Stereotypical Construction Of Gender In Kipsigis Secular Songs In Chepalungu Sub County, Bomet County, Kenya

Abstract

Feminism and masculinity in the society could be influenced by the way secular songs have been written. Despite efforts that have been made to address gender equality in the society, gender bias continues to persist in Chepalungu Sub County. The purpose of the study was to investigate stereotypical constructions of gender in Kipsigis secular songs in Chepalungu Sub County. The study objectives were: to examine whether the words in Kipsigis secular songs communicate information relating to gender, to establish stereotypical portrayals of females and males in Kipsigis secular songs, to confirm whether perception of gendering of Kipsigis secular songs is related to the sex of the listener and to determine how the stereotypical portrayals in Kipsigis secular songs towards gender construe gender identity. The study adopted both qualitative and quantitative research paradigms. The research was guided by feminist critical discourse analysis method within Norman Fairclough framework and social cultural theory of Discourse Analysis. The target population for the research involved men and women who participated in listening sequence and interviews. The target population for the research involved 56,236 residents and 154 secular songs communicating information on gender. Fifteen songs (9 by males and 6 by females) secular songs from Kipsigis language were purposively sampled for the study. A snowball sampling method was used to select twelve (12) male and twelve (12) female respondents to participate in the research. Listening sequence, documentary method and interviews were used to collect data in this study. Qualitative data from the field was analysed qualitatively using thematic content analysis for objective one, two and four. Quantitative data was analysed using one sample t-test for objective three. Data from women and men was presented together with extracts from songs as per the objectives of the study. The research established that secular songs have a significant influence on the way gender was constructed in Kipsigis culture. Research findings showed that songs by female composers mainly advocated for gender subversion and women empowerment while songs by male composers advocated for female insubordination. The study findings showed that secular Kipsigis songs portray women as inferior and male gender as superior. This influenced social construction of gender in the Kipsigis society. The study established that when a particular song is played repeatedly, everyone in the society tends to agree with the information being relayed by that particular song which in most cases contributed to gender identity. The study recommends that there is need for male and female artists to collaborate and compose songs that promote gender equality in the society, song writers need not only to sing for fame but for addressing issues in the society and there is need for song writers to write what they believe in. The findings of the study are beneficial to various stakeholders; women, songwriters linguists and future researchers. Songwriters would have a better understanding of the existing status of gender both in the contents of the lyrics and in the music industry. To linguists, the research provide the need for them to give attention to the influence of music lyrics towards gender construction in the society.