Gender Roles
and
Rituals/Custo
ms
By: DK Lee
Gender Roles
• Set of perceived behavioral norms
(something that is typical) associated
with males or females in social group or
system
• Attitudes and behaviors, class
stereotypical identity
• Almost all societies, gender/sex system
THE WORLD
A husband should work outside, while a wife should be
a full-time homemaker,
In Things Fall Apart
 Men =dominant figures
 Women=second-class citizens
 Within society, women are disregarded and voiceless
 No participating in meetings/discuss common causes
 Farming, women plant maize, beans, and melons; Men
plant yam mounds
 “Yam for manliness” (Part I)
Jobs of Males
Males Are More “Powerful”

More man marries, more successful considered


Boys mean happiness and joy


Nwakibie, nine wives, thirty children, highest title one can hold
Father happy for son keep family life protected, help them be
weakness-free
Okonkwo tells boys stories about violence, tribal wars, and blood sheds
(beginning Part I), for future roles as protectors, and the masters of their
family.
Jobs of Females
 The job of women in the community is to serve their
husband in every way possible.
 Cook
 Other chores to comfort
 Assist in repairing the huts.
 Their main job was to have children
 Young women helped mothers on their chores
 They needed to be good storytellers to tell the young
children the origin of their life.
Women are “Weak”
 When girl is born, mixed feeling
 Mothers are child bearers
 Raised to be soft, weak, tender
 Mother tell stories how to behave themselves to attract
important husbands, serve husbands to win hearts
 Men responsible for securing food/shelter for women,
women’s life, get married, have children, provide material
for husband.
Continued…..
 Women are not allowed to argue just work in kitchen,
children, educate children, and help men
 Storytelling, educate the children, inspiring about
social standards, relationships.
 Religion only effective “excuse” in Igbo society
 Only women respected in Umuofia tribe is Chielo,
priestess, and Agbala
 Stands for divinity
 Only women who can shout at men
Summary of Gender
Roles in Things Fall Apart
 Gender Roles is regarded very highly in the village of
Umuofia and Mbanta. Men are thought to be the ones to
have all the power in the family, and no other family
member is allowed to argue against them. Men are the
ones to grow yam, the main crop, and to also do all the
phyiscal labor such as building huts outside of home.
They have the main purpose of providing the food and
the shelter for the family, but other than that, they may
choose who is supposed to do what. Women on the
other hand, are supposed to take care of children, tell
stories to children about life, and also to help the father
in every way possible.
Rituals/ Customs
 Custom: A traditional and widely accepted way of
behaving or doing something that is specific to a
particular society, place, or time
 Ritual: A religious ceremony consisting of a series
of actions performed according to prescribed order.
Customs In Korea Today
 Jimjilbang
 Envelope Culture (Marriage, Funerals,
Births).
 Private Tutoring (Hakwon)
 Baby’s First Birthday
 Sharing Liquor Glass In Rounds
In Things Fall Apart
(Customs)
 Polygamy is the custom of having more than one wife
 Ex. Okonkwo with 3 wives
 Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one god.
 Ex. God Ani (Earth), Ifejioku (Yam)
 Patriarchy or the system of society where the father or the
eldest man is the “boss” of the family, and which the power
is passed on through the male line
Continued…
 Tribal Customs.
 Tribe chooses man’s worth or quality by the number of
titles, and wives he has, and also by the number of
yams that he grows.
Traditions/ Rituals
 Week of Peace
 Feast of New Yam
 Wedding Ritual (Isa-ifi)
 Sacrifice for Gods
 Courts
Week of Peace
 Week of Peace: One week of peace
between both sexes and classes of
people in the community in order to
gain respect and help from gods in
harvest.
Feast of New Yam
 Feast of New Yam is in the beginning of the New
Year, where it was a time to give gratitude to the
earth Goddess Ani

Ani is the God that judges moral conduct, the
source of all fertility.

Preparations by hut-cleaning and decorating,
cooking, body painting, and head shaving

Relatives come long distances in the feast and
to drink-palm wine with family

Second day, wrestling match, where the whole
village watch wrestling matches.
Marriage Custom
 Marriage negotiations for Obierika’s
daughter
 Economic custom of dressing up
the bride, drinking of palm-wine
 Groom himself pays the brideprice
Isa-ifi
 Ceremony of confession, bride sit in
middle of big circle and asked questions
about her virginity.
 To determine if she was faithful during
their courtship
 Bride in center with hen in right hand
 After question answered by the bride,
hen is killed.
Sacrifice
 Ritual to help encourage and help
the realtionship with their gods (Chi,
Ani).
 Animals to fruits
 Ikemefuna, sacrifice used to
avoid war
Ancestral Power
 Justice of Igbo village made by ancestral
spirits
 Also from gods, (Info passed on by
Agbala)
 Court, ceremony where people take their
cases to the ancestors’ spirits (Egwugwu) in
order to have their disputes settled without
violence.
Egwugwu
 Egwugwu, The Mother of All Spirits.
 Unmasking an egwugwu, murdering a god
 They serve as respect judges in community

Masked Umuofia elders, but symbolically thought as
spirits of the clan
Summary of
Customs/Rituals
 There are many customs and rituals in the Igbo culture, of
which the main ones are the beliefs of polygamy, polytheism,
and patriarchy. Also, in times of trouble, they may go to the
“court” and talk to the spiritual ancestors (Egwugwu) to solve
their issues and problems. They also have marriage customs,
of which the husband would pay the bride price, and also
wedding ceremonies, where the bride is asked questions about
her personal life (Isa-Ifi).
 Some of the other rituals and customs are sacrifices made to
the gods, the Week of Peace, Feast of the New Yam and the
tribal customs, where the man with more titles and women
would gain more leadership and power in the community.
Quote 1
 “A man belongs to his fatherland when
things are good and life is sweet. But
when there is sorrow and bitterness he
finds refuge in his motherland. Your
mother is there to protect you. She is
buried there. And that is why we say that
mother is supreme.” (Chp 14)
Quote Analysis 1
 This shows the most important job of mothers after
they have children. As a job of women, they are
needed to take care of the children, and this quote
tells exactly that. In the topic of gender inequality in
the village, when man is successful, they live in the
land of their fathers, but when they are weak and
bitter, they move on to their motherland. This shows a
Quote 2
 "Sit like a woman!" Okonkwo
shouted at her. Ezinma brought her
two legs together and stretched
them in front of her. (Chp 5)
Quote Analysis 2
 This quote tells the great power and difference
between males and females in an household in an
Igbo society. Males are found to be stronger and with
the most power of the household. From this quote, it
seems that men can say or do anything that they wish,
even orders to other people, of which they are forced
to follow. This quote also tells about the custom of
how women should sit when eating at an important
feast or in their daily lives.
Discussion Question 1
 What do you believe is the KEY difference
of customs or gender roles in Things Fall
Apart and Western Countries?
Possible Answers
The main difference would be the different beliefs in the idea of having many
gods and also the idea that men are able to have more than one wife. In
Western countries, such as the United Statesthe culture opposes
polyagmy, which people believe is not the right form of marriage. Having
more than one “partner” most of the time leads to divorce between the
original husband or wife.
ANOTHER POSSIBLE ANSWER
The differences between men and women are decreasing more and more as
time passes in the Western countries. Many women are working outside
even males are found to be the ones taking care of children and doing the
house chores. In the past, females could have been the ones to be the
person with the least amount of power in society and household, these
day, females have attained more rights and powers such as voting, which
helped them have more power in the community.
Discussion Question 2
 In the custom of Isa-ifi, what would have
happened if the bride had stated that she
was not a virgin? Would she receive
punishment?
Possible Answers
The family members would just talk to the bride about the
importance of husbands and about making him the only
partner of the bride’s life. The conversation would be just
skipped and people would not remind each other of the
day, because it may bring disappointment into people’s
minds.
Another Possible Answer
The wedding may be cancelled and the bride may become
ostracized from rest of the community for not being a virgin.
She could be punished by beatings from the family or by
the husband himself.
Discussion Question 3
 If you were a man of great importance in
the village of Umuofia, how would you
react when the white men suddenly
stating that the village would now have
equality between men and women?
Possible Answers
I would try to fight back, by creating a force that would be enough to
drive the white men, without telling the women out of the
community. There may be a great possibility of a loss, but it
would be worth a shot, in order to keep the customs and the very
important gender roles. I would also try to force the females to
persuade the white men from keeping the inequality the way that
it is.
ANOTHER POSSIBLE ANSWER
Gender equality can not happen in this village and surely can’t be a
factor in the control of white men in our community. Noticing that
the white men have too much power in the society, I would run
away, anywhere that didn’t have white men wanting to create
equality between those weak women, who can’t fend for
themselves.
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