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Women and Beekeeping in Cameroon
By Pam Gregory
Any development professional will tell you that women are a key factor in programmes to alleviate poverty.
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As a broad generalisation, men who get extra disposable
income often spend it on drink and cigarettes that are heavily promoted in
African countries. Women spend and manage their money carefully and spend
it on the family. In the past, women were excluded from beekeeping if it required some culturally unacceptable activity such as climbing trees. Modern, intermediate technology techniques, which are gender-neutral, make beekeeping accessible to women. The Kom beekeeping project, based in the North West Province of Cameroon, raises the money to pay a female trainer and an assistant who have special responsibility for developing women’s beekeeping activity.
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During my last visit, I held a special course, just for women. This was not universally popular with the
men. A white person coming to an area is a curious, important and exciting event and everyone wants to be included. The mayor, although proud to have this course in his village, insisted that I explain
my reasons. Of course, in this macho world, he was satisfied when I told him the women were not as good as the men and needed extra training!
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New Opportunities
I had noted the previous year that, as women everywhere will recognise, when you have a mixed sex course, the men are the ‘doers’. and the women just get to watch. Women often lack confidence or opportunity to try new things when men are about and are much less willing to ask questions. The Cameroon men hurried the women when they were trying to use unfamiliar tools and their efforts were often belittled, although the plucky women gave as good as they got. Nonetheless, their attitude was still “we know we are inferior but it is not polite of you to remind us”. There is a very long way still to go. On my course, the women could go at their own speed, were not pressured and were able to get the hang of the saws and hammers in their own time. In Cameroon you have to make your beehive before you start beekeeping and we made a brilliant one together everyone was so proud.
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An interesting difference from a mixed-sex course is encouraging the women to openly participate. African men love to talk and discuss each point being made, but women are much less confident about answering questions and joining in. Women are usually less educated than their male counterparts so they are less likely to be able to read and write which means they can’t take notes. They make up for this by having excellent memories. Women are also less likely to speak English. We ran our course at times in four languages Kom, Fulani, Pidgin and English (for me). I also do a lot in ‘pantomime’, which seems to make everyone laugh and breaks the ice. At least laughter is universal. Where there are women there will also be a variety of attached babies and young children.
I am still trying to devise a mother-and-baby bee suit!
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In the main, courses are practical. Women are more interested in producing things with hive products than men, so making ointments and lotions and the uses of wax, propolis and honey for medicines and cooking are of special interest. Some of the more educated women also taught us a song begging equality for all the women in the world.
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At the end of the course the women sang me a special song and gave me eggs in a beautifully woven basket. I cried because I was so touched, and that needs no language at all does it?
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