The article about the Asante people of West Africa illustrates their perspective on the role of women. The article suggests that the life of an archetypical Asante woman undergoes three significant phases that involve being a wife, a mother, and the family's breadwinner. Even though the Asante husbands are expected to support their families financially, the women take up the majority of the responsibility to raise their children as fathers can leave or be replaced. Despite Hodgson's efforts to demonstrate the importance of the Asante woman as the pillar of the home, she has reduced the relevance of male species in Asante to mere financial alternatives, failed to support her research statistically and did not clearly outline the possible changes in the future role of the Asante tradition concerning the changing demands of time.
The article raises the level of women to the rank of family heads, thereby rendering paternal male relatives less useful than maternal relatives. According to Hodgson (2015), fathers bear less parental responsibilities than mothers in an Asante home (325). The article shows some level of biasness towards the male members of a family. Hodgson (2015) magnifies the role of the Asante women to the point that the support offered by the fathers appear way below its magnitude. She indicates that the fathers are only responsible for providing financial support to the children but do not go the extra mile to illustrate the actual weight of that particular responsibility. Hodgson does not make efforts to show that male responsibility is as important as female participation in raising a child. She concentrates on food provision, which prompts women to go to work as the primary responsibility rather than schooling the children, which is the responsibility of the man. Despite Hodgson's efforts to appreciate the Asante women, I believe that her feministic viewpoint has influenced her writing to the extent that she portrays men as irresponsible on matters of parenthood.
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The article does not support its claims with statistical data that would add more authority to her research. Hodgson makes use of theoretical references from earlier works to support her statements, which do not give precise proof to her claims. When Hodgson (2015) mentions the praises men get when they actively participate in the process of raising their children, for instance, she does not go further to give statistical data on how many men often get the praises (327). The claim she presents in that section of her article would be more informative about the approximate number of Asante fathers who actively participate in raising their children, which in turn would imply the number of females doing the same if Hodgson includes statistical figures. Statistical evidence offers more factual support than mere theoretical references that are staggering without precision.
Change in time implies the inevitability of people's ways of life. Hodgson (2015) does not suggest the probable changes that the Asante women experience concerning their responsibilities in their families. Empowered women characterize the twenty-first century even though the rate of women empowerment is not uniform. Similarly, the notion of male chauvinism has begun to fade in several parts of the world. Gender roles are losing their relevance as both males and females pursue duties without limits. The impact of these universal changes sweep across the world, and I, therefore, expected Hodgson's article to address the theme of change within the Asante community and how the Asante people are adapting to it. I also expected Hodgson to suggest the possible shift of responsibilities from the effect of change in time, such as the Asante women relocating to offices from the market.
Overall, Hodgson's article demonstrates the moe of parenthood in the Asante community centering around the mothers. Hodgson portrays some level of biasness that implies the inferiority and irresponsibility of males in the Asante community. She does not support her claims with statistical data nor address the theme of change in the Asanti community.
References
Hodgson, D. L. (2015). The gender, culture, and power reader .
