Families in the Igbo society do not really show affection, even if they feel affection inside. The parents may do this to make their kid mentally tough, and prepare them for their future. Also, their society can be very harsh at times, just to follow their principles. For example, they kill an innocent child, because an Oracle calls for it. Also, the oldest male in each household seems to have ultimate power over anyone else who inhibits the same house.
Men Role
Marriages
Igbo:
Under the practice of Polygamy, many Igbo men have more than one wife. A successful man marries as many wives as he can support. this involves providing farm plots to help the women and their dependents make a living. Men must have enough money to marry ("purchase") his bride. Once married, the men has control of everything-property and even the children.
Yirsaw:
In Yirdaw's christian marriages are often arranged by parents of the bride and groom with a great deal of negotiation. According to tradition, bride must be virgin when marriage takes place. Virginity is highly valued in christian traditions. Incest is forbidden, parents investigate five generations among bride and groom families to establish there is no blood line. Polygamy in Ethiopia has been formally abolished in the Africa nation, and there is no official recognition for polygamous marriages under civil law or any form of customary law. Ethiopia is the only nation in the Horn of Africa that does not grant any form of legal recognition to polygamous marriages.
Suleiman:
In Suleiman's Culture marriage is emphasized by the need for the groom or his family to pay dowry to the bride's family before marriage.Dowry serves to fulfill justice and legality in the eyes of the families involved. The practice of polygamy is legal in Kenya, and such unions are fully recognized by the courts under Customary Law.
Rules
Igbo:
In the Igbo society wife beating is an accepted practice for punishment if necessary.
Yirdaw:
In Yardaw's culture families are big. Ethiopian women have about seven children. As a child you grow up near your cousins, aunts and uncles. Only a fourth of all children regularly go to school. School is free, but schoolbooks, school supplies and school clothes are not! Early schooling is in your own language, but to go further you need to know Amharic or even English because that is what the books are written in! As in other traditional societies, a woman's worth is measured in terms of her role as mother and wife.
Suleiman:
In Suleiman's culture, women are less dominant than men. Once the women and men are married, she is expected to do house chores and raise children. Women are forbidden to do many things that their husband did not allow them. Although wife beating isn't something practices in Suleiman's culture women still gets punished by whipping, if it's necessary.
Clothing
Igbo:
For every day wear men wear a cotton wrap(rope), a shirt, and sandals. For formal occasions they wear a long shirt, often decorated with tucks and embroidery, over a dressy wrap, shoes, and a hat.
Yirdaw:
In Yirdaw's culture men wear pants and a knee-length shirt with a white collar, and perhaps a sweater. Men often wear knee-high socks, while women might not wear socks at all. Men as well as women wear shawls, the neTela. The shawls are worn in a different style for different occasions
Suleiman:
In Suleiman’s culture there are several types of clothing that are in vogue among the several tribes who are inhabiting in Kenya. Kitenge is traditional dress that is popular in almost all the African countries. This is sarong type of dress and is worn traditionally in several occasions by the Kenyan people also. Then there is the red tribal dress that is wore by the Masai tribal people in Kenya. The red color of their dress represents their love for mother earth. Kenya clothing is particularly known for its attractive blend of variegated colors and designs that are distinctive of the various tribes .
Employment
Igbo:
Men clear the bush and plant the yams with the help of women and the children. Following the planting of yams, plots are allocated to the women individually. Each woman plants other crops in the spaces between the yams and also on the slopes of hills.
Yirdaw:
In Yitdaw's culture men farm, women cook, keep their children clean and looking nice, pound grain into flour and look for cow dung and wood for the family fire. Older girls look after children, older boys look after sheep. Most families have about a hectare of land (less than three acres). All water has to be carried back from the nearby well, something that falls to women or children.Circumcision
Igbo: The rite of circumcision, whereby a child is initiated into her culture, occurs on the 8th day after birth, when she is circumcised. Traditionally, the operation was performed by a midwife (native doctor) but since the mid-20th century, this slight surgical operation is done mainly by physicians for hygienic reasons.
Yirdaw:In Yardaw's culture a boy is circumcised on either the seventh day or the twelfth day, depending on the region. At one time, circumcision for boys and girls was mandatory for health, religious, and cultural reasons. Circumcision for males is available in U.S. hospitals. Ethiopian families understand that in the U.S., only boys get circumcised (with parental consent), but not girls.
Suleiman:
In Suleiman’s culture traditionally, children are being initiated into their respective tribes. Part of the initiations is circumcision. Most tribes that circumcise boys also circumcise their girls. The boys to be circumcised generally go through a ceremony before they are circumcised. This can last from one to several days depending on the tribe.
Sports
Igbo:
Wrestling is the most popular sport among boys and young men, with great annual contest in every part of Igbo country.
Yirdaw:
In Yardaw's culture the most popular sport is track and field, in which they have won many medals in the Olympic Games. Soccer, despite lack of success by the national team, is loved by a significant part of the population.
Suleiman:
In Suleiman’s Culture Football is the most popular spectator sport. Kenya has also been a dominant force in ladies' volleyball within Africa, with both the clubs and the national team winning various continental championships in the past decade. The women's team has also competed at the Olympics and World Championships but without any notable success.
Significance
Igbo:
If a man had dishonored himself in the eyes of the other men belonging to the tribe by acting in a cowardly way or by being lazy, they call him a woman for insult. A man is to rule the household with heavy hand (dominant role). Men are to be active and aggressive.
Yirdaw:
In Ethiopia, men and women have clearly defined roles. Traditionally men are responsible for providing for the family and for dealing with family contact outside the home whereas women are responsible for domestic work and looking after the children. Parents are stricter with their daughters than their sons; often parents give more freedom to males than females. The traditional view was men neither cook nor do shopping because housework tends to be women's job. This view continues to be held in many areas of the country.Although many people continue to follow these traditional roles, life is constantly evolving including the role of men and women. This can be seen particularly true in urban areas where women are beginning to take a major role in all areas of employment and men are beginning to take a greater role in domestic life.
Suleiman:
In Kenyan men are not as woman-friendly as European or North American men. In Kenya, it is said that men are regarded as the ‘first’ gender. While Kenyans are friendly and relaxed people on the whole, it is not unusual to hear “a woman’s place is the kitchen” type of arguments espoused by Kenyan men. Kenyan women are visible in society. They are not the types to sit quietly in a corner. They have sometimes pretty high-ranking jobs and some are active in politics, business and the media and entertainment sector. Older Kenyan women have traditionally an important role in tribal life, and command respect. Women are often the backbones of villages as they do the bulk of the farming work. But the December 2007 elections showed that some Kenyan men still have a problem with that. In the weeks before the election, no less than 255 cases of Kenyan men assaulting female political candidates were reported to the police, with no arrests following. Many received threatening or humiliating text messages. One female political candidate, Alice Onduto, was shot to death.
Women Role
Marriages
Igbo:
The process of marrying a young Igbo woman falls into four stages: asking the young woman's consent, negotiating through a middleman, testing the bride's character, and paying the bride wealth, a kind of dowry.
Itzel:
Mexicans are free to choose their marriage partners. Informally, however, there are rules that constrain choices, most importantly those related to class and ethnicity. Nowadays the boy's family might not be seen formally approaching a girl's family, as was done in the olden days, in most cases the boy still meets the girl's parents to ask for her hand in marriage, as a sign of respect to them. In case of long engagements, still common in Northern Mexico, the boy gives his fiancée as 'ring of promise', before the ring of commitment is given as sign of formal engagement. People usually marry after a period of formal engagement that can last several years. Although the basis for marriage is love, many Mexicans consciously or unconsciously look for a partner who can provide social and economic security or upward mobility. Monogamy is the only marriage form allowed. A marriage ceremony consists of a civil registration and a religious wedding. Afterwards, the couple holds a huge and costly party with family and friends.
Clothing
Igbo:
Women wear wraps for informal and formal occasions. The everyday wrapper is made from inexpensive cotton, dyed locally. For formal wear, the wrapper is either woven or batik dyed, and often imported.
Itzel:
It is more about the WEATHER than the culture. Women are allowed to wear jeans, skirts, blouses,etc.
Sports
Igbo:
Soccer is a popular sport of Igbo country. Traditionally played only by boys, it has been introduced to girls through the school system.
Itzel:
Women can play any sport.
Employment
Itzel:
It is generally assumed that many women are employed in nonregistered and underpaid informal activities. Women also generally earn less than men and their level of educational is lower. Most women are economically active when they are young.
Female Circumcision
Igbo:
The rite of circumcision, whereby a child is initiated into her culture, occurs on the 8th day after birth, when she is circumcised. Traditionally, the operation was performed by a midwife (native doctor) but since the mid-20th century, this slight surgical operation is done mainly by physicians for hygienic reasons. The experience of modern Igbo girls proves that they are neglected and are resent of traditional circumcision. The issue of female circumcision ranks high as one of the many cases of domestic violence in Igbo culture. Otherwise known as female genital mutilation, female circumcision is seen as a sure cure for sexual promiscuity among women. However, ancient folklore reveals how female genital mutilation helps to ward off certain kinds of diseases in women in the olden times. Circumcision is done to arrest the interest and arousal for sex by the womenfolk and to avoid giving birth to children, who would live for short periods of time, die and come back to their mothers’ womb only to be born and continue the cycle, bringing grief and pain to the family. According to ancient folklore, it is alleged that one of the benefits of female circumcision is that during child birth the woman does not go through birth pangs. Most of the women who undergo female circumcision are said to have easy passage during delivery. They are also adjudged to be hardworking and productive in the farms.
Itzel:
It is reported that circumcision has been practiced in eastern Mexico. However, the IPU has no first-hand official information on this subject.
Significance
Igbo:
They are to be seen and not heard, farming, caring for animals, raising children, carrying foo-foo, pots of water, and kola. The men see them as material possessions and thought of them as a source of children and as cook. Women are considered second-class citizens, and subservient to men, and sometimes treated as slaves. Women are also forced to study certain “womanly” subject in school.
Itzel:
Mexican culture tends to have more traditional and strictly defined gender roles. Although women and men are equal before the law, clear differences persist in terms of authority and privileges. Women play crucial roles in the family, but even here the male is "chief of the family". Women are seen as the caretakers of morality and hence take center stage in the domain of religion. Inheritance laws make no distinction between men and women. Each child is legally entitled to an equal share, but in practice male descendants are often privileged. In the countryside land is often distributed only among sons.
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