Is the Marketplace for Women Alone?

Less than 25% of men go to open air Market in Africa to buy food stuffs.

The African society agrees that market duty is solitary for the women. Going to the market is gender-based, and it should be the role of the women. Africans perceive that women were designed for the market, kitchen, and bedroom.

It is almost wrong for a man to be seen at the marketplace, buying the condiments for a meal. It is perceived as a disregard to the office of the husband if married, or dishonour to the masculine Ego.

For the married peeps, the wife should be responsible for every kitchen activity — which includes dish cleaning, cooking, and food set up. A situation where the man is found to be involved in any of the aforementioned is perceived as a rebellion to marital vows.

There is a Yoruba phrase used to describe such occurrence — ‘gbewudani‘ — translation of a man who has lost his place as the head of the house. It is believed the woman is now the head of the family, which violates social and religious mandates.

A few days ago, there was a twitter conversation about a man saying ‘ladies that don’t go to the market’ are shameless.

It’s poor judgment and a sickening perception of a young man in this age. It shows the retarded expectations of a few of us.

The role of going to the market is not clear that of a woman. It’s however disheartening that we are raised in a society that sees this as a normative. It’s a notion that has since been adjudicated by our ancestral social judges, and it’s not finding a way for revaluation.

African society justified women going to the market because the end product of groceries and vegetables is food. It thus appeared rational to tell the woman to begin the supply chain of the food making process. Men are therefore expected to pay for the operations.

Events that happen at the grocery market involves a lot of skills which is not exclusive to women but both genders.

The grocery store requires negotiation skills, persuasion ability, mental and physical strength, money and anger management. You need to be able to persuade your seller to sell to at your perceived worth of the stock, and at other times you meet sellers who are having a bad day and are just angry. You must thus look for a way to manage all these at the market.

The grocery market require emotional and mental capacity, which is not limited to women but any person that has been trained in such position.

The inability of a woman to go to the market does not precisely represent her values.

It only shows a woman who was not or resisted to pieces of training in that prerogatives. It doesn’t mean she lacks the capacity in adding value in other aspects of life.

I see it as unfair and myopic to evaluate the social value of a lady from that perspective alone.

We must evaluate roles in this society; girls should be trained on how to iron Daddy’s clothes and fix the household electronics. Our boys should also begin to spend time in the kitchen and create time to go to the grocery store.

And then there is the Market Women Cliche.

There is nothing like market women; it’s just a distasteful representation of aboriginal men who were looking for ways to inflate their fragile ego.

Supposedly you find a kind lady who can’t go to the market, and you would desire she handles the grocery supply chain. Gently, teach her by leading the way and not by tantrums on social media.

Show her the way to the market, and she will follow.