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The Nigerian Patriarchy: When and How



Author(s)

Sefinatu Aliyu Dogo

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DOI:10.17265/2328-2177/2014.05.002

University of Exeter, the United Kingdom

The present Nigerian society, like most of Africa, is patriarchal in nature, with attendant unequal gender relations which cast women in a subordinate position. However, African scholars have contended and still do, that it was not always that way, but that it became patriarchal as a result of the introduction of external factors like the religions of Islam and Christianity, colonialism, education and others. They believe that most of African society, including Nigeria, was matriarchal in nature, so the claims of western writers to the contrary are wrong. This work, which is part of the writer’s PhD research, attempts to trace the societal nature and gender relations pattern within the Nigerian society, from pre-colonial Nigerian society, through the colonial into the present post-colonial Nigerian society. It engages the works of early writers on the evolution of society like Fredrick Engels and African writers like Cheikh Anta Diop, who, influenced by Engels claims about society and how it portrayed Africa, carried out researches in order to refute them; and also current writings on the Nature of gender relations in post-colonial Nigerian society.

patriarchy, gender, sex