Traditionally, the Fulani woman's roles have included the care of all household tasks. They spend several hours preparing the evening meal. They retrieve water from the well a bucket or two at a time and often must carry it on their heads over long distance back to their home.
These women also gather firewood, shake milk in gourds to make butter and pound millet by hand as part of labor-intensive cooking practices.
They are also responsible for laundry, collecting wood, caring for small children and shopping for ingredients for their cooking. In addition to these tasks the women also spend time working batik and tie dye, and weaving with dried grass to make mats or other useful items. Many of them sell milk or milk products in order to make money and purchase family and personal needs.
Fulani women, who are often in charge of building the family tents or temporary shelters, weave wall and floor mats. Besides nomadic architecture, they specialize in the decoration of calabashes and wooden bowls (lahal kosam). They are often seen carrying their milk products stacked in tiers on their heads in calabash bowls.
Calabashes are pyro-engraved with a combination of abstract and figural motifs and colored with pigments. In the cow-centered Fulani culture, milk bowls are also important objects for the household. They are used as storage containers for fresh, curdled milk and grains. An artifact, symbol of the pastoral life and of the cooperation between men who keep the herd and women who milk the cows, the lahal kosam encapsulates Fulani identity. Because of their delicate chiseling and exquisite decorative treatment, bowls and calabashes could be considered as the true focus of aesthetic efforts of the Fulani people
The men take care of the cattle and the women take care of the dairy products, all household chores, meal making, milking cattle, selling milk products and they aren't allowed to get involved in grazing, movement or selling the cattle. The division of work is used to be very strict between men and women. However things are changing fast.
A study cites the case of the Fulani in northern Nigeria. Here women have traditionally dominated dairy production and the marketing system, although men milk the animals. Fulani women have considerable milk-processing expertise. They can transform milk into at least six different products and are constantly experimenting with new ones.
Though their role may seem menial at times, they have always carried on the burden of the family survival. These elusive, delicate, and frail looking women are the backbone of the Fulani culture. They literally carry the family wealth, traditions and aspirations on their head. On them repose the traditions, the prosperity, and the survival of the group. Despite countless barriers, Fulani women and their African sisters are responsible for over 80% the food production, 80% of the water management and 100% of child rearing in many parts of West-Africa.
Menu
