ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the changes in women's position in the family that have come about as a result of the creation of a middle class in Kenya. In the introduction to a recent special issue of the journal of African History, the editors report their concern that the history of the family, which has become so lively and important an area of study in Europe and America since the 1960's, was being almost totally neglected in Africa. The typical pitfalls of family history obtain in Africa as much as anywhere else. The avoidance of male and elder bias obviously requires an at least temporary shift in the level of analysis from the household or kin unit level to that of the individual. The difficulty in applying Louise Tilly and Joan W. Scott's conception to Africa is that the notion of "family" employed is that of the European conjugal household, with its assumption of pooled, shared resources.
