I have been writing articles about Eritrea with some traditional touch which makes me a traditionalist or to the so called progressives I may be labeled a reactionary. My principle is to first know and evaluate what we have in our indigenous culture before we go out searching for other values that may not fit our needs. Our liberation movements tried to reinvent wheels or import them without even realizing all the while that we have our own wheels that fit the terrain of our landscape. I will try as much as I can to elucidate our cultural values so that we may be proud of our heritage and correct the customs that are contrary in the common good. If we can not name and claim our home grown values, we lose our dignity. Paradoxically, Eritreans believe in economic self-reliance and try to sustain it with a borrowed culture of political philosophy. I have a real problem with that approach; even our ancestors had a very clear perspective of borrowed values, “ስዋ ጎረቤት ማይ መመላእታኡ - borrowed beer will end up diluted with water.” On the other hand, I would like to challenge our people that while other people and researchers appreciate our values, customs and even our social mores, either we take it for granted or reject it out right without even analyzing it. I realize that for those of us who are traditionalists, it is painful to see our cultural values vanish. We may tend to romanticize with nostalgia but the fact remains, it’s ours. I admit that there is no perfect culture in any part of the world for there are no perfect societies or people.
In this article, I will explore women’s role and rights in our traditional culture in light to our regional codes and local customs. My hope is that the younger generation (who grew up under the spell of Isaias’ regime) may learn that women’s right no matter how imperfect it may be has been ingrained in our culture. The liberation movements cannot take the whole credit for highlighting women’s right in Eritrea. The younger generation may also develop a critical mindset as an antidote to embracing a Western culture uncritically. The adult generation needs to make an extra effort in transmitting our culture to our children now while we can. Otherwise our children, especially those in the Diaspora run the risk of losing their identity and dignity. What does this has to do with women issues in Eritrea? In our traditional culture neither everything was savage nor was everything rosy. In the midst of imperfection, we have dignified identity and histories including a legacy that protects women rights that need to be looked at closely. On the other hand crediting our liberation movements as champions of women’s right has to be taken with a grain of salt.
Of course, the movements’ slogan of gender equality has benefited them in recruiting female fighters. In the EPLF, it was constantly cited by foreign journalists that 30-40% of the guerilla fighters were women. Both the ELF and EPLF prided themselves for pioneering women equality, which was the prototype for independent Eritrea. The Eritrean women have confirmed that they are equal to their counter parts, especially on line of fire. They were also the most loyal fighters comparing to their counterparts, men.
One way measuring loyalty was that fewer women abandoned the struggle or defected to the enemy or abandoned the struggle compared to men. We need to ask, was their dedication and loyalty as an outcome of indoctrination by the liberation movements about their role or is it inherent to the indigenous culture? The liberation movements, especially EPLF would like to take the whole credit for introducing gender equality into a backward feudal culture. Such self-aggrandizing accomplishment is consistent with the self-crediting as the sole liberator of Eritrea. Personally, it may seem arbitrary but I would give the movements’ less than 20% credit and while more than 80% belongs to a tolerant traditional culture.
In the traditional African cultures, women have influential and visible roles in the society. For example, it is a historical fact in the ancient civilizations African queens exceed in number and prominence than any other ancient kingdoms and empires. Eritrea cannot be taken separate from the continent of Africa; especially from the Axumite Empire that had its share of strong queens. Yet we need to be realistic about the role Christianity and Islam played to temper the prominence that women had enjoyed in this part of Africa. Nonetheless, women were not totally subjugated to the whims of men, because the regional laws scrupulously included precepts that protect women’s right. I would like substantiate my claims by pointing to “ሕግን ሥርዓትን ናይ መሬት ዓደቦ -Codes and Bylaws of Eritrean Region and Counties” compiled by Zerayaqob Estifanos, Woldemariam Abraham and Gerima Gebremesqel. The rights and duties of women are codified in it, especially dealing with marriage, inheritance (property ownership), childbearing, sexual abuse/relations (ጓል ኣፋ ምስክራ), spouse abuse, conjugal rights, etc. All are scrupulously dealt with to the minutest details. Even amidst regional variations, the similarities and consistency are very striking that easily upset the claims laid down by the liberation movements, especially, to the claims of the EPLF.
Like most traditional cultures arranged marriage is still practiced in Eritrea. Neither the groom nor the bride could fully exercise their right to refuse or accept the proposed spouse. On the other hand, though happiness or satisfaction may be hard to gauge, marriages lasted longer and divorce rate was low. The outcome is the stability of the family which is the foundation of a healthy society. Of course there are various support systems, from the elders’ advice to the stigma of negative enforcement. Following Eritrea’s independence, unlike in the past divorce rate skyrocketed, namely among “tegadelti” which eventually affected the rest of the society. There are a number of factors that caused such social imbalance, namely, religious differences, indifference to spiritual values or marriage outside the traditional family arranged practice. The couples were either actively challenged or indirectly undermined by withdrawing the traditional support system which was normally given by relatives and friends or simple social expectation.
After Eritrea’s independence women veterans are finding those promises to be empty and/or unfulfilled. The current situation in Eritrea is full of human right abuses. In such messy situation, women tend to be the primary victims of a system accountable to no body. When GoE supporters are confronted with such abuses, they refer to proclamations and decrees that assure women’s participation in the government or to the token women appointees who blindly deny the rape and abuse of their sisters and daughters both in the trenches and their homes.
The lack of depth and conviction of the Eritrean Liberation Movements in their bid for gender equality is obvious. I may also add that they lack understanding and appreciation of their traditional cultural values that have safeguarded women’s rights for centuries. In the long struggle for independence, appeals for equality alone were not what attracted the Eritrean women to join the armed struggle, it was a tolerant society imbedded in the traditional culture. If any, the EPLF role created a defiant attitude toward the traditional culture reflective in one of its songs – “ኣቦይን ኣደይን ኣይትበሉ ስዲ ሰውራይ ኣላትኒ ዘይትብል ጓል ወዲ - Dad and mom don’t call me rebellious for I have a liberation movement that plays no gender favors.” It sound’s good, let our women assert themselves and tell us their unedited stories as is.
To the PFDJ credit, we can cite some women in a high profile assignments, such ministers, judges and ambassadors in the government. On the other hand, these women are party loyalists who can not speak of the majority of Eritrean women. So long there is no democratic practice in the country, no constitution, no regard for the traditional codes, no respect for the religious traditions, except a lip service not to rock the boat, women rights in Eritrea will continue to deteriorate. The token women in high profile jobs will remain as such until the country is ruled by decree on one man show. The NUEW celebrated 25th anniversary of its foundation. In the last 25 years Eritrean women have gained nothing significant that would not have achieved in their traditional culture. NUEW has remained an instrument to justify PFDJ’s hegemony. If we can qualify the NUEW relationship with the current regime is an abusive marital relationship that continues to live under the threat of death but cannot break away from such abusive vicious cycle.
Even if we go to the opposition groups, the presence of women is still marginal and nominal. It is very hard to find a woman in the upper echelon of the opposition groups’ leadership. That alone can give me an eerie concern about the vision of such opposition groups in creating a democratic and equitable government of post-Isaias Eritrea. Therefore, when it comes to women’s issues neither the GoE nor the Eritrean Opposition Movements could offer something better than what the traditional cultures could not deliver. The traditional legal system in Eritrea with all its limitations has better protection of Eritrean women’s right than our past and present liberation movements combined. Our traditional legal systems are more holistic that does not neglect the spiritual from the temporal which is reflective of the significance of African women role in their society. Many of our traditional codes give us a hint also to matriarchal and matrilineal social systems that might have pre-existed in pre-Christian and Islam era in our area. In the absence of a mother, the role of maternal uncle is prime example in the process of betrothing his niece. The challenge now is not to our politicians but to our intellectuals – women and men alike who failed to illuminate us though they have deafened our ears by repeating the self-reliance slogan of our cadre like politicians that ditched our nascent nation into bankruptcy.
The slogans of our liberation movements were about empowering women. Comparing to other nations of similar socio-cultural status with Eritrea, our women tend to be least empowered except of brandishing AK-47. Eritrean women like the rest of their population have been given empty promises, only to find themselves in a worse situation than their traditional role, fending for themselves to the point of prostitution which a colonial legacy and foreign to our traditional culture.
The women’s conditions in Eritrea are both moral and legal issues which primarily need to be addressed by women themselves. Men should be ready to relinquish their privileged position in order to be credible allies. Yet, my advice to Eritrean women, who need to empower themselves must also study the traditional laws and how their rights were protected in the most basic ways. I would like to challenge the religious traditions in addressing the abuse of women’s right as a moral issue. Let me rough some feathers! I would even challenge the Catholic women religious (sisters), who since the Italian colonial era remain undereducated and overworked. As educators and role models these nuns should have been examples of empowering women, regardless of their faith tradition. They have been trained to be pious service providers without real power or the ability to empower other women. The role of Eritrean educated or dedicated women in other religious traditions or secular world is not any different.
In the current situation of Eritrea, women’s right abuse is pervasive carrying for systemic overhauling. Addressing Eritrean women’s right at home and in the Diaspora is a moral issue for a woman is the soul of a society that piques at our conscience. Our relationship with our women, as mothers, sisters, wives, or daughters becomes our yardstick how we deal with the rest of our society. If our relationship with our women is less than wholesome, we will treat each other in the same manner or more cruel and harsh. It is a legal issue because our traditional cultures provide women ample protection from abusive male dominance with rights to property ownership. Yet contrary to our traditional codes, our women have been treated as personal properties of their males’ counterparts. We need to right the wrong morally and legally, which is within our reach.
