ONIONt All MY HUtBAND ONIONt All MY HUt.AND Survival and Accumulation by West African Market Women GRACIA CLARK THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS Chicago and London Gracia Clark is assistant professor of anthropology at Indiana University. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 1994 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 1994 Printed in the United States of America 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96 95 94 1 2 3 4 5 ISBN: 0-226-10779-5 (cloth) 0-226-10780-9 (paper) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Clark, Gracia. Onions are my husband: Survival and accumulation by West African market women / Gracia Clark. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. 431) and index. l. Women merchants-Ghana-Kumasi. 2. Markets-Ghana Kumasi. 3. Women, Ashanti-Ghana-Kumasi-Economic conditions. 4. Kumasi (Ghana)-Commerce. I. Title. HD6072.2.G43C57 1994 33l.4'8138118'09667- dc20 94-1907 CIP This book is printed on acid-free paper. (ONTINTJ List of Illustrations vii List of Tables ix Preface xi 1 Stepping into the Market 1 2 The Regional Web 34 3 Persistent Transformation 73 4 Buying and Selling 126 5 Control of Resources 172 6 "We Know Ourselves" 216 7 Queens of Negotiation 248 8 Multiple Identities 283 9 Home and Husband 330 10 The Market under Attack 372 11 Surviving the Peace 402 Appendix: Survey Methodology 427 References 431 Index 455 v ILLUJTIATIONJ PHOTOS Galleries following pages 16, 145,234, and 272 FIGURES 8.1 Age Distribution 293 8.2 Traders' Age Distribution Compared to City and Region 294 MAPS 1.1 Ghana 4 1.2 Kumasi Central Market (plan) 10 2.1 Road Traffic Flow in Ghana, 1969 40 2.2 Ghana: Vegetation Zones with Some Important Markets 49 2.3 Kumasi: Old Market Extension Proposed in 1914 64 2.4 Kumasi: Central Market and Smaller Markets, 1967 65 3.1 Ghana: Ethnic Groups 84 3.2 Bowdich's City Plan of Kumasi, 1817 112 3.3 Kumasi: Market at Conquest, 1900 113 vii TABL •• 2.1 Source of Goods Sold by Male and Female Traders 38 4.1 Processing of Goods 153 4.2 Stall Type 157 5.1 Traders Giving or Taking Credit 176 5.2 Source of Present Trading Capital 182 5.3 Source of Access to Current Trading Location 183 5.4 Learning Trading Skills 190 5.5 Division of Labor among Partners 194 5.6 Who Becomes Partner 199 6.1 Traders with Regular Clients 233 7.1 Commodity Leadership 255 8.1 Sex Ratios: Women to Men by Type of Commodity 286 8.2 Capital Reported Required to Trade at Current Level 288 8.3 Regional Background of Traders 289 8.4 Trading versus Craft Production by Hometown and Gender 296 8.5 Father's Occupation 300 8.6 Mother's Occupation 300 8.7 Trading and Kin Relationships 301 8.8 Parental Education 306 8.9 Traders' Education 306 8.10 Level of Education Attained by Traders 306 8.11 Work Changes 312 8.12 Work Prior to Marriage 313 8.13 Previous Work 313 8.14 Childhood Work 313 8.15 Proposed Use of Windfall Capital 315 9.1 Cooking 355 9.2 Care of Young Children 358 9.3 Traders' Performance and Delegation of Domestic Tasks 364 9.4 Age and Domestic Work 369 9.5 Wives' Domestic Work 369 ix