Gender, space and power in the indigenous Igbo socio-political life

Abstract

This paper examines the complexities of gender relations in the indigenous Igbo socio-political space, drawing from the kinship system, and the spatial context of intragroup interactions. With copious examples from Nanka Igbo society, the paper notes that the institutionalized mechanisms in the Igbo culture afford men and women the opportunity to access power as means of social negotiation and identity legitimation. Women’s agency and collective power are reflected in the various ways their participation engenders group integration and harmonious co-existence. The physical context of the polygynous household further demonstrates both the socio-cultural and structural relationships that engender men and women’s agency. The paper, thus, offers new perspectives on the indigenous Igbo socio-political world through its contribution to the critique of the thesis of women invisibility that dominated earlier studies on Igbo people. The paper concludes that collaboration and gender mutuality characterize gender relations in the indigenous Igbo society.