Mozambique: Mobilizing Women
The following is summarized and translated from an article written by Lavinia Gasperini and from an interview by the author with Salom§ Moiana, Secretary-General of the Organization of Mozambican Women (OMM) in 1980. The original article and interview are in Italian
Five Hundred Years of Colonialism
Slave trade. Expropriation of Natural Resources. Exportoriented agriculture, dominated by monoculture and forced labor. Destruction of the subsistence economy. Importation of industrial and manufactured goods from Portugal at the expense of developing local industry. This is how Portugal "underdeveloped" Mozambique
The Challenge
This year Frelimo', after five years of independence, has launched a challenge. Within the decade, the Mozambicans propose to eliminate the effects of 500 years of colonialism: hunger, poverty, illiteracy. Workers who for centuries have worked for others have now begun to work for themselves. In this way, according to the Mozambican leaders, an independent economy, planned, progressive and capable of satisfying the basic needs of the people, will create the conditions to pass to a "higher stage of a socialist economy".
The basis of this development will be a collectively organized agriculture. Industry will be the dynamic factor. In the workplaces, on the school walls, on the banners which greet new arrivals at the airport, it is written: we will make 1980-1990 the decade of victory over underdevelopment.
The Involvement of the Organization of Mozambican Women
The Organization of Mozambican Women (OMM) is also participating in this challenge. The battle for development, which in Mozambique means socialism, is also the battle for the liberation of women. The principle contradiction towards which the battle is directed was stated during the founding conference of the OMM. It is not between men and women, but between women and the social order, between all the oppressed, men and women, and the private ownership of the means of production. And those most oppressed in the whole society are women. Exploited by the owners, beaten by slave husbands, crushed by the colonists, women cannot liberate themselves without the revolution and the revolution cannot exist without the liberation of women.
Colonialism exacerbated the oppression of women but it did not invent it. It was already part of the Bantu society, a class society whose women occupied the lowest rung. Source of labor, pleasure and procreator for their husbands,women did not have the right to speak out, to own or to inherit. They had no legal personality. Even today, a husband chooses a woman and exchanges money or goods for her with the family which "gives" her away. Initiation rites, early marriages, polygamy are all manifestations of the same phenomenon: the exploitation of women.
In addition to agricultural labor for the family, which fell mainly on the women, and domestic work, there was, in the colonial period, the exploitation in the mines, in forced labor, on the plantations. Only the work of the women in the "machamba", or family plot, guaranteed, with difficulty, subsistence and reproduction, given that colonialism offered only forced labor or starvation wages. On women's shoulders fell the burden of caring for men maimed by inhuman work or laid off seasonally, the old people and the children.
National Independence, Socialism and Women
Many women participated in the struggle for national liberation. In the "aldeias comunais"^ women are participating for the first time in the entire life of the community and are holding positions of leadership. This participation in all spheres of production, in both urban and rural areas, and especially in socialized production, the participation in political and cultural struggle, the holding of positions of leadership has not been an easy or linear process.
The OMM is attempting to solve the problem of the employment The OMM is attempting to solve the problem of the employment of women with collective solutions: the "aldeias comunais", green zones', production and service cooperatives.The conditions to do this are not easy. For centuries the women in Mozambique have not had the opportunity to express themselves, to discuss, to become aware, to decide.Socialized work, political meetings, education are conditions to liberate themselves from a situation of passivity, of resignation,of lack of confidence in themselves accumulated in the past.
NOTES:' 1." Frelimo was founded in 1962 as a liberation front with a nationalist progam. In 1977, it became a "Marxist-Leninist" party.
2."Aldeias Comunais" or communal villages are the future agricultural centers of Mozambique. Today there are more than a thousand of them with about one million inhabitants. They are self-governing and organize production and consumer cooperatives and their own social services around family agricultural production.
3. " Zones near the cities which are agricultural belts surrounding the congested urban areas.
INTERVIEW WITH SALOME MOIANA, SECRETARYGENERAL THE ORGANIZATION OF MOZAMBICAN WOMEN (OMM)
Question: What does it mean to be a woman in Mozambique?What problems does the OMM face?
Answer: In addition to the problems we have inherited from colonialism, we are faced every day with the customs arising from the forms of social organization prior to the colonial period, as in almost all African societies. In the family the woman is the instrument of production and reproduction.She works and has a large number of children to serve her husband. She has no right to an opinion in the family. The initiation rites and the various types of marriage perpetuate,from generation to generation, this situation of oppression.
Q: What are the implications for women of the rites which mark the passage from childhood to adulthood?
A: Through these rites, girls are given a sexual education surrounded by mystery. Bodily functions are explained as if they were forbidden things which only certain people can transmit. The parents do not educate their children in these matters. Girls are told about sexual life between the ages of nine and fourteen: they are inculcated with the conviction that upon marriage they must sen/e their husbands who will be the owners and masters of their lives and bodies. Boys, on the other hand, are given a vision of their relationship with women as one of master to servant. One result of these initiation rites are the still widespread early marriages: girls of nine or ten man-y after this rite, as it signifies the passage to adulthood. Frelimo is working to eliminate this practice.
Q: Another aspect I would like to discuss is the question of"lobolo" (bride-price).A: Originally the lobolo only signified an alliance between two families. Money was not involved, only small symbolic offerings which the family of the future husband gave to the family of the future wife. The colonial society introduced money into this custom. It is only with colonialism that we can really speak of a form of buying and selling as compensation for transfer of labor force from one family another. The husband becomes the "owner" of the wife and can demand of her anything he wants.
With our struggle we are working towards overcoming this With our struggle we are working towards overcoming this situation of inferiority of Mozambican women. To this end we are organizing political programs against initiation rites, explaining to the people why the lobolo is negative. We began this campaign during the period of the national liberation struggle and now are beginning to see the results. In the zones liberated during the war the initiation rites have disappeared for some time already. We intend to extend this victory to the whole country. As far as sex education is concerned, we are organizing programs in the schools in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Health. It will take time. We have just begun.
Q: Circumcision is practiced on boys. Are there similar ritual ceremonies carried out on girls?
A: There are various ceremonies for lengthening the labbia of the vagina. With the first menstruation women are forbidden to eat meat, eggs or to season their food. These are prejudices without scientific basis. In a very few zones excision of the clitoris is practiced. We condemn these practices because their only aim is to increase the pleasure of the man. We believe the sexual relationship is a complement of love and that both should enjoy it equally.
Q: What do you think about polygamy? What are its causes?
A: Various reasons are used to justify polygamy. For example,if a couple does not have any children, the sterlility is always attributed to the woman. The husband, then, has the right to take another wife. In some cases it is even the woman herself who looks for the second wife. There is also the prejudice that sexual relations are not permitted during pregnancy and until two years after the birth of the child. Another reason is the need for help with the domestic work and agricultural production for the family. In a basically agrarian society, such as ours, if a man can get five children from one wife, he can get ten from two wives and so on. These are all hands that work for him for free
.Q: We have been speaking about problems arising from the Mozambican social formations and accentuated by capitalism.What about the problems caused by capitalism itself?A: Prostitution, for example, was introduced by the Portuguese and promoted by the existence of the colonial any camps. The guidelines of Frelimo are to fight the causes of the problem. For this reason re-education camps have been created for persons -- men and women -- involved in prostitution with political education programs aimed at reintegrating them into society. Our organization seeks to find jobs for the women so they will have a means of subsistence,and to mobilize support for them. Prostitution exists because there are those who go to prostitutes. Our work, therefore, is also directed to those who promote prostitution.
Q: How does the OMM participate in the Health Minister's program for the "protection of the mother and child"?
A: The problem of family planning is linked to the social problems of traditional families. For example, during initiation rites, women are told that they must abstain from sexual relations for two years after the birth of the child, ignoring any other alternative method for spacing births.This project will begin work informing women about the various methods of spacing births. Women in Mozambique usually have five to ten children. For us, it is not a matter of reducing births because our country is large and underpopulated.However, we want to have children born healthy and not to have women's health harmed.
Q: The OMM recently completed its sixth year. What is its What is its history?
A: The OMM was born during the struggle for national liberation as Frelimo's response to the need for women's liberation. Frelimo recognized this struggle as one for the liberation. Frelimo recognized this struggle as one for the complete liberation of people from exploitation and it saw women's liberation as one aspect of this. From the beginning of the armed struggle women participated in mobilizing the people against the colonial forces. They got the peasants to support the guerrillas, especially with food. They cared for the children whose parents were fighting and they aided in the transport of arms.
One of the first steps was the creation of the "Women's One of the first steps was the creation of the "Women's Detachment" or the women's organization of the People's Liberation Army of Mozambique (FPLM), presently our armed forces. Women participated in the liberation struggle with arms. In the war, many women showed themselves capable of the same work as men which did much to dispel myths about the innate incapacity of women. However,many women did not participate directly in the FPLM, mainly because in traditional society they are not trained to participate in the life of the community.
Because of this there was a need for an organization to Because of this there was a need for an organization to politicize women and involve them in the struggle. Frelimo decided to create such an organization and the OMM was founded in 1973. Its principal objective was to mobilize all Mozambican women regardless of race, social position or place of birth. The OMM also supported Frelimo in its international relations in order to arouse world public opinion interest and solidarity in our cause and, at the same time,interest and solidarity in our cause and, at the same time,create an awareness among Mozambican women of women's struggles in other countries
Q: In what sectors do women usually work?
A: We have organized women in such a way that they can perform tasks not traditionally done by women: building the villages and houses, cutting the cane for building houses. In the "aldeias comunais" (communal villages) we are struggling not only for a new organization of material life, but also to create new human relationships, beginning with the family,so that the men help the women with the domestic work.The women, in fact, work much more than the men.
Even today many of our men go to work in the mines of Even today many of our men go to work in the mines of South Africa and the women are left to maintain the family for two or three years through agricultural work. In any case, it is always the women who must gather wood for cooking, fetch water, and supply the food. In the city it is he same: in addition to work in the factory, she has to do all the domestic work.Because of this we are mobilizing the men to help their wives with the domestic work. Some are already doing this, but it will be a very long process -- transforming men from master to companion is not always an easy task.
Some changes can already be seen. For example, men who accompany women in the street and carry the baby in their arms. This was unheard of before. Even today in many parts of the country it is common to see a woman walking great distances with her husband with a baby in her arms, a basket on her head and even her husband's jacket, while his hands are empty.
In the cities, the few women who got work from the colonialists were not given equal pay with men. Today there are still not many women working in the cities, but the principle is equal pay for equal work. Most women work in textile or food sectors. The few women working in the mechanical industries are there through the initiative of the OMM, supported by the Minister of Labor. Our middle-long term objective is to integrate women into all sectors of production. We have already had good experiences with women tractor drivers, carpenters, mechanics, drivers - all traditionally male jobs.
This is not easy because we still live in a situation of great This is not easy because we still live in a situation of great unemployment and illiteracy. Most women do not speak Portuguese and illiteracy hinders their integration into specialized jobs.Because of this the OMM has organized literacy courses, in the first place for our activists and leaders. Today we have eliminated illiteracy in our provincial secretariats and most of these comrades are finishing elementary school. We also encourage women to participate in the political information courses promoted by the party
The OMM is also creating work centers for women, such as The OMM is also creating work centers for women, such as cooperatives for sewing, raising rabbits and chickens, producing pottery, hairdressing. These are all easy to learn and permit women to achieve economic independence, a necessary condition for emancipation. We are also trying to organize creches at the place of work. The law permits two months maternity leave.
Q: In Europe some organizations establish as part of their programs the autonomy of the women's movement from various parties. On the contrary the OMM was founded on the initiative of Frelimo with which it is linked. What are the relations between the OMM and Frelimo?A: The OMM did not arise as an autonomous initiative of women. It was, rather, an expression of Frelimo's will to liberate women. The party program has been assumed in practice by the women. The objective of Frelimo is the liberation of all the people from the exploitation which is also the cause of the oppression of women. The emancipation of women is linked to the liberation of all society. We are fighting for a new type of relations within the family, between husband and wife, relations of equality, possibilities to discuss,mutual respect. When we have reached this, we will be able to organize a new type of society.
