Gender Roles and the Gospel of Bridging Culture Gaps

I run the risk of sounding way too culturally biased or over-generalizing for an anthropology major and Field Studies participant, but this has been on my mind lately.

I think we can agree, actually to be fair, I think some of us, or a great number of us can agree (because being in the social sciences has convinced me that there is never a time when we all can agree) that there are certain moral or ethical issues that have universal answers, although within various cultures these may or may not have ever been accepted. What I am saying is that from my point of view, it is never okay to, let’s say, beat a child. And although I want to be culturally unbiased, if it is an integral part of Culture X to beat children, I am still not going to think that this behavior is ethically okay. However, that does not mean I would condemn the participants in this behavior as bad or wicked people, because to an extent I do want to be culturally unbiased, and realize that had I been raised in that culture, there is a great chance I would be beating children. I think this type of thought process in some instances may be more effective than always attempting to be one hundred percent unbiased, which of course, is virtually impossible, given the fact that every human is ingrained with countless biases sprung from the unique environments we grow up in. Disclaimer: I also know that my reasoning could be misconstrued in so many ways, for example when colonists came in and claimed everything anyone did was unethical if it was not in line with their own way of living, and punished accordingly.

However, after this long and confused explanation of how I feel, I will say that one of the universal truths I believe in is gender equality. While here in Wiamoase, I have had several females tell me that they regret they cannot enjoy this mentality, that they know they are less valued then men in many instances, and that they expect to be within their marriages. I have also heard from some of my good male friends here these very sentiments vocalized, even to the point where I was bluntly told I am less “special” since I am a female. One woman told me that the young generation is beginning to change, but that even now you could find a female farmer in the bush, pregnant, with another child strapped to her bag, carrying items on her head, and her husband will also add his cutlass to her load. I have pondered these different outlooks, and of course sympathize with the complaints of my female friends here due to my own desires for equality in my relationships with males in my own culture.

One experience I had recently was a testimony builder to me as a Latter-Day Saint member. My great aunt and uncle served a mission in Kumasi and the surrounding area a few years back, and asked if I would meet with one of their old friends and converts. I was able to get lunch with him and his family in Kumasi a while ago, and immediately noticed some unique things about them. They maintained their Ghanaian identity, but there were some differences I noticed in the husband’s behavior towards his wife than what I have so far seen while here. He introduced her with love and respect, calling her his “dear” wife and his “beautiful” wife. He allowed her to choose what their family should order off the restaurant menu, and he even helped her throughout the meal with the two children. She fed one son on her lap, and he fed the other on his own lap. I thought about how passionate I am about educating people everywhere about human equality whether along racial, ethnic, social class, or gender lines, and how these types of sentiments empower both men and women when they experience the joy of teamwork and the ability to learn from any type of person. And I saw this in this Ghanaian husband and his wife. They both acted extremely confident and seemed to have a pervading sense of satisfaction and happiness. So I am going to be highly culturally biased right now and say this: that I have a testimony of the Gospel for one, because it bridges certain cultural gaps between people who are beautifully and wonderfully diverse and various, in positive and uplifting ways that will lead to a more peaceful existence between such different individuals here on earth.