Does marital status matter? Support, personal autonomy and economic power among Abaluyia widows in Kenya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21504/sajg.v5i2.98Abstract
This article considers issues of personal and economic power among African women in regard to their marital situation. Since marriage is usually crucial to young African women's gaining access to resources, in later life does marital status matter? Are widows worse off than wives, as is the situation of widows in much of the world? A brief description of widowhood worldwide is followed by material from research among older Abaluyia women in Kenya, among whom widowhood offers advantages which today are leading some Abaluyia women to choose widowhood over remarriage. Finally, the discussion is broadened to a consideration of widows in other sub-Saharan African countries. While some African women's situation becomes precarious with the loss of a husband, others prefer not to be married, for a variety of reasons relating to personal autonomy and control of resources and also because in general security in old age depends more on other kin, especially sons, than on husbands. Thus it seems that while marital status matters among older African women, the status preferred may be that of widow (or in some places retired" wife), when widowhood results in the empowerment of the widow and does not threaten her personal security.References
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Potash, B. 1986. Nandi widows, In: Potash. B. (Ed.) Widows in African societies: choices and constraints. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 66-83.
Sangree, W.H. 1992. Grandparenthood and modernization: the changing status of male and female elders in Tiriki, Kenya, and Irigwe, Nigeria. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology. 7(4): 331-361.
Schildkrout, E. 1986. Widows in Hausa society: ritual phase or social state? In: Potash, B. (Ed.) Widows in African societies: choices and constraints. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 131-152.
Stucki, B.R. 1992. The long voyage home: return migration among aging cocoa farmers of Ghana. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 7(4): 363-378.
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United States Bureau of the Census. 1991. Global aging: comparative indicators and future trends (wallchart). Washington, DC: Department of Commerce.
Cattell, M.G. 1989. Old age in rural Kenya: gender, the life course and social change. Ph.D. dissertation. Philadelphia, PA: Bryn Mawr College.
Cattell, M.G. 1992a. Praise the Lord and say no to men: older Sarnia women empowering themselves. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology. 7(4): 307-330.
Cattell, M.G. 1992b. Informal systems of old age support in developing countries: anthropological perspectives. Unpublished background paper for the World Bank.
Cattell, M.G. 1994. "Nowadays it isn't easy to advise the young: grandmothers and granddaughters among the Abaluyia of Kenya. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology. 9(2): 157-178.
Cattell, M.G. 1996a. Gender, age and power: hierarchy and liminality among Abaluyia women of Kenya. East Lansing: Michigan State University. Working Papers on Women in International Development. (In press)
Cattell, M.G. 1996b. African widows, culture and social change: case studies form Kenya. In: Sokolovsky, J. (Ed.) The cultural context of aging: worldwide perspectives. Second edition. Westport, CT: Greenwood. (In press) .
Coles, C. 1990. The older woman in Hausa society: power and authority in urban Nigeria. In: Sokolovsky, J. (Ed.) The cultural context of aging: worldwide perspectives. New York: Bergin & Garvey, pp, 56-81.
Dreze, J. 1990. Widows in rural India. London: Development Economics Research Programme.
Hakansson, N.T. 1994. The detachability of women: gender and kinship in processes of socio-economic change among the Gusii of Kenya. American Ethnologist, 21: 516-538.
Kenya, Republic of. 1994. Kenya population census, 1989. Vol. 1. Nairobi: Central Bureau of Statistics.
Kirwen, M.C. 1979. African widows. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Landberg, P. 1986. Widows and divorced women in Swahili society. In: Potash, B. (Ed.) Widows in African societies: choices' and constraints. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 107-130.
Muller, J.C. 1986. Where to live? Widows choices among the Rukuba. In: Potash, B. (Ed.) Widows in African societies: choices and constraints. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 175-192.
Njiro, E.I. 1993. Labour force participation and the women's movement. In: Khansiani, S.A. & Njiro, E.I, (Eds) The womens movement in Kenya. Nairobi: Association of African Women for Research and Development (AAWORD-KENYA), pp. 59-76.
Oboler. R. 1986. Women, power and economic change: the Nandi of Kenya. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 66-83.
Parkin, D. & Nyamwaya, D. (Eds) 1987. Transformation of African marriage. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Potash, B. 1986. Nandi widows, In: Potash. B. (Ed.) Widows in African societies: choices and constraints. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 66-83.
Sangree, W.H. 1992. Grandparenthood and modernization: the changing status of male and female elders in Tiriki, Kenya, and Irigwe, Nigeria. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology. 7(4): 331-361.
Schildkrout, E. 1986. Widows in Hausa society: ritual phase or social state? In: Potash, B. (Ed.) Widows in African societies: choices and constraints. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 131-152.
Stucki, B.R. 1992. The long voyage home: return migration among aging cocoa farmers of Ghana. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 7(4): 363-378.
United Nations. 1993. Demographic yearbook: population aging and the situation of elderly people. New York, NY: United Nations.
United States Bureau of the Census. 1991. Global aging: comparative indicators and future trends (wallchart). Washington, DC: Department of Commerce.
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1996-10-01
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