Skip to content

The men were no longer known by their own names, but by reference to their role as husband.

— Ifi Amadiume Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society (1987)

Another quote →

More quotes by Ifi Amadiume

Extremely powerful and assertive women were able to dominate their husbands.

Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society (1987)

Man seems to have wanted… to give the universe his own gender…anything believed to have value belongs to men and is marked by their gender…he gives his own gender to God, to the sun.

Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society (1987)

She is said to have had about 24 wives… the qualities attributed to her were hard work and perseverance. She was … a clever woman, who knew how to utilize her money.

Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society (1987)

It was with pride that Nwokocha Agbadi returned the twenty bags of cowries to his former son-in-law and he even added a live goat as a token of insult.

Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society (1987)

… a flexible gender system … meant … certain women could occupy roles and positions usually monopolized by men, and thereby exercise considerable power and authority over both men and women.

Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society (1987)

All Ifi Amadiume quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ifi Amadiume (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.