The equal of men – in marriage

The girls and their families believe that education will be the key to achieving a good marriage. Isatou’s best friend believes that when she enters the community of educated women she will be the same as an educated man, particularly her husband: 203. Jordene: You think, you think, women going to be same as men? 204. Kadidja: Yes.

205. Jordene: How can women be the same as men? (Question is repeated several times)

206. Kadidja: Oh, I don’t understand what that means. 207. Jordene: How can women be the same as men?

208. Kadidja: The same as men? By in life, for example, if you educate and your husband educate, it is the same. Because the knowledge that you have and your husband have this same knowledge, so you will be as the same as man.

For Kadidja, having an education will make her the equal of her husband. This equality will let her ‘be the same as man.’ In another interview, Kadidja put it this way:

209. Kadidja: When I am married and I have children then my husband will be working and I am working. I will say these are our children. Our children are going to school and we are ok and we are working so let us concentrate on our children. They will be our future leaders for tomorrow and maybe he will understand what I’m talking about.

Just as educated women are seen to be superior to uneducated women; educated men are seen as being kinder to their wives, investing in education for their children, and having more money.

Many of the parents have argued that educating their daughters is a way to ensure that their future son-in-law will treat her kindly, will not flog her, and will be able to provide for the family. Satu, one of the other schoolgirls interviewed,

emphasized that an educated husband will not act superior to his wife:

210. Satu: Ehduketehd man, bikors we yu ehduket i nor go mek blorf pan yu.

(Translation: [I want an] educated man because when you are educated your husband will not act as if he is superior to you). I have asked the schoolgirls what kind of husband they want. Sometimes they say that they want a handsome husband, a tall husband, or a good Muslim man. The more common answer, however, is that they want an educated man. They believe that an educated man will not flog them, will allow them to work away from the house, and will treat them as an equal.

Isatou takes it a step further saying that an educated woman will actually be able to control her husband. In a conversation in 2010, Isatou narrated the story of her neighbor who has the audacity to control her husband even though she is not

educated:

211. Isatou: Some-- – look at my life! The example is given to me. Like my mother, she doesn’t know what is education. But she loves those children that wanted to learn. But our neighbor! That woman, she always controls her husband although she don’t have education. But her husband is very (unclear). When he works, if they pay him, when he comes home with the money, he give his wife.

Isatou tells us that her mother, although uneducated, loves children who want to learn. Implicitly we are to understand that her mother loves learning and would have

joined the category of educated women but was not fortunate to be allowed an education.

Isatou also narrates the story of her uneducated neighbor. Stories of this neighbor reappear in subsequent interviews with Isatou and seem to present a convenient contrast by which Isatou can measure her own life. Her tone changes when she talks of the neighbor, and she will shake her head in a gesture of disgust. Isatou’s condescension for the neighbor woman is seen in her remark, “But our neighbor! That woman, she always controls her husband although she don’t have education.” Controlling her husband ‘although she is not educated’ is a bit of a contradiction. It is difficult to tell whether educated women are supposed to/allowed to/expected to control their husbands but uneducated ones are certainly not supposed to control her husband. When Isatou refers to her neighbor as controlling her husband it is not necessarily stated as a negative thing to do. Isatou says, “That woman, she always controls her husband although she don’t have education.” It is not the idea that a woman would control her husband that has Isatou’s attention but the idea that an uneducated woman would control her husband. In other words, for an educated woman, it may be expected or acceptable that she controls her husband.

Pulling the lens back to look at the ways in which education and success in the future are discussed, education is posited as the way toward equality with men and superiority over uneducated women. Watching Isatou grapple with what it will mean for her to be educated and observing how over the years she adds more and more tangible attributes of an educated woman leads to contemplating what are the “social, cultural, institutional, and/or political relationships” being reproduced or transformed (Gee, 2011). Isatou, her cohort, and their parents believe that education will lift them

up to a better social class and provide a more pleasant life. However, a recent UNICEF (2013) report states that 63% of female adolescents in Sierra Leone believe that wife beating is justified. In contrast, 73% of women over the age of 19 believe this is justified. This indicates that the younger generation is less approving of wife beating. In the general population, 82% of all people support violent discipline of children and 72% of women support genital mutilation/cutting. These statistics point to a reproduction of patriarchal power structures. Isatou and her cohort may be among the few dissenting voices or they may not, since they seek equality for themselves, but not necessarily for their uneducated age-mates, when they voice their belief that at least for the ones who start school and stop, they get what their actions deserve. Using Gee’s Tools of Inquiry, I ask:

How are the relevant figured worlds here helping to reproduce, transform, or create social, cultural, institutional, and/or political relationships? What Discourses and Conversations are these figured worlds helping to reproduce, transform, or create? (2011, p. 96)

In the figured world of being a schoolgirl and the anticipated imaginary community of educated women, there is investment in creating a better, safer life for the individual girl and by extension her family but there is not an investment in transforming the larger culture to make men and women more equal. These schoolgirls believe that education will prevent them from being flogged by their husband but may still support the inequity for others.