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Inferiorization of Igbo
Women and its Consequences
“We represent over half of
humanity. We give life, we work, love, create, struggle, and have fun. We
currently accomplish most of the work essential to life and the continued
survival of humankind. Yet our place in society continues to be undervalued.”
- Jivka Marinova
Inferiorization is the conscious,
deliberate and systematic process utilized to derogate, demean and relegate an
individual, group as second class. The meaning of the word “feminine,” is
modeled, especially in classical ascetic cultures, on the images of the lower
self and world. Autonomous social selfhood is imaged by men - the cultural
creators of this view - as intrinsically “male,” while the “feminine” becomes
the symbol of the repressed, subjugated and dreaded abysmal side of
man.
In Nigeria, while some ethnic groups have
gone ahead in women liberation and empowerment, Ndiigbo, the Hausas and few
others still believe that the place of a woman is at home. The place of an Igbo
woman in the community is still that of social exclusion.
In the South west of Nigeria; a Yoruba
woman is known to be as industrious as an Igbo man with their men struggling to
meet up. An Igbo man will however prefer to be the “lord of the house” and in
the communities even in the face of glaring failure and incompetence - not give
women any chance social and intellectual expression. Man must be man, so we
struggle till death; we abandon our villages and communities to cities and vow
never to go back until we “make it”. We do rituals; defraud our brothers… to
maintain the dominance?
There is a saying in Igbo land that; an
old woman never forgets the dance steps she learnt while she was still young.
The fact that the old
woman (still) remembers or knows the dance suggests her possession of admirable mental capacity. Some of these proverbs of
Ndiigbo is however being undermined by other negative, derogatory and sexist
ones which are in the majority and are constantly being used to subdue and
dominate.
Take a closer look at some
of these selected Igbo proverbs:
1. A woman whose husband
has decided to hate cannot solve the problem by mere cooking of delicious
soup
2. Due to their habitual
denial of favours they receive, women do not grow beards
3. When a woman is getting
old, it would seem as if money (bride price) was not paid to marry
her
4. A woman whose husband
has just died and she prepares to go to market knows what killed
him
5. A dog trained by a woman
(always) bites people to death
6 A woman who goes to Afor
Nnobi Market and fights, goes to Nkwo Alor Market and fights, goes to Eke
Uke Market and fights, is it the market people that are looking for
trouble (from her), or is she the one that is looking for trouble (from
market people)?
In Igbo proverbs, women are
portrayed as being childish, irresponsible, foolish, weak, unreliable, wicked,
dangerous and generally inferior to men. As are result of these images, which
are used in the proverbs as valid cultural constructions, young, middle aged and
old, make reference to them in maintaining their dominance. My question; Is it
only a man’s right to hate her husband? Is it only women that grows old or
denies favour done for them? Are all these long-aged dominance awakening the
consciousness of our women to their rights?
As our women folk came to the realization
that their destiny is in their hands, they are gradually taking over proceedings
in education and civil service. The female population in all the higher
institution in Southeastern Nigeria averages 65%, the female/male teachers in
our schools is 3:1; the civil service is being taken over by female employees as
more men shy away from these low paying jobs in search of “get-rich-quick”
options.
When a woman is hungry for
gossiping, she starts asking questions about what she already knows – Igbo proverb meant for derogation and denigration of
womanhood by men. The women are
however not only asking questions as to why accept the inferiority, they are
taking actions. The truth is that the women are coming, some have even arrived.
The dire consequences of this age-long inferiorization of women can be seen in
many broken homes where the woman in an attempt to protect her rights gets
kicked out by the ‘man of the house’ or opts out on her own – a “dangerous”
trend.
Some woman have chosen to be single
parents, others to remain single the divorce rate continues to increase. The
trend is fast spreading from developed countries where the rights of women are
protected by law to developing democracies where such rights are still being
trampled on. The women can no longer wait. Their reasoning – and rightly too; I
have a good job, am educated, I can maintain myself and train my kids, I am a
professional woman, so what?
Meanwhile those women who cannot stand
and fight now are silently equipping themselves by going to college, taking up
positions in the civil service, decision and policy making positions that are
currently being neglected by men. We (men) wake up everyday and continue with
our quest for ill wealth and power thinking the status quo will be
forever.
I think its time for cultural
reorientation and steps towards emancipation and empowerment of our women folks.
This will not only help release the bottled up anger, but in the long run will
create a better educated and enlightened society, good economic standing for
families etc. It is either this is done to forestall the tragedy and clash ahead
or we prepare to face the volatility of the violent mix. I may be wrong or right
but the era of inferiorization of Igbo women is coming to an end for sure
and am afraid of the consequences.
Churchill.okonwko@gmail.com
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Authors 
Posted by Robot| 09.09.2007 01:14