Cross-cultural Manifestations of Gender Conflict: The African Experience

Abstract

In both national and international fora, gender issues have generated the most heated and controversial debates, yet, the issue of gender conflict still remains largely unresolved. Existing alternatives reflect unending debates that provide answers to the vexed issue of gender misunderstanding. At the heart of the matter is that the female gender feels discriminated against by the glorifiers of patriarchy and wishes for an end to sexism. The male gender on the other hand feels justified in his present role in the society and considers equality with the opposite sex as unnatural and absurd. This opposing nature of the sexes has fueled a controversy in gender - a conflict that has remained unresolved. Here, we attempt to transform the gender conflict (which has so occupied the minds of the curious) into a gender confluence by proffering lasting strategies for peaceful co-existence between the sexes with special focus on the Nigeria socio-political scene.