, however, men were in charge of education, politics and economic affairs, to the near exclusion of women who were specifically trained for home caring roles and on being good wives. This study explores the impact of traditional and colonial systems on women’s identities and lives in French Cameroon. Data was collected from five focus group discussions involving 24 conveniently sampled Cameroonian women aged 55 and above and analyzed using the framework of Content Analysis. The women acknowledged the marginal roles of women in traditional societies although respected and loved, social control and compliance rooted in traditional societies and exacerbated during colonial times, social isolation of women during colonialism because of the traditional roles assigned to women and their fear of white male colonialists, and gender-discriminate colonial education.