OA E
In a 1984 book, Claire C. Robertson argued that, before colonialism, age was a more important indicator of status and authority than gender in Ghana and in Africa generally. British colonialism imposed European-style male-dominant notions upon more egalitarian local situations to the detriment of women generally, and gender became a defining characteristic that weakened women’s power and authority. Subsequent research in Kenya convinced Robertson that she had over generalized about Africa. Before colonialism, gender was more salient in central Kenya than it was in Ghana, although age was still crucial in determining authority. In contrast with Ghana, where women had traded for hundreds of years and achieved legal majority (not unrelated phenomena), the evidence regarding central Kenya indicated that women were legal minors and were sometimes treated as male property, as were European women at that time. Factors like strong patrilinearity and patrilocality, as well as women’s inferior land rights and lesser involvement in trade, made women more dependent on men than was generally the case in Ghana. However, since age apparently remained the overriding principle of social organization in central Kenya, some senior women had much authority. Thus, Robertson revised her hypothesis somewhat, arguing that in determining authority in precolonial Africa age was a primary principle that superseded gender to varying degrees depending on the situation.
The author of the passage mentions the status of age as a principle of social organization in precolonial central Kenya in lines 24-26 most likely in order to
A. indicate that women’s dependence on men in precolonial Kenya was not absolute
B. contrast the situation of senior women to that of less senior women in precolonial Kenyan society
C. differentiate between the status and authority of precolonial Kenyan women and that of precolonial Ghanaian women
D. explain why age superseded gender to a greater extent in precolonial Kenya than it did elsewhere in Africa
E. identify a factor that led Robertson to revise her hypothesis about precolonial Africa
IMO: B
E is clearly wrong as it supports her hypothesis. What leads to modification is this:
‘Factors like strong patrilinearity and patrilocality, as well as women’s inferior land rights and lesser involvement in trade, made women more dependent on men than was generally the case in Ghana.’ This says gender was also paying significant role
Line 24-26 – Before colonialism, gender was more salient in central Kenya than it was in Ghana, although age was still crucial in determining authority.
E is the correct answer. Robertson initially said that before colonialism, age was a more important indicator of status and authority than gender in Ghana and in Africa. Based on lines 24-26 above, she later on revised her theory and said age was a primary principle that superseded gender to varying degrees depending on the situation.
B is wrong because lines 24-26 do not indicate any such contrast