African Gender Relations

Since the dawn of man, gender relations have not been a problem among Africans. People collectively lived with their specified divisions of labour and specializations within the households, where men were in charge of all family matters. Under traditional African families, both men and women had different roles to play in their households. Lives were tied and agreed by the traditional African socio-cultural norms for centuries. Division of labour and specializations maintained and strengthened social relations across gender lenses, which in turn brought strong families, clans and communities with high mutual respect, honesty, humility and understandings. As such, diversified roles in social, economic and political conditions in African traditional settings have never been the cause of problems and hence should not be interpreted as discrimination, persecution and marginalization across genders. Campaigns from the western world for gender equality have brought serious problems in African traditional settings. What is interpreted as unequal gender relations in Africa is the product of western interpretations caused by the transformations brought to Africa by the colonial relations and western liberal democracies. As a result of misinterpretations of real African lives from its historical perspectives, modernity and new perceptions implanted into African societies through western education, democracy, and activism, liberty and freedom concepts have seriously contributed to African dissolution, conflicts and chaos at all levels. This situation has therefore put African generations at the crossroads, particularly in upholding their long-cherished traditions as they have strongly been opposed and absorbed by modernity and western gender equality conceptions.