ABSTRACT
The history of African labor in the colonization of central Africa has been this far of men. Females are given a minor role in the success stories written by colonial men. The presence of women on military expeditions was regulated in an official manner. It was argued that they served many useful purposes. People would be less fearful of the safety of their own women in seeing women amongst the soldiers. Women were a cheap source of labor for the construction and maintenance of stations. Women workers came from different sources: sometimes they were local villagers who were simply forced to perform certain chores; others were hostages who were transformed into unwilling workers; and still others were liberated slaves. The mobilization of women was an act of violence greater, if that is possible, than it was in that of men.
