Where are all the Women?

After reading Rastafari and watching the various video clips in class, I couldn't help but start to notice that something was missing in all the reading and nearly all the video clips. Nearly all the people talked about in the Rastafari religion were men. Women were never mentioned when talking about discussion groups or get togethers. There was only one woman seen in the clip from the boboshanti village. Where were all the women? What is their role and why don't we see them as prominent members in this religious group? Are women just not Rastas or can they be Rastas too but kept hidden?

As it turns out, there are women involved in the Rastafari movement; however, in the early days of the movement especially, women were expected to take on a submissive role to their husbands and stick to domestic roles. Women were seen as childbearers and housekeepers who should look after their "King" (their husband). Women in the movement are not allowed to be leaders and the role of spiritual head of the family is maintained by the father in the family. Women must dress modestly, they are not allowed to wear makeup or fragrances and they must cover their heads when they pray. (For more detailed information see: http://www.jamaicans.com/culture/rasta/race_women.shtml or
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/rastafari/beliefs/women.shtml ).  One site even claims that women cannot be called to Rastafari except through their husbands. This restriction makes it much more difficult for women to become Rastafarian.

While women are a part of this movement they are expected to behave in a seemingly contradictory manner to the purpose of the movement. While the Rastafari strive for liberation, their women have been stuck in a submissive role. While they still participate in many of the practices of the Rastas, they are more restricted than the men in what they can and cannot do. While the movement is contrary to society in many ways, they still keep their women in traditional gender roles. Keeping women in traditional gender roles reflects Rastafarian adherence to some of the Bible's teachings, in this case teachings in which the male is the head of the household and women are expected to be submissive to him and be childbearers and play the traditional mother role and keep to the domestic sphere (http://jamaica-guide.info/past.and.present/religion/rastafarian/). While today it looks as though women Rastas are gaining ground toward a more equal role in the religion, they still have a ways to go.