cumstances, masculinism is a more obsessional male mind set. This does not mean it has been carefully considered, for it is really more an attitude, "a conservative and entrenched way of thinking about gender relations" (Newell 50).
Nigerian men today appear threatened even though much of their patriarchal social structure remains in place. Polygamy is not uncommon. Women are not barred from particular fields of employment, but they do often experience discrimination because the society tolerates customary and religious practices which favor males. Women are not legally barred from owning land, for instance, but under customary land tenure systems in some parts of Nigeria, only men actually own land, while women gain access to it through marriage or family. Women often cannot inherit the husband's property, which instead goes to her in-laws. Reports of wife abuse are common, especially in polygynous families, showing again how males assert their dominance (Women's International Network [1995] 14).
Nigerians in general are family-oriented and traditionally-minded: "It has been often said that when Nigerians go to the city they don't leave the village, they take it with them" (Burstion Donbraye PG).
Egypt is another traditional culture strained by forces of modernization on the one hand and traditional and fundamentalist social and religious views on the other. This is another society where the law provides for equality of the sexes, though there is still much discrimination against women. Males alone can transmit Egyptian citizenship, for instance, which in rare cases means that children born to Egyptian mothers and stateless fathers are themselves stateless (Women's International Network [1994] 13).
...