The author of the research states that gender is a timeless and universal category and does not exist on the biological level. In order to prove this theory, the author conducts research on gender based on the pre-colonial system of Yoruba. The methodology used by the author includes utilizing the terminology of the Yoruba to avoid misinterpretations of the notions. The author utilizes an approach that addresses both theoretical and practical research. On the one hand, Oyewumi conducts interviews with the population, and on the other, analyses the literature of The Yoruba.
The main principle of the structuring of the pre-colonial Yoruba is seniority. The language peculiarities show no privileges for men. The language does not support the hierarchical nature of gender. The social ranking of the population in Yoruba is presented based on the principle of age relativity (Oyewumi, 1997). Such a situation is caused by the traditional kinship valuing for Yoruba. Social control, resource diversification, and social interactions are structured based on the categories of adulthood having no binary connotations as gender. The general distinctions in responsibilities are primarily based on the concepts of maternity and paternity. Despite the fact that groom and wife concepts exist in the language of Yoruba, these notions include no binary gender distinctions. As well as marriage includes no power obtaining over another person (as typically suggested in Western ideology: the husband is the head of the family while the wife is subordinate to him).
The argument of Oyewumi is consistent with the research results. Western traditions based on the Biblical interpretation of female and male differences resulted in the formulation of gender as giving or depriving of particular privileges. Gender is one of the few ways that society still allows systemic, identity-based discrimination and segregation to exist. The gender-oriented method is one of the fundamental ways in which people have been taught to look at the world and the world around them to look at people. The language peculiarities prove such an interpretation of gender. The etymology of gender-related words shows a clear distinction between male and female.
The existence of Yoruba highlights the idea that people construct gender to make a more easily manageable social structure. Therefore, the position of Oyewumi is rational and well-supported in the scale of Yoruba. The actual problem is deeply rooted in the language, society, and everyday life of Western people. Eliminating gender notions or deconstructing them is a significant challenge. However, today the issue of deconstructing gender tends to be a vast movement. Today’s language changes slightly in favor of notions that a gender-neutral. Some pronouns that earlier were considered average show low tolerance to minorities. As a result, slight changes in this sphere can be noticed.
Nevertheless, the general change in people’s perception of gender is difficult to change. Society can achieve equal rights and possibilities, but the perception of gender is unshakeable. It was formed throughout generations. Deconstruction consists of a new reading of the Kantian concept of “criticism” and is a clarification of the foundations of gender relations. Deconstruction answers the question of how gender relations are possible in a given society and how they are created, taking the form of natural and immanently inherent in an individual, group, or society. Such research as Oyewumi conducted is vital for realizing the scale of the problem, and that gender itself is not a biological notion. The changes in language and social structuring are a complicated process requiring the allocation of the family institution and economic, political, educational, and others.
Reference
Oyewumi, O. (1997). Invention of women: Making an African sense of Western gender discourses. University of Minnesota Press.