Gender has been variously defined in diverse contexts. For this entry, however, gender may be understood to refer to defined capacities and attributes assigned to persons based on their alleged sexual characteristics. Gender, then, is a construct within a people's living experience, embedded in the base of their philosophy and manifested at theoretical and pragmatic levels of their polity. Because gender is never independent of other social systems, it would be futile to consider it as a fixed and immutable construct; rather, it is a process. Further, gender classifications permeate a culture's cosmic perception and may be discernible in its language, storehouse of wisdom, rituals, and philosophy. Gender thus presents itself in every sector of a culture's experience of everyday life and philosophy of life. Gender classifications may be evident in perceptions of the ecosystem and supernatural forces.

Historical Gender Studies in African Religious Traditions