Source: BBC News
http://www.bbc.com
Date accessed: 3 February, 2015
Gender roles in Angola aren't as broad as gender roles in America. In an article I read in recent news, an Angola television channel was being questioned due to the homosexual activity it showed. Although America still has gender issues regarding the LGBT community today, it has come a lot farther, especially in media, with showing and being accepting of homosexuality. In America, television shows with homosexual scenes are widely accepted, a couple being Orange is the New Black and Modern Family. After seeing this article and the not-so-revealing picture that accompanied it, I decided to read up on current gender roles in Angola and see why this picture, or television show, was such a big issue. [Read the article: here]
As it is today, gender roles in Angola are that of a patriarchal society. Males are much more dominant and hold higher power in the job world, at home, and in families; polygamy is still a big issue. Women are often illiterate while men usually have a higher education. The women are sent to do more dangerous jobs, thus their mortality rate is also higher. Similarly in America, women are also valued less in the work world, but in contrast women usually have higher educations and aren't as valued to do the more dangerous jobs (crane work, mining, etc.) [to read more on this click here].
Moving forward from the common gender role questions, I looked at the relationship patterns and if homosexuality was illegal, socially unacceptable, or the norm. The relationships in Angola are very much heterosexual, with homosexuality actually being illegal, even between two consenting adults in their own home. Harassment against the LGBT people is not frowned upon, in fact its a commodity. There has been some talk of a change of discrimination against gender biased, but probably not any time soon (and not LGBT focussed). A head member of the government has never been homosexual and recently a homosexual government member tried to come out and was kicked off.
