WOMEN IN YORUBA RELIGION AND CULTURE

Abstract

This paper discusses the place of women in Yoruba Culture and Religion. It first established the fact that Yoruba culture and religion are strictly related. While culture expresses religion, religion is part and parcel of Yoruba culture, and these two elements occupy a valuable place in the life of the Yoruba. It observed that the Yoruba value motherhood even as polygamy was common, targeted at having more children, specifically, male children because of inheritance. The women were indispensable partners of the men folk; it was the women that managed the home and made Yoruba valued festivities a huge success. They were not just partners in relation to the men, they assumed leadership offices like the Iya Laje. This paper also discovered that women were the sustaining force of Yoruba Religion. Women did not only participate but played leadership roles, especially as concerns rituals. In several cults for instance, women were priestesses like, Ìyá un, Ìyá Ògún, and Ìyá Ṣàngó. They were also readily accessible to feed the gods and take care of shrines. This paper discovered that women were not only well involved in the Yoruba life, culture and religion, they were indispensable. For the purpose of this study, the phenomenological method of inquiry would be employed.