The Unraveling of a Neglected Source

A Report on Women in Francophone West Africa in the 1930s

Bibliographic Data

ID3645356
AuthorsGhislaine Lydon (corresponding author)
Year1997
Volume37
Issue147
Pages555-584
Publication date1997-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCahiers d études africaines (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0008-0055 • E-ISSN: 1777-5353
PublisherPERSEE Program (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3406/cea.1997.1372
OpenAlexW2001007373
LanguageEN
Citations received7

In October 1937, the Governor-General of AOF appointed Denise Moran Savineau to head a mission of inquiry into the social and economic situation of women and the family in the French West African colonies. Moran, one of the rare women to be employed by the French colonial administration, produced a remarkable study. This article attempts to place her document in its historical context. Attention is paid to the economic and social conditions of the 1930s and the French colonial policy of the 1936 Popular Front government. In the second part of the article, the document in question is examined by themes: women and production, trade, employment, rural and forced labor (especially the case of the Office du Niger), slavery and pawnship, women and the colonial justice System, education and medical facilities

Administration (probate law · Archaeology · Colonialism · Context (archaeology · Economic growth · Economic history · Economics · French · Front (military · Geography · Government (linguistics · Governor · Political science · Sociology · African history and culture studies · Gender Studies · History · Law

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