Solidarity among Muslim Women in Accra, Ghana

This paper focuses upon a Muslim women's association in Accra, Ghana. In exploring the bases for the solidary behavior of the members, I argue that the association functions to create a kin-like community in the stranger setting of Accra. The unity of the women may be understood as resulting from their traditional exclusion from the world of men, cemented by the women's allegiance to Islam and its ethos, and their recreation of a support system modelled on the paradigm of kinship and infìuenced by Hausa custom.