Gender Relations in Indigenous Yoruba Culture: Questioning Feminism Action and Advocacy
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Date
2022-01-18
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Abstract
Western feminism has diffused to many other cultures, who have imbibed without proper reflection. This is similar for the Yorùbá people of South-Western Nigeria. Yorùbá culture is gender-neutral and gender-silent; women are seen as complementary and not subordinate to men. Hence, (Oyěwùmí 1997), caution must be raised on the continual adoption of mainstream Western feminist philosophy in Yorùbá culture. Consequently, an argument was submitted for a different approach to doing feminism in Yorùbá culture. In essence, colonial imposition of gender binary in Yorùbá society; roles and gender status of women in traditional Yorùbá culture; women anti-colonial and feminist activities were discussed. The decolonization of Africa and the Yorùbá education system to include a properly historicized indigenous knowledge was recommended. Current feminist movements must also develop a 'shared text of blackness'. The duo should align and improve the worth of women based on the indispensability and esteemed status offered to women in pre-colonial Yorùbá society.
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Keywords
Black feminism, Colonialism, Feminism, Gender, indigenous society, Pre-colonial, South-West Nigeria, Yoruba culture