GENDER ROLES IN IGBO CULTURE

AN OVERVIEW

Abstract

This paper made a synoptic essay on the pride of place of the female in African culture, using the Igbos of Eastern Nigeria as a case study. The paper used the evolutionary theory, and social role theory to show that gender roles among Igbos from pre historic times were not arbitrarily assigned but evolved, and that up to the moment, survival of any species in an ecosystem depends on proper adjustment to demands of the environment, including delineation of roles. It also explained that Igbos did not engage in retrograde widowhood practices nor defined discriminatory inheritance of parent’s properties, and that the female gender participated actively in the policy/politics and adjudication processes at the highest level in the ‘original’ cultural setting. It concludes that Igbos could have been the oldest democracy in the world.