Pre-colonial African Gender Cosmology and the Gender Equality Nexus: “The Road Not Taken” in Igboland, Nigeria

Gender Equality and Gender Relations in Africa

The attainment of gender equality in Africa has continued to attract the attention of both researchers (Amaechi & Muoh, 2018; Chant & McIlwaine, 2016; Cornwall, 2005) and organizations (UN Women, 2015a, 2015b; UNESCO, 2017). UNESCO’s (2017) views of gender as “the social meaning given to being a woman or a man,” and gender equality as “equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities for women and men and girls and boys,” (p. 13) are in line with the stance of this study. This is especially the case because they “reflect social characteristics rather than biological differences in defining a woman or a man”; mean that women and men can “enjoy the same status and have equal opportunities to realize their full human rights and potential to contribute to political, economic, social and cultural development and to benefit from the results”; and indicate “that society values equally both the similarities and the differences between women and men and the different roles that they play” (UNESCO, 2017, p. 13).

Unfortunately, efforts so far have not resulted in the expected reduction of the prevailing extent of gender inequality (Amadi & Amadi, 2014; UN Women, 2015a). “In this scenario,” according to Amadi and Amadi (2014), “women in the poor societies such as Africa are most vulnerable as cultural practices apply in key social decisions which negatively affect gender equality” (p. 18). This has led to the view that in Africa “men and women do not always enjoy the same conditions and opportunities, not only in the economic, educational, legal and institutional fields but also in terms of social and human development,” in spite of women’s vital socio-economic contributions to their various societies (UNESCO, 2017, p. 10). It is reported that 41% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is living in extreme poverty on less than 1 US dollar per day and that inequalities are more marked than in other developing regions (UNESCO, 2015). However, some writers have alluded to the fact that gender inequality has worsened in Africa since the commencement of the colonial period (Chuku, 2002; Uchendu, 2002) and this gives the impression that a reversal to the status quo ante could make the journey to gender equality less tortuous.

Fortunately, the international institutions and agencies concerned are not resting on their oars. Believing that “there are no immovable barriers to gender equality,” UNESCO, in synergy with the African Union (AU), has continued to channel its efforts toward “building peace through peaceful, resilient, gender-inclusive societies” and “building institutional capacities for sustainable development and poverty eradication” as means of tackling the root causes of gender imbalances in Africa (UNESCO, 2017, p. 12). This ultimately ensures “that women and men enjoy equally the right to have access to, participate in and contribute to cultural life” (UNESCO, 2017, p. 21).

Significantly, both the United Nations and UNESCO resolved to focus more attention on highlighting the activities and achievements of great women in history, which involves “promoting and encouraging women’s initiatives in culture and involving women in the safeguarding of African cultural heritage” (UNESCO, 2017, p. 21). This rationalized the idea of “digging” into the past of the various African societies to extract those indigenous cultural practices that can provide the needed healthy cultural synergy with which the idea of gender equality could be easily grasped and actualized.

Besides, this idea of delving into history can increasingly be seen as expedient when one considers the retrogressive side of the trending post-colonial notion of cultural emancipation and resurgence in Africa which has led, and still leads, various African societies not only to seek to re-enact their cultural practices but also to make efforts to link their present practices to their culture. Unfortunately, the idea has also influenced the rediscovery and revival of some appalling practices that are abhorred by global conventions, as in the case of female genital mutilation (FGM) (Nam, 2018). More worrisomely, mainly as a result of many years of cultural impositions and borrowings which blurred some groups’ vision of their “past,” some African groups tend to source their cultures from distorted or inaccurate versions of their past, sometimes inadvertently. Such situations, invariably, lead to wrong conclusions, as in the case of the traditional gender relations among the Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria where the colonial Victorian-era gender perceptions are sometimes used to distort the course of Igbo gender relations history. The need to clarify the past can therefore hardly be overemphasized.

Gender Complementarity

As used in this paper, gender complementarity presupposes that the male and female sexes are naturally imbued with distinct features and abilities that enable men and women to complement each other in order to ensure the optimization of the available resources and the attainment of societal peace and harmony. In African traditional settings, the belief is that men are naturally sturdier, physically stronger, and more egoistic and therefore undertake the more arduous tasks; women are deemed to be tender, caring, persevering, and more spiritually inclined and therefore take on the less physically arduous but more morally demanding tasks. Consequently, though men apparently occupied the leadership positions in the traditional African societal arrangements, women played important religious, political, social, and economic roles that complemented those of the men. In traditional Igbo society, for instance, adequate considerations were given to both men and women in the scheme of things. The people observed that all things were created male and female (Oke na Nwunye), including human beings, with different attributes. The Igbo therefore realized at an early stage the need for a cooperative relationship between the two sexes, but based on complementarity (Anyanwu, 1993, p. 115) and not necessarily equality.

The Theory of Acculturation and the Theory of Cultural Imperialism

The main thrust of this paper is informed by the Theory of Acculturation and the Theory of Cultural Imperialism. The former has been defined as “the process of cultural change that occurs when individuals from different cultural backgrounds come into prolonged, continuous, first-hand contact with each other” (Redfield, Linton, & Herskovits, 1936, p. 146). It conveys the possibility of changes occurring through cultural appropriation or diffusion, which buttresses the idea that it would have been easier for the indigenous African gender complementarity worldview to evolve to gender equality than the interposed Victorian-era male domination culture. This is all the more true with the continuing invention of technological facilities that can augment women’s natural physical abilities and with which they can overcome the traditional gender “complementarity” barriers. Similarly, the theory of Cultural Imperialism elucidates the results of the imposition of European culture on Africans during the colonial period. It refers to “the sum of the processes by which a society is brought into the modern world-system and how its dominating stratum is attracted, pressured, forced, and sometimes bribed into shaping social institutions to correspond to, or even promote, the values and structures of the dominating centre of the system” (Schiller, 1976, pp. 9–10). As Njoku (2002) rightly observed, “external influences, first from the Arabs and later from the Europeans, with their male-centered governance systems, were mostly responsible for diminishing the social and political statuses of African women” (p. 55).

Pre-Colonial Gender Relations in Igboland

The Igbo are one of the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria and have their original homeland in the southeastern part of the country. Politically, they form the overwhelming majority of the population in the five states of Nigeria’s south-eastern geo-political zone—Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo—and also form a significant part of the population in other states, such as Delta and Rivers. The search for the actual place of women and gender relations generally in pre-colonial Igbo society has generated conflicting strands and debates. At one extreme are those who project the view of male domination—that pre-colonial Igbo society was a man’s world where women were subordinate and subservient to the men and were arrogated inferior positions (Basden, 1938; Green, 1964; Paulme, 1971; Uchendu, 1965; Uchendu, 2002). At the other extreme are the likes of Chinweizu (1990) and Van Allen (1972) who support the view that the women actually controlled the men and society, regardless of the apparent picture of male domination. However, between the two extremes are those who contend that males and females complemented each other based on their respective natural attributes and potentials (Acholonu, 1993; Amadiume, 1987; Anyanwu, 1993; Ifeka-Moller, 1975; Leith-Ross, 1965; Njoku, 2002; Ojiakor, 2008; Uchendu, 1993; Wipper, 1982). Such dividing lines were also visible, though in varying degrees, among the present study’s oral interview respondents.

Interestingly, a common denominator among the aforementioned lines of thought and the oral responses remains the view that British colonial rule, which was mainly influenced by the prevailing Victorian-era gender ideology, restricted the women to household chores and thereby disrupted the status quo ante. Nevertheless, this does not preclude the possibility of domination by either of the sexes. This paper, therefore, tries to take the argument to another level by looking closely at religious, political, and socio-economic activities in pre-colonial Igbo society with the intention of ascertaining if and how males and females complemented each other based on their natural gender attributes and potentials until the inception of British colonial rule.

Igbo Traditional Religion and Gender Complementarity

The Igbo, as Ogbu Kalu (2002) observed, perceived the universe as a three-tiered structure, comprised of the sky above (Elu Igwe), the solid earth (Ala), and the underworld (Ala mmuo). The sky was seen as the abode of the Supreme Being (Chukwu), the Earth Deity (Ala) and humans inhabit the earth, while the ancestors and other numerous spirit beings dwell in the underworld (Kalu, 2002). The Igbo believed that these tiers did not exist in isolation, that there existed an intricate and dynamic relationship or interaction among them, and that the fates of the humans were inextricably determined by the Supreme Being, the Earth Deity, and other spiritual forces. This religious worldview had far-reaching implications for gender relations in traditional Igbo society.

In the first place, the Supreme Being (Chukwu) was symbolized as a male figure. He was seen as the creator of all things and was venerated as such. However, humans could not see, touch, or communicate directly with Him. This led to conjectures, symbolisms, and the use of intermediaries that were easily resorted to during the regular sacrifices, rituals, and divinations in ways that sometimes suggested that the existence of the Supreme Being was rather “forgotten.” Next to the Supreme Being was the Ala Deity, a female goddess humans interacted with and resorted to on a daily basis (Ezekwe, 2014). The deity was seen as the source of fertility in humans, animals, and plants and any action against her precepts was deemed injurious to life generally. Such deviations were followed with elaborate propitiation and purification rituals which made the desires of the Ala Deity the accepted norms and traditions (Omenala) of the Igbo (Okeke, 2014). The significance of this can hardly be overemphasized. The “Igbo theory of life reckoned with the positive value of the input of females for the achievement of desired goals” from inception, as vividly captured by Anyanwu (1993, p. 115). Invariably, this led to the elevation of females in traditional Igbo socio-religious life. It became the belief of the people that any female who maintained the required level of moral and spiritual uprightness, especially on her natal soil, could influence the decisions of and attract much benevolence and power from the Ala Deity. Such was the source of strength and courage usually exhibited by the Umuada (daughters of the lineage) in Igboland (Amaechi, 2018).

Second, both males and females occupied the positions of priests/priestesses or were custodians of the deities and oracles. In fact, females were very conspicuous in the case of the Ala Deity and her agent gods during the pre-colonial period. Apart from being symbols of fertility, like the Ala Deity, women were sometimes preferred because of their naturally affectionate and tender dispositions, as well as their moral and spiritual uprightness (Eneja, 2014). In general, the fact that the custodian of a deity or oracle was a woman did not make the males deviate from the expected reverence and obedience to the deity. As observed in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958), Okonkwo respected, obeyed, and even took on board cautions from Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, regardless of his socio-political and economic prowess. This is quite unlike what obtains among present-day religions, most of which relegate women generally, and even female priests (where they exist), to the back seats.

Traditional Igbo Political Life and Gender Complementarity

The pre-colonial Igbo political arrangement was mainly a decentralized one, as every community lived and operated independently. Even within the individual communities, political power and authority were shared among the constituent units in ways that met the aspirations of the people. The family (Ezi na ulo) was the basic unit of the traditional Igbo socio-political ordering. It was followed by the Kindred (Umunne), the Village (Umunna or Onumara), and the Town (Amala), which was the highest unit. The headship of the units followed a gerontocratic arrangement whereby the first male child (Okpara) occupied the headship position in the family and held the Of_o (symbol of authority and justice), while the eldest family held the Of_o of the kindred and so on up to the town level. At these levels, the men usually gathered to discuss and had the final say on issues concerning the socio-political unit. As emphasized by Irene Mba (2011), the assumption then was that the men were better equipped by nature, both physically and emotionally, to cope with the rigorous demands of political leadership. However, in the same way as the men, women had their separate associational gatherings at all the socio-political units or tiers where they discussed issues relating to the community, including its well-being, and through which they advised, and even check, the men on particular courses of action (Anyanwu, 1993; Azu, 2014). The two most prominent of the women’s associations in Igbo society during the period were the association of the daughters of the lineage (Umuada or Umuokpu) and the association of married women (Ndiomi alu-alu or Alutaradi). These existed alongside the men’s associations in every unit and usually met both on a regular basis and during emergency situations to discuss issues pertaining to the maintenance of peace and order in their various units. They advised the men and sometimes used pressure to enforce their demands, as alluded to by both Van Allen (1972) and almost all the research respondents, both male and female.

Besides, women were also directly involved in the formal political administration of some Igbo communities, like Ogbaru, Onitsha, Nnobi, and parts of Nsukka. As affirmed by Ojiakor (2008), “as a group, women were politically important but as individuals, they accounted for little, except among the Ogbaru where female chiefs,” called Ogene and Onowu, “existed and among the Onitsha where a dignified female chief called Omu existed alongside the Obi” (King) (p. 51). Anyanwu (1993) also observed that in Nnobi, “patriarchal and matriarchal ideologies” were juxtaposed in the indigenous political structure and “made it possible for women (notably first daughters) to serve as ritual elites and also became titleholders” (p. 116). Furthermore, in parts of Nsukka, like Lejja, the Umuada participated directly, actively, and effectively in the politics of the community (Amaechi, 2016). A selected number of the lineage daughters (Umuada) married in the same community were usually constituted and initiated into the Umuada Oha, a women’s council which existed, and still exists, alongside the Oha Lejja, the men’s council. They usually discussed and took binding decisions on issues relating to the overall development and progress of the community and settled disputes that threatened the peace of the community. It was mainly such direct political responsibilities exercised by the contemporaneous Igbo women generally and the Umuada in particular that Ifi Amadiume (1987) portrayed in the incidence of “male daughters and female husbands.”

Another aspect of pre-colonial Igbo political life that conferred indispensable powerful rights and roles on the females (daughters), even though it favored the men, was the right of inheritance. Usually, the male children inherited the political headship authority and the family’s material possessions from their forebears, since the daughters were expected to marry out of their various villages and towns. However, the same traditional system tried to correct this seeming injustice by heaping enormous spiritual and socio-political powers on the daughters (Umuada), regardless of their marital statuses but more so for those who were married. The presence and active participation of the Umuada during the sharing of a family inheritance among the male children were indispensable because it not only conferred both spiritual and political legitimacy on the entire business but also guaranteed justice and equity to all their brothers. It followed, therefore, that these lineage daughters were usually sought after, respected, pampered, sometimes even lobbied to attend, and were usually sent back to their marital places with enormous gifts from their brothers each time they graced such occasions or came to settle disputes for their natal kinsmen (Odum, 2011).

With time, the Umuada emerged as one of the strongest groups in the Igbo traditional political administration. According to Sir Chinedu Obilor (2011), powers were deliberately assigned to the Umuada to enable them to check the “excesses” of their brothers, especially their tyrannical and dictatorial tendencies. Olisa (2002) has also observed that the Umuada group was “the most powerful women pressure group in the average Igbo community” and was among the pressure points in the Igbo traditional political arrangement, together with the title holders (Nze na Oz_o), age sets of both elders and the youth (Otu Ebiri), medicine men (Ndi Dibia), priests of the Earth Deity (Eze Ala), and secret societies, among others (pp. 225–226). It was common, therefore, for individuals and groups to appeal for the intervention of the Umuada whenever they felt cheated or unjustly treated and whenever obnoxious or unpopular policies were being thrust on the people. Ironically, it was also common for the male traditional power brokers to appeal to the Umuada whenever their powers were unduly flouted. However, in most cases, it was the just or aggrieved party that took cases or reported situations to the Umuada, who always made sure that justice prevailed and that normalcy was restored in their natal communities. The role of the Umuada as a pressure group was also aptly captured by Ogbu Kalu (1993) when he said that “the women as Umuada constituted a control system on the exercise of power” and that they could through “a symbolic protest of leaving the village, signal that a Chief has been rejected and should be changed” (p. 16). Similarly, according to Ojiakor (2008), if an Okpara or Isi Obi (the first son and heir) “failed to listen to Umuada, the latter had the power to ban members of the clan from answering his calls” (p. 53).

Still on the pre-colonial Igbo political administration, women generally also featured prominently in the area of the enforcement of laws and decisions. This was especially significant considering the fact that, as Omenka (1993) observed, during the period traditional Igbo society lacked a police force in the modern sense of law enforcement. It was common for the women generally, either as daughters (Umuada) or as women married into the community (Ndiomi alu-alu or Alutaradi) or for both groups, to join forces in order to enforce the laws of the community, including laws enacted by them. Whenever they noticed or were informed of the breaking of such laws and in the face of the men’s inability or apathy, the women usually met to agree on a possible date and mode of intervention and enforcement. Their enforcement tools included boycotts, strikes, sit-outs, mass emigration, stoppage of culinary and sexual obligations to the men, ostracism or banishment of the offenders, nude parades or the threat of such, and the placing of curses on the offenders. Van Allen (1972) captured it thus:

“Sitting on a man” or a woman, boycotts and strikes were the women’s main weapons. To “sit on” or “make war on” a man involved gathering at his compound, sometimes late at night, dancing, singing scurrilous songs which detailed the women’s grievances against him and often called his manhood into question, banging on his hut with pestles women used for pounding yams, and perhaps demolishing his hut or plastering it with mud and roughing him up a bit. A man might be sanctioned in this way for mistreating his wife, for violating the women’s market rules, or for letting his cows eat the women’s crops. The women would stay at his hut throughout the day, and late into the night, if necessary until he repented and promised to mend his ways. Although this could hardly have been a pleasant experience for the offending man, it was considered legitimate and no man would consider intervening (p. 170).

Meek (1973) also captured how women’s groups exerted significant and even overbearing influence on their fellow women, as they also tried, convicted or acquitted, and imposed fines on themselves, even in cases of women’s insubordination toward men . Generally, it was this role of women as pressure groups in the traditional Igbo political system that led to the women’s later outbursts, such as the 1929 Aba Women’s War, against the obnoxious policies and actions of the colonial authorities in Igboland. It is unimaginable that the women suddenly emerged from traditional political domination to exercise such powers and with the ferocity they did in 1929 if they were not used to such a culture ab initio.

Conflict Resolution in Traditional Igbo Society and Gender Complementarity

Another area where women participated and where gender attributes and considerations influenced the delineation of roles in pre-colonial Igbo society was in conflict resolution. Usually, the men occupied headship and leadership positions and, invariably, the men’s councils handled issues and settled disputes within the unit. Conversely, the women’s councils handled the affairs of their members and the more serious issues, like land disputes and murder cases, were referred to the men. However, the way the men handled such cases determined whether the women would support the judgment, embark on a protest against the men, or appeal to the Umuada (Otubo, 2013). Sometimes, the reverse was the case for disputes that defied the ability of the men to achieve lasting solutions. In such situations, as Mrs. Nneka Izuchukwu (2014) observed, it was common for the men to deliberately hide behind the women in order not to expose their “mannish” weaknesses. According to Njoku (2002), in such delicate matters, the men “were wont to defer to the sensibilities of the women” because the women possessed the required “intuitive hunches which were lacking in men” (p. 61). This was because the women were generally beheld as epitomes of compassion, patience, humility, honesty, justice, tolerance, and respect and these qualities were commonly exhibited by them during such settlements and earned them the respect of the men (Mbagwu, 2011). In support of Jell-Bahlsen’s (1998) earlier submission on Umuada, Njoku (2002) stated that as agents of the Earth goddess (Ala), they were:

endowed with religious and judicial authority [×××]. The Umuada came to the assistance of any lineage member, male or female, anywhere. Few people, if any, would dare to challenge the Umuada whose curse is feared (p. 61).

According to Meek (1973), they “exercised considerable authority in the community, for not only are they arbiters in quarrels between women, but they sometimes intervene to settle quarrels which the male authorities have been unable to settle” (p. 31). Amucheazi (2002) observed that “in this role,” the Umuada association “had in the past succeeded where men had failed for such was the respect accorded them that the community was never inclined to dispute their judgment” (p. 247). Perhaps this informed the occasional honorific references to the Umuada assembly as “the last court of appeal in a given community” (Ojiakor, 2008, p. 53).

The women also played important gender-influenced complementary roles whenever ceasefires became expedient during wars. Usually, the men took the final decision on whether or not the community should go to war and also constituted the soldiers, as the women were considered too emotional, considerate, peaceful, and fragile by nature to be involved in such a blood-letting enterprise, except as spies whenever that became absolutely necessary. Usually, in a frenzy of physical strength and the irresistible urge to proudly showcase their military prowess, especially for the attendant societal honor, the men were in the habit of throwing caution to the wind. Unfortunately, the male nature did not include the ability to be humble and accept the need to retreat, even when weariness and uncertainty recommended such a course of action. However, the women were always at hand to save their “brave” menfolk during such indecisive moments.

Very often, it was the women’s groups, notably the Umuada, which sued for peace, achieved ceasefires, and mediated and resolved conflicts, as well as coordinated reconciliatory activities (Ihuoma, 2014). Apart from the titled men (Nze na Oz_o), the women or their leaders, especially the very elderly ones, regardless of which warring side they belonged to, could enter the scene of battle without being harmed. The major requirement for such an important mission was to hold fresh palm fronds (omu), a sacred object, and their presence in such a manner signified a temporary ceasefire which served as a foothold for the commencement of mediation. In such cases, serious curses were believed to attend any show of recalcitrance on the part of the soldiers. The women were therefore well-equipped by nature and culture to easily achieve what most of the men were unable to attempt. Unfortunately, modern conflict resolution practice is yet to fully come to grips with the natural need for women during conflict mediations and resolution, especially at the grassroots level in Africa.

Traditional Igbo Socio-Economic Life and Gender Complementarity

In the traditional Igbo family setting, roles were carefully delineated in such ways that both males and females complemented each other. Ordinarily, men were assigned the responsibility of providing for the needs of their families and they worked hard in order to meet their natural obligation (Onwuchekwa, 2014). It followed, therefore, that the men remained away from the house most of the time, depending on the nature of their occupations and season of the year, and had little or no time to stay with the children. The women, on the other hand, were managers of the home. They kept the house clean, cooked for the family, took care of the specific needs of the children from infancy to adulthood, and were not required to go too far from the house nor stay away for too long. Moreover, it was the duty of the women to socialize the children by teaching them the norms, values, and good morals with which they could suitably adapt to society.

However, a closer look reveals that this delineation of duties followed the innate qualities of the different sexes. All things being equal, men are physically stronger and more rugged, and can withstand the difficult conditions associated with some arduous tasks, but lack the right temperament to tolerate the seemingly ridiculous demands and needs of children, especially at the very early stages of development (Egole, 2011). Men therefore commonly adopted inappropriately over-bearing approaches whenever forced by circumstances to assist in the direct upbringing of the children. The egoistic nature of the men spurred them to continue to toil to provide for the family since traditional Igbo society attached much honor and prestige to that activity. Conversely, like most traditional African women, the responsibilities attached by the Igbo to the women stemmed from their being “symbolized as paragons of morality, sacredness, goodness and tenderness” which, together with the women’s ethic of care, “was rooted in their motherhood and their nature which was tolerant of difference, collaborative, non-violent and, as such, peaceful” (Isike & Uzodike, 2011, p. 33). As corroborated by Mrs. Amaka Orji (2014), in traditional Igbo society, whenever a child achieved highly in a chosen endeavor, the father and the community claimed the attendant honor and dignity, but when a child misbehaved or failed to achieve, the mother usually bore the brunt. It is not surprising, therefore, that the women fought against bad morals, laziness, and disgraceful attitudes among children and the youth in the society.

Economically, the specific duties assigned to individuals and even the choices of an occupation in traditional Igbo society were also determined by gender capabilities. In agriculture, the mainstay of the society’s economy during the period, the more arduous tasks of clearing the forest and, sometimes, tilling the soil were “assigned” to the men while the less tasking ones like the planting of seeds and weeding were assigned to the women, especially since men lacked the required temperament or perseverance to face such tasks which were considered to be boring. Similarly, crops like yam which required more laborious tasks and stringent rules were regarded as men’s crops, while the less demanding ones like cocoyam, melon, and vegetables, were considered that of women.

With regard to occupations, it was unimaginable in traditional Igbo society for a woman to choose to be a harvester of palm fruits, a palm wine tapper, or a hewer of wood, or for a man to choose to be a hairdresser or body decorator. This applied to trade, as well. Long-distance trade which required being away from the home for many hours, or even days, was left for the men and women who had stopped childbearing; local trade, on the other hand, was dominated by women who were still raising children as it allowed them to operate within the home axes, in view of their domestic obligations (Ndulue, 2014). Particularly, the domestic roles assigned to women in pre-colonial Igbo society seemed to equate with what was obtained in the context of Victorian-era gender relations in the Western world (Buckner, 2005). The difference, however, lies in the fact that in the case of the Igbo, the role-dividing lines were not rigid, since changes in the women’s capacities and capabilities, as in the case of long-distance and local trade, usually led to the redrawing of such lines. Besides, women were also actively involved in other aspects of life in Igbo society and were not entirely restricted to domestic affairs during the period.