The Traditional Nigerian Masculinity and Femininity
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/06/12
Dr. Leo Igwe is the founder of the Nigerian Humanist Movement and former Western and Southern African representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union. On August 16, 2017, we published an interview. Here, we talk about gender roles.
Dr. Leo Igwe and I talked about the Nigerian Humanist Movement founded by Igwe and the traditional masculinity and femininity in Nigeria. Igwe, in the response, cautioned about the common and ever-present possibility of the misinterpretation of responses.
That is, the misunderstanding of talking about men and women in Nigerian meaning all men and all women in every context when referencing “men” or “women” rather than the statistical nature of the representation of the traditional masculinity and femininity.
“There is always a risk of conflation in responding to a question such as this because any answer could easily be taken to be all embracing and applicable to all. Definitely, an understanding of traditional masculinity or femininity that applies to over 170 million people in Nigeria with various cultures and beliefs presents a challenge,” Igwe stated.
His personal opinion of the nature of traditional femininity and masculinity within a highly diverse and populated society such as Nigeria. It is simply the idea handed down from the past. Some from a before when these were not necessarily highly scrutinized.
Igwe said, “This idea of what it is to be a man or a woman draws its moral and binding force from the fact that it was handed down to a generation that assumes it is expected to observe it, comply with it and pass it on without revision or alteration.”
It becomes a tradition with the sacrosanct nature of the maleness and femaleness. It becomes designated as the standards in social life or the norm for nurturance and cultivation in males and females – a social and cultural overlay on top of the sex differentiated characteristics.
“It is important to note that the idea of manliness and womanliness which people regard as the norm because they are handed down from the past differ from community to community, and sometimes from family to family, in fact from individual to individual. It is difficult to pin it down,” Igwe opined.
In Nigeria, the masculine is see as something with leadership, power, strength, and toughness; the feminine with weakness and vulnerability. Male seen as the head of the home and society. Some strong and capable. Some who can absorb pain and not cry. The man must be defense. Because he is needed to protect family against the dangers and threats of the world.
“Womanliness,” by contrast, “is associated with ‘weakness’ and vulnerability. Marriage, childcare, child bearing and domestic duties are also linked to womanhood,” Igwe explained, “Persons are brought up to fit into these roles and expectations. Unfortunately, the emphasis is often, on women and their designated subordinate and subjugated roles.”
Igwe noted the forgotten facts about males being raised by parents who include the mothers, and other family members such as nieces, sisters, and aunts who have them (the males) fit into some institutionalized, limited, gender roles.
Igwe, in that response, concluded, “They are pressured sometimes against their will to be manly. These designated manly and womanly roles are well spelled out and mainly applicable in rural areas and among uneducated folks, or in religiously conservative environments. In such situations and circumstances, ruralness, lack of education and faith constrain the ability of males and females to break away from the traditions.”
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Dr. Leo Igwe is the founder of the Nigerian Humanist Movement and former Western and Southern African representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union. He is among the most prominent African non-religious people from the African continent. When he speaks, many people listen in a serious way. He holds a Ph.D. from the Bayreuth International School of African Studies at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, having earned a graduate degree in Philosophy from the University of Calabar in Nigeria. We have talked or I have written on Dr. Igwe here, here, here, here, here, here.
He talked here with Scott Douglas Jacobsen who founded In-Sight Publishing and In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal.
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