Bigger than men? Gender relations and their changing meaning in Kipsigis society, Kenya
Bulow, D. von
Africa London 62(4): 523-546
1992
DOI: 10.2307/1161349Document Number: 342855
This article examines why Kipsigis women in Kenya today appear strong and determined although colonization and commoditization have led to an increase in their subordination. Inspired by studies that link cultural ideas about gender with actual social relations, the paper investigates how Kipsigis ideas about female and male interact with production relations. It is argued that gender relations and meanings attributed to gender have altered radically during this century, and that changed economic and political circumstances have led to new struggles over the meaning and interpretation of gender ideologies. The article demonstrates how Kipsigis women manage to negotiate control over household resources by referring to and manipulating customary ideas about status and rights within the house property complex practised in pre-colonial society.