Male Daughters, Female Husbands
During the colonial era, women's power was eroded, according to Amadiume, as Christianity made polygyny immoral and colonial law failed to uphold traditional customs such as widows being passed on to their husband's brother after their husband's death. Amadiume argues that polygyny, in particular out of cultural customs, was advantageous to women because it allowed women autonomy within marriage-a woman could choose to be more or less intimate with her husband-and it provided a support system for childcare and domestic duties, allowing women to be involved in economic and political activities (142-143). However, other cultural customs of particular importance to women included goddess worship (Idemili), which all but ceased during the colonial era, replaced by a male god in Christianity and a cultural value on submissive women who bowed before male authority.
In the post-independence era, she argues, women are still further alienated from traditional sources of power, although they now have more access to education, virtually denied to them during the colonial era. (Amadiume appears to indicate that this is the fault of colonial and church administrations, but I find it difficult to believe that traditional culture did not also play a part in making it difficult for women to obtain a western-style education.)
In her conclusion, Amadiume suggests that there should be a redefinition of the word "matriarchy." Traditionally, the term matriarchy describes a society where women hold "all" the power, a society that is historically mythical. No society on earth has structured itself that way; but no society on earth has structured itself so that men have "all" the power either and yet we generously apply the term "patriarchy" to the majority of societies (Amadiume, 189).
Reading this book reminded me of the novel The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta, which reveals in acute detail the pain and agony of one woman whose expectations, built by the traditional ideology of motherhood, are denied by the realities of colonial-era Nigeria. As her children go to school and become Westernized, they fail to treat their mother with the respect generally accorded to her in traditional society. As is often the case, the novel demonstrates how ideology and practice are out of sync, and Amadiume confirms this reality in Male Daughters/Female Husbands as she discusses post-independence Igboland.
One of the more interesting aspects to Amadiume's argument is her treatment of Western feminists in relationship to African scholarship. She argues that Western
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