Lols

rPofessor Mathew Hopper
English I Honors
2 November 2012

Gender Roles in Nigeria
Throughout Nigerian history, men and women have always been treated unequally. Men have always been treated better than women, since from the beginning of history, they started to control the government and make different types of laws for themselves but not for women. On the other hand, history has not beenkind to women. Women were said to be weak and less intelligent than men, and even some of them thought just as Aristotle did; they thought “Men is superior, women is inferior; the one governs, the other is governed” (340). Women hardly ever protested for equality since it was their way of life, and always did what men commanded them. In the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the society thatthe people lived in (also known as Igbo), moved around gender roles and based on their gender, they got different types of gender roles, just like in some places of the world nowadays.
For centuries, men have dominated the world by governing many things. Men have assumed to have greater responsibility, to be more logical and to be put in greater advantage than women, therefore, they are said to bemore powerful than women. While researching texts about gender roles in Nigeria, there were two about Nigerian men. The first one was: “Nigerian men do not treat well their wives since it isn’t a priority there” (Qualls, “Women in Nigeria”) and the second one was: “Nigerian men do not value the economic contributions of their wives” (Rojas, “Nigerian Men”). This means that Nigerian men treattheir wives however they want to, and nobody will do anything to them because it isn’t regarded important. In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe describes how Okonkwo, the main character, beat his wives whenever he got mad since “he ruled his household with a heavy hand” (13) which is another example woman mistreating in Nigeria.
In spite of many women’s fights for equality over men, there are stillmany women in many countries that still don’t achieve this. Women, after being said to be weaker and worst than me, keep fighting for their rights. Women’s capacity of reproduction and child-bearing is the explanation why they have limited roles in life and this is why in Nigeria and in many other places of the world, “there are lower rates of female participation in workplaces, politics, and inbusiness activities” (Qualls, “Women in Nigeria”). Moreover, in Nigeria, “For women, not knowing how to cook, is a crime since they always have to cook for men” (Rojas, “Nigerian Men”). In the book Things Fall Apart, women were not treated very well. For Okonkwo, being a woman was being “shivering, weak or frail, and meant failure” (Achebe, 65), which embodied his dad and taunted him with fear.
Onthe other hand, while some women fight for equality, children all around the world want to be treated as good as many other children and stop being mistreated. In European countries, mistreating happen the most, and in Nigeria, treating well your children is a priority, but there is not a specific law that says to not mistreat your children, which leads many parents to beat up their children. InNigeria, when a boy grows up, “he is expected to leave his father’s house at most by the age of 30, fend for himself and build his own home” (Rojas, “Nigerian Men”). If a man doesn’t leave his father’s home by the age of 30, “He will be known by the village he lives in, as an irresponsible man” (Rojas, “Nigerian Men”). In Things Fall Apart, Achebe describes how Okwonkwo always thinks to himself,how his favorite daughter, named Ezinma, “Should have been a boy” (Achebe, 64) because he likes boys better than girls and also adds, how Ezinma “Has the right spirit to be a boy” (Achebe, 66) but is not a boy.
A gender role is the pattern of masculine or feminine behavior of an individual that is defined by a culture. Gender roles vary. Different cultures “Impose different expectations upon...