Gender Roles In Igbo Society

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Gender roles in the Ibo society shape the way that its men and women live and interact in their everyday lives. This essay will be comparing and contrasting the different roles of the male versus the female. All of Igbo life is gendered, from the crops that women and men grow to how many spouses a man can have. Depending on what sex you are you will be taught to act in a specific way.
The Ibo society gender roles can be considered as “traditional” men provide for his wife and children, and women pamper the children and take care of the home. For the males of the village physical achievement defines how much of man one is based on the importance of wrestling competitions. The importance of titles can is supported by this quote “The man who …show more content…

“But when there is sorrow and bitternesshe finds refuge in his motherland. Your motheris there to protect you. She is buried there. And that is why we say that mother is supreme.”(Achebe,134). The quote here gives us evidence that even though the roles are set and woman don’t get as much respect as a man does, all men know who they run to when they’re going through some kind of turmoil. The fact that woman is supreme shows the meaningless of the gender roles in the Igbo society. The quote also gives mothers of the Igbo society a better social status.
In conclusion, it could be said that the roles of the male and female in this text are similiar to the roles of men and women in our society. Woman take care of the children and the home while the men are protectors and providors of the family. In other ways we are the total opposite of the Umofian society; we don’t tolerate domestic abuse like they do. Unlike us the society of Eumofia is heavily differentiated by gender, woman can have only one husband while a man can have numerous wives. We see very strict gender roles in the Umofian society of Things Fall

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