GENERAL INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

African traditional communities still conceive the duty of a woman to be primarily that of child bearing and rearing. Almost all the respondents lent credence to this fact and recalled their own experiences of restricted roles to the ‘homes and kitchen’ in their respective families and communities. African culture frowns on women’s participation in economic activities for survival: that role falls unto the man or husband, who is expected to provide for the woman and his entire family. Women, seen as adjuncts to their husbands, are not expected to own land or claim the produce thereof.[1] This is borne out of the traditional belief that the land, the produce of the land and the woman, all belong to the husband. Women are seen as properties, under the ownership of the man. Furthermore, at the demise of the husbands, the wives are not expected to inherit their husbands’ properties, since they are part of the properties that would be inherited by the husband’s family. It is prevalent in many parts of Nigeria to eject a widow from the husband’s property. The status of a woman continues to change due to their growing involvement in productive endeavors and the globally inspired efforts at women’s empowerment. Women are now farmers and could engage in several economic activities in support of their husbands. For instance, in a rural community of KwaZulu-Natal Province (South Africa), a respondent said, “women that are married and widowed have access to their husbands’ and late husbands’ land, respectively, but unmarried women and in some cases, widows that have no male child or children are denied access.”[2] Generally, the rights to own vital properties such as land still remains denied in many rural Africa. Lack of the required access to land has aggravated the endemic land underutilization and low agricultural productivity in Africa.[3]

Traditional kom women have made major contributions in economic development to provide for their family’s financial needs and income .In order to meet up with these needs women form rotating local credit groups called “njangi”, in which each member is expected to make contribution a fixed amount to general funds from which women take turns in drawing loans. For example a group like the ‘Anlu’[4] a woman is expected to contribute the sum of 25.000 francs CFA a month. This money is given to one member who happens to have won the draw for the day. This credit programmes have helped the traditional Kom woman to change and develop the economic situation of Kom. For example there is a factory which is owned by some group of women. They process cassava products in to flour and other by-products like cassava cakes. This factory has helped to curb unemployment in Kom and even generate income since their products are sold nationally and even internationally.

Architecture in Kom is also influenced by these women, they are porters, and most of them are engaged in producing solid bricks from clay soil which is used for building houses. These bricks produced from clay are very economical because it does not demand the use of paint after construction. They also produce clay pots and other interior decoration formed out of clay. They manufacture stoves and local ovens which serve multiple functions. It provides the women potters with a source of income; it reduces the amount of fuel wood needed by women to cook household meals. The introduction and manufacture of these products from day to day have been a catalyst for organising women groups for economic growth and income generating activities such as education of children, health care, adoption of new technology and input use in agriculture food security and nutrition both at the household as well as national level.

Women of Kom had to bear the largest burden of the economic crisis in the 1980s just like the case in Zaire. The disastrous economic situation coupled with the very volatile political situation culminated in widespread looting and plundering of factors, shops and private homes in all major cities in the country were not functioning making a grinding halt to the economy”[5], which has much affected Africa and has become very acute in Cameroon not leaving out Kom for the past decades. It has been exacerbated by structural adjustment programs attempting to curtail the overspending and corruption of its government in a number of ways, one of which has been a fifty percent devaluation of the CFA a move which cause prices for most household essentials to triple within a few months. During this time Kom women’s who are not titled to particular rights and resources such as land, have been increasingly threatened of a civil service job shut off for most men and with a drastic salary cuts within the civil service. Many men have taken over available farm land as commercial enterprises and many have been selling ancestral land to be able to maintain a middle class life style.[6] The burden of women’s responsibilities to earn a cash income to pay school fees, medical bills and other obligations formerly paid by men who no longer have access to any kind of work essentially to fulfil what has always been women’s role to reproduce the household and rural standard of living.[7]

The role played by these women on land as the main source for survival and generating of income is very important in economic growth of this tribe. The traditional women are very bitter when comes to matters of land. The problem of nomadic Fulani graziers in this tribe has become a threat to women and their productivity though they are expected to care for the household for its survival without taking into consideration the various impediments that face them. This study makes the point that for generations now women, have been at the forefront of food production for the sustenance of their families. They are at the same time heading the struggle for the protection of farmlands and crops against destruction from visible and invisible forces.[8] For the men, they are the active destroyers of land through the Fulani’s grazers. Men most of the times  do nothing to aid to help women to protect their food crops against hazardous graziers. In this specific sphere, men constitute agents of underdevelopment while women are the sole occupants of the development .This study therefore examines the gendered dimension of food security that is closely associated to land use. The emphasis is on women’s concern on the protection of food crops as suppliers of food to their households against threats posed by nomadic graziers and the careless attitude of their men folk.

In 1978 and1979, there was demonstration in Kom by women who were crossed because their farm land and crops were being destroyed by cattle in the heart of farming season.[9] The yields for those years were very low and there was hunger in the tribe because of this, women organized themselves and a crowd of over 500 women surrounded the palace of their traditional ruler to seek the immediate expulsion of the Fulani graziers from their land was the only solution to the problem of cattle trespass. These women appeared in white painted faces with clubs in their hands and some carrying babies on their backs. The traditional ruler managed to appease the women to no avail. The women accused the traditional ruler of complicity with the Fulani’s because of material gains; he became frightened and managed to escape. There, the women stripped themselves naked and rubbed themselves with wood ash and cam wood as a sign of mourning .They stayed at the premises of the Senior Divisional Officer for four days waiting for the government to address the issue of impending famine to which the Fulani graziers had subjected them. When they finally embarked on a seventy-kilometre trek to the North West provincial Headquarters of Bamenda these women received compensation from the government according to the established extent of damage they suffered as determined by a mix commission. The Government leader was in charged of monitoring the food needs of the women farmers so that appropriate measures could be taken to avert famine and shortage of seedlings so future famine. The demonstration was an all women affair because it concerned food and they were the primary concerned parties. These groups of women struggled to protect their farm land against the graziers who were predators to their economic growth of their community.

Statement of the Problem

The phenomenon of changes in the women pattern in kom fondom has pose a threat to the people. This threat must have been caused by the influence of western culture through the believe and teaching of the Christian church. The traditional practices were seen as paganic and therefore advocated for change. for instance, the exposure of breast by women during a death of a Fon was considered barbaric by the church. This exposure sometimes causes health complications which increased expenditure of the family members. Also, the flamboyant celebration brought in by globalization impoverish family members. Those that traveled to Nigeria saw how celebrations were conducted with huge sums of money and wanted to implement such style in kom.  Family members were sometimes forced to contribute, money which was against their capacity. Once this individual could not contribute, it turns to gossip, and in some instances he/she was treated as an outcast. Such attitudes only led to conflicts in the kom fondom. Therefore this essay sets to bring out the various involvement of women in the kom traditional society, and how these involvements have changed overtime and some drawbacks that push these women to modify tradition.

Research questions

This research is guided by the following research questions;

what evolutionary dynamics took place within the kom tradition in line with women involvement?

 what was the geo-historical background of the area between the periods 1800-2016?

What  role did Kom women play in the Kom tradition between the periods of 1800 and 2016?

What were the challenges that hampered the smooth movement of the kom tradition;?

Objectives of the study

Main objective

This study is aimed at showing the dynamics that came to be over time with kom women vis a vis the kom tradition between the period of 1800-2016.

Specific objectives

1) Examine the geo-historical setting of kom.

2) Evaluate the contribution of kom women with regards to kom tradition.

3) To assess the challenges that hampered  the smooth functioning of kom women

    [1] Elizabeth cooper, inheritance practices and intergenerational transmission of pverty  in Africa,(chronic

    [2] Encyclopedia britanica; David Gever et al.

    [3] Busia koffi Abrefa; Encyclopedia Britanica(William Benton publisher, university of Chicago, 1970)p2

    [4] Anlu a meeting where woman gather and contribute money for others and each woman has their turn. Also a kom womem  rebellion.

[5] David Shapiro Eric Tollens 1992 -44

      [6] Diop Anta, pre-colonial black Africa.

      [7] Paul Nkwi; traditional Government and social change: A study of political institutions among the Kom people  of the Cameron Grassfield (Fribourg University press 1976)

      [8] Benjamin nchanncham waindim “ The changing statusnand the role of women.

      [9] Paul Nkwi , Traditional diplomacy, a study of inter-chiefdom relationship in the Western Grassfield, North West province of Cameroon,( yaounde department of sociology1987)