An Examination of Portrayal of Women in Kipsigis Secular Songs: a Case Study of Kiptesot Sang’s Songs

Abstract

The image of women in African society has always been a topic of intense discussion and the studies that have been done in the past portray women as victims of gender stereotypes and sexual objectification. This project set out to examine how women have been portrayed in Kipsigis community. The Kipsigis community is conservative and the role of a woman as the nurturer in the family has been maintained for quite a number of years. The woman is expected to fulfill her duties as a wife and this ties her mostly in the homestead unlike the man who is set free to venture outside the home by running businesses and even joining politics. This in turn marginalizes women and pushes them to the periphery in the society. This study examines the portrayal of women in secular songs sung by Kiptesot Sang with an intention of examining whether they are subjected to gender stereotypes. The analysis of the songs is conducted using the sociological theory, performance theory, ethnopoetics and the theory of narratology. The sociological theory posits that literature and society are related and therefore we intend to arrive at how the songs communicate the social factors that are present in the society. Elements of performance in the songs are present, therefore performance theory is employed in this study. I listened to the songs and came up with twenty songs that were transcribed and translated in English while basing on the theory of ethnopoetics. The methodology used in in this study include interviews and basing the songs on the ABC of Gender Analysis, a text that Masheti and Kabira(1997) came up with, as a guide to scholars who want to establish the gender disparities found in texts. The findings of this project indicate that women have been stereotypically portrayed in most songs except in one song which portrayed women positively. The songs portray women as unfaithful in marriage, as liars, as people who can infect men with HIV/AIDS among others. The only positive portrayal of women is when they are given the ability to choose whom to marry. An area that requires further research is the study of political satire in the songs. There are also other Kipsigis singers whose works have not been studied and one of them is Micah Maritim who employs the use of humour when illustrating aspects like ignorance, gender relations and other social factors that exist in the society