The motorbikes that crowd the streets of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, have a story to tell.
Once the preserve of men and a sign of male status in this West African country, today it is used everywhere by women – and is an important tool of emancipation.
When Nigerian filmmaker Kagho Idhebor first arrived in Ouagadougou, he was surprised by the number of women riding motorcycles.
“I’ve never seen a woman drive with such attitude, such independence,” she said. “There are more motorcycles than cars, and more women than men on these motorcycles.”
He was so surprised by the phenomenon that he made “Burkina Babes” – a documentary that was screened at the pan-African FESPACO cinema and TV festival in Ouagadougou that ended last weekend.
Dressed in jeans or coats, some with babies on their backs, women of all ages ride motorbikes in Burkina Faso.
“The motorcycle is above all the needs” to get around, said Valerie Dambre, who has stopped at the traffic light.
But she is also a symbol of autonomy for many women in an impoverished country plagued by years of jihadist insurgency.
Nearly one in seven of Burkina’s population of 22 million owns a motorcycle, according to transport ministry figures for 2020.
Between 2011 and 2020, the number of motorcycles tripled as a share of the population, strengthening their role as a solution for mobility.
– Breaking the barriers in Burkina –
“In coastal countries (in West Africa), people go straight to the car” from walking or using bicycles, said anthropologist Jocelyne Vokouma. “But we (in Burkina) turn on motorbikes before using cars.”
The key period of change was the early 1990s, he said.
Also read: 22 richest men in the world have more wealth than all women in Africa, Oxfam finds
Until that time, “the woman proudly said that her husband bought the motorcycle. ‘My husband is fine,’ is what the women say,” Vokouma said.
But the country is going through terrible austerity and many people are losing their jobs.
Women took up the baton, setting up small businesses such as selling fruit and vegetables to earn money – and as they progressed, many used their savings to replace their motorbikes.
With that, there is greater freedom, to develop a business, take the children to school, see friends or just visit.
Also read: Burkina Faso raises 150 million euros for war funds
However, says Vokouma, some important seeds have been sown by Burkina Faso’s revolutionary left-wing leader, Thomas Sankara.
During his four years in power in the 1980s, which ended traumatically with an assassination, Sankara “played the role of emancipation, breaking traditional patterns of thought and pushing women into the public space, outside the home,” he said. “The young women of today have been brought to their ideas.”
– Training –
Hand in hand with the new mobility has come the entry for women into the male-dominated business of auto maintenance.
Since 1997, the Women’s School for Initiation and Skills Training (CFIAM) has trained more than 700 women to become mechanics and body repairmen.
The CEO and founder, Bernard Zongo, said he set up the school to help “girls … go to non-traditional work areas, to become economically independent.”
They hired a full-time female psychologist and installed a nursery for students with babies.
Also read: In troubled Burkina, spiritual healers are a phenomenon
The center receives donations from NGOs, which account for 75 percent of its revenue, while the remaining income comes from fees.
The two-year course costs 100,000 CFA francs ($163) – a hefty sum in a country with an annual per capita income of more than $900.
Other African countries, including Niger, Ivory Coast and Mali have sent representatives to CFIAM to see how it works, and “the boys are asking to sign up,” Zongo says with a smile.
“There are people we know who are jealous of us,” said one student, Salamata Kongo, speaking over a cutting racket and hammer.
But patriarchy and machismo habits die hard.
“Guys try to bully you,” said Berenice Zagali, who is studying to be a mechanic.
“He said, ‘You woman, what are you doing here? This is man’s work. Your place is the kitchen, the office’.”