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Gender roles in igbo society
Treatment of women in Igbo culture
Gender roles in igbo society
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Gender roles in igbo society
Treatment of women in Igbo culture
Gender roles in igbo society
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
During this period, new societies were being shaped and formed in many different places in the world. Globalization changed societies and influenced them. Globalization is defined as when countries develop international influence. This definition represents the process of the development of the countries empires and way they were developmentally influenced by others around them.
The different settlers in America had continued to down women as a gender, and make males more superior. As Perdue continues, she addresses how the power that Cherokee women held had began to plummet the more they were involved with Europeans. However, today there are still Cherokee women that stand strong, hold positions of power, and even are still respected as if it was the 18th
Slavery was a harsh and cruel system, and being a woman in that system was an extra burden that black women had to bear. Blacks performed egregious tasks daily, and female slaves were often expected to work on the plantation and proceed to cook, clean, and raise children. Additionally, with the system of slavery came the separation of families, and black women regularly had to raise children by themselves (Brinkley 261).The racist institution of slavery, however, existed largely to dehumanize slaves and normalize the idea that black slaves were property. As a result, female slaves were often vulnerable to unwanted sexual attention and abuse (Brinkley 264). As property, they were powerless to stop their master’s lewd advances, and would be punished brutally for resisting.
Today, oppressed women around the world still face difficulty regarding their personal survival, and the survival of their children in their communities. Butler, however, does a tremendous job in presenting the struggle of a woman with their limited ability to help themselves and their love ones. Another key contribution to women oppression is young men and the examples that they have in their lives. Rufus the boy/men from Kindred doesn’t respect the females slave, not even his mother. “He had spent his life watching his father ignore, even sell the children he had had with black women.
In the book ”Things fall apart”, Chinua Achebe takes us on a thrilling, but sad adventure. We get to follow Okonkwo’s strife to gain more power over his people, and how colonization affected the Igbo society, located in modern day Nigeria. Achebe gives us the feeling that the fall was all the white mans fault, but was this really the only factor? Was the Igbo society doomed to fail even at it’s start? Power is a dangerous thing, and one of the main reasons for the Ibgo society’s disintegration.
The pre-colonial and postcolonial Igbo society has been observed to be male dominated. Men reign supreme in sociocultural affairs while the female figure has specific limited prescribed roles, a confirmation of absence of feministic ideologies. Motherhood, being submissive to the husband and generally domestic dutiesare some of the roles women are associated with. As the title of the novel by Buchi Emecheta Second Class Citizenimplies, the female figure has been treated as a lesser significant sexwithin the Igbo society considering that equalityamong women is limited by their fathers, husbands and the general patriarchy system. This is something Adah finds quite the same when she moves to England whereby with her African descent she continues to suffer womanhood struggles.
Typical Native American and African society was often matrilineal. This meant that familial relationships were divided through the maternal line, rather than the paternal one like in Europe. This provided women in these societies a great more power and authority than it did in Europe. Women often were involved in making and influencing decision making in the tribe or group. To Europeans, this type of gender egalitarianism was not just foreign but also considered savage.
Every country has its own way of life. DIfferent countries value different things like traditions, and their types of literature. Often times certain types of people or countries are stereotyped. this has happened to the Igbo tribe of Nigeria. One such stereotype is that the people of the Igbo Tribe were thought be be as savages.
First, gender roles in a society have a huge cause and effect that affects the people in the society, in the novel things fall apart these roles greatly affect family life. An example of this is how Okonkwo, the main protagonist in things fall apart, leads his family. Okonkwo is very strict and expects his wives and children to obey his every command, this caused his young wives and children to be scared of him. “Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children”(13).
In Umuofia, traditions and beliefs are to be strongly respected. The line is clearly marked between men and women. Boys are taught to hide their feelings and be strong, while girls are expected to be more sensitive and caring. Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye is an example of that value which was taught : “Nothing pleased Nwoye
The novel Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe presents the strengths and imperfections of the Igbo tradition by describing the worship of their gods and the practices in their ritual ceremonies. Achebe uses detail, proverbs, and symbolism to reveal the tradition and challenge of tradition to the Igbo people. The feast of New Yam is an event that is celebrated every year before the harvest, as a way of giving thanks to the goddess, Ani, and the source of all fertility. During the celebration old yams are disposed of to symbolize the upcoming arrival of the new yams of the year. The festival is similar to our present day Thanksgiving because of its symbolism of welcoming a new year 's harvest and the food that we eat with our families.
In the Ibo hierarchal society, women are the subject of unequal treatment and patronization. They are considered weak and are not given any power. As the novel, Things Fall Apart unravels, the author, Chinua Achebe reveals the distinct attributes of femininity. Feminine traits are also viewed with disdain in Umuofian society, especially by the protagonist of the novel, Okonkwo. His past experiences shape his disposition and give rise to his stereotypical mentality; however, several events contradict the prevalent perspective of women, leading to Okonkwo facing conflicts within himself.
Once their muddy shoes step into the house, they did not have to lift a finger and their wife was at their every command. Their vulnerable egos did not let their wives get the upper grip, and yet they came in all shapes and sizes, they are allowed to be rude, and they could work at some simple, low-paying job and nobody at the time would ever look down upon them. If man could also bear woman’s societal pressures, perhaps equal rights would be obtained much faster, and a larger diversity of households would exist amongst the
The ones who didn’t have it and suffered due to it, the men who weren’t masculine enough, the women, the children were more open and hopeful towards the new religion, culture and social changes that Colonialism brought – all of these that were considered to be not manly by Okonkwo and other ‘Masculine’ men who thought like him. The moment they saw something other than their own culture and tradition, based at least a little less on gender hierarchy, they were scared of it and resisted. Because they knew their traditional idea of masculinity and the status, the power it gave them over others will be taken away in the new
In the villages of Umuofia, men are seen as more imperious and well respected while females are portrayed as weak. For example, it was mentioned that “his mothers and sisters worked hard enough but they grew women’s crops like coco-yams, beans and cassava. Yam, the king of crops, was a man’s crop.” (Achebe 17).