Pickering and Wilsins Single Women in African Towns

Do unmarried women in African towns have to sell sex, or is it a matter of choice?
Author(s): H. Pickering and H. A. Wilkins

Source: Health Transition Review, Vol. 3, Supplement. Sexual Networking and HIV/AIDS in
West Africa (1993), pp. 17-27
Published by: National Center for Epidemiology and Population Health (NCEPH), The
Australian National University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40652059
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17
Do unmarried women in African

towns have to sell sex, or is it a
matter of choice?
Wm W N
H. Pickering and H.A. Wilkins

Medical Research Council, P.O. Box 273, Banjul, The Gambia, West Africa
Abstract
This paper describes a survey of all women in a market town of 20,000 individuals,
and examines the economic opportunities and social support of three groups of
women; prostitutes, divorced or widowed and married women. It is necessary for
all women to provide a substantial proportion of their daily income from their own
resources. Most resorted to agriculture, the provision of domestic services or
trade. Prostitutes differed from the other two groups in their comparatively high
earnings, consumption patterns, lack of involvement with families or community
and sexual behaviour.
Introduction
Much of the anthropological debate on the heterosexual transmission of HIV infection in
Africa has centred on the role of a traditional marriage in different social systems, includi
the social proscriptions of nonmarital sexual encounters at different phases of th
individual's life (White 1962, Holy 1986), and the lack of economic opportunities, other th
prostitution, available to women in urban areas (Hrdy 1987; Standing and Kisekka 198
Larson 1989; Ankrah 1991). There is a pervasive belief that in traditional society marriage
was relatively stable: women married young and widows either remarried, or went under th
protection of their late husband's brother or other male kin; divorce was thought to be rar
The anthropological literature in fact paints a more varied picture. Marital stability
influenced by cultural factors, including religion, and by the kinship system. Marria
were generally less stable for instance, in societies with matrilineal rather than patrilinea
descent systems (Gluckman 1950; Fox 1967; Cohen 1969; Goody and Tambiah 19
Keyongo-Male and Onyango 1984). High bridewealth payments and late marriage for men
have been shown to encourage high rates of prostitute use in some countries and,
consequently, to be a risk factor for HIV transmission (Carael et al. 1987).
Prostitution is frequently seen as a consequence of economic hardship. It is argu
that in Africa today, as in Europe and America in the nineteenth century, lack of educat
and job opportunities leave unsupported women with little alternative to selling sex
services in order to survive (Bujra 1975; Smart 1976; Finnegan 1979; Walkowitz 198
Bakweswgha 1982; Pittin 1983; McLeod 1985; Bullough and Bullough 1987; Hrdy 198
Standing and Kisekka 1989; Larson 1989; Corbin 1990). The extensive literature on African
prostitution, however, shows it to be an alternative economic strategy that has many fac
(Smith 1959; Little 1973; Bujra 1977; White 1990). In Kinshasa in the 1960s, for example, f
types of prostitute were identified, ranging from those openly selling sex to any man w
paid a standard price, to 'free women' who had worked their way into positions of power
PICKERING AND WILKINS HEALTH TRANSITION REVIEW VOL. 3 SUPPLEMENTARY ISSUE 1993
18 SELLING SEX IN AFRICAN TOWNS
through the judicious sale of sex to wealthy and influential men. Intermediate categories
consisted of women who sold sex clandestinely on an occasional basis, those who practised
some form of petty trade supplemented by prostitution when necessary, and concubines
who had a small number of regular lovers (Comhaire-Sylvain 1968).
This paper looks at the social and economic choices available to divorced or widowed
women and compares them to married women and prostitutes in a trading town in The
Gambia, West Africa. The prostitutes in this case comprised a clearly identifiable group of
women living and working in bars; they called themselves prostitutes and rarely had any
wider involvement in local society. The social, economic and sexual behaviour of these
women and their clients has been described in detail elsewhere (Pickering et al. 1992).
Methods and location

Farafenni Town is situated on the north bank of the river Gambia on the main road which
links northern Senegal with the southern province of Casamance. The total population is
approximately 20,000, but varies with the trade season. Over 90 per cent of the population
are Muslim. Founded in the seventeenth century, Farafenni remained a small agricultural
village until the 1950s, when the trans-Gambian highway was built and the present ferry
crossing established. During the past 40 years it has expanded considerably into a
medium-sized town with a substantial trading sector located round a market at the
crossroads where the trans-Gambian highway intersects with the road running along the
north bank of the river Gambia.
Today the town is divided roughly into three sections with different social and
economic structures. The original Mandinka settlement is located to the southwest of the
market and maintains many of the characteristics of a village; most people are engaged in
agriculture and the extended-family compounds are large with a preponderance of three
family names. To the southeast of the main road there is an area of formal commercial
activity and housing occupied by civil servants such as bank clerks, police and development
officers, who may be on short-term postings without their families. On the southeast edge
of the town there is a military-training camp. To the north of the market is a rapidly
expanding area of housing mostly occupied by Wolof and Fula traders and artisans, many
of whom are from Senegal or Mauritania. At the extreme northern end of the town there is
a site where a weekly market is held on Sundays. This is one of the most important of the
periodic markets in the area, attended by large numbers of traders, not only from
neighbouring Senegal, but also from Guinea, Mauritania and Mali. There are several bars,
which have rooms available for prostitutes to rent, situated along the main road and near
the market. Farafenni is probably typical of many trading towns in the Sahel region of
West Africa.
During 1990 all compounds in Farafenni town were mapped and visited by fieldworkers
who enumerated and recorded information regarding marital status from all women over
the age of 15 years, both residents and visitors. Information concerning women normally
resident but temporarily absent was given by fellow residents. After enumeration all
women who were aged less than 60 years and were divorced or widowed, together with an
age and area matched sample of married women, were asked to answer a long
questionnaire focusing on their residence pattern, relationship with kin, sexual behaviour
and economic activities. A subsample of women in each group took part in economic
monitoring of all their monetary transactions over approximately one month. Local
SELLING SEX IN AFRICAN TOWNS 19
fieldworkers visited each woman every day and recorded all their sources of income and
details of all expenditures over the previous 24 hours.
Respondents were interviewed in private in, or near, their homes by female Gambian
fieldworkers who were familiar with the town and had considerable experience in
conducting health and fertility surveys. The principal investigator was present during many
of the interviews which were sometimes extended to include a meal with the family. Many
of the respondents had frequent, casual contact with the researchers during their day-to-
day activities. This helped to validate their answers to the questionnaire.
It was felt that responses to questions on sexual behaviour might not have been
reliable therefore samples of finger prick blood were taken for syphilis testing as a possibly
more objective indicator of sexual activity. The rapid plasma reagin (RPR) and Treponema
pallidum haemagglutination assay (TPHA) were carried out using commercially available
kits (Macrovue RPR card tests, Becton Dickinson, Cockeysville, USA; Microsyph-TP,
Cambridge Biomedicai Ltd, Newmarket, UK). Any infected woman was given free
treatment at the Medical Research Council clinic.
Compounds which served as bars in which full-time prostitutes lived and worked had
been identified during a concurrent twelve-month study of prostitution, details of which are
available elsewhere (Pickering et al. 1992). The 42 women living in these compounds were
included in the present study.
Marital status and sampling

In 1990 there was a total of 4058 women over the age of 15 years in Farafenni Town; of these
333 were either widowed or divorced and 456 had never been married. Marital status was
strongly related to age: widows tended to be older women and those never married were
nearly all less than 30 years of age. If only those aged less than 60 years are considered
there remain a total of 3,733 women, of whom 191 were either divorced or widowed and 455
had never been married (see Table 1).
Table 1
Age and marital status of women in Farafenni
Age 15+ Age 15-60

Marital status No. % Mean age No. % Mean age
Married 3,269 80.6 32.6 3,087 82.7 30.7

Divorced 170 4.2 33.6 155 4.2 30.7
Widowed 163 4.0 61.5 36 0.9 37.4
Never married 456 11.2 17.1 455 12.2 17.1
Total 4,058 100.0 32.1 3,733 100.0 29.7
One hundred and fifty seven of the 191 w

years were living in Farafenni during the f
was being administered: 38 of these defined
women together with that from three nev
analysed together as one group. The rem
women formed a second group. A third gro
PICKERING AND WILKINS HEALTH TRANSIT
age and area matched with the 157 divorced or widowed women (38 prostitutes and 119
others).
Thirty-four divorced or widowed women were identified by the enumeration but were
not available during the four months that the longer questionnaire was being administered.
Were these women working as prostitutes elsewhere? Information from fellow-compound
residents indicates that this was probably not the case. Twelve were widows over the age of
50 who had returned to live with kin in villages, four were said to have remarried and moved
to their new husbands' homes out of Farafenni and six were engaged in legitimate
economic activities or studies in the capital. It is possible the remaining eight were
practising prostitution elsewhere.
Five of the divorcees were known either to combine the occasional sale of sexual
services with other forms of economic activity or to have a small number of wea
partners. These women did not accept sexual clients indiscriminately; they have therefo
been included with those who were divorced or widowed.
When the three groups of women - married, widowed or divorced and prostitutes
were compared, significant differences were found in a number of social and econom
variables. Generally speaking, the circumstances of widowed or divorced women wer
intermediate between those of married women and prostitutes.
Residence patterns and social support

The majority (86%) of prostitutes were foreign women, born outside The Gambia, whereas
only 19 per cent of married women and 35 per cent of divorced or widowed women were
non-Gambian. It is not surprising that many of the prostitutes were foreign; few women
anywhere in the world practise prostitution in their home area. Nevertheless, one third of
the divorced or widowed women were also foreign; the majority of whom had no natal kin i
Farafenni. With the exception of the prostitutes, all the women had fairly stable residenti
patterns, over 80 per cent having lived in their present compound for one year or more.
Only two of the 42 prostitutes had remained in the same compound for at least one year.
Residence patterns show that none of the prostitutes were living in the compound in
which they were born and that only two, a mother and daughter, both of whom wer
prostitutes, were living with members of their natal family. A separate study of soc
aspects of prostitution showed that this group of women were highly mobile, spending an
average of only 27 days in any one location. Most moved between four or five towns
within two days travelling time of each other. The majority made irregular visits to their
families (Pickering et al. 1992).
Eighteen per cent of divorced or widowed women had returned to live in their parents
compound and a further 54 per cent were living in a compound with siblings. Five per cen
of the widows or divorcees lived in compounds owned by their former husbands' families
(see Table 2). Only four per cent of married women lived in the compound in which they
had been born: these were either young women who had not yet transferred to thei
husbands' compounds or second wives who remained with their parents and were visited on
a regular schedule by their husbands. A further 40 per cent of married women had one or
more of their siblings living in the compound with them and two-thirds (67%) had relativ
of their husbands living in the compound.
Table 2
Comparative residence patterns of women in Farafenni
Bom in Bom in Live with Live with Rent/

No. Gambia compound own family husband's Pays rent month
family Dalasis
No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
Married 160 130 81 6 4 72 45 107 67 32 20 71

Widowed/
divorced 119 65 54 21 18 86 72 8 5 51 43 60
Prostitutes 42 6 14 0 2 5 0 40 95 204
Total 321 201 63 27 8 160 50 115 36 123 38
Co-wives and close female kin commonly

(89%) married women cooked a main mea
just over half of the prostitutes preferred
markets and small stalls located through
regularly take turns in cooking the main m
time to time. Many of the widowed or div
of their families who did most of the cookin
Eighty per cent of married women lived
for the remaining 20 per cent this was the
of widowed or divorced women and all but
two was employed to serve drinks in the b
term friend of the female owner. Room
extremely expensive by local standards, D1
compounds for between D40 a month for
away from the market area, to D150 for tw
central areas.
Six (14%) of the prostitutes had no children compared with 22 per cent of the widowed
or divorced and ten per cent of the married women. Most of the prostitutes' children, with
the exception of those less than two years old, were cared for by the mother's natal family
The majority of the widows or divorcees (84%) and married women (93%) looked after their
own dependent children.
Travel
The Gambia is a country in which people travel frequently to visit friends or family and
shop or trade in markets. Seventy per cent of married women and three-quarters of wido
or divorcees had travelled away from Farafenni during the preceding twelve months, with
over a third of the married women (38%) and over half of those not married (56%) having
been outside The Gambia. The prostitutes were highly mobile; moving constantly between
a number of centres in The Gambia and neighbouring countries. Only four prostitutes had
1 US$1 = 8.5 Dalasis
not travelled outside The Gambia during the previous year; three had made a number of
trips to the coast and other urban centres and one had remained all the year in Farafenni.
Education
The women in this urban sample were better educated than those in the gen
population, 89 per cent of whom had no education (Gambia Government 1987). Sixty-nin
per cent of married women, 60 per cent of divorced and widowed women and 67 per cen
prostitutes had no education. A difference in educational levels is more apparent am
those who had secondary or higher education: 15 per cent of married women, 23 per cen
divorced or widowed women and 26 per cent of prostitutes. A number of Senega
prostitutes spoke nearly fluent French and had qualifications for office work.
Use of alcohol and cigarettes

A majority of prostitutes smoked cigarettes (69%) and many (55%) drank alcohol of vario
types including bottled beer, palm wine and locally-produced spirits. A number o
prostitutes regularly smoked marijuana and a few indulged in a variety of hallucinogenic
drugs when available. Twelve per cent of widows or divorcees smoked cigarettes, two old
women smoked a pipe and eight per cent drank alcohol occasionally, but only one marrie
woman admitted to smoking and none to drinking alcohol.
Source of income
The Gambia has a very small formal employment sector. In 1987 a government su
showed that 32,219 individuals were in salaried employment, 20 per cent of whom
women. With a population of 750,000 this indicates that there are few job opportunities
men or women. The average weekly wage for Gambians in the formal sector was
(Gambia Government 1989). The informal trade and service sector has grown considerab
in recent years but the majority of the population remains engaged in subsisten
agriculture. Incomes from farming are difficult to assess. Subsistence crops are used fo
household consumption and form part of a complex web of loans and gifts among farm
communities. Only after these obligations have been fulfilled is any surplus sold for ca
(Von Braun, Puetz and Webb 1989).
Fewer than ten per cent of the women surveyed were in formal salaried employmen
but the majority were earning in other ways. Of the married women half were engaged
agriculture and a further quarter in trade or service work of some kind. Ninety-seven
cent of the divorced or widowed women were working, half in agriculture, half in trad
services. Only a quarter of the prostitutes had income from sources other than prostitu
three were involved in farming from time to time and eight in other, often illegal, areas
the informal economy. Few women worked consistently every week; most had periods
sustained activity mixed with times when they did very little.
The cash incomes of women who farmed were seasonal, the main rice harvest b
sold in December and January, while garden vegetables were grown and sold mostly in
dry season, December to May. Many women sold merely groundnuts or seasonal fru
the street outside their compounds, but even this could earn them as much as D10-
day, an income equal to that of unskilled labourers in the formal sector. Women who so
cooked food outside their homes or in the markets could make up to 60 per cent profit
their daily turnover. Some sold only snacks such as pancakes while others cooked plates
rice and sauce. For example a widow with two children who lived in a compound with h
mother-in-law and her husband's sister cooked four days a week. In a typical week she
spent D214 on ingredients from the market; this fed the family and provided sufficient
surplus which she sold by the plate outside her home for a total of D355, a profit of D141.
Providing services such as laundry or hairdressing could be equally profitable. One
divorced woman who did laundry on a regular basis was able to earn up to D700 a month,
equivalent to a middle-ranking civil servant. She had ten regular clients who each paid D65
a month and provided her with soap and charcoal for ironing. In addition she did washing
and ironing on an ad hoc basis at a charge of Dl for twelve times. Hairdressers charged as
much as D150-200 for a style that would take all day to complete. Many of these women
were highly skilled and had a regular clientele.
Women involved in long-distance trade of commodities such as cloth had irregular but
often high incomes, making as much as D1000-2000 on a trip. Making and selling alcoholic
beverages was potentially the most profitable business. One prostitute produced 120 litres
of spirits at a cost of D430 for the sugar, yeast and fuel, which sold for D1.5 per 100ml: a
potential return of Dl,800. She did not, however, realize all her profits; she consumed a
considerable quantity of the alcohol herself and gave away several litres to friends. This
highly lucrative business was, however, practised only by prostitutes or by women who
associated closely with them. It was a socially unacceptable occupation which was not a
viable option to most Gambian women.
The daily economic activities of a subsample of women in the three groups were
monitored: 16 prostitutes, 420 days; 38 widowed or divorced women, 1132 days and 32
married women, 925 days. Tables 3 and 4 show their average income and expenditure.
Married women obtained only a third of their income from their husbands, half from their
own work and the remainder from family gifts or loans. Divorced or widowed women
obtained two thirds of their income from work, 16 per cent from their families and the
remainder from boyfriends. Two widows were supported by their late husbands' families.
Prostitutes obtained 86 per cent of their income from prostitution and 11 per cent from
other work. Prostitutes' incomes averaged D96 a day, equivalent to that of senior civil
servants and three times as high as those of married and divorced or widowed women.
Table 3
Sources of income for prostitutes, married women and divorced/widowed wome
Source of income Prostitutes Divorced/widowed Married

Dalasis % Dalasis % Dalasis %
Prostitution 34,953 86 0 0
Boyfriend 621 2 6,093 18 473 2
Husband 0 165 <1 9,337 34
Family 0 5,563 16 3,647 13
Trade/work 4,380 11 22,948 66 13,730 51
Other 460 1 0 0
Total 40,414 34,769 27,187
Total woman days 420 1,132 925

Mean income/day 96 31 29
Range income/day 15-113 5-60 2-45
It is possible that some of the married or widowed or divorced women may have had
higher incomes from male friends than they were prepared to disclose. This income may
also have been irregular and have been missed during the relatively short period of
economic monitoring (one month), particularly if the male friends were long-distance
traders or were involved in seasonal economic activities.
Expenditure
Patterns of expenditure again showed that the main difference was between prostitutes and
the other women (see Table 4). In absolute terms the prostitutes spent more on daily
subsistence than did the married and divorced or widowed women, who were usually
providing for a family. This is explained by the non-prostitute women producing many of
their basic foods from farming or family loans and the prostitutes' habit of buying
expensive cooked foods.
All women spent similar proportions of their income on clothing and services such as
tailors and hairdressers. But in absolute terms prostitutes spent twice as much a day (D20)
on clothes and cosmetics as divorced or widowed women and four times as much as
married women. Prostitutes contributed little, less than DI a day, of their comparat
high earnings to their families or the community compared with D2.5 for married
for widowed or divorced women. These expenditures covered such things as sch
medical care, funerals and naming ceremonies. When some of the prostitutes
accompanied on visits to their homes it was observed that they did not take extensi
of money, cloth or grain with them. Prostitutes spent on average D8 a day on alcoh
cigarettes, D16 on rent and D4 on travel.
Table 4
Expenditure patterns of prostitutes, married women and divorced/widowed

women
Prostitutes Divorced/widowed Married

Dalasis % Dalasis % Dalasis %
Subsistence 8,670 24 12,967 38 11,871 56

Business costs 2,606 7 7,166 21 2,544 12
Rent 6,670 19 343 1 0
Clothes/services 8,382 24 10,919 32 4,240 20
Family/community 480 1 1,792 5 2,332 11
Debts 2,206 6 123 <1 35 <1
Travel 1,830 5 355 1 60 <1
Alcohol /cigarettes 3,257 9 320 1 42 <1
Other 1,572 5 216 <1 0
Total expenditure 35,673 34,201 21,124
Total woman days 420 1,132 925

Mean expenditure/ day 85 30 23
The majority of prostitutes paid high re

occasion, chose to stay in much cheaper accom
bar in which they were currently working. No
fellow residents kept similar hours and where they were able to exchange clothing and
consumer goods with other prostitutes. After a few months of working as prostitutes they
became accustomed to the life style and consumption patterns of prostitution and would
have found it difficult to change their occupation.
Sexual relationships
Two-thirds of prostitutes, half of the widowed or divorced women and four per cent of
married women reported that they had a 'boyfriend'; a man with whom they were having
non-commercial sexual relations. Many of the boyfriends of prostitutes were men who
hung around the bars and were employed in a variety of marginal and not always legal
activities. Non-prostitute boyfriends were more likely to have skilled (37%) or white-collar
jobs (32%) or to be wealthy traders (20%). These were occupations which gave men
relatively high incomes and some prestige; many were mobile, working much of the time
away from their homes and families. Very few boyfriends were farmers (5%), unskilled
workers (4%) or unemployed (2%).
All prostitutes admitted to having commercial-sexual partners. Twenty-nine per cent
of widowed or divorced women and only two per cent of married women reported having
casual partners. Only one married woman reported having used a condom in the past
twelve months, against 93 per cent of prostitutes and 21 per cent of the divorced or widowed
women. One third (32%) of prostitutes were currently infected with syphilis (RPR and TPHA
positive), compared with ten per cent of divorced or widowed women and nine per cent of
married women. The significant differences in rates of syphilis infection (p<.001) indicate
that the sexual behaviour of divorced or widowed women was much more comparable to
that of married women than to prostitutes.
Discussion
In West African towns such as Farafenni there are a number of options open to wom
all age groups and educational levels. Economic opportunities for men in these societi
not necessarily increase sufficiently to enable them to support their families' growin
unaided. Women therefore have freedom to develop their own initiatives depend
their personal abilities (Wry 1987; Vaa, Findley and Diallo 1989; van der Laar 19
Oostrum 1989).
There are many men in urban areas who do not have wives to cook for them or do
laundry, as well as transient traders and travellers who buy snacks and cooked f
who may also be prepared to pay for sex. All women have the basic skills to provide
necessary services and it is a matter of choice which one they decide to take up.
from locally well-established families who continue to have access to farmland n
greater opportunity to diversify and market their produce. They will, at the same t
continue to receive substantial family support and be obliged to contribute to family
community values. It takes a certain amount of organizational capacity and hard wor
run a successful restaurant business, even if virtually no capital is required; cooked f
prepared using ordinary domestic equipment and may be sold in the streets o
women's homes. Trading over long distances and even in local markets contain
element of risk and requires skill and contacts which have to be built up over time.
laundry may provide a steady income but it is dull and a number of prostitutes repo
that they took up their line of business in order to avoid this type of domestic work.
The data from this study show that in Farafenni the majority of divorced and widowed
women were able to support themselves and their children without having to sell sexual
services. Prostitutes constituted a separate group of individualistic women who chose this
type of life. In societies where education and job opportunities are restricted, the monopoly
that women have over the provision of basic domestic services gives them a possible
economic advantage.
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Do unmarried women in African towns have to sell sex, or is it a matter of choice?

Author(s): H. Pickering and H. A. Wilkins

Do unmarried women in African

H. Pickering and H.A. Wilkins

Methods and location

Marital status and sampling

Age and marital status of women in Farafenni

Age 15+ Age 15-60

Married 3,269 80.6 32.6 3,087 82.7 30.7

Total 4,058 100.0 32.1 3,733 100.0 29.7

One hundred and fifty seven of the 191 w

PICKERING AND WILKINS HEALTH TRANSIT

Residence patterns and social support

Comparative residence patterns of women in Farafenni

Bom in Bom in Live with Live with Rent/

Married 160 130 81 6 4 72 45 107 67 32 20 71

Total 321 201 63 27 8 160 50 115 36 123 38

Co-wives and close female kin commonly

1 US$1 = 8.5 Dalasis

Use of alcohol and cigarettes

Sources of income for prostitutes, married women and divorced/widowed wome

Source of income Prostitutes Divorced/widowed Married

Total 40,414 34,769 27,187

Total woman days 420 1,132 925

Expenditure patterns of prostitutes, married women and divorced/widowed

Prostitutes Divorced/widowed Married

Subsistence 8,670 24 12,967 38 11,871 56

Total expenditure 35,673 34,201 21,124

Total woman days 420 1,132 925

The majority of prostitutes paid high re

Little, K. 1973. African Women in Towns. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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