Through generations, people have created specific roles that are put into place from the expectance of it being filled. Gender roles are shown to kids when they are able to comprehend life. Throughout history, people have parented there child according to their gender. Girls and boys alike both do things in accordance to their particular gender.
The novel Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, should be the recipient of the 2019 Richardson Book Award as it brings insight into world issues with gender equality. Okonkwo’s story of his life, and almost confirms how society creates a specific role for each of gender. The gender roles of the village of Umuofia are visible through with their work being divided, the relations that exist between men and women, and the attitudes construct their genders.
To begin, the tasks set for a job shows clear indication and can be used to pick out the duties of each sex. The separation within a labour force involves the factors age and gender. This often means, tasks are filled by the preferred gender implying of what the community expects. Similar to others, in the Igbo society the women do many tasks that revolves on food preparation, cleaning, and many types of family chores, and the men are tasked to do some farming, heavy labour and wrestling for entertainment.
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In Umuofia, during certain festivals, tasks were set “the women had cleaned walls and floors until it was able to reflect light” (Achebe, 37). When a woman does not complete they were tasked to, they were bickered at or sometimes hit by the men. For example, the main character Okonkwo had come home expecting a meal ready for him, yet instead finds an empty table with no meal, this angered Okonkwo, in which was lashed out on his wife. However, now meal preparation is not tasked to just the female, it is broken into a specific set of responsibilities for each.
Each gender harvests crops, men are commonly the ones butchering the animals, whilst the women do the preparation. During an occasion called URI (where a man buys them out for marriage), men and women alike contribute to preparing goats to feast on. Once the men have killed the goats, “the men cleaned and sliced the goats for the women to prepare the food” (Achebe, 114).
Aside from each day tasks, when it comes to aiding a family, the human beings of Umuofia have responsibilities that are now not like many different cultures. The village women are responsible for the care of the children, and the men are responsible for income and gathering food. The gap in the labour force in the village of Umuofia, is a clear standpoint of where gender roles stand.
Secondly, the relation between the Umuofian men and women give a sense of gender inequality. As the men apart are considered as the dominant gender. In this novel, there is a direct system diagnosed throughout this society. Men also come to be a point of reference in figuring out a specific woman, but instead of announcing the woman’s name they refer them as “Obrieka’s wife” or “Ikemefuna’s sister” and sheds light on where girls stand in Igbo society.
In Umuofia, having multiple wives is normal, meaning successful men will be wedded to more than one woman. To start the entire process, there is a price for a bride that is set for a specific lady that the man must pay to have her hand in marriage. During a wedding ceremony that Okonkwo attends, Obrieka the father of the bride says, “She will be a great wife to you as she will be able to give you nine sons like the mother of our town” (Achebe, 117).
As this implies that a women’s biggest duty is to be able to give their husband sons, to keep the family name. In the novel, the most surprising thing about the gender relations is how woman any say in anything. The author writes describes Okonkwo during a spar, “He is truly motivated with the want to rule, like the want for new women” (Achebe, 42). The women who are wedded are viewed as property that could increase status of that man. If a woman resists the man in the relationship it may be seen as the man but in a reflection, which lowers their social status. In the Igbo clan, this issue upon the relationships between men and women is able to give clear insight about it.
Finally, an aspect that sheds light onto gender roles in society are the attitudes that are in place from the repeated cultural roles known as enculturation. Enculturation helps contribute to the shaping process in the gender construct, this ends up to the ideas continuing to the next following generations. In the Igbo culture, the women here are known as frail and weak which is looked down upon.
When a man is referenced as a woman, it would be equivalent as being regarded as a failure and coming from signs of weakness. Masculinity is expected from men in the clan and is almost like a necessity if a man desires high status. The author Achebe writes, “To show affection it was a sign weakness, worthiness came from showing strength” (Achebe, 28). Through the gender construct, masculinity is applied to all of Igbo life, being the cause of how men treat their women.
In the novel, “Even how prosperous a man was if he was not able to rule the members of his family he was not a man” (Achebe, 53). All of these ideas and attitudes had emphasized the gender roles existing in the Igbo clan. These underlying, discreet attitudes provide a way to a gender construct that extensively affects society in the most elaborate manner. Overall, it helps shape culture and the customs, which is a complicated contribution to the way their society features completely.
The roles that each gender expected to fulfilled is enforced by culture, which is clearly portrayed by Chinua Achebe author of Things Fall Apart. This was backed up with their work share being divided by strength, the relations that exist between men and women, and the attitudes construct their genders, the gender roles present in their society become clearly defined.
These factors give an insight that this may be compared to societies across the world and can be used to give a higher perspective of the worldview. Gender roles are a huge part of any society, even if it is a small group or a society filled with millions of people. Regardless the process tends to stay on par with previous experiences but may vary, but all in all, roles are still expected to be fulfilled by the preferred gender.
