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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | Culture, Gender, and Development Theories in Africa |
| Author: | Oluwole, Sophie B. |
| Year: | 1997 |
| Periodical: | Africa Development: A Quarterly Journal of CODESRIA (ISSN 0850-3907) |
| Volume: | 22 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 95-121 |
| Language: | English |
| Notes: | biblio. refs. |
| Geographic terms: | Nigeria Africa |
| Subjects: | gender relations Yoruba Women's Issues Development and Technology Equality and Liberation Cultural Roles Sex Roles Status of Women gender Cultural development Yoruba (African people) Ideology women's rights Development theory |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/24482785 |
| Abstract: | In this article the author compares Western and African, in particular Yoruba, world views to establish the principles that determine the relationships between men and women in Western and African societies. In Western culture, the study of nature led to the view that women were physically and intellectually inferior to men. This idea in turn created a particular form of sexism. To understand the origins of Yoruba (Nigeria) principles of gender relations, the author examines a number of proverbs and aphorisms from the 'Ifá' corpus of Yoruba oral literature, and analyses the Yoruba understanding of nature, its symbolism of the deities and Yoruba cultural views on knowledge. The Yoruba understanding of nature suggests an appreciation of a natural but non-derogatory dichotomy between men and women, and an awareness that maleness and femaleness are complementary. This finding contrasts with the markedly subordinate roles assigned to women in Yoruba society. This paradox seems to arise from the failure of the Yoruba to totally avoid using biological differences between male and female as a criterion for determining male-female social relationships. Nonetheless, the Yoruba world view leads to a more benign form of sexism than the Western world view. Bibliogr., notes. |
