Woven into the Traditional Carpet

Believes are so deeply woven into the traditional carpet

In late May 2013, I went down Benson Street to grab some ingredients from the ladies who sell in front of the Monoprix Supermarket because I had chicken barbeque on mind on that very wet Saturday afternoon. After buying everything else, I remembered that I was still left with the spicy aspect of the dish, which meant I needed to get some hot peppers. So, I turned left and spotted this middle-age woman carefully displaying her green and red hot peppers on a table at the edge of the sidewalk to grab the attention of potential patrons. I moved quickly towards her, so attractive was the mixture of hot red, green and light yellow peppers.

“How much,” I asked? “Twenty-five, fifty,” she responded without lifting her head to look me in the eye. “Well, I don’t need this much,” I retorted. “Can I get LRD$15 worth?” “Of course,” she said, adding that I was her first costumer and so she would do anything for me.

I then began fishing in my purse for a LRD$50 note I had placed in there few minutes earlier. Luckily, I found it and handed it to her. It was then that she lifted her head, catching my eye. But, she would not take the money from me directly. I placed it on the peppers she had already arranged in tiny mountains on a piece of cloth spread across the table as she had instructed. I would later ask why. Without mincing her words, she said: “You are my first customer. I need more luck so that my goods can finish soon today. Receive the money from you directly and my luck today could end up reduced or limited. That’s why I declined to take it directly.” I was intrigued, (fascinated, charmed) but only for a second, recalling that this was Africa and one could expect local custom to intervene at any point in one’s dealings with the natives.

We are a mixture of different people with a variety of cultural practices to prompt our actions at any time. I remember in Cote d’Ivoire, if you are the first customer and you are a female, the seller would rather you channeled the money through a male than directly accept it from your hand. If no grown-up male were around, they would do everything to fetch a young male to do the honors. They believe that a female’s luck is less than a males’. So, they prefer men to make the first purchase, rather than a women; talk about gender bias against women by women.

In Ghana, if you are the first customer and for some reasons you don’t come to an agreement with the seller---probably because the bargaining process failed to produce results---the seller would not allow you to leave without purchasing that particular item. In this case, they prefer giving it to you at the cheapest price---sacrificing their profit---rather than let you take off without dropping some cash in their hands. And if you insist on not buying the item at all, they will follow you to wherever you go for that day! Strange! Sellers believe that if you allow your first luck to slip from your hands, you might as well pack up and go home as you have ruined your entire day of business.

In Guinea, a trader would be delighted if a light-skinned customer showed up as his/her first buyer. For them, the brightness of that skin would translate into their luck and their luck would shine for the day – this takes no consideration of gender---only complexion.

Be that as it may, such practices are perceived (believed to be, sees as) subtle forms of discrimination, swept under the traditional or cultural carpet of our different societies. Worst of all, in some die-hard African traditional settings, [and sometimes, even in urban areas] left-handed people, especially women, are discriminated against, consciously or not. Women who are left hand dominant are not allowed to prepare meals because the left hand is perceived as an "unclean" hand.

Many old folks have told me that in order to preserve cleanliness when sanitation is an issue, the right hand, as the dominant hand of most individuals, is used for eating, handling food, and social interactions.  The left hand would then be used for personal hygiene, specifically after urination and defecation. As a result of this bias, I know some left-handed girls who were constantly shunned and forced from childhood to convert to using their right hands.

I know a newly wedded bride who was nearly chased out of her marital home by her mother-in-law, because the mother-in-law had spotted her sipping coffee with the cup held in her left hand. For this mother-in-law, holding eating utensils in the left hand was impolite: the left hand is meant for cleaning oneself, whilst the right hand is reserved for the consumption of food and beverages.

In Ghana, pointing and gesturing with the left hand is considered rude or even a taboo. A person giving directions will put their left hand behind him and even physically strain to point with their right hand if necessary.

It is a pity that gender democracy campaigners are only focusing their energies on what they consider major forms of discrimination/abuse against women, leaving out these minor but very serious offenses against the female gender. Why should a woman or girl be subjected to emotional or physical bullying, simply because she’s left-handed? Is there any justification for this? Was it her fault?  I believe it is high time that our women’s rights advocates began directing their time and energy towards these issues if we are interested in attaining total emancipation for the female gender.