Conclusion: Women’s Silent Politics

This chapter summarises the reasons why many Guinean women claim not to be interested in politics. Throughout Guinea’s history, women have resorted to protest publicly only when it is absolutely necessary, such as when economic difficulties made it even harder for them to nourish their families or when social and political tensions threatened to turn into mass violence. In these instances, women argued from within and through their social roles as mothers and wives, and were not expressing their messages in political terms. The chapter suggests that this line of argumentation must not be considered as a weakness. On the contrary, in the local context, motherhood is a powerful resource women can draw upon to make their claims more credible and to finally reach their goals. This research has shown that women’s political articulations within institutional politics are limited. It is through the silent politics that women’s political agency comes most to the fore; this is, however, often ignored. Despite the fact that Kankan’s women live in a structured context where norms are highly gendered and power lays dominantly in the hands of men, this chapter argues that women can nevertheless articulate themselves politically and exert influence, by means of the almost invisible route of silent politics. This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book shows that while Kankan’s Manding and Fulani inhabitants mostly live harmoniously together and interacts habitually with each other, ethnic tensions became virulent before, during, and after the presidential elections of 2010. It demonstrates that encounters between ordinary women and representatives of the local administration are characterised by power imbalances. The book also shows that the resilience of gender discrimination as a result of the deeply embedded patriarchal structures in Kankan, Guinea. Women imagine and thus propose alternatives to the current social order. The discourse and practices of Guinea’s past regimes regarding gender issues have influenced how women acted within the institutional sphere. In Kankan, as elsewhere, multiple gendered norms coexist; they are not fixed but subject to bargaining processes and therefore they are constantly adapted and transformed.