Citation

Brain J. Sex Roles 1978; 4(5): 695-715.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1978, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/BF00287333

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

It is hypothesized that in traditional African (and more specifically Tanzanian) society the roles of men and women were different but less unequal than the norm adopted by the colonial authorities and their heirs, the rulers of independent Tanzania. Women had an extremely important economic role as the food producers and in some cases held high political office. European administrators, educators, and missionaries introduced the Victorian English ideal of "gentility" for women at the same time that the introduction of cash crops greatly increased the demands on African women's labor. Thus, the differences between the sexes were exacerbated. It is also suggested that at the village level perceptions about correct sex roles have not changed greatly, and there is a willingness to accept women in authority; whereas the gentility model is important at the level of the ruling elite.