Gender role
Osofisan adopts the Victorian notion of gender distinction portrayed in Trojan Women as the traditional role of women in his play “Women of Owu”. Contrarily, as portrayed in women of Owu which in this case serve as the microcosm of the Nigerian culture, in the Yoruba context, the concept of gender differ from the Victorian notion of separate spheres for women and men. Men are viewed as strong, rational, economic providers, while women were the weaker, emotive group with their primary responsibilities as wives and homemakers. Yoruba land lacked such gender distinction with both sexes sharing labour roles outside the domestic setting in commerce, production, and service industry. The Yoruba’s do not have an ideological conception of two genders; they do distinguish between male and female roles at home. Osofisan dramatizes the plight of women in war situations and their vulnerable situation. Osofisan’s stress on the suffering of women in war resembles Euripides’ Trojan Women. Women of Owu like the Trojan Women most powerfully show “the other side” of war, focusing on Owu rather than the allied forces, on women rather than men. In the context of ancient Yoruba people, where citizenship was exclusively male, Osofisan like Euripides’ focus on women is remarkable. This feat should not be taken at face value. The Women of Owu were portrayed as weaklings and in physical relation with death; thus bearing responsibility for the preparation of the body for burial and for