This question requires candidates to discuss how the male characters treat their female counterparts. This question was not properly answered. The responses were sketchy and devoid of statement of the themes and identification of the major characters.

The following points were to be developed by the candidates:

• Identification of the major themes of tradition and the battles of the sexes.
• Character Identification of Yoko, Gbanya, Jilo, Ndapi, Lamboi, Musu and Faneh.
• In Mende Chiefdom, men see women as sex objects: Gbanya tell Yoko that ‘go back to bed, Yoko, you are a woman. Your brain was made for music, your feet for dancing steps that will fire the loins of any man, and your body for that bed. Not for the important affairs of the chiefdom”.

• Women are seen as not fit to rule: Gbanya claims if Senehun is to survive, a man must lead her. This view is also shared by Lambio and Musa. Even Yoko’s denial of her femininity to join the Poro cult is not recognised
• Women are viewed as gullible and weak: Lansana succeeds to have sex with Jilo by exploiting her gullibility and vulnerability.
• Women are viewed as home keepers and child bearers: this attitude manifests in Gbanya’s conversations with Yoko, to the effect that she is body and no brain.

Only a few candidates were able to do these; and the performance was fair.