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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Have Men Become the Weaker Sex? Changing Life Situations in Kisii District, Kenya
Author:Silberschmidt, MargretheISNI
Year:1992
Periodical:Journal of Modern African Studies
Volume:30
Issue:2
Period:June
Pages:237-253
Language:English
Geographic term:Kenya
Subjects:social change
gender relations
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Women's Issues
Cultural Roles
Sex Roles
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/161191
Abstract:This paper examines how socioeconomic changes in the 20th century have affected gender relations and gender identity in Kisii District, western Kenya. The author argues that although the economic and social life of both genders has clearly diminished in quality in some respects, the same historical processes have provided women with an emancipatory potential, whereas only a minority of men have been able to confront the challenge successfully. The identity and self-respect of the men have been deeply affected, not only by socioeconomic factors, but also by contradicting norms and values. Despite the emergence of new and often conflicting values, a relatively unchanged code of conduct plays a decisive role in defining the identity and self-respect of both men and women by establishing expectations of gender behaviour, and by creating and consolidating feelings of inferiority, uncertainty, and frustration when individuals are no longer able to live up to the unwritten norms and rules of behaviour. Ref.
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