Gender Roles
"The Container and the Contained"
The tension between the sexes is quite potent in African society. The idea of a balance between the sexes is a dynamic concept that is nowhere evident in Western culture. To Africans in Yoruba culture, this balance of power between the sexes grants both men and women an equal degree of power, but in different ways. There are several important comparisons which are also evident in art.
Because of this balance of power, men and women need one another to achieve their full power potential. They are like yin and yang, incomplete without the other. The Yoruba believe that there is a certain nature to males and females that defines how they live and work, and the amount of power they have. Female artists work with soft mediums like clay, and men work with more difficult mediums, like wood, metal, and beads. Also, women are associated with animals like the mudfish, as their natures are perceived to be cool and calm, which is needed for actions like raising children, whereas men are more associated with animals like the bush rat, because their natures are vigorous and lively, needed for actions like hunting. (4)
