Daughters of the Goddess, Daughters of Imperialism: African Women Struggle for Culture, Power and Democracy. Amadiume Ifi. New York: Zed Books, 2000. Pp. 300.

The book opens by indicating the social, economic, cultural and political imperatives that determined and currently characterise Nigeria. Additionally, the author notes the benefits of using Marxist theory to examine gender and class relations under the present state system, as well as the contemporary nature of power between different classes of women locally, nationally and globally. She rightly points out the existence of shifting multiple identities under a pluralist system and attributes the problem of the state in Africa to the question of legitimacy and contestation. Without mincing words, the author puts the colonial and postcolonial state on trial. She does the same with development partners and all those concerned with improving the status of women.

She observes that the colonial administration laid inadequate foundations for the emancipation of women in Africa. It created many transformations following the introduction of a capitalist economy and imposition of a new system of government. These changes, the author contends, led to the creation of a gender ideology of power, demarcating public space and power as male to the exclusion of women. Amadiume singles out the case of Nigeria and postulates that, the British system of preserving the autonomy of local authorities did not apply when it came to the 'natives.' They operated in such a manner that made them, among other things, unpopular, undemocratic, and unrepresentative, all of which contributed to the marginalization of women. The above practices were adopted and refined by western religion and European style women organisations such as the YWCA and Girl Guide movement.

The female elites who ran these and other women's organizations have been able to manipulate certain social, political, economic and cultural spaces to their advantage under the pretence of improving the living standards of poor women. These types of manipulations have weakened a majority of women's local initiatives that have attempted to balance patriarchal structures. Unfortunately, these female elites are widely relied on by governments and International Development Agencies (IDAs) to improve the status of rural women.

Colonialism and IDAs, the author continues, largely determined 'development' in Africa. IDAs have dictated how the state in Africa should go about strengthening women's autonomy. The state has in most cases adopted formalised language of development based on formalised list of developmentalist and evolving round controversial single issues. Daughters of imperialism in their quest to solicit for donor funding have embraced issues selected by IDAs, while more relevant matters concerning a majority of women are neglected.

She postulates that the postcolonial state has not only remained ill-suited to the task of emancipating rural and poor women, but it has also used inappropriate frameworks and policies. They have neglected the role and opinions of local women; development has been forced down their throats. The problem with this approach is that development projects are inherently embedded in the local processes in which they operate and are, thus, locally accountable.

In Africa, as elsewhere, IDAs have appeared in the form of the IMF and World Bank under the auspices of structural adjustment programs. Amadiume argues that these agencies have advocated for growth accounting and budget management, which have no relevance to issues such as social and political inequalities and human right abuses. Since these policies neglect the social arena, it is no wonder they have failed in Africa. SAPs have increased women's responsibilities, while diminishing their traditional access to goods and services. SAPs together with structural economies and neo-classical economic notions, the author argues, have weakened women's traditional system of gender complementarity, co-operation and exposed women's autonomous economic sectors to market forces.

The impacts of IDAs on the state are equally negative. Amadiume observes that IDAs have led to uneven development, bred corruption and political inequalities. IDAs have relied on bourgeois and elitist women to capitalize on the knowledge of rural women for their own benefits. They have made women's groups dependent on external funding and externally determined development policies. These external interventions have fragmented female solidarity and distracted women from their traditional roles as developers of their own towns and villages. She concludes that IDAs have undermined the state in Africa, fragmented communities, encouraged dependency, bred dictatorship, corruption and elitism.

As external intervention disrupts local contestations and creates a terrible imbalance in the system, a unique phenomenon has emerged in contemporary Nigeria. This is what the author calls the 'cult of first lady'. Others like Mama (1995) called it 'Femocracy.' Under a "femocracy," the female leadership, headed by the wife of the incumbent president, solicits money for herself and the wives of those in senior positions under the guise of improving the status of rural Nigeria women. The practice of seeking out donations enabled Babangida and Abacha's wives to emerge as formidable political figures in Nigeria. They became a political partner of military rulers and thus served to make a majority of women comply with unpopular demands of the state and international development agencies.

Working in alliance with development agencies, the Better Life Program and Family Support Program (started by the wives of the two presidents) became money-guzzling ventures. Amediume argues that this cult has become an instrument of class reproduction and advancement in the name of service to rural women. It has undermined democratic processes and the autonomy of women's organizations, which have been appropriated by corrupt bourgeois women in an unceasing effort to gain prestige, status, and power. On occasion, these types of power-seeking ventures have sabotaged other organizations. At the same time, it has caused the rural community to be subject to corruption and elitism. It is this cult that has impacted negatively on the development of women's groups in Nigeria.

The author argues that, since it is a woman's domain, the local government system can best be used to improve the status of local women. She puts forth a strong case for the establishment of a women's unit in the local government councils whose concern would be specific interest and needs of local women. She argues for a massive decentralization of the civil service and reorganization of the budget so that more money goes to provide services to the majority of the rural population. Given its position in the traditional or indigenous African economy, the marketplace should be placed, to a greater extent be under female control. Moreover, the author contends that the West should support the traditional democratic institutions that exist in Africa, rather than to try to supplant them in the name of development or modernization.

In conclusion, the text is very explosive, due to its critiques of those women and agencies that have taken the leadership reins of the women's movement in most of Africa. The book is worth reading by those interested in women, the state, and international development agencies. It has raised so many pertinent issues and questions on who should represent women in Africa and what should be the areas of concern. Using historical and anthropological sources the author has exposed the tensions and contradictions between competing interests over locally and internationally available resources and revealed gender, class and race conflict over power and resource sharing in contemporary African states.

Ong'wen Okuro Samwel
Kenyatta University

REFERENCES

Amadiume, I. Male Daughters, Female Husbands. Lodon: Zed Books, 1987.

Ifidon, E. A. "Social Rationality and Class Analysis of National Conflict in Nigeria: Historiographical Critique," in M. J. Ela, Africa Development, CODESRIA, Vol.XXIV, Nos. 1 and 2, 1999.

Mama, A. "Feminism or Femocracy? State Feminism and Democratisation in Nigeria," in T. A. Aina, Africa Development. CODESRIA, Vol.XX, No.1, 1995.

Mba, N. Nigerian Women Mobilised: Women's Political Activity in Southern Nigeria, 1900-1965. Berkeley: University of California, 1982.

Parpart J, and Staudt, K (eds). Women and State in Africa. Lynne Rienner: Boulder, 1989.

National Commission for Women 1992, Annual Report. Newswatch Magazine 2.11.92.

Tsikata, E. Gender Analysis and State in Ghana: Some Preliminary Issues in Engendering Social Sciences. Dakar: CODESRIA, 1990.