An Empire of Men

An Empire of Men

During the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the British Empire was an all time high in global power. The British had recently taken complete control over India with the help of the East India Company. With the rule of Queen Victoria, the empire was continuing its rapid spread of conquest and colonization. The two men of Rudyard Kipling, often remembered for his children's tales, and Richard Henry Meinertzhagen, a British soldier and ornithologist, wrote pieces that depicted life throughout these times. Rudyard Kipling's, "The Ballad of East and West," and Richard Meinertzhagen's Kenya Diary, reveal importance of male dominance in the British Empire along with their military presence in Africa and the Anglo-Afghan border.

At the end of the nineteenth century the British Empire began its' shift in focus on new and appealing silver and gold in Africa. The empire soon began to colonize and develop land with the help of all their military forces. With the incoming military came the male dominance in Africa. Phillipa Levine shows this dominance in the book, The British Empire: Sunrise to Sunset. In her book, Levine says, "The most exclusively male of all colonial environments was the military." With this she illustrates how men were to be the ones in military, not women. It also gives the thought on how women were discriminated upon when it came to military. In this quote, Levine also gives a colonial aspect of women and how they were to be caretakers and housewives, not be in a military setting. The reason why women were not allowed in the military was because they were seen as unfit and unable to do military duties. Another example of this is from the journal by Richard Meinertzhagen. In Kenya Diary, he writes about his military occupations and the jobs that he had to do. He was interested in nature a lot of the time, but also writes about his stay in Africa. In his journal he writes about the killing of native Africans and how the British did it to get land and animals. These tasks that the military had to do were viewed as too hard and daunting for women during this time. Women were supposed to be comfortable while staying at home, raising children, and being caregivers. With this military status of the British, there were certain standards and customs that were very influential on the way people were suppose to live within the empire. The fact that the military was to be solely male based was just one way that influenced native Africans during these times.

Another example of the militaries absence of women in power is the poem, "The Ballad of East and West," by Rudyard Kipling. Within the poem, Kipling tells a story of a man named Kamal and his controversy with a Colonel and his son during the time of the Border Ballad. During the piece Kipling explains how Kamal has his "men" spread out throughout the Khyber Pass. With this specific line in the poem, Kipling helps show the very absence of women involved in military and political debates. It is "men" that are the hero's and warriors, not women. There is not any part of his poem that develops any sort of thought into where women where or what they were doing during this time. It was probably just thought of that the women were at home or at least somewhere safe during the fury.

Throughout the colonization of Africa, the British often had soldiers distribute and split up to control the colonies. The British settlers knew little to none of native