Women In Africa Essay

Colonial conquest began in the late 19th century for most of Africa. The “scramble for Africa” was a meeting known as the Berlin Conference in 1884 between 14 countries who decided how they would split up Africa. Europeans were interested in raw materials for industrialization from Africa, a place for exploration, and a chance to widen Christianity. The European claim of African territory had multiple effects on women in Africa such as having their voice silenced by colonial officials, having their bodies exposed to the public, and the increase of labor hours.

Women during the 19th century were usually silenced because they could not voice their opinion on whether they believed they were treated right or wrong. An example of this is Abina Mansah, an African woman from Asante who believed she was wrongfully enslaved and decided to run away and testify for her freedom. Abina is a great example of how women were treated in Africa as an effect of European Imperialism. Abina was enslaved in two places in Asante and then once more in Salt Pond by Quamina Eddoo. While enslaved by Eddoo, Abina did work around the house such as sweeping, going to get water and firewood, cooking, and going to the market to buy vegetables. Women like Abina did not have their own free will. While in the courtroom, they discussed that Abina was free, however, she believed she was enslaved because not only did she have to do work and not get paid but she also was called a slave multiple times. Abina, like other women in the Gold Coast, was threatened to be punished if she did not comply with her master’s orders. In regards to an order she received from Eddoo, Abina states, “And the defendant said that if I did not consent to be married to Tandoe he w...

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...o marry someone she barely knew and did not want to marry while other women from Asante, as discussed earlier in the paper, did not have control over their bodies being photographed and publicized. However, in Abina and the Important Men, it shows that Abina did not let European imperialism silence her. Instead of staying where she was enslaved, Abina ran away to Cape Coast to achieve freedom. Unlike Abina, many people during the 19th century remained silenced. The reason that people were silenced is due to the fact that many of them who lived in the Gold Coast still were slaves even though technically slavery was abolished. Many of these individuals did not contain the bravery that Abina had to try and get her story heard. The effect that European imperialism had on women in Africa was silencing their voice, exposing their bodies, and an increase of labor hours.