Findings/Analysis
The use of women as palace guards for the king of Dahomey served as a transition step for women in this society, because it removed them from the domestic sphere and offered political and economic opportunities. By proving their fierceness and loyalty to the king, they started on the path of transforming themselves into accomplished soldiers, which was not a traditional role for women in Dahomean society. King Gezo, credited with turning the female guards into a regimented military force,[1] sought women who would be allegiant only to him and would could stand up to his own army in the event of a coup.[2] He quickly ascertained that women who were captured during slave raids, had no allegiances within Dahomey and could be trained as fighters, were the obvious choice.[3] Gezo took female slaves and pronounced them as free warrior women who had more value and favor over everyone except the king and chiefs.[4] This in turn, allowed the warriors influence over their own lives. This turned out to be especially attractive if a new recruit was from a neighboring village where equality between genders was nonexistent. Future kings also saw the value in this and kept warrior women in this position. Eventually thousands of women were not only palace guards, but were employed in the standing army. The women’s move to performing in the military was due in large part to the demands of the Atlantic Slave Trade and the perpetual state of war Dahomey found itself in to maintain a steady flow of slaves to trade. The constant war and the economic gains from the slave trade in turn, reshape the culture.
[1] Bay, Wives, 13.
[2] Édouard Foà, Le Dahomey, histoire, géographie, moeurs, coutumes, commerce, industrie, expéditions françaises (1891-1894) (Paris: A. Hennuyer, 1895): 256.
[3] Foà, Le Dahomey, 256.
[4] Foà, Le Dahomey, 236.
[1] Bay, Wives, 13.
[2] Édouard Foà, Le Dahomey, histoire, géographie, moeurs, coutumes, commerce, industrie, expéditions françaises (1891-1894) (Paris: A. Hennuyer, 1895): 256.
[3] Foà, Le Dahomey, 256.
[4] Foà, Le Dahomey, 236.