Angola: Many Mothers Prefer To Live Without Husbands - Brief Article

WIN News, Spring, 2000

SYNFEV 2[less than]synfev2@enda.sn[greater than], B.P. 3370, Dakar, Senegal (translated from French)

"The long war and economic crises in Angola have resulted in creating a new group of women in Angola: the women heads of household who choose to live alone - that is without men. They earn more money than men due to the 'informal economy.'

Every day early in the morning the streets of Luanda are full of women and young girls looking for ways to make some money. They carry containers on their heads and often a child on their backs. Their containers are full of things to sell from toothpaste and soap to fruit, vegetables or fish which they offer for sale. These women prefer to live alone and work to support their children. They are the new families in Angola.

There are widows, single women, women abandoned by their husbands and women who left their husbands for economic reasons explains Henda de Andrade from the University who has investigated the situation. The war which resulted in independence has also changed the family structures.

In many communities of Luanda there are only children and old people left in the daytime said the directrice of the Action Social Fund, Cesaltina Abreu. In her study published recently she points out 'for most women the presence of a man only is a financial burden and complicates family life.

Most men earn little or are unemployed. For instance a policeman earns about 30 francs per month and from this he cannot support a wife and children. 'Women, however, earn more and they also escape the demands of their in-law families. The children who live with these women have a better situation than those who depend on a father who works in the formal sector of the economy. Now how can it be explained that the informal market and economy is reserved for women? Because the women have not been educated and therefore cannot get employment in the formal sector, states Ms Abreu Therefore, they are concentrated in the informal sector where no education is necessary, that is buying and selling or making craft products. The informal sector also has the advantage of being dynamic - today you can sell and trade, tomorrow you can do something else, explains.

As a result of their success, many women arrive at the conclusion that men only create problems and make children. Though they earn more money, the women heads of household are less respected than their married sisters or concubines. They are denounced by the Church and are regarded a threat for men and married women. They are often denounced and insulted.

For their protection these women seek assistance from their oldest sons or other men from their extended family. The majority of the women feel more secure with their children than with their former men, concludes the study.

Angolan society is in transition. The conservative attitudes are on one side and the necessity to change and adapt on the other.

The women are confronted on the one side by very traditional attitudes concerning their social role. But all this is changing more and more. The women heads of household are organizing and forming associations to exchange their experiences and are gaining confidence."