Male Daughters, Female Husbands is a 1987 book by Ifi Amadiume. Critically acclaimed, it explores gender roles in Africa and poses that before European influence in colonization, African society was largely egalitarian in terms of sex.
In Male Daughters, Female Husbands, Ifi Amadiume explores various aspects of pre-colonial Africa, arguing that before European and Western arrival, there were no established gender roles. She argues that colonial ways of thought reduced women from their equal statures, demeaning them to a lower role, especially economically. Economic roles, to Amadiume, is the most crucial role in which women have been demeaned.
Male Daughters, Female Husbands's ideas were groundbreaking at the time, and remain unique and significant today. A book that provides a global perspective on feminism and patriarchal roles, it is still read widely in Social Studies and Women's Studies classes today.
