Continuity and Change: Women’s Work in the Kente Economy of Bonwire, Ghana

Abstract

Asante weaving traditions have survived relatively unchanged for more than 300 years. Yet the productive role that women once played  as cotton growers and spinners has been eroded while a traditional ban on women entering the loom has proved difcult to overturn  conclusively. Kente has been studied as an art form but rarely as an economic activity in which women’s productive role is clearly defned.  This paper aims to fll that gap. The paper seeks to understand why more women do not weave and to test some claims made by male  weavers about the low participation of women. The paper draws on a 10% survey of households in Bonwire, the original weaving village  in Asante, where to this day kente is produced for the Asantehene, the King of Asante. The survey pinpointed precisely who does what in  the kente industry. The research found that more women are weaving than ever before yet continue to face pressure to stop, despite  suspension of the traditional gender taboo on weaving. These fndings are important in a context where women are increasingly  asserting their right to their own employment preferences.