The Emancipation of African Women

Traditions are a serious issue in every African society even till this modern day and age. From marriage ceremonies up till the way we greet and interact with people in our society. Every society has different traditions in which they believe in, some most times similar with those of the other community or society. Tradition is something that has existed for quite a while now and I believe even with the help of a higher authority, some traditions can never be abolished or go unrecognized.
Mrs. Dolphyne in the beginning of her book addressed marriage as an institution that is very important in all African societies. I have always know marriage to be the joining of a man and a woman as one but not till what she wrote as the primary reason of marriage which she said was the joining of two families instead of two individuals. This, which if carefully though about, is actually true. When two African people say they want to get married it isn’t just two of them that are bonded as one but all of them, both the nuclear and the extended family. According to Dolphyne love wasn’t even a major reason why people got married, she stated that love would later develop as time went by. Marriage is very important in an African society because it is the only way to make child bearing legitimate because without children the family name cannot be continued and this is the fear of families. Unlike the marriages in the American society, the union of these two families is important but more important is the fact that they have to be able to agree on things and sort out whatever conflict they encounter reasonably and in peace. Although there are marriages where the parents don’t approve of their child’s partner but allow them to get married just to ensure that child is happy. The family either grows to like the other family or tries as much as possible to accommodate them. This is not always the case in fact it is really rare to find an African family that will ‘accommodate’ the family