The dramatic social changes of the last century, with influences from the Mandinka, the local version of Islam, and French colonialism have affected Jola women and girls in a very specific way. In addition to the introduction of female circumcision, the Mandinka social system, with its crucial separation of the sexes, in many ways reinforced an asymmetrical relationship between women and men, as did the weight of French colonialism. For instance, the ignorance showed by the colonial administration of the crucial roles that women played in agriculture implied that “the selection of people to introduce agricultural innovations was, for the most part, exclusively male” (Hamer 1983:94). Researchers have emphasised that these changes implied a general social and economic depression of the position of Jola women in society. Women’s workloads increased, their burden as breadwinners became heavier at the same time as their economic independence,
Arnfred Page 84 Wednesday, March 3, 2004 2:38 PM