No gender in Yoruba Culture

The issue of gender discrimination was the subject of discuss at seminar organized by the Institue of Cultural Studies, Obfafemi Awolowo University and Youba Group Project Abroad with a theme Beyond Genderocrntric Models: Yoruba Culture in the Global Age. Oni Afolabi a 400 level student of Education English was in attendance and reports.
The women's movement of the 1960s was not of course the start of feminism. Rather, it was the renewal of the old tradition of thought and action already possessing its classic books which had diagnosed the problem of women's inequality in the society, and in some cases proposed solutions. These books include Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Right of women (1972), Virginia Woolf A Room of One's Own (1929) among other portray unequal treatment given to women.
The same was the subject of discourse in Pit theatre of the Dramatic arts department at OAU, by 11 am on Friday the 30th of July, 2010 when Dr. Oyeronke Oyewumi of the department of Sociology, Stoneybrook University, Stoneybrook, New York, USA criticized gender discrimination and clearified the fact that it wasnt never yoruba idea. In her invention she said Male privilege and female exclusion is not Yoruba in nature, as it filtered into the system through collonialism, the translator's perspective and the religious instutues.
She said, 'Ifa is the supreme diety and doesnt discriminate. When you check the lines of Ifa, you will see 'won ni ko ru bo ifa' but the translators being a man tranlated it to 'they said he should give sacrifice to Ifa' rather than 'they said they should give sacrifice to Ifa' and putting into good use the singular 'they'. Another thing we have to consider is the fact that, the women are the ones that go to the Ifa Priest the more. When the child is sick, who carries it to the priest on most occasion? It is the mother and subsequently she is the person that gives the sacrifice.
More so, the issue of names that are oriki like Ayinke, Alao, Ayinde, Alabi among others that are gender sensitive are names people adopted in other to aviod the orisa (gods) sensitive names after being converted to christians and musilms. They dont want to bear orisabunmi and they Ayinke, those names are appraisals like 'Darling' in English. Little wonder we have the proverb, 'Omo eko tio n fi oriki je oruko ... to ri won o fe je oruki orisa' this implies that 'the Lagosian who has made an appraisal thier name because they dont want to bear the names of gods.
I will like to assert that oruko amutorun wa (Natural names) that many says are gender sensitive like Ojo for males and Aina for females are primarily restricted to specific areas for instance we have had that an Ibadan cannot bear Ojo. She also explained the yoruba genres that are gender sensitive like ekuniyawo, obitu among others are not restricted to women as it is not out of bound for male. More so, on few occasions I have witnessed that the person teaching ekuniyawo is a man.
Furthermore, the timeline to when gender discrimination got into the yoruba culture is difficult just as it is difficult to put a timeline to when esu was demonized. Many link it to the early missionaries because, we all know that while the christains refer to God as olodumare the muslims refuse to call God olodumare because they had first hand information about Ifa and they know that olodumare occured more in Ifa and they use olorun.
She concluded that gender should not be a standard for discrimination and traditionalist should not take succour in the african traditional setting to abandon the women in the kitchen and say their voices shouldnt be heard. We had Iyalode Efunsetan Aniwura who is a classical example of a woman that lead men. The yoruba tradition is not against women leading men and doesnt see the woman as inferior, neither does Ifa.
Responding to the presentation, Dr. Foluke Ogunleye, the formal Head of Department of The Dramatic art commended Dr. Oyewumi for being at the vanguard of the fight for gender equality. 'It is time to put an end to such statements that she can do it because she is a woman or women should not hold that position or you cant talk to me that way because you are a woman. Women should rise up to the challenge.'
A student of Mechanical Engineering, 200level, Tinuke Oyewole said, 'My father use to tell me to respect my younger brothers. When I asked for the reasons, he said it was yoruba tradition. Thank God for this exposition that has exposed the elements of untruism in the statement. I am an advocate of gender equality because I have being greatly discriminated against. They will ask you, what is a lady doing in Engineering as if its made for the guy. They say we should go to Home Economics, even some lecturers throw light remarks at us. This exposition is a square peg in a square hole for me.
Adeoye Damilola a 100level student of Economics said, 'Nobody is discriminating against us. We are ladies and most of us want to feel like women. We cant do all the things they do, I wont love to lie on the floor fixing a car. Niether will I want to be in the boxing ring. More so, that a number be reserved strictly for females to participate in politics is clamouring for gender domination, but the exposition is educating and I feel the guy should be the head.'
Dipo Oluwaseun a 400level student of Fine Art department said, 'The programme was highly interacting and it did confirm the knowlegde I had earlier learnt about yoruba ancestoral believes especially when she majored on gender and the yoruba perspective. Programmes of this nature should be coming up frequently since Ife is for learning and culture. Big thanks to Institue of cultural Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University and Youba Group Project Abroad.'
Afolabi Oni
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