Women in African Traditional Religions

Author(s): Marion Kilson

Source: Journal of Religion in Africa , 1976, Vol. 8, Fasc. 2 (1976), pp. 133-143
Published by: Brill

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 Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. VIII, facs. 2

WOMEN IN AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS1)

BY

MARION KILSON
(Radcliffe Institute, Cambridge, Massachussets)

In approaching the topic of women in African traditional re

several methodological issues immediately arise: how to define
how to sample religious systems, and how to cope with fragm
information. Each of these issues demands a rather arbitrary
which implies that any analysis based upon such decisions m
considered suggestive rather than conclusive.
If one defines religion as beliefs and practices associated wit
itual beings, one is likely to neglect important ritual domains
with status transformations that involve great and lengthy ce
but rarely notions of transcendental beings. Moreover, such rit
ations of status transformation frequently involve women in impo
ritual responsibilities. Consequently, I begin with a Tylorian de
of religion as concern with spiritual beings in discussing r
norms and ideals for women, and move to a more extensive
eration of ritual in my analysis of religious organization and
In considering traditional sub-Saharan African religious sy
for study, one is confronted not only by the multiplicity of p
units of study but by the diversity in societal complexity ranging
the Southwestern San bands to the Western Sudanic emp
selecting societies for study, I decided to use Robert M. Marsh
of social differentiation. 2 Within sub-Saharan Africa, Marsh

1 This paper was originally prepared for the Wellesley Conference on

and Development, held at Wellesley College in June 1976. I am gratef
Radcliffe Institute for support and to Carol Troyer-Shank for assistanc
writing the paper.
2 Robert M. Marsh, Comparative sociology. New York: Harcourt, Br
World 1967, 329-365. Marsh's index of social differentiation in prein
societies is based on George P. Murdock's classification of social stratific
and population size of the political unit. In the "World Ethnographic
(American Anthropologist 59, 1957, 664-687), "Murdock coded each so
cording to five categories for each variable." Marsh assigns numerical s
each of Murdock's categories ranging from o to 4, or from least to m
ferentiated. Marsh's "Index of Differentiation score for any given so
Murdock's sample is the sum of its score for population size of the poli
and its score for social stratification."

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 134 Marion Kilson

fies societies on seven levels of social differentiation. I chose two so-

cieties from each level for which I believed there was adequate religious
data. Ultimately, however, I was able to use information on thirteen
religions. 3 In this paper I use Marsh's social classification, though
were I constructing my own index of social differentiation rather
different societal groupings probably would emerge.
In addition, one faces the problem of scarce and fragmentary in-
formation about women in African traditional religions. With few
exceptions African societies have been described from a masculine
perspective which is understandable insofar as anthropologists have
been primarily concerned with charting the public structures of social
authority. Invariably such structures involve relations between mell.
Nevertheless, even in societies where women play important public
roles, such as the queen mothers in several Akan- and Bantu-speaking
societies, these roles usually have been studied not on their own merits
but only in their relation to some male role. Carol Hoffer's seminal
essay on Madam Yoko of the Kpa-Mende Confederacy indicates how
richly illuminating a feminine perspective on women's roles can be.
Since it is impossible to infer an accurately detailed feminine portrayal
of social roles from data drawn from a masculine viewpoint, the many
informational lacunae in this essay imply not that a belief or practice
does not exist but that I do not have information about its existence.

NORMS AND IDEALS FOR WOMEN

In recent years Robin Horton has argued persuasively that dif-

ferentiation in religious beings and their cults is related to differentia-
tion in levels of explanation in African systems of thought. 4 At the
most general level a supreme being exists who is rarely involved in
human endeavors except as an ultimate source of explanation; lesser
categories of spiritual being are associated with social units within the
community and are considered responsive to the deeds of men in their
secular and religious lives. Horton's view is consistent with the infor-
mation on spiritual beings and cults presented in Chart I. In many of
these societies, a supreme being is recognized but no formal cult activ-
ities are associated with it, while other kinds of spiritual beings are

3 Unless otherwise noted, my analysis is based on information derived from

the sources listed in the ethnographic bibliography.
I Robin Horton, African systems of thought and western science. Africa 37,
1965, 50-71 and 155-187: Horton, On the rationality of conversion. Africa, 45,
1975, 219-235 and 373-399.

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 Women in African Traditional Religions I35

acknowledged to whom cults are addressed. In all thirteen societies

ancestral spirits are worshipped and often some other spiritual being.
In these societies, there does not appear to be any correlation between
levels of social differentiation and types of spiritual being.

Chart I

Spiritual Beings and Cults

Other Spiritual Beings:
Other
Supreme Ancestral Spiritual
LSD* Society Being Deities Heroes Spirits Beings

7 Swazi x no cult - cult -

7 Yoruba x no cult cult cult -
6 Bemba x no cult x cult -
nature
6 Ganda x no cult cult cult
spirits
5 Azande x no cult cult -
nature

5 Mende x no cult cult spirits

spirits
nature
4 Lamba x no cult x - cult spirits
4 Safwa - - - cult -
3 Khoikhoi - cult - cult -
2 Nyakyusa - - cult cult -
2 Yao x no cult - - cult
I San x no cult x - x -

I Yako - - - cult fertility

spirits
*LSD: level of social differentiation
no information
x belief present

Although data are fragmentary on the sexual identity of var

kinds of spiritual beings, a few observations may be noted. Wh
sex of the supreme being is mentioned (Mende, San), it is male
the supreme being and male deities may be believed to have di
wives (Yoruba, Bemba, Ganda, Mende, San) and mothers (Be
Although ancestral spirits of both sexes may be worshipped w
domestic groups (e.g., Yoruba, Mende, Lamba, Safwa), male anc
apparently are the only ones revered in national cults (e.g.,
Bemba, Ganda, Nyakyusa). These findings concerning the s
identity of spiritual beings suggest that female deities like their hu

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 136 Marion Kilson

counterparts ordinarily have domestic ra

tions.

African traditional religions are life-affirming religions. They seek

to insure the fertility and vitality of human beings and of the land on
which their own and other creatures' livelihoods depend. Through
ritual human beings attempt to maintain or reestablish harmonious
relations with spiritual beings who control fertility. The religious quest
for fertility is explicit in the aims of several central communal cults
(e.g., Swazi, Yoruba, Bemba, Ganda, Nyakyusa, and Yak6) and impli-
cit in those religions seeking to control rain that fructifies the land
(e.g., Azande, Mende, Lamba, Safwa, Khoikhoi, Yao, and San). More-
over, diverse spiritual beings are considered to control these sources of
fertility. Direct control of fertility is attributed to deities (Yoruba),
heroes (Ganda), royal ancestors (Nyakyusa), clan fertility spirits
(Yako), and the supreme being (Bemba), while control of rain rests
with the supreme being (Mende, Lamba, Yao, San), ancestral spirits
(Swazi, Azande, Safwa), and deities (Khoikhoi) in these societies.
Beliefs about the ultimate control of spiritual beings over fertility
represents only one aspect of the life-affirming nature of African
religions. Sexual relations in ritual (e.g., Swazi, Bemba, Nyakyusa,
Yao) and in secular life are intimately connected with vitality. Through
their contribution to the reproduction of human life, women play an
essential role in the continuity of human society. Yet in many African
systems of thought, women's sexuality is regarded ambivalently.
Women are regarded not only as producers of life but also as sources
of danger as expressed in notions about the polluting nature of blood -
especially the blood of menstruation and the blood of childbirth (e.g.,
Swazi, Ganda, Bemba, Azande, Lamba, Khoikhoi, Nyakyusa, Yao).
Such notions of pollution underlie rituals intended to separate unclean
women from contact with others or to neutralize the sources of
pollution. Women, therefore, are anomalous creatures - intimately
associated with the well-being of society through their life-giving
attributes and deeply threatening to life through their polluting qualities.
Traditional African religious ideology, therefore, stresses the domestic
orientation of women's lives, affirming their reproductive role, while
disdaining other aspects of their sexuality.

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION AND PRACTICES

Through ritual human beings attempt to contact and manipulate

spiritual beings or to manipulate and transform human beings. Cornm-

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 Women in African Traditional Religions I37

munal ritual addressed to spiritual beings constitutes religion - narrow-

ly defined - though communal cults may be performed to benefit
groups ranging in magnitude from the Swazi or Ganda states to the
households within them. Personal ritual, on the other hand, aimed at
redressing some individual's misfortune or transforming her social
status from little girl to marriageable maiden may - or may not -
be addressed to any transcendental being. Both communal and personal
ritual merit consideration in analyzing women's roles in African tradi-
tional religions.
In African societies the central communal cults may be addressed
to a diverse array of spiritual beings: royal ancestral spirits, deities,
heroes, or fertility spirits (see Chart II). Nevertheless, in such com-

Chart II

Central Communal Cults

Beings Main Lesser

LSD* Society of Cult Ritual Role Ritual Roles
7 Swazi Royal Ancestors Priest (= King) Queen Mother
Ritual Queens
Mediums (male
& female)
7 Yoruba Deities Priest of Patrician Mediums (male
& female)
6 Bemba Royal Ancestors Priest of Matriclan Priest's Wife
Mediums (male
& female)
6 Ganda Heroes Priest Mediums (male
& female)
5 Azande Ancestors Priest
5 Mende Ancestors Priest/Priestess
4 Lamba Royal Ancestors ? Mediums (male
& female)
4 Safwa Ancestors Priest
3 Khoikhoi Deities
2 Nyakyusa Royal Ancestors Priest (= Chief) Priest's Wife
2 Yao Ancestors Priest (= Chief)
I San - Curers (male)
I Yako Ancestors/Fertility Priest
Spirits

*LSD: Level of Social Differentiation

: No Information

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138 Marion Kilson

munal cults women rarely play primary r

exception the principal intercessor with s
human beings is a male priest. Among th
the Mende and the Swazi may give prima
women in communal cults. Among the M
sociated with women's communal sodaliti
among the Swazi, the queen mother share
son and together they serve the royal anc
Moreover, only in Mende society can wo
public affairs in their own right, elsewhe
public roles by virtue of their relation
Ganda, Bemba, Nyakyusa). For the most
to subordinate ritual roles in African trad
as suppliants, ritual assistants, and most im
Through mediums, spiritual beings are be
known to human beings. Human beings a
revered status during their periods of p
not be given to unpossessed mediums. W
munal cults, mediumship is often the vo
(Chart II). Moreover, in most such cent
mediums are women. This finding is c
argument about the patterning of possessi
maintains that "where an established male
depend upon ecstatic illumination for its aut
morality cult, women and men of subordi
allowed a limited franchise as inspired
noted, in African society females are no
superior to males, although some women o
some commoner men (e.g., Swazi, Gan
women legitimately may control men with
Khoikhoi) and a few women may exercise
Through ecstatic mediumship, however, a
transform their inferior social status into t
where people believe that immortal spirit
of mortals. 6

5 I. M. Lewis, Ecstatic Religion. Harmondswo

6 For a more elaborate discussion of this issue,
and power: mediums in Ga traditional religion.
(3), 1972, 171-177; Kilson, Ritual portrait of a
Studies 2, 1975, 395-418.

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 Women in African Traditional Religions I39

Although women play subordinate roles within the central communal

cults of traditional African religions, they frequently have important
roles in personal rituals of status transformation associated with birth,
puberty, and death. From the perspective of women's ritual and secular
roles, the most important status transforming rituals are concerned
with the transformation of a girl into a nubile maiden. Such rituals
occur in many African societies (see Chart III); wherever they occur

Chart III

Rituals at Puberty
Rituals at Puberty:
LSD* Society For Males For Females

7 Swazi x Princesses only

7 Yoruba -
6 Bemba none x
6 Ganda

5 Azande -
5 Mende x x
4 Lamba none x
4 Safwa
3 Khoikhoi x x
2 Nyakyusa none x
2 Yao x x
I San
I Yako x

*LSD: Level of Social Differentiation

x Rituals occur
None: Rituals do not occur
S: No information

the principal officiants and participants are women

symbolism of these rituals vividly portrays the e
meaning of mature womanhood. Audrey I. Richard's
chisungu, the Bemba nubility ritual, suggests that s
frequently articulate "marriage morality." Through
girl is magically transformed into a woman, instructe
approved attitudes" towards her domestic roles as w
housewife, and is magically protected with her brid
7 Audrey, I. Richards, Chisungu. London: Faber & Faber
140-141.

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 140 Marion Kilson

rituals express the dualistic nature of wo

by which the positive aspects of fertilit
good and the negative aspects of sexu
socially controlled. Both religious ideolog
therefore, stress concepts associated with
ality.

POTENTIAL FOR CHANGE

The dualism of African traditional religious ideology reinforces the

secular social structure. Three basic social principles are affirmed in
religious thought: the subordination of female to male, the separation
of male from female, and the complementarity of male and female.
In religious institutions as in secular ones, male is recognized as gener-
ically superior to female, though specific females may be superior to
certain males. Nevertheless, the separation of spheres of activity for
males and females enables women to exercise authoritative and
prestigeful roles among members of their own sex as senior co-w
or senior members of women's groups based on kinship and resid
principles (e.g., Swazi, Yoruba, Azande, Mende, Nyakyusa, Y
Nevertheless, the cooperation of the sexes is essential for so
continuity. Fertility and vitality of humanity and its world repr
important religious goals. Such goals reaffirm women's domestic
inferior orientations in society. In and of themselves, theref
African traditional religious ideologies do not promote social chan
Nevertheless, such systems of traditional religious thought
responsively adaptive to structural changes. As Robin Horton
argued so effectively, the "two tier structure" of traditional cosmolo
readily adapts to Islamic and Christian cosmologies. In tradit
religion, the differentiation between supreme being and lesser spiritu
beings is associated with the former's macrocosmic disinterest in hum
activity and the latter's miscrocosmic involvement with social l
Nevertheless, the basic ideological structure adapts readily to ne
enlarged worlds by shifting its emphasis to the macrocosmic level fr
the microcosmic level.

Additionally, traditional concepts and behavior associated with spir-

itual possession have adapted readily to new religious contexts. The
rapid development of "spiritual" Christian churches throughout mod-
ernizing sub-Saharan Africa attests to the assimilation of traditional
ideas to new social situations. Within the context of an evolving strati-

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 Women in African Traditional Religions 141

fication system based on education and money, possession ideas and

behavior continue to resolve status discrepancies.
I consider, therefore, that traditional African religious ideologies
can facilitate structural changes initiated in other social domains.
Whether African women's statuses have been enhanced by the econom-
ic and political transformations of the twentieth century is debatable.

ETHNOGRAPHIC BIBLIOGRAPHY
Azande

Baxter, P. T. W. and Butt, Audrey. The Azande and related peoples of the
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Bemba

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Whiteley, Wilfred. Bemba and related peoples of Northern Rhodesia. London:
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Ganda

Roscoe, John. The Baganda: an account of their native customs and beliefs.
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Khoikhoi

Hoernle, A. W., Certain rites of transition and the conception of !Nau among
the Hottentots. Harvard African Studies 2, 1918, 65-82.
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 142 Marion Kilson

Lamba

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Mende

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Nyakyusa
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Safwa
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San

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 Women in African Traditional Religions 143

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Yak6
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