I found the women of the house pre- 
paring a meal. One of them was al- 
ready eating, and I was invited to eat 
with her. 
“After nightfall, I was sent to take 
some spices for pounding, and 1 wasted 
a lot of time there. The other children 
and I went to a place where some 
fruits and vegetables are sold along 
the street. We bought vegetables for 
soup for fifty kobo, as my mother had 
asked me to do. By the time I got 
home it wasjate, so I went to sleep.” 
Binta’s many responsibilities are 
typical for a girl her age. Like many 
women, Binta’s mother relies upon her 
children in carrying out an occupation 
at home. Although purdah implies 
that a woman will be supported by 
her husband and need not work, most 
Hausa women do work, keeping their 
incomes distinct from the household 
budget. Women usually cook one main 
meal a day and purchase their other 
meals from other women. In this way 
they are able to use their time earning 
a living instead of performing only 
unpaid domestic labor. 
Among the Hausa, men and women 
spend relatively little time together, 
eating separately and, except in cer- 
tain ritual contexts, rarely doing the 
same things. Differences in gender are 
not as important among children, how- 
ever. In fact, it is precisely because 
children’s activities are not rigidly de- 
fined by sex that they are able to 
move between the world of women, 
centered in the inner courtyard of the 
house, and the world of men, whose 
activities take place mainly outside 
the home. Children of both sexes care 
for younger children, go to the market, 
and help their mothers cook. 
Both boys and girls do trading, al- 
though it is more common for girls. 
From the age of about five until mar- 
riage, which is very often at about 
age twelve for girls, many children 
like Binta spend part of every day 
selling such things as fruits, vegeta- 
bles, and nuts; bouillon cubes, bread, 
and small packages of detergent, 
sugar, or salt; and bowls of steaming 
rice or tuwo. If a woman embroiders, 
children buy the thread and later take 
the finished product to the client or 
to an agent who sells it. 
Women in purdah frequently 
change their occupations depending 
on the availability of child helpers. 
In Kano, women often trade in com- 
modities that can be sold in small 
48 
