Gender Inequality In Things Fall Apart

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As claimed by the editors of our Anthology, “The forces of Urbanization and Industrialization that led to the decline of slavery also undermined traditional roles for women”. Men and women have been viewed as totally playing different roles in the society, women who are deemed to be the weakest of the two sexes and also more vulnerable should be relegated to the home where she’ll only play the roles of a wife,mother and reproductive item. Prior to the Urbanization and Industrialization in most societies which welcomed the decline of slavery and the emancipation of women, being female is indirectly classified as weakness. The Change in gender roles and elimination of gender inequality is one of the significant and notable change since the 20th century because it was from then that some societies started to understand that women were human beings and should have same rights as men. In the novel “Things Fall Apart” by Achebe which was written in order to respond to the stereotype of Africa by Joseph Conrad in his text “Heart of Darkness” it viewed women as powerless, second-class citizens and were irrelevant to the …show more content…

A man who could not provide for his family or take titles for himself and his sons and married their first wife for them signifies weakness on the path of the fellow, women during that period were usually restricted to the confines of their father’s compound and eventually their husband’s compound when they got married. Women were only allowed to perfect in childbearing and homemaking whereas the men perfected in farming in order to provide food the whole family, the number of yams in one’s barn is used to measure his masculinity and his expertise in farming although they also depended on the rain for a bountiful

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