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QUEEN MOTHERS IN AFRICAN SOCIETIES

Beverly J. StoeltjeIndiana University

Queen mothers of Africa, warrior queens and other

titled women have held positions of authority and exercised

leadership throughout the history of African societies.

Particularly visible in the historical record is Queen Njinga of

Ndongo and Matamba (Angola) who lived through an especially

turbulent era, at times opposing the Portuguese but negotiating

with them in other instances. Through her astute leadership, she

not only survived but succeeded in creating a kingdom (1624-

1663). Another historical female leader of significance in

West Africa was Yaa Asantewaa, the queen mother of Ejisu. She

inspired and led the Asante of Ghana against the British in 1900

after they had captured the Asantehene and Asantehemaa (king and

queen mother of the Asante) and removed them to the Seychelles.

Although it was their military leadership that has endowed these

women with recognition, the authority they wielded was based on

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the position they occupied in the political order of the society

in which they lived.

A position of female authority is characteristic of many

African societies, and through it women often play a

significant role in political leadership. These female leaders,

like their male counterparts, are chosen from a select group of

individuals who occupy a privileged position in a hierarchical

society. While matrilineal societies afford women leaders

greater authority than patrilineal ones, generally, royal women

hold positions of authority in the latter as well. The term dual

gender system refers to those societies in which the political

system includes one or two female leaders who occupy positions of

authority in parallel with the male leader. These female roles

are complementary to rather than the same as the male roles. In

many societies the female leaders can assume the male position,

that of chief, under special circumstances, either as a regent

or, in some instances, she assumes the position permanently.

A significant number of precolonial societies were

structured on this dual gender principle, but the changes

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resulting from colonization and modernization have weakened the

role of female authority considerably. The position has

disappeared in some cases, or survives only as a vestige, or the

current status is not known. In the following discussion the

examples of queen mothers have been documented by scholars; but

we do not always know the dates in which it was an active

political role or the status of the position today.

In her impressive 1971 survey article (“The Role of Women in

the Political Organization of African Societies”) Annie M..D.

Lebeuf acknowledges the variation characteristic of African

political systems and presents examples of women who have

exercised leadership through their positions of authority.

Notable among precolonial political systems are those based on

joint sovereignty. Queen mothers together with chiefs constitute

the two sovereigns.

Generally defined in terms of kinship, the woman in the

dual gender system represents the figure of mother, whether or

not she is the biological mother of the king. The majority of

the societies with joint sovereignty are matrilineal, though some

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patrilineal societies have specific roles of authority defined

for royal women.

Though the term, queen mother often raises objections in

Africa today because it does not represent a direct translation

from the native language of any society, it is the term widely

used in English to describe the female counterpart to the chief

throughout Africa. In contemporary African societies, the

relationship will likely be that of aunt-nephew, uncle-niece,

sister-brother or cousins. Though rare, the relationship of

biological mother-son does still occur as it has most recently in

the case of the Asante in which The Asantehemaa is the actual

mother of the Asantehene, enstooled in 1999. In most instances,

however, the female is regarded as the metaphorical mother, and

she advises and guides the chief in all affairs. For this reason,

perhaps, the term for these female leaders has most often been

translated as queen mother.

Each society defines the role of female authority, or queen

mother, with particular practices that may differ from others.

Yet, there are a cluster of characteristics which are widely

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associated with the role wherever it occurs in Africa. These

concern the relationship between the queen mother and her chief,

their complementary duties and responsibilities, the space they

occupy, and the conceptualization of the roles. The two leaders

are expected to work together for the welfare of their

communities, but they each hold their position independently of

the other. Though they must belong to the same kin group, they

may be selected at separate moments in time and on the basis of

their own qualifications for leadership from among those who

qualify for the position. (A queen mother is not a wife to the

male leader.) Their dual leadership operates, then, in parallel.

The concept of motherhood, a powerful force in African

societies, shapes the role of queen mother and many of its

functions. Especially important in this capacity, the queen

mother has responsibility for the welfare of women in her domain.

While the functions vary from one society to the next, this

responsibility may extend to the supervision of women’s labor,

and it almost certainly determines that queen mothers are

important figures in dispute settlement. Women, and sometimes

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men as well, bring disputes and conflicts arising from everyday

life to the queen mother for litigation and resolution.

To some observers the queen mother’s most significant

political role concerns the selection of a new chief. Most

societies organized on a dual gender system endow the queen

mother with the authority to nominate a qualified person to the

elders. Depending on the traditions of specific locations, the

new chief may be selected because he is the son of a queen

mother, but in some instances she must nominate an individual

from her kin group who is not her son. Once the queen mother and

elders have agreed, the individual will undergo the important

rituals that will confirm him as king or chief; from that time

the queen mother will advise him on political matters as well as

those concerning religion, custom and law.

Among the most essential of the queen mother’s duties will

be the performance of powerful rituals honoring her ancestors and

the deities of her culture. Consistent with traditional religious

practices in each location, such rituals are generally believed

to provide protection for her people, and will probably be

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performed in her palace if she has one, or in the compound of her

kin group. Queen mothers have their own palaces, or compound

where they live and hold court, resolve disputes, and may provide

protection for individuals who are at risk of losing their lives.

In addition to her own space, a queen mother will have her own

entourage and household servants. As the female leader in her

society the queen mother enjoys many privileges and assumes many

responsibilities. This position extends to the domain of

marriage and sexuality. Generally, queen mothers are allowed to

exercise sexual freedom, much the same as royal males and unlike

other women of her society. Economically, both the chief and

queen mother should receive support from the financial resources

of the royal position. These may include the resources of

specific villages or lands that have been designated for the

queen mother or chief.

While female leaders have received scant attention from

scholars and writers, a careful search nevertheless reveals that

this institution is quite widespread throughout sub-Saharan

Africa, so much so that this brief article cannot mention each

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and everyone. In some cases, female leaders may have ceased to

exist, but were strong institutions in the past, having been

destroyed by colonization and modernization. Other societies may

have continued the institution but they may be only barely

visible to outsiders. A few societies discontinued the practice

and have now reconstituted it. In a few instances, the Akan of

Ghana in particular, the institution has been continuous through

time with no breaks in history, though it must be emphasized

that all institutions of female leadership were affected

negatively by colonialism.

Among those societies that are believed to have functioned

with dual gender systems in the past is Ruanda where the mother

of the king shared responsibilities of power with him. In another

example, the Bemba of Zambia define a female ruler who is either

the mother or the oldest uterine relative of the king. She

participates in tribal council, governs several villages and

enjoys sexual freedom. Also regarded as the mother of the

kingdom is the female leader of the Lunda of Zaire. A kinswoman

of the chief she takes part in administration, has her own court,

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her own officials and collects her own taxes.

Shifting our focus to Cameroon the queen mother (mafo) )of

the Bamileke, who is the mother of the fong or mfong (the chief),

has been considered by some scholars to be an equal to him. She

has her own residence and her own estates (which can serve as

refuge since they are outside the jurisdiction of the king), and

she directs female activities which means that she controls the

agriculture of the whole community since the women are the

farmers. She takes part in the administrative council and

presides over the women’s secret societies. Like many other

queen mothers, she can exercise sexual freedom. Her children

belong to her and not to the father, as do other children of the

society. Among the neighboring Kom, one of the independent

kingdoms of the Tikar people, the queen mother’s position is very

similar to that described above for the Bamileke who share the

Cameroonian grasslands with the Tikar. The Kom are a matrilineal

society, however, unlike most of the other Tikar and Bamileke

who are patrilineal in descent. The nafoyn (the queen mother) was

usually not married but enjoyed the privileges of sexual freedom,

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according to Nkwi. Moreover, some scholars argue that she had

the choice of whether or not to have a husband. Her children

belonged to her and not to their father. This situation has

been explained in terms of a mid-19th century decree prohibiting

queen mothers from marrying. Intended to counter the

implications of brideprice (a fee paid at the time of marriage by

the husband) that endowed the husband with rights over the

children, the decree ensures that no man/husband/father could

marry a woman who might become the mother of a Fon (king) and

thus create the situation where a man would have the right to

command obedience from the king because of the conditions of

marriage. Shanklin reports that the queen mother of the present

day continues to direct women as a work force on her farms,

adding to her economic power. Among the queen mother’s

responsibilities, her ritual duties are particularly important.

The significance of her ritual powers serves as strong evidence

for the argument that complementarity was and continues to be the

organizing principle for the ritual sphere in Kom society.

Complementarity in one domain suggests the same in other domains,

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including the political, especially since sources have reported

that in the past the queen mother sat with village leaders and

challenged them at times. Considering the full range of a queen

mother’s powers, the argument that the Kom were organized by a

dual gender system seems persuasive (Lebeuf) (Nkwi) (Shanklin)

(Bascom). In the past, according to Caroline Ifeka, Grassfield

royal women were more visibly powerful than they are today. The

royal women of Bamum (another Grassfield polity), like royal men,

killed fearlessly and were killed. In still another of the many

Grassfield groups, the Nso’, queen mothers perform a variety of

constitutional functions including the role of interrex. More

importantly, Ifeka emphasizes that a dual gender system, based on

a complementarity of both mystical and political power, defines

the entire Nso’ social system, encompassing all ranks from

commoners who use titles to demonstrate respect to the ‘mother’

(yeela’) and ‘father’(taala’) of the compound to the Fon and his queen

mother (yeefon) (his real mother).

Especially well known among the queen mothers of Africa is

the mother of the king in Swaziland, the Ndlovukazi (also the

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Indlovukati). Like other queen mothers she has her own residence,

her own court and officials, and functions in complementary

relations to the king. Metaphors for her include the Great She

Elephant, the Earth, the Beautiful, and the Mother of the Country

while the king is the Lion, the Sun, the Great Wild Animal. The

king owes his position to the queen mother, usually his

biological mother. She is expected to train him and hand over

power to him when he reaches maturity. In spite of their close

relationship, they serve as a check on each other’s powers.

Hilda Kuper (1963) described the political structure of the Swazi

as a dual monarchy, a system in which the power and privilege of

each monarch was held in check by the other. For example, the

male monarch is revitalized in the annual ritual of kingship, but

it is held at the home of the queen mother; moreover, he is

entitled to use the royal cattle but if he wastes the national

wealth, she can rebuke him publicly. Mahmood Mamdani also notes

the restriction placed on administrative authority when he

describes the queen mother’s position as strategic enough to act

as a check on any absolutist royal pretensions the king might

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develop. For example, in the past the king controlled the army,

but the commander-in-chief resided at the queen mother’s village.

The Ndlovukazi can act as regent, in place of a dead King,

until a new one is prepared to assume the position. During a

particularly crucial era in Swazi history (1889-1921) the Queen

Mother Labotsibeni Mdluli held this position for a lengthy period

and was in full charge of the political affairs of the polity.

Described as “a woman of outstanding intellect” and “the

shrewdest and most astute of the Regents who ever controlled the

destinies of the Swazis,” she is credited with having protected

the Swazi from the colonials during that period and with bringing

new order and strength to the monarchy. Especially important,

she laid the groundwork for independence so that when her

grandson, Sobhuza II, became king, he could bring the country to

independence in 1968.

History points to the Kpojito as one of the most interesting

Queen Mothers of the past. The female leader in the Fon kingdom

of Dahomey (dated from the 17th century until the dissolution of

its monarchy by the French in 1900), she was the wealthy and

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powerful double of the King of Dahomey. According to Edna Bay

(1998:72 and 1997), the term Kpojito translates as the one who

whelped the leopard (the leopard represents the king), but she

was not necessarily the biological mother of the king. Bay

explains that she could hear appeals from the court of the

minister of religion, with final appeal to the king himself, and

that she acted as intercessor with the king, pleading on behalf

of his subjects. She had her own entourage separate from the

king, but she was forbidden all contacts with men. Supported by

tributary villages and plantations of slaves, she was reported to

be very wealthy. After death a female descendant in her family

of birth replaced her, and she was honored in annual rituals.

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only woman who went to war, oral tradition credits her with

having raised an army and employed magical powers to aid her son

in defeating his enemies (1997:74-76). However, a special problem

developed in Benin. According to Bay the king was considered to

be divine, and therefore he could not prostrate himself before

any person; yet a child was required to subordinate himself

before his/her mother. The resolution of this problem was that

the queen mother and her son, the king, could never see each

other again after he became king, though she is believed to have

exercised considered political power from her palace (1998:79)

Other West African societies also operated with dual gender

systems prior to colonialism. Of particular note were the female

leaders among the Igbo, known as the omu (the male leader was

the obi). Kamene Okonjo (1976) tells us that the omu, like the

male obi, had her own cabinet of councillors (generally women),

and they could challenge male authority if necessary. Among the

duties of the female leader and her councillors was oversight of

the community market, a predominantly female space. Their

oversight included judging cases of dispute that occurred in the

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market. The precolonial Yoruba, too, recognized female leaders,

although a patrilineal society. Many women were endowed with the

title Iyalode (a woman designated as a political leader) for their

contribution to war efforts, states Bolanle Awe . The Iyalode, like

the Igbo omu was considered the head of market women, but the

title indicates responsibilities much broader than just the

market. It translates to “mother in charge of external affairs”

(Awe:144). And indeed, the Iyalode of each town was a chief in

her own right with her own servants, drummers and bell ringers,

and she held jurisdiction over all women. (Each Yoruba town

created a more specific title as well for their female leader).

She seems to have acquired her office through achievement as a

leader rather than heredity. Women brought their quarrels to her

court for resolution, and she met with groups of women to

determine their stand on various political and economic issues.

Among the matrilineal Akan of Ghana, the queen mother

(ohemaa) is a thriving institution in contemporary society. As

with the other examples cited above, the queen mothers of the

Akan have suffered a loss of their power since colonialism

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because the colonial forces failed to recognize female authority.

Yet, Akan queen mothers have unbroken continuity with the past;

they continue to exercise their authority in Ghana today,

especially in the Ashanti region (Stoeltje 1997; 1998). In fact,

the dual gender system has proven to be so attractive that

neighboring patrilineal societies, ones that have never had

queen mothers (the Ga and the Ewe), have begun to create the

position in the past decade.

The Asante (the largest of the Akan societies) replicate

this dual gender system throughout the Ashanti region so that

every paramountcy is led by a queen mother and chief (ohemaa and

ohene), and every village and town has both a chief and a queen

mother (odikro and oba panin). The Asantehene and the Asantehemaa are

the King and Queen Mother of Asante, and they occupy the position

of greatest authority in the Asante system. Next in the

hierarchical system are the paramountcies, each of which has a

powerful chief and queen mother; small towns and villages are

located within a division and serve a particular paramountcy,

but each of them has its own chief and queen mother.

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Consequently, then, Ghana has many queen mothers today of

differing status. To explain that a chief and queen mother each

have their own authority, it is said that the chief and the queen

mother each have their own stool. “The stool” is the symbol of

authority in all Akan societies, functioning much like “the

throne” for European monarchies.

A queen mother of the Asante (and the other Akan groups) is

considered to be the mother of the chief and of the particular

clan, whether or not she is the biological mother of the chief.

Like the queen mothers of other societies, she has specific

responsibilities associated with the role of mother/ female

leader. When the position of chief becomes vacant, she nominates

an individual from the royal family to become the new chief. Her

nomination goes to the elders of the royal family and ultimately

to the sub-chiefs (who represent the clans other than the clan of

the royal family). Once the new chief has been enstooled, the

Queen Mother is expected to advise him, drawing upon her wisdom

and knowledge, and he is expected to consult her. Her

responsibilities also encompass the welfare of the women in her

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domain. One of her major responsibilities includes the

settlement of disputes. The Asantehemaa maintains her own court

with elders (predominantly male) that meets once a week to hear

cases brought primarily by women concerning the conflicts of

everyday life. Other queen mothers hear cases as well but with a

smaller court. A queen mother has her own living space separate

from the chief, and she will meet with people to resolve disputes

and conduct other business at her own “palace.”

The queen mother and the chief must both be members of the

same royal family, so they will be sister-brother, uncle-niece,

aunt-nephew, cousins or distant relatives, and in some instances,

mother-son. Queen Mothers are not only expected to have

children, but it is unlikely that a woman would be chosen, from

among those qualified, for the position if she did not have

children because of the importance of the concept as well as the

reality of Motherhood.

However, a queen mother can be married or not. She may also

divorce, and she may remarry if she wishes. Unlike every other

woman, a queen mother can exercise freedom in matters of

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sexuality, whether or not she is married. In this domain, as in

other domains of her life, she has autonomy. Her position as

symbolic mother of the clan and of the chief and her position as

procreator are enhanced by her autonomy with regard to matters of

sexuality, procreation and marriage. These combine with her

political, ritual and juridical authority to create a position

(like that of chief), that integrates elements of kinship,

politics, and religion together, creating strong positions of

traditional leadership that have endured, with modification,

through colonization and modernization.

Most African societies display flexibility, adaptability,

and creativity in their political and religious systems. Among

the Asante.this is illustrated by the fact that some of the most

well educated and wealthy individuals in the society also hold

positions as chiefs. The King of the Asante, Osei Tutu II,

enstooled as Asantehene in 1999, was an active and well educated

businessman in London when he was nominated by the Asantehemaa,

his biological mother, for the position. Enthusiastically

received by the Asante people, he has established an Asante

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Educational Fund for the enhancement of the schools in Asante

and has given it a high priority.

Although the queen mothers have not enjoyed the same

privileges of education that their male counterparts have, the

culture is now encouraging education and is placing educated

women on the stool as queen mothers whenever possible. Due to

contemporary influences, then, it is not unusual today to observe

queen mothers participating in efforts to bring education to non-

literate queen mothers or to support young women’s football

teams, or to organize events that illustrate the need for

planned parenthood. In contemporary African societies today the

role of traditional authority seems to be expanding as indigenous

systems exercise flexibility in regard to modernization, and the

state slowly recognizes the need to cooperate with traditional

systems. It appears that the twenty first century version of

this encounter may be more hospitable to female authority than

the colonial encounter, recognizing the value of queen mothers as

female leaders in the indigenous sociopolitical system.

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