This article discusses the situation of Hausa women in the predominantly Muslim City ofKano, Nigeria, and speculates upon the possibilities for changes in their status and life options grounded in the realities of their social environment.A strong trend in feminist scholarship focuses on the cultural aspects of the rôle of men and women, and relates their apparently universal asymmetries to the structural oppositions of ‘private’ and ‘public’ social spheres. In such studies, women are considered to be oppressed according to the extent that they are confined to a domestic life that excludes activities outside the home, which men control. Women are thus deemed to have gained stature, and to have realised a sense of their own value, only in so far as they are able to transcend the ‘private’ sphere and penetrate the predominantly male or ‘public’ world. In this context, a liberated society for women is posited as one in which men are routinely involved in domestic activities while women are free and able to participate effectively in public functions.
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