Week 2 : Women in Things Fall Apart

Go through your notes on gender differences and other websites dealing with gender studies. Based on your reading, reflect on how these women are treated in the novel. The following questions can help you as you write your reflective piece in your blog:

•  How are the women treated in the novel? Do all members in the community agree with the status quo? Why? 
• What contributions are made by the Igbo women to the survival of their culture? 
• What are the changes in women’s roles in this present world?

Retrieved from : http://reflectiononthingsfallapart.blogspot.com/

  The women in the novel Things Fall Apart are treated not equally in the novel because we can see how the society views women throughout the story. Yes, there are times where women seems to be protected and well taken care of, however, the power gap can still be seen clearly in the story. For example, Okonkwo can freely beat his wives and no one scolds him but in the Week of Peace, hitting the wife is forbidden and there are punishment to those who still does it. The fate of the young girl that is offered as sacrifice in the beginning of the story is quickly decided whereas the boy is still considered whether to be sacrificed or not. This is implementing that the life of female is not that important in the culture. 

Some of the community members did not agree with the status quo, for example, during Okonkwo's exile, they were sent to his wife's motherland, and people there respects women. For example, Uchendu advises Okonkwo to be good to his wives. 

   There are many contributions made in making sure the Igbo culture still survives. For example, the women gave birth to children, which if there are no women, there will be no addition to the number of people of the Igbo culture. Secondly, they take care of the children which is very important because if there were fewer women in the Igbo society, all the children will be sacrifices because the men does not seem to care about the welfare of the children that they killed.

      Today, women are seen as valuable as the men because we can see women working and being in high position although a thin gap between these two gender still exists. Nowadays, women can even be the breadwinner of the family. 

Name : Elfera Achin
Class  : TESL (R1)

Question: Elfera, what is this gap that can still be seen between men and women?

In ensuring the survival of the culture, what is their role as wives/mothers/daughters/leaders?

   The gap between men and women can still be seen in our society. That is a fact that cannot be denied. Even though there a few of women leaders all around the world, their role as a female will still exist. This includes the taking care of the children, doing the household activities and obeying their husband. 

  To ensure the survival of culture, women, as mothers, must take care of their children because the mothers are always expected to take care of the children more than the father. As daughters, women should have a good education in order to ensure they have good education and be good leaders in the future. While women who are leaders should fight for female rights to ensure that female is highly regarded in the society.   

In the novel, the women are not treated well especially by the protagonist, Okonkwo. The culture in the village allow the men to get married to as many women as they want to but the women have to have total loyalty toward the husband. Okonkwo himself has four wives of his own and he is not treating them well. During the week of peace, Okonkwo beats his wife hard. The culture of the Igbo people also does not allow the women to go out and socialize but to stay at home to take care of the husbands and the children.  Only the men have the responsibility to go out to find the needs of the family.

Yes, I think all the members in the community agree with status quo as it is clearly seen in the novel. They do not allow the women to go out and socialize but the men have the total freedom. Not just to go looking for foods perhaps, but they also have been given the freedom to get married with as many women as they want. Meanwhile, the women have to stay at home and have to have total loyalty to the husband and serve them well.

The way the women of the Igbo people are treated is not suitable with what they have been doing. The women have given birth for the continuation of the generation of Igbo people. The people should respect the women but they do not. The women also have given total loyalty for the family by taking care of the children and serve the husband well. They even do not allowed to go out.

In this present world, the women have given a lot. They no longer have to stay at home but also able to be the breadwinner of the family. Now, the women as the leaders also can be seen everywhere. This has shown that the women are able to stand the same level as the men. They should be respected and given the same right as the men.

By, 

Angela Devung

In the novel Things Fall Apart, the women are not treated equally. In Igbo culture, women are seen as  the weaker sex. The dominant role for women is to make a pure bride for an honorable man, to be a submissive wife and to bear many children. Even though the women’s level is not as high as the men, they still play important roles in the upbringing of the tribe. All the members in the community are agree with the status quo because they believe that men are responsible to be the leader of the family and should not look weak. The ideal men provide for his family materially and have status on the battlefield. Okonkwo, is extremely concerned with being masculine and devalues everything feminine.

Even though the women are seen as a weak gender but still there are some contributions made by the Igbo women to the survival of their culture. As seen in the novel, many of the spiritual entities consist of goddesses and even the priestess is a female character.

In this present world, we can see that there are lots of working women. Women are not seen as the housewife and only do the house chores. Besides, many of the high position in the workplace are dominated by women. 

-Kelly Katty Jameson-