As we see in the Igbo society there is the extremely noticeable social issue of gender roles. An issue most men and women of the 21st century are trying to throw out as we today are trying to break these barriers of, everyone has a certain job and a certain way to live their life brought onto us by a society who did not see the equals in men and women but the differences and inferiority and superiority between both genders.
In this book we see many times where gender is used to describe a lot of materialistic things, such as the listing of the female crops in the story “coco-yams, beans and cassava” these were called the “women’s crops” and the famous “Yam, the king of crops, was a man's crop”. The Igbo people showed extreme divisions within the genders, why can’t a woman plant a king crop and why can’t a man plant a simple cassava? Little things such as these are so much bigger than they look, it is ideologies such as these that brought us to the degrading and lessening of women in a society. Much like today’s society though we are progressing in this issue, the Igbo women are seen to be just the submissive wives and child bearers to their her husbands.
Equality of genders has been such a big issue for as long as hundreds of years, but in today’s society we are changing that. Women today are doing things they couldn’t do before such as work at certain places or even work at all because of society's’ old norms. This is a tremendous achievement and progression because now women can follow their dreams and be who they want in a society that didn’t want them to do anything or have a voice even inside of their homes. - Rakasha McIntosh
I agree that women are having a transformation in the eyes of society but I don't think that our challenges are that far off from the tribe of Umuofia. There are several difficulties we still face such as equal pay rights, equal representation in the media, equal representation in politics (there are 3 times as many men in congress than women), and sexual violence. There are plenty of instances in today's society that makes me question whether we've really progressed as a society.
ReplyDelete-Rachel Robutti
I believe we have progressed as a society. Women are able to get the same amount of education as men and are able to obtain jobs that would be considered masculine. Women used to be labeled as a care giver since their only job was to maintain the house and raise children. Today a lot more women are going to college and starting their careers before settling down and having a family, some women are just focused on career, and not even plan to have a family.~ Jaya Jugmohan
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ReplyDeleteI believe that we have progressed in our way to equality but we are nowhere near the finish line. The gap between the sexes is still heavily present in our society, as it is in Umuofia's. I also wonder why the many women never tried to take a stand against these men who treated them as inferior. Posssibly because these women live in a time where equality was not a known thing, so they had no thought of making a change? - Elisabeth Magana
ReplyDeleteElisabeth I agree with you completely, we have made tremendous progress comparing to the women of the Ibo society. It was the lack of knowledge that these women possessed that hindered them from becoming equals to the men in their society and taking action in bettering themselves. So how would they make a change when they do not even see their inequality of sexes as a problem to fix? - Rakasha McIntosh
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the struggles women face today are nowhere near the injustices faced in Umuofia because at least in today's society women are able to do whatever they please and are not tied down to their family or husbands but I still do believe that our society has a long way to go in equal rights for both men and women which is something that is going to have to start with the gap in wages
ReplyDelete- Alicia Cornejo
I agree with both Rachel and Elisabeth. Yes even though women have made a tremendous breakthrough in today's society with having more right rights then we've ever had before, there's still a ton more out there. In the book, besides being used to describe materialistic things, Okonkwo uses the term women as an insult to his sons, and in today's society we continuously see women being insulted and used as an insult.
ReplyDelete-Destiny Quinones
I think that instead of looking at our society only, we should also evaluate other society around the world when discussing about women equality or inequality. The difference between the the countries where women have equality and women don't is whether the society is developed or civilized. It's really important the we see how many women out there who still don't have the same role in society as men. Many society out there are still very similar to Okonkwo's society, like North Korea, China, Egypt, India and much more. The significant in this is that we are in the 21st century and women inequality still exist all over the world.
ReplyDelete- Vy Ly
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ReplyDeleteIt is quite evident that compared to the Ibo society as a whole, the inequality system that both genders lived by was followed through the lack of education. The women specific ally were unaware of the domestic violence they were putting up with on a daily basis. Today we live in a world where women can get an education to make a living before even settling down. -Melenny Gallardo
ReplyDeleteEquality between men and women has changed a lot throughout the years. Women are treated as equal to men now, I agree with Destiny that women have made a tremendous breakthrough in today's society with having more right rights then we've ever had before. -Rebecca Jones
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