The Somali community in the UK: What we know and how we ... - ICAR

Over 80% of these families contained from three
to thirteen children, and housing was considered a
contributing factor to the child’s problems in over
a third of cases (Farah and Smith, 1999: 108-110).
But what is also interesting is the women’s own
comments included in this report concerning the
sharp contrast between their past and present
accommodation. They do not necessarily come
from the top elite of Somali society, but from the
comfortable middle class - the “medium life” of
which Quadra speaks:
Things are very different and difficult here
compared to Somalia. We had an import/export
business in Somali dealing in leather goods
from Italy…. We had 3 houses in Somalia and
our children went to private Italian school, but
here we live in a council flat on income support.
(ibid: 101)
We had a good life in Somalia, owning a
farm and a shop, giving us the privilege
of both country and city life. We lived in a
six-bedroomed bungalow, far from a three
bedroom council flat in Tower Hamlets. (ibid:
101)
In Somalia we lived in the south where we
owned a hotel and restaurant in the city. We
lived in a five bedroom villa and had servants to
work in the house. (ibid: 103)
Both men and women are affected by changes
in domestic circumstances, but as women are
confined to the home more than men, the impact
of change falls heavily on their shoulders. A pleasant
and spacious environment is replaced by a tower
block flat, designed for a nuclear family. Solitary
housework and childcare come as a shock for
those accustomed to living in an extended family
where chores are shared among the women. The
issue of servants is crucial here - in common with
many developing countries, lower as well as uppermiddle
class women are cushioned from the effects
of the domestic division of labour. Cooks, maids,
cleaners, and nannies, or poorer relatives, deal
with many of the domestic chores, freeing their
employers for other pursuits.
Men are not expected to lift a finger in domestic
tasks. They can argue that it is “dishonourable and
un-Islamic for a man to be sullying himself in this
way” (Farah, 2000: 69). But women’s toughness
and flexibility can serve them well in the refugee
situation, and their testimonies echo Sarah Cox’s
observations on the self-sufficiency of little girls in
nursery school (see above, p. 54):
In Somalia, where there are boys and girls in
a family, the mother all the time trains the girl
– clean up, wash the dishes, cook the food, give
your brothers food. The boys don’t even take the
food from the pan, the girl has to take it to him.
But so she becomes stronger. When she is 14
or 15.… she can do everything a woman can
do. So the lady, nobody stops her. She becomes
independent, she’s got the ideas, she becomes
cleverer than the man. 139
Gender roles - conflict and change
It is interesting that despite the stereotype of the
subservient Muslim female, much of the material
we have on Somalis shaping their own lives in the
UK focuses on women. 140 In the Somali context,
this competence is exercised in the context of male
dominance. Rural women had a crucial productive
role in the nomadic economy; men were often
absent, and it was the women who herded the
sheep and goats as well as handling domestic tasks
such as fetching water, preparing food, and caring
for children and dependents. In towns, women
often contributed to the family income, whether
in unskilled or professional employment. But
responsibility for maintaining the family still lay with
the man, and a Muslim wife or daughter remained
under his formal control. 141
In the UK, men are losing their dominant role.
This process was already under way in Somalia
with the break-up of families during the fighting,
and the flight of women and children into refugee
camps and exile. Single motherhood became the
norm - men were lost in the war, left behind in
another part of the world, or discarded along the
way. Although a girl’s marriage, as a union between
two families, was - and often still is - beyond her
62 The Somali community in the UK