In the African society, women have always been seen as weaker and lesser important as compared to men thus resulting in a patriarchal society until recently with westernization taking place but it still depends on how a person was raised up, where they live and cultural aspects.in some cultures like the simbete they practice female to female marriages and the female husbands have to respond the concept of headship in a patriarchal society like taking over all male duties, managing of property, attending political meetings to mention a few. This essay discusses how female husbands respond to such roles.
Female to female marriage refers to the marriage of an old woman and a young woman. It is not in any way a sexual marriage but a mother in law and daughter in law marriage whereby the mother in law or the old lady has not been able to bear children or sons of her own which is referred as to nyumba intombu(poor house) marries a wife and she is given a man to impregnant her so she can give birth to a son or sons which will carry the female husbands last name referred to inyumba itagasiika (making the house stronger) .
Female husbands take over all male roles in the household. These male roles include herding cattle, straining labor, protecting the family from any harm, making sure they have enough to eat and she worries about money. Since she is now the ‘man’ of the house she has to show it by her actions, not only does she do this for her family but the community which recognize her as a female husband as well. Also the fact that the community she lives in see her as a man, men might not actually take her seriously as one thus she has to work hard to fit in by performing manly tasks although this may be difficult for others due to age and how strenuous male labor is. Hence female husbands in trying to respond to the concept of headship in a patriarchal society do