READING COMPREHENSION

Now, more than ever before, women in Cameroon are beginning to assert themselves aggressively;
demanding independence and recognition. No longer content with their traditional role as mothers and
housewives, the woman have started creating powerful groups and associations all over the country to
fight against all forms of discrimination or out-moded cultural practices which affect them. In sympathy
with this worldwide trend, The Ministry of Women Empowerment and the Family has been established
for the development and advancement of Cameroonian women towards what they call “gender
equality”. Through these institutions, Cameroonian women hope to acquire the freedom to pursue
interest outside the home, like the opportunity to acquire education or pursue a career, instead of
spending all the time doing housework.

The effects of the changes brought about by this worldwide trend are already being felt in some
families. For instance, the traditional husband-wife relationship appears to be undergoing a radical
transformation, because so many women are now working. Men are learning to share the household
tasks of cooking, cleaning and even caring for the children. In some families, there appears to be a
complete reversal of traditional roles: the husband stays at home while the wife is breadwinner. It
should be pointed out however, that this is an exception, not the rule. Likewise there is a growing
awareness among women of their rights and out-moded traditional practices such as female genital
mutilations and tortures of widows (during and after funerals) are gradually disappearing.

The effect of women’s liberation is being felt not only at home but also at work places. More and
more women are working and they are demanding equal responsible positions. It is not uncommon
these days for women to head major government ministries and parastatals. Many businesses now
encourage women to advance to high management positions, and every year, the nation’s higher
institutions produce more women doctors, lawyers, and accountants.

Politics and government are other areas that are feeling the impact of women’s movement.
Although Cameroonians do not appear ready to accept a woman president, women are already being
elected to public offices in increasing numbers as members of the National Assembly. Although
Cameroon is yet to have a woman governor which is the highest office in a region, there have been a
few women ministers and a deputy House Speaker. A few years ago, this would have been unthinkable.

In conclusion, women in Cameroon are acquiring greater independence which is causing sweeping
changes in the society-at home, at work and in politics. Some may not be happy with these changes but
the women are always quick to point out that it was they, the men, who created the conditions leading
to the reaction of the women.

QUESTIONS

• What do Cameroonian women want?

• What image or stereotype are they trying to wipe out?

• How do they intend to go about this?

• What steps has been taken to advance the Cameroonian woman towards “gender equality”?

• State two effects of the changes brought about by women’s emancipation.

• Give another word for “out-moded” as used in the passage.

• In which spheres are women’s emancipation been felt?

• What are women these days clamoring for?

• Which other areas which have been impacted by women’s movement.

• Name two highest offices occupied by women so far in their fight for gender equality.
READING COMPREHENSION

My ten years in America had been happy and eventful, but at the same time they had been
remarkably strenuous. Life would have been so much easier if I could devote all my time to
study. As things were, however, I was always in need of money and had to work out ways and
means of earning a livelihood.

On one occasion, I found a job in a soap factory. I had imagined that I would leave work
each day inhaling the scent of roses or honey suckles but it was far from the case. It turned to
be by far, the filthiest and most unsavoury job that I had ever had. All the rotten entrails and
lumps of fat of animals of animals were dumped by lorries into a yard. Armed with a fork, I had
to load as much as I could of this reeking and utterly repulsive cargo into a wheelbarrow and
then transport it, load after load, to the processing plant. At the end of two weeks, I was I was
almost fit to be transformed into a bar of soap myself. A Doctor friend of mine advised me to
leave the job. If I did not, he said, I would certainly not complete my education in America.

Taking his advice, I began to look for another job. I decided to go to see, and was lucky
getting a job aboard a ship plying New York and Vera Cruz in Mexico. The pay was reasonably
good and we were assured of three good meals a day. On the other hand, there was a haunting
feeling of loneliness, not just being without companions, but of being nobody’s concern.

I learned too, that to sleep under the star in my native Africa was, in spite of the raiding
mosquitoes, a far happier prospect than sleeping out in cities of America. When I first arrived
Philadelphia with a fellow student, neither of us had any money for lodgings and, as we had
nowhere to go, we walked back to the railway station and sat on one of the benches, intending
to pass the night there. At about midnight, we were rudely shaken out of our doze and greeted
by a firm voice telling us that we could not sleep there. It was of course, a very disturbed night.

QUESTIONS

• Give the meaning of the word “eventful”.

• Give the meaning of “filthiest” as used in the passage.

• Give the plural form of the noun “cargo.

• Why could the narrator not devote all his time to studies?

• What was the narrator’s first expectation?

• State, in a sentence, what the narrator was paid to do at the soap factory.

• What would have happened to the narrator had he not changed his first job?

• Why is the narrator not still satisfied with his second job as seaman?

• Name two things the narrator learned from his experiences as a student in America.

• Do you agree that going to study abroad can at times be risky? Give your reasons.
READING COMPREHENSION

Disabled people face many disadvantages in their lives because of the way in which society
operates. For example, a key factor which can contribute to disabled people’s exclusion from
society is the negative attitudes towards them in community or in culture.

Tribal and religious beliefs strongly influence the way disabled people are viewed. A
disabled child in the family is sometimes thought of as a punishment from the gods for the sins
of the ancestors. Disabled people can be thought of as bad omens and be rejected or abandoned.
In parts of Zambia and Tanzania for example, pregnant women try to avoid seeing people with
albinism for fear of giving birth to an albino child.

Disabled people are often viewed as unproductive or even useless. Many men are reluctant
to marry a disabled woman because they fear she will not be able to have children. Disabled
people are frequently mocked and abused. Disabled women and children are much more likely to
be abused and suffer violence than non-disabled women and children.

The social stigma associated with disability leads to marginalization, isolation and begging
as a means of survival.

The media usually ignores the subject of disability. When it is discussed, more often than
not, disabled persons are seen as either tragic or heroic. In newspapers, on television and on the
radio, disabled Africans are rarely depicted as being part of a community or able to talk about
part of their own lives. Negative attitudes and beliefs have led to many kinds of exclusion:

-Teachers have refused to teach disabled children.

-Disabled villagers have been refused help by their community.

-Employers have refused to employ disabled people.

-Disabled people have been denied food and shelter, family life and relationships.
 -Disabled people have been abandoned or left in institutions.

QUESTIONS

• What is the root cause of the exclusion of disabled persons from society?

• Give an example of a taboo associated with disabled persons.

• How are disabled people viewed in their society?

• Why do you think disabled people are considered unproductive?

• What are the consequences of this discrimination on disabled people?

• Give another word for “stigma”.

• Name two ways disabled persons are marginalized.

• Give the opposite of “negative”.

• Give another euphemistic name for “disabled people”

• What would you do to reinsert disabled people into the mainstream society?
READING COMPREHENSION
Many marriages are still arranged. When two people marry, a three-day wedding celebration of
dancing and feasting marks the woman’s acceptance into her husband’s clan. This celebration is
preceded by negotiations between the two families on the bride-price (paid to the bride’s
family), which can be extremely high. Because of the expense, young people often enter into a
common-law relationship and begin having children before they are married. Any children born
before the wedding technically belongs to the woman’s father, but the groom can take the
children when he pays the bride-price and formally marries the woman. In a rare case of
divorce, the bride price will be returned to the husband, who retains the children, while the
woman returns to her family.

As in much of Africa, extended family structures still dominate rural life, while nuclear
families are more common in cities. “The family,” refers to the entire clan, which once also
implied a village. The power structure revolves around gender, age and clan status. Under this
system women have limited authority, although they do control the production of food. Each
wife in an extended family has her own kitchen or her own cooking fire, and in this arena, she is
in charge. The husband has his own house. Wives also share child care and household chores.
Cousins are considered equal to siblings; aunts and uncles are considered as mothers and
fathers. Children must obey their elders, even older siblings, but especially their various
mothers and fathers. It is not uncommon for children to be sent to live with other family
members. Large families are prized as a sign of wealth, health, and virility: having six or more
children is common. Women grow the food, clean, serve and haul water and firework, and raise
the children. Men are responsible for hunting, building and maintaining houses, making tools
and baskets, and clearing the “fincas” (agricultural plots in the forest) twice a year.

QUESTIONS

• Within the context of the text, how does a girl become the wife of a man?

• When does the man have absolute claim over the girl and children that might have been
gotten out of wedlock?

• What is the meaning of “common-law relationship” as used in the text?

• What do you understand by “nuclear family”?

• Using your own expression as much as possible, what is a family according to the
author?

• What gender roles are explained in the text?

• How do the gender roles explained in the text differ from those of your tribe?

• Give the meanings of the words “virility” and “haul” as used in the passage>

• Give the antonyms of the words: high, common, extended, limited.

• If you were asked to propose changes on marriage customs in Africa, what would you
suggest?