Oyeronke Olajubu, Women in the Yoruba Religious Sphere. New York: SUNY, 2003

This is a good source on female Orisha, priestesses and medicine women by a Yoruba scholar. I'll skip over her literature review (which is good) and first give some highlights from her discussion of sexual politics. (One recurring theme I take exception to is her stressing of "complementarity" and "balance" when she is discussing patriarchal elements in the culture. I am suspicious of "complementarity" which is so commonly invoked by patriarchs: the Catholic church, Salafist mullahs, etc. etc. But Olajubu does recognize ways that males are privileged, as we will see.)

She writes, “I will be guided by the three tasks of any feminist theology. One is the need to expose the male-centered partiality that had been taken as universal. Second is a search for alternative wisdom and suppressed history, and third is the need to risk new interpretations in conjunction with women’s lives. This I hope to do within the framework of African feminism, which is humanistic.” [15]

“Cultural feminism will also add my exploration as far as it is taken to represent the ‘effort to re-validate undervalued female attributes’.” [16]

“Motherhood as a biological function is symmetrical with the motherhood cult (Iya Mi) in Yoruba  religion.” She explains two all-pervasive iconic expressions of this: “The first (ikunle Abiyamo) is derived from the position of kneeling during childbirth, signifying that women’s experiences of pain and labor could be invoked as a potent force for action. The second (Omu Iya) refers to the nourishment and sustenance a child arrives from the mothers breast.” She adds that the relationship between mother and child “is regarded as the strongest kind of bond among Yoruba people.” [16]

However she also notes a negative manifestation of the focus on motherhood, which excludes barren women: “For one, the inability to become a mother could begin a traumatic process of alienation and frustration for the Yoruba woman. She is perceived as a dead end through whom the ancestral line cannot continue and this could translate to ridicule in the society.” She adds that there are attempts to solve this by adoption of a sibling's child (and only rarely a child from the husband’s line). [17]

Olajubu also points to a common theme in African feminist scholarship, which is that women retain standing in their birth family, higher than among their marital family. (In other words, sisters have have more rights and standing than wives.) One expression of this is women taking wives within their patriline: “the presence of female husbands, for example, consolidated the position of the female in her natal compound. Though residing with her affiliate lineage, she remained an integral part of her natal compound. [She doesn’t clarify how this worked.] “This is to be differentiated from the practice of ‘female husbands’ among the Igbo in Southeastern Nigeria, where a woman could initiate a marriage proposal, pay the bride price, and lay claim to the offspring of such a union.” [22]

“Women who transcend the boundaries of gender roles are often described among the Yoruba as obinrin bi okunrin (woman like a man). Examples include female warriors and hunters who are regarded as the exceptions rather than the norm.” [22]

Then she talks about “same-sex cults.” “Examples of these are the iya mi cult (the invisible association of women of secret power who are often erroneously referred to as witches) and the oro cult (an association of men invested with the authority to execute judgment in the society). Although it is true that one or two of the members of these cults maybe members of the opposite sex, the iya mi cult is predominantly female whereas the oro cult is made up mainly of men.” Then she talks about how males represent toughness volatility and aggression well females represent coolness gentleness and peace. [22]

She illustrates with a chant of the Ayede Ekiti people in their Odun Oba festival in which the king makes sacrifices to Yemoja. [23] This is the original form ("Mother of Fish") of Yemaya / Yemanja.

Our festival has arrived today.

Made this festival turn out to be female in nature

it is in femaleness that peace is hidden

It is the female that comforts

It is the female that soothes

May our festival not turn out to be male

For toughness is of the male.

Priestess of the Great Creatress Obatala Odu, artist unknown.