What Are Gender Roles In Things Fall Apart

Many cultures have expectations for men and women to act a certain way, and when they don’t they act like the whole world is going to end. Why are gender roles so important to humans? Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is about the Ibo culture and the customs they have while colonization is going on around them. While Achebe primarily portrays the men and women of the Ibo culture in traditional roles, we do see examples of less traditional gender roles.
In Things Fall Apart Okonkwo is the portrait for all men in their culture. He sets the expectation for men to have talent, be strong and be fearless. In chapter 4 Okonkwo made fun of a man who came to a men’s meeting with no titles and called him a woman because of it. The situation went as
For example, in the article Women of Power, it talks about a women’s political organization. The article states that, “ Having two political institutions that were considered equal and free ensured that women could organize themselves and carry out their responsibilities without fear of meddling or opposition from the men.” This is very different from what we were reading in the book. The women in the book had to be there for the men to do things for them, such as cooking, cleaning and taking care of children. The same article, Women of Power, also states that “‘ women achieved status and recognition not by doing ‘men’s work’ as it pertains in the Western world, but by working within their own women’s group. It is different because the women in Things Fall Apart maintained their status by doing work for their men and how well they did it. Women did not have their own political organizations. Finally, the article talks about the Leader of these women’s organizations. It introduces the leader of the women and how she leads. The article explains that, “ Her authority rested in her ability to reach a consensus with the women of the community on all issues and on her skills at negotiating with the men on issues that affected all members of the community.” Usually men had the authority over women, but this woman had the power to
First, weddings were primarily surrounded around the bride and the bride’s mother. The book describes it as, “But it was really a woman's ceremony and the central figures were the bride and her mother.” Women took on more feminine roles in the society and were expected to follow them. Another role women were expected to follow in the Ibo society is cooking. At the wedding ceremony Okonkwo asked his wives, “they trooped through Okonkwo's obi he asked: "Who will prepare my afternoon meal?” He was expecting his wives to cook for him and that is also what most of the men in that culture. Lastly, women were usually expected to be the weak ones and cry a lot when someone in the clan dies. The author describes this situation as, “The faint and distant wailing of women settled like a sediment of sorrow on the earth.” Women were usually expected to wail and cry at these ceremonies and people would just sit and listen. All in all, women had very feminine roles to play in the Ibo society and were expected to follow all of them.
The author of Things Fall Apart showed us very traditional roles of women and men in the Ibo society. Men had very high expectations to be strong, fearless and have talent. Women had their feminine roles and expectations, but they also had alternatives that made them less traditional, like we see in the novel. Even