Swahili Women

I don't think I should make a generalization about what Americans think when they see a Muslim woman covered in black from head to toe, but I will venture that most, if not all, of us do not think of liberated or feminist.  However, the Swahili women of Zanzibar are some of the strongest and most independent women there are.  Our students are often surprised to find that many of their host mothers live without a husband at home and have often divorced two or three husbands.  Even Fahdila divorced her first husband, though she has never told me why or any details of that first marriage.  The only reason a Swahili woman will stay in an unhappy marriage is if she has not accumulated enough of her own property to live independently.

Take Fahdila for example.  She lives in a very nice upper-middle class home with her children while her husband, Hamad, works over  on the mainland and returns home maybe only one or two weekends a month.  When this house was built 5 or 6 years ago, a small shop was built right in front of the compound wall so that Fahdila could operate an auto parts business, specializing in front ends.
In addition, before she married Hamad, she had also built a very nice house, which she owns herself and rents out for extra income.  And now, she has opened a new restaurant near the airport to cater to the airport workers and the President of Zanzibar, who leaves and returns from a special building right behind her cafe.  Since he is a diabetic, Fahdila makes his fruit juices without any added sugar.  She never stops thinking about possible new capital ventures and ways of increasing her personal wealth and prestige.

Fahdila's auto parts shop

At The Executive Chef

At first, I thought Fahdila was uniquely loud when she spoke to people or called to the dadas, but I have since learned that many Swahili woman come close to top decibel levels when they engage in animated conversation.  When we ride on the SUZA bus for our weekly field trips, the female faculty sit clear up front by the driver, while John and I usually sit in the first row of passenger seats.  Before long, my head rings with the assault of the incredibly high volume of the women's discussions.  They absolutely shriek back and forth at each other.  Yesterday, as Fahdila drove me downtown for SUZA's "graduation" for our students, she was animatedly telling me about the troubles she has had this week, and her voice was so loud, I wanted to hang my head out the window to escape the ear pain.  These women are not at all meek and quiet.

Zainab, the SUZA Swahili program coordinator

SUZA faculty

A host mother

No doubt there are many nuances and unique traits in the behavior of Swahili women that I have not noticed, but I now know better than to overlay my western stereotype of male dominated and docile females on them.   If their black bouibouis indicate submission and suppression, that message has not been inculcated into these women's psyches.  They might verbally agree with the conservative Christian view that a man is the head of a woman, but they absolutely do not live subserviently  in their daily lives.  I place them far ahead of many American women in their entrepreneurial drive, personal independence, and social assertiveness.  They are definitely bodacious!