Shifting gender-role attitudes among the Sukuma in Tanzania: A comparative study of oral poetic forms and societal perspectives

Gender roles across various communities have been a major area of research, where the division of labor, particularly within patriarchal structures, and how it affects people’s behaviors, lives, and attitudes in different ways have been examined. These gendered roles reinforce inequality, particularly in the distribution of responsibilities and benefits between men and women, a pattern that manifests in several spheres, including the family, the labor market, and cultural-ideological productions. Against this backdrop, the current paper presents findings on shifts in gender role attitudes among the Sukuma, situating contemporary perspectives within both precolonial legacies and colonial transformations.