MOHD IRWANDY - GENDER DIFFERENCES

Go through your notes on gender differences and other websites dealing with gender studies. Based on your reading, reflect on how these women are treated in the novel. The following questions can help you as you write your reflective piece in your blog:

How are the women treated in the novel? 
Do all members in the community agree with the status quo? Why? 
What contributions are made by the Igbo women to the survival of their culture? 
What are the changes in women’s roles in this present world?

In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, women are the second class citizen in the Igbo society. Women are treated as most women in those times are treated: as any how the men pleases to. They are assumed to be inferior than men in the society and were treated with no mercy in doing hard labor. However, only at rare times does a woman get treated a bit nice, that is when the women bear the child that her husband had waited for and only if the offspring were to be of the masculine blood. Surprisingly, the community of the Igbo people themselves somehow agree with this status quo. The women agree maybe because after generations of being treated the way they are, they are institutionalized to accept it. The fact that they are treated the way they are and they let it pass maybe because the generation before them had already said to their daughters to follow their husband orders no matter what they are. Although, treatment for them are different, the women's contribution of the Igbo people towards their culture are numerous. One of which is the women routinely perform the role of priestess. This is shown when the narrator states during Olonkwo’s boyhood, , "the priestess in those days was woman called Chika. She was full of the power of her god, and she was greatly feared" (17). The present priestess is Chielo, "the priestess of Agbala, the Oracle of the hill and the Caves" (49). Furthermore, the women also regards as the representation of the earth goddess, Ani by the Igbo people. Ani is described as "a greater part in the life of the people than any other deity. She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct. Women are also seen in their role as educators of their children. The education is done by them in the form of storytelling. The narrator describes, "Low voices, broken now and again by singing, reached Okonkwo from his wives' huts as each woman and her children told folk stories" (96). Obviously, the role of women changes through time. Other than being the housewife or any other stereotype jobs, women nowadays held quite a high and important position in a company. Now, instead of being the house maker, they become the breadwinner. Their roles expand and differences of their role and their counterparts becomes a blurry line in which that boundary one day will be no more.