Ogbujah GENDER AND ETHNICITY: TWIN VICTIMS OF A POLARIZED THOUGHT-PROCESS. Columbus Nnamdi Ogbujah. Abstract Everything within the created universe is sipped in polarity: male and female; black and white; heaven and earth; day and night; land and sea; rich and poor; animate and inanimate; physical and spiritual, etc. Everything seems to have its opposite from which it diverges. Being male or female and having a particular skin colour or cultural background are all givens upon which most intellectual processes and physical actions are built. Often, they become important sources for group identity, unity and also for exclusion. This exclusive tendency has led to negative stereotyping of women and ethnic minorities which in turn has been reinforced by discriminatory actions. Instead of appreciating their mutual complementarity, polarized thinking has created conflicts for agents at both ends, and has long been the source of marginalization of the weaker partner in the continuum: be it women or ethnic minorities. INTRODUCTION A simple observation of the universe in which we live reveals some form of polarity of structures and functions. It is clearly obvious that there are opposites of virtually every element that inhabits the universe, which in turn have structured their constituents and/or functioning. The holy writ tells us in the creation account that the earth was made separate from the heavens; day separate from night; land separate from seas, etc (Gen. 1:4-10). The polarity of created universe is not limited to inanimate entities, but extends also to animates, especially humans: ‘male and female he created them’ (Gen. 1:27). Throughout history, humans have evolved adapting to the circumstances of their times and projecting themselves in line with 22 | Page JOGS Vol. 5. No. 5, September 2012