Some Aspects of Dahomean Ethnology

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Abstract
The civilization of Dahomey is based upon an agricultural economy. No matter what the rank of a Dahomean or what his trade, he must know how to cultivate the soil, and he will have his fields. As in all West Africa, clearing the land and hoeing it in preparation for the actual planting is the work of men. Planting itself is carried out by both men and women, and after the planting has been finished, the care of the growing crops is in the hands of the women. Women play quite as active a role in the economic life of Dahomey as do men, for it is not only their work to care for and harvest the crops, but in the Dahomean organization of markets, it is they who buy and sell. Since money earned by a woman is her own, and it is possible for those who are successful in the market-place to acquire wealth independently, there exists a class of ‘free’ women whose freedom extends to their economic life, and also to their relations with the male sex. This gives rise to the institution of women who play the role ordinarily assumed by men as heads of families, and who become titular ‘husbands’ to their ‘wives’.

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