Gender Inequality in the House of God: Comparing Islam and Traditional Religions in Yorubaland and Lome in West Africa

Comparative studies on gender among Muslims and worshippers of other traditional religions in West Africa are limited in number. The paper makes use of a combination of social sciences and humanistic research instruments through structured interviews and participant observation to study gender politics within Islam, Vodun (a traditional religion in Lome, Togo), and Sàngό (or Shango, one of the deities in Yoruba culture) in Western Africa. This study reveals that gender inequality transcends all barriers, be it the profane or the sacred. In fact, in large parts of West African societies where traditional and Islamic norms and values hold sway, religion is deployed by patriarchal entities as a tool to oppress women. Questions of importance to this study, therefore, are: what are the foundations of Vodun, Sàngό, and Islamic beliefs that say women cannot achieve the highest echelons of the religions in question? How has this reinforced the existing gender inequality among the Yoruba of Southwest Nigeria and Ewe speakers of Lome (Togo) in West Africa? How is gender constructed in Ewe and Yoruba cultures? And, how can we begin to deconstruct the patriarchal reading of Islamic texts?