The Contribution of African Women to Economic Growth and Development : Historical Perspectives and Policy Implications, Part I, The Pre-colonial and Colonial Periods

Bringing together history and economics,
this paper presents a historical and processual
understanding of women's economic marginalization in
Sub-Saharan Africa from the pre-colonial period to the end
of colonial rule. It is not that women have not been
economically active or productive; it is rather that they
have often not been able to claim the proceeds of their
labor or have it formally accounted for. The paper focuses
on the pre-colonial and colonial periods and outlines three
major arguments. First, it discusses the historical
processes through which the labor of women was increasingly
appropriated even in kinship structures in pre-colonial
Africa, utilizing the concepts of "rights in
persons" and "wealth in people." Reviewing
the processes of production and reproduction, it explains
why most slaves in pre-colonial Africa were women and
discusses how slavery and slave trade intensified the
exploitation of women. Second, it analyzes how the
cultivation of cash crops and European missionary
constructions of the individual, marriage, and family from
the early decades of the 19th century sequestered female
labor and made it invisible in the realm of domestic
production. Third, it discusses how colonial policies from
the late 19th century reinforced the "capture" of
female labor and the codification of patriarchy through the
nature and operation of the colonial economy and the
instrumentality of customary law. The sequel to this paper
focuses on the post-colonial period. It examines the
continuing relevance and impact of the historical processes
this paper discusses on post-colonial economies, and
suggests some policy implications.