Transmutation of The Reproductive Life of Women in Southern/West Cameroon(S) 1922-1972: A Colonial Manipulation

Abstract

In all human communities, societal continuity depended on the quality and availability of infant and maternity welfare services. Conscious of the outcomes of infancy care on the productive efficiency of individuals at adulthood, the reproductive life of women and child welfare became an area of European domination during colonialism. Using British Southern/West Cameroon(s) as the theatre, this paper sets out to uncover colonial motives in the transformation of reproductive practices among women as it examines the different strategies and mechanisms employed in extending maternity and infant welfare as a measure of colonial imperialism. Archival information and oral interviews made up primary sources while books, published articles and dissertations constituted the secondary sources. The descriptive historical approach was employed in the analysis of the work. This paper submits that: the British colonial administration in Southern Cameroons had a mask colonial exploitative economic agenda behind the assignment put forth by the League of Nations Mandate Commission in its Article II of the British Mandate agreement. A baseless racial discrimination and cultural domination motivated the transformation of the reproductive life of indigenous women and the extension of basic infant welfare services during the Mandate and trusteeship periods in Southern Cameroons. These services were mostly provided by Western Mission agencies and plantation firms who recognized the independence of Southern Cameroons but withheld the rights to medical autonomy. In some cases, the transfer of rights to manage the medical arm of the different agencies was partially transferred during the last years of the Cameroon federation and in some cases after the abrogation of the Cameroon federation. The British decision to administer Southern Cameroons as a mandate was a conspiracy to enforce the tentacles of colonialism and its diverse arms with hope of greater economic and cultural gains.