Women in History and Historiography

This paper attempts to reconstruct the history of Ethiopian Jewish women whose voice appears so conspicuously absent in some of the writings on the Beta Israel community. Before doing this however it would be wrong to ignore some of the important recent work on the subject. Whereas the three texts I analyse below support an image of the Beta Israel woman as a subordinated and unempowered creature this impression must not be taken at face value. In Evolution of Ethiopian Jewry Quirin includes gender in his ethnohistorical approach ¹ and arrives at a more detailed description of the lives of Falasha women which depends to a great extent on his use of oral sources. The women Quirin mentions may be divided into four categories. These categories themselves betray an understanding of women as active in and beyond their communities. First there are women connected with royal dynasties. Most famously there was the legendary Queen Yodit, also called Esther, who is said to have displaced the Axumite dynasty. She is claimed in some oral traditions as an ancestor of the Beta Israel. At times the Ethiopian royal house had an extensive marriage policy to consolidate its power over the regions. Dynastic marriages such as these with women from the Beta Israel were not uncommon. We know that a certain Yodit was mentioned in connection with Lebna Dengel and Harago became a consort of Sarsa Dengel. Their son succeeded him on the throne, ² A second category would be women in office. Some women are remembered in Beta Israel oral traditions for having occupied offices, both within their community and in the wider community. In the Gondar-period (first half of 18th century) a women called Gondarit is said to have been among the 'last great azmaches'. ³ There are four other women who are remembered as leading members of the Beta Israel society, namely Rahel, Milat, Abre Warq, and Roman Warq, but there is no detailed information as to their exact role. A further category is represented by women as heroic figures. The unnamed woman who in order not to compromise her faith plunged down a precipice, dragging with her the soldier who led her is obviously one. Queen Yodit of the 10th century can also be counted in this category. The picture that emerges from recent work shows that women in fact played a rather important role in their community.