Womanhood and the Riddle of Negativity in Some Nigerian Folksongs

Abstract

In both traditional and modern Nigeria, womanhood is far lesser than the esteemed status of men.  This position is palpable in the every-day life of the people.   In their social-organizational structure, there are a corpus of songs which denigrate, assault and verbally attack womanhood.  This study examines the employment of songs in fostering this dichotomy and portrayal of women in the negative among the Esan of Edo and Anioma of Delta States, Nigeria. Using the ethnographic method of data gathering, this study employed interview, group discussion and non-participant observation techniques to draw data which was analysed in this study. It was observed that female denigration is simply a mechanism put in place by men to assert their superiority and authority over them. Undaunted by the realities that women do reach the peak of their careers just like their male counterparts in public service, the penchant to devalue them still exists and although the songs denigrate womanhood, females still sing the songs.  It is thus argued that there is need for cultural re-engineering and these harmful practices against womanhood should be urgently abrogated.