Concepts and Theories on Women in Yoruba Religious Sphere

My concern in this work is to analyze the interplay of gender and power relations in the Yoruba religious sphere. The work examines the status and role of women in Yoruba religion, social structures, liturgical practices, and rituals. In addition, it attempts an appraisal of the place of women in Yoruba Christian tradition, especially as this concerns gender and power relations. My aim is to pursue a number of related theses. First, contrary to the conventional and familiar submission that women’s role is limited in Yoruba religion, I will argue that not only do women play central and vital roles in both indigenous Yoruba religion and Yoruba Christianity; indeed, women are the repository of these traditions and have contributed to the formation and growth of the religions under consideration. Second, I will examine gender relations in indigenous and Christian religious traditions in Yorubaland, emphasizing that gender plays a role in the way Yoruba beliefs and practices are conceptualized. In undertaking this research, I was concerned with the centrality of gender in Yoruba religion, and I began with the assumption that analyzing gender dynamics and women’s roles in Yoruba religion is complex. On one hand, I intended to establish the historical legacy of women, as critical actors in the religious sphere and to show that women play major roles in the spiritual life of their people, roles that are often unrecognized in previous works on religion in Nigeria. On the other hand, I recognize that women have been marginalized in the very traditions within which they have also played significant roles. In addition, I will demonstrate