Towards Nonviolent Gender Relations in Africa: An Introduction to Inter-Gender Dialogue

Theoretical Direction

Scholars often make use of two theories, egalitarianism and complementarism, in gender discourse. In this study, egalitarianism is adopted as a theoretical frame to demonstrate how a healthy inter-gender relationship might look like. Egalitarianism is “a philosophical theory that rests on the claim that human beings have some sort of fundamental worth and hence should all be treated as equal” (Afolayan 2015, p.1). This framework was initiated by the Stoics who affirmed the equality of all human persons in contrast to the predominant Greek ideology that human beings are never equal. According to Stoics, “It was the distinguishing mark of man that he was gifted with Reason. This set him apart from all animals; but in this all men, as men, were alike, and equal. To be a man was by definition to be so endowed: no question arose of more or less, better or worse” (Brown 1991, p. 22). The use of ‘man’ here should be understood to be inclusive of woman. In any case, from this position of the Stoics, the basic reason for human equality is the gift of reason in both male and female.

Egalitarianism as a theory that calls for the equality of all human persons has been criticized for two major reasons. The first reason is the non-equality of “the natural endowments, talents, capacities, limitations, vices, and circumstances that characterize our existence in the world. The second involves those different and unequal social advantages and disadvantages that humans are born into as members of the human society” (Afolayan 2015, p. 1). These objections to egalitarianism are further explained by Kekes: