Seclusion, marriage and status

Among many Muslim Hausa, especially in towns and wealthier families, a married woman lives largely within the compound. This practice is called kulle, “locking up”. It is a mark of status: a husband who can support his wives without sending them to work outside shows his means. Salamone notes that it also serves as an ethnic boundary: neighbouring non-Muslim groups, where women moved freely, were distinguished from the Muslim Hausa elite in part by this custom.

Marriage is arranged through families. A man may have up to four wives, and divorce and remarriage are common. Salamone reports that at a traditional wedding the bride is not present at the celebration held by her family, and receives guests and gifts in her father’s house, while the news is spread by the women who take home cakes and treats. He also stresses that a woman’s position depends on her own kin and on their ability to protect her. A woman living near her relatives, especially a brother or a mother’s sister, has someone to turn to if a marriage fails.

Seclusion is practised unevenly. Rural women, especially among farming families and the Maguzawa (see the chapter on Beliefs), work in the fields and go to market. In towns, women move out for weddings, naming ceremonies, funerals and visits, usually after dark or under cover of a veil. The system is better understood as a set of limits that women negotiate than as a total ban on public life.