to SOMALI WOMEN IN LONDON: EDUCATION AND GENDER RELATIONS EMUA ALI CULTURE, COMMUNICATIONS AND SOCIETY INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF LONDON A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PhD) JUNE 2001 S. ABSTRACT This thesis exploresthe impact of educationlevels on the social changes experiencedby Somali women migrants to Britain, in particular attitudes towards changesin genderrelations. The original hypothesis was that the higher the level of educationthe greaterthe degreeof empowerment,other researchand policy having linked educationto women's autonomy and emancipation.Somali women in generalhave low levels of educationand most did not speakEnglish upon arrival in Britain. A sample of 50 Somali women aged from 16 to over 50 with a variety of education levels ranging from no formal educationto higher educationlevels was selectedand studied using a variety of qualitative methods.These included participant observation within the community by attending social events; group interviews; and in- depth interviews conductedin Somali and English using a semi-structured questionnaire. During the study the following areaswere explored: gender equality, education,employment, marriage, divorce, health, housing, immigration, social security, religion, culture, and the family. Somalis are Muslims and their lifestyle is influenced by Islam especially in the areasof genderrelations, marriage and divorce. The study found that contrary to the original hypothesis, Somali women with higher educationlevels had a more conservativeapproach to genderequality and women's empowermentthan less educatedwomen. All the women believed educationcould provide a route to skilled employment and empowerment.The educatedwomen gave more credenceto the Somali community's perceptionsof their behaviour and followed religious precepts on genderrelations rather than the pursuit of their own empowermentand autonomy. Women with less educationfelt able to file for divorce if their husbandswere not living up to their part of the marriage contract. The key finding was that economic independencerather than level of educationwas the main key to women's empowerment. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply indebted to my supervisorsProfessor Diana Leonard and Crispin Jonesfor their commitment and support to my researchright from the beginning. I startedthis journey with an idea of the outcome but it has beendue to the guidance of my supervisors that I have been able to reachmy destination. Their questions,challenges and inspiration servedas apt travelling companionsand sustenanceon myjoumey. I would like to thank them for their generosityand kindnessthat lightened the road I trod as a doctoral student. I would like to thank the Somali women in London, in particular Zahra and Safiya who openedtheir hearts and homesto me and without whom this researchwould not have been possible. I am grateful to the colleges,the Somali community, and my colleaguesfor their assistancein this research.I would like to thank AL Charitable Trust for the financial support provided that helped cover binding and examination fees. My deepestthanks go to ProfessorJagdish Gundara who provided invaluable comments on my upgradereport andwho inspired me to continue the journey. My heartfelt appreciationto Patricia, Judy and Nicola in the Communications,Culture and Society departmentwho were always there to provide support; to my fellow doctoral studentsfor their friendship and I wish them the best of luck in their studies. I would like to thank my husbandEssa Hussein Ali for introducing me to the Somali people, culture, community and language. Most of all I want to say a big thank you to my children Ayan, Warsan,Mahad and Ebla who bore my long absenceswith patience,good humour and whose unstinting love, commitment and encouragementkept me going through the long months and years. I -wantto thank my parentswho instilled in me a love of education and knowledge that no one can take away. I dedicatethis thesis to my late father Mayo OsahonOsime who died before I finished but whose love, support and pride inspired me to keep on and finish the journey. TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page I Abstract 2 Acknowledgments 3 Table of Contents 4 List of Tables, Figures & Cases 9 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2 EXISTING WORK RELEVANT 14 TO SOMALI WOMEN 2.1 Migration, Welfare Rights and Citizenship 16 2.1.1 Refugees 16 2.1.2 Welfare Rights 18 2.1.3 Legal Status 19 2.1.4 Somali Migration 21 2.2 Somali Culture 25 2.3 Ethnicity and Racism 28 2.3.1 Multiculturalism 28 2.3.2 Raceand Religion 29 2.3.3 Cultural Assimilation and Cultural Resistance 30 2.4 Gender,the Family and Work 31 2.4.1 Genderand the Labour Market 32 2.5 Islam and Feminism 35 2.5.1 Islam and Patriarchy 38 2.6 Education 41 2.6.1 Adult Education 44 2.6.2 Education of Migrants and Refugees 46 2.7 Identity 47 2.8 Diasýora 49 2.9 Conclusion 50 4 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH DESIGN 52 3.1 Methodology 52 3.1.1 ResearchQuestions 53 3.1.2 Linking Qualitative and Quantitative Data 55 3.1.3 GroundedTheory 55 3.1.4 Feminist ResearchMethodology 55 3.2 Data Collection 56 3.2.1 Ethnography 56 3.2.2 CaseStudies 57 3.2.3 Sampling 58 3.3 PhaseOne 59 3.4 PhaseTwo 60 3.4.1 Questionnairesand Interviews 60 3.4.2 Structureof Interviews 62 3.4.3 Participant Observation 63 3.4.4 Field Notes and Diary 64 3.4.5 Documents 66 3.5 Data Processing 66 3.6 Data Analysis 67 3.7 The Participants 68 3.8 Conclusion 70 CHAPTER 4 PREVIOUS LIFE IN SOMALIA 72 4.1 Nomadic Women 73 4.2 Marriage 73 4.3 Circumcision 75 4.4 Women in Public Life 76 4.5 Women under Siad Barre's Regime 76 4.6 Education 77 4.7 Women at War 81 4.8 Conclusion 83 5 CHAPTER 5 THE HOUSEHOLD AND THE FAMILY 84 5.1 Marriage 86 5.2 Divorce 96 5.3 Sexuality 99 5.4 Division of Labour and Resources III - Household Decision Making 5.5 Conclusion 116 CHAPTER 6 RELIGION AND RELIGIOUS LAW 117 6.1 Islam 117 6.2 Marriage 120 6.3 Divorce 126 6.4 Sexuality 129 6.5 Freedomof Movement 133 6.6 Division of Labour and Resourcesand 140 'Obeying' Their Husbandsand Fathers 6.7 Conclusion 143 CHAPTER 7 THE STATE 144 7.1 Immigration and Welfare Rights 144 7.2 The Police 151 7.3 Housing 152 7.4 Health 156 7.5 Access to Information 159 7.6 Conclusion 160 6 CHAPTER 8 THE LABOUR MARKET AND INCOME 162 8.1 The Labour Market 163 8.2 Income 168 8.3 Culture and Employment 172 8.4 Employment in other Migrant and Refugeegroups 176 8.5 Conclusion 178 CHAPTER 9 EDUCATION AND GENDER RELATIONS 180 9.1 Participation in Education 182 9.2 Benefits of Education 187 9.3 Education and Marital Status 189 9.4 Culture and Education 194 9.4.1 Gender,Equity and Culture 195 9.5 Women's Accessto Information 198 on their Children's and their own Education 9.6 Conclusion 201 CHAPTER 10 CONCLUSION 204 10.1 Summary of Main Findings. 205 10.2 Contributions to Theoretical Debates 214 10.3 The Way Forward 217 APPENDIX 1: 218 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SAMPLE APPENDIX 11: SOMALIA - POLITICAL HISTORY: 220 INDEPENDENCE TO CIVIL WAR APPENDIX III: GLOSSARY 225 7 APPENDIX IV: MAP OF SOMALIA 226 BIBLIOGRAPHY 227 List of Tables Table 3.1: Ages of participants 68 Table 3.2: Marital Statusof participants 69 Table 3.3: Education levels of participants 69 Table 3.4: Occupationsof participants 70 Table 9.1: Education and Training coursesaccessed by 186 participants Table 9.2: PerceivedBenefits of Education 188 Table 9.3: Women who had been married's accounts of their husbands'attitudes towards their education 190 Table 9.4: Education levels of participants who 196 agreedwith gender equality List of Figures I Figure 5.1 Views on Female Circumcision by education level 101 Figure 5.2 Views on Boyfriends by educationlevel 104 Figure 5.3 Views on receivinggifts by educationlevel 106 9 List of Cases Case5a 91 Case5b 93 Case5c 94 Case5d 109 Case5e 115 Case6a 127 Case6b 128 Case6c 135 Case7a 148 Case7b 158 Case9a 189 Case 9b 191 i 10 Chapter One INTRODUCTION My interest in Somali women's educationand training started in 1979 during my first visit to Somalia. I lived in Somalia for three years and I leamt to speak Somali. I took up a teachingpost at the Somali National University as a Lecturer in French and English. It was the strength of the blend of old and new which really fascinatedme. Nomadic women in rural areaswere able to eke out a living as their mothers and grandmothershad done before them. Women in urban areascame to my class in Mogadishu to learn, to debate and to discuss,some wearing jeans and some traditional Somali dress. When I visited London in 1984,1 met some members of the Somali community in East London. The Somali women I met then had lived in Britain for up to thirty yearsand their British born children were gown up. Many of thesewomen were married at an early agein Somalia and most had not attendedschool. It was not a priority for families to educategirls in Northern Somalia in the 1950s and 1960s (Laurence, 1963). The Somali women who came to Britain in the 1960s obviously missed the literacy campaign that took place in Somalia in the mid-1970s. Neither were they there when the Somali languagewas first written in the Roman script during the sameperiod. When I returned to live in Britain in 1987, the Somali community in East London had increasedsubstantially, by severalthousand. The number of people seekingpolitical asylum from the conflict in Somalia had grown.