This chapter discusses African women warriors and leadership in the precolonial African history, the history which has been pushed into the fringes since the intrusion of Western civilisation into African affairs. In precolonial Africa women were not left out in governance as exemplified in the Ancient Nubia, Egypt, Berber, queen mother and women leadership cases. The Benin queen mothers; the Dahomey; the Asante; the Buganda; and the Eswatini queen mothers are discussed as sample presentations on how this arrangement has ensured women involvement in the socio-economic and political affairs of their communities. Sample matriarchal warriors, queens and leaders (Amina, Asentewaa and Nehanda) are discussed to demonstrate women urgency and leadership in precolonial African societies.
Top2. The Matriarchs Of Africa
Matriarchy and matrilineality are two concepts that are centred on women. Nonetheless, matrilineality is not the same as a matriarchy and therefore the terms are not interchangeable. Matriarchy is a kind of social structure in which women hold the majority of authority. Where matrilineal refers to kinship with a female’s lineage, matriarchal refers to a society that is primarily ruled by women. Therefore, a matrilineal society is a kinship system in which maternal rather than paternal lines are used to trace ancestral descent. Matriarchy is a social structure in which women possess the majority of power in areas such as political leadership, moral authority, social privilege, and property control. Therefore, matrilineality does not automatically translate to matriarchy. Although there are several matrilineal societies in Africa like the Akan, the Nyanja, the Chewa, among many others, our focus here is matriarchal societies.
Marsden (2018) opines that the idea of women’s rule seems alien, yet history dating back 1.5 million years ago shows examples of matriarchal societies some of which still exist today. She argues that there is a school of thought that believes human society was originally matriarchal, where women were revered as priestesses and honoured for their ability to bear children. There is also archaeological evidence, such as ancient Venus statues, that seems to support this. However, somewhere around 3000 BC, the balance shifted, and some scholars believe society was thereafter dominated by men and patriarchy was thus born.