Culture and Discrimination Against Women in Buchi Emecheta’s the Joys of Motherhood and Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus
Chapter One
PURPOSE OF STUDY
The study intends to examine culture and discrimination against women, using two carefully selected novels as primary data, Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood and chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus. Using radical Feminism to show that women should be treated equally as men and that gender differences is no excuse for discrimination. This research work aim at bringing out how cultural practices affect women, the pain it brings and the survival of women.
CHAPTER TWO
INTRODUCTION
The previous chapter discusses the main objectives and aim of this work, how researchers will benefit, the female folks and society. Therefore in this chapter, the researcher will critically review the works of prominent writers on feminism, culture and discrimination against women. We will also discuss various views of different scholars on the topic.
ORIGIN OF FEMINISM
Feminism originates from the Latin word ‘femina’. ‘Femina’ is a term which describes women’s issues. It is clear that whatever feminism means to different people, it revolves primarily around the female experience. Feminism began in Europe in the late eighteenth century due to the struggle for women’s rights. According to the world book encyclopedia (1984, p. 318) Mary Wollstone craft (1992), and John Stuart Mills (1809) publications were the early major contributions to feminist literature. In 1920, the voting rights of women was achieved, feminism in Europe and America suffered a lull until it was revived in the 1960’s through Betty Friedan (1963). As a result of the lull in the feminist movement and a shift in emphases, feminism has been divided into first wave feminism and second wave feminism. “second wave feminism takes as its starting point the politics of reproduction, while sharing first wave feminism is politics of legal, educational and economic equal rights for women. Hummed, (1992, p. 53). According to Ruth Sheila (1980, p.444):
The first stirrings of women’s movement were felt in the publication of Mary Wollstone Craft’s. a vindication of the Right movement in the United States was born during the driven for the abolition; particularly in the activities and writings of the Grimke sisters in the 1830’s. It culminated in the winning of the vote in 1920 and then because women had exhausted themselves in the fight for suffrage, it died until Betty Friedan’s the feminine Mystique brought it back to life in 1963. From late 1980’s, third wave feminism came to existence.
DEFINITION OF FEMINISM
Sotunsa .M. (2008, p.3) asserts: “feminism is a historically diverse and culturally varied international movement probing the ‘question of woman’.According to barrow and milburn (1990, p.128) “feminism is a label for a commitment or movement to achieve equality for women” Cuddon J.A (1991, p.338) says: “feminism is an attempt to describe and interpret women’s experience as depicted in various kinds of literature”. Humm .M. (1992, p.1) reports that: “The word feminism can stand for a belief in sexual equality combined with a commitment to transform society”. Feminism is concerned with female gender as a social category. Adebayo A. (1996, p.3) holds: ‘‘The term ‘feminism’ when shorn of its variegated cultural attachments and excesses still possesses a core programmed that adequately synthesizes women’s experiences worldwide in the same way that maxims has a core ideology which has been domesticated University’’.
AIM OF FEMINISM
Sheila (1980, p.4), who is one of the major propounders of feminism rightly observed: “feminists do not agree among themselves on the definition of feminism”. Feminism according to her may be a perspective, a world view, a political theory, or a kind of activism. Sheila. R. (1980, p.5) believes that:
Feminists reject separation of human qualities into two categories. One for men and one for women and the valuing of one of those categories are better than the other. For instance male characteristics of aggression, power and competition is celebrate while female characteristics of compassion, tenderness and compromise it termed weak and ridiculed.
Feminism ideas are now part of everyday global thinking as human puts it:
While most writers agree that… feminism as a group of political and social movements probably date from the seventeenth century, feminism as a body of answers to the question of woman has a more diffuse and considerably long-standing existence. (Humm 1992, p.1)
Sherry .R. (1988; p.14) say; “A primary aim of feminism is to work to eliminate mistreatment and unequal treatment of women”. Male domination is found in all aspects of life, it causes social inequalities and unjust treatment to women. Just as Sotunsa .M (2008, p.6) cited;
Feminists seek to remove all the barriers to equal social, political and economic opportunities for women. They object to the notion that women’s worth is determined principally by her gender and that women are inherently inferior, subservient or less intelligent than men. Feminist scholarship is aimed at deconstructing the established predominant male paradigms and constructing a female perspective which foregrounds the female experiences.
CHAPTER THREE
INTRODUCTION
The previous chapter discusses the works of other scholars relevant to this research work. This chapter will analyse Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood, identifying the cultural practices that discriminate against women.
PRACTICES AGAINST WOMEN AS PORTRAYED IN BUCHI EMECHETA’S THE JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD
We have several practices discriminating against women. Cultural practices through laws and ways of life discriminate against women, we also have religious practices. For this work cultural practices will be observe. Women are female members of the society, Emecheta in the text The Joys of Motherhood portrays how tradition and culture of a society takes women as inferior to men. Some cultural practices that discriminate against women in Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood are identified and discussed one after the other below.
PREFERENCE OF MALE OVER FEMALE CHILD
In Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood, Ibuza’s culture values male children more than female ones. A woman who is not able to bear her husband sons to take up the family name is seen to be a failure and her position in her husband’s house is shaky. This is confirmed by Emecheta; “when Adaku had her own baby weeks later, Nnaife was happier because the new wife gave him a son”. (p. 127) Nnaife recognizes the importance of a male child in his family that is why he is very happy that the new wife gives birth to a son.
CHAPTER FOUR
INTRODUCTION
The previous chapter of this research identifies the cultural practices discriminating against women in Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood. This chapter will critically analyse discrimination against women in Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus: Identifying the effect it has on women and the survival of women in the text.
CHAPTER FIVE
INTRODUCTION
This research has attempted to examine the cultural practices that discriminate against women. Using two selected texts: Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood and Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus. The study has considered the marginalization of women in Africa, especially Nigeria. In this chapter, we will summarize the whole analysis, findings and conclusion of the study.
SUMMARY
In the course of this research work, an attempt was made to identify culture and discrimination against women. The first chapter is the general introduction, which features, scope and limitations, research problem and research methodology. The second chapter which is the literature review focuses scholar’s views of culture and discrimination against women. The third chapter discusses one of the two selected African novels: Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood. The researcher identifies through this text various cultural practices like preference of male over female children’ polygamous practices maltreatment of wives by husbands, marriage and bride price, female sacrifice and widowhood practices.
Chapter four, in the same manner discusses the other Africa selected novel, Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, identifying discrimination against violence against women, women, preference of male to female children, maltreatment of women by men and polygamous practices. The researcher has also identified the effects of child upbringing, parenting and discrimination on children. It also discusses survival of without men. The last chapter which is chapter five summaries, presents the research the summary, findings and concludes the whole work.
FINDINGS
A number of findings were made in the course of this, research. It has been discovered by the researcher in the two selected texts that the practices identified, affect not only women, but also the society, especially the African society. For instance, some cultural practices encourage the belief that a male child is more important than a female child. The affects the African society because, parents limit their female children and prevent them from benefiting from good opportunities. Another example, reliance of bad cultural practices is male children. There is no doubt about the fact that female children will one day get married and take up another man’s name. This is one of the fears parents have about female children, but it has been discovered that, the females who are supposed to forget their parents after marriage, are the ones who remember them. As shown in Emecheta’s text, Nnu Ego and Nnaife dedicate all they have to send their sons to school, leaving the females to hawk and learn trades. However, it is the female twins who show Nnu Ego love with the little they have, while the men forget their home. This proves that the belief that it is only males that will one day become the bread winners of their family is unfounded.
The polygamous practices identified in the two selected novels also have bad effects on female folks. A man who is not able to handle and take proper care of one women, how can he then take proper care of two or more women with their children? Nnaife’s and Eugene’s quest for more children make them think about marrying wives. Nnaife a poor man who does not even have enough to feed his wife and children demands another wife, Eugene in Adichie’s text beats his wife, mercilessly that she loses her baby. If a man cannot take proper care of a woman, polygamous practices are not advised. This practice causes disunity, disrespect, jealousy and war and therefore, the African should society should avoid them. It is also discovered that the maltreatment of women by husbands, affects women emotionally and psychologically and can lead to death. Nnu Ego gets frustrated and dies, Beatrice has psychological problems.
Early marriage and high bride price have been seen as parents’ means of getting money. forcing marriages on female children because of bride price, without considering their feelings causes problems in their family. Also early marriage causes problems for the female child forced into early marriage. She is exposed to marital problems at an early age while the parents enjoy the pride price, leaving the female child to battled with the problems they have created for her. This is very unfair.
Female sacrifice has been identified and found to be forced on females. Sacrifice should be willingly, but because, women are taken to be inferior to men, they are forced. This causes pains, tears and family loss. The sacrificing of slave makes Nnu Ego go through hell before she eventually gets a child.
Widows are also maltreated, through the ritual practices they go through. They are made to regret been widows because they are made to do some ritual activities to vindicate them about the death of their husbands. Various cultures have ways of treating their widows. These ways affect the widows.
The cultural beliefs about motherhood make women desperate to fulfill the qualities of being a mother. Women are seen as failure when they fail to meet the demands of motherhood. This feeling of failure puts women through emotional and psychological pains.
It is found also that women can survive without men. Women maltreated are scared to leave their husbands because, they are afraid they will not survive without them. Some women struggle to survive without help from men. It shows that men are dispensable and that sometimes women are better-off without men.
CONCLUSION
Judging from the analysis of the two selected novels, it could be concluded that culture and discrimination against women are those cultural practices that favours men and bring harm to the female folks because they are seen as inferior to men. Buchi Emecheta and Chimamanda Adichie depict the marginalization and oppression in patriarchy society.
This researcher succeeds in identifying and explaining the cultural practices discriminating against women in Buchi Emeheta’s the Joys of Motherhood: a text that has serious cultural issues that cause pain, maltreatment and discrimination against women. Practices that should cause unity among people causes division among them because women are seen as inferior to men.
The researcher also identifies discrimination against women in Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus; describing the serious pain and maltreatment of women by men. African society sees women as inferior to men, this causes several maltreatments. Women should not be treated less important, women deserve the same human rights as men. This also applies to children, if a female child can be treated specially by going to school, female children should also go to school, a statement says “Educate a man, you educate one person but educate a women you educate a nation”.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The researcher recommends that, the cultural belief that male children are superior to female children, should be abolished. Male and female children should be treated equally. Secondly, there should be equal educational opportunities for both male and female children, since it is the belief in many cultural setting that children should generally take care of their parents when they become adults. It seems a wise thing to use education to put all children, male and female, in a position to be able to do this properly. From our study, as mentioned above, the women that are usually not sent to school end up becoming more useful than the male children upon whom parents lavish their life-time saving. It seems reasonable to suggest therefore, that there is no need to value one sex above the other. Thus, the practice of underrating and under-valuing female children while male children are over-valued, turning them into spoilt brats should be jettisoned from any civilized society.
Female children should not be seen as commodities to be sold out to earn money. From our study, it is discovered that females are pushed into early marriages because of pride price. The researcher recommends that, females who are not yet mature for marriage, should not be pushed into marriages. Also the demands of bride price by parents should not be too high. Bride price should not be used to boost family’s finances. The Yoruba’s custom of ceremonial pride price which is usually returned to the groom’s family during the marriage ceremony should be copies by all Africa societies since it foresters love, not just between the couple, but the two families.
Another bad cultural practice to be abolished is female sacrifice. Females’ lives should not be wasted for any reason. Any cultural practice that involves killing of humans especially females, should be stopped. Also from our study, it is discovered that widows are made to go through, several rituals that initiate them into widowhood. Those practices affecting widows should also be abolished, widows should be released to mourn their husbands freely, without any interference from any tradition.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Alexis,.W.(2011). Discrimination.from http://www.fgmnetwork.org/gonews.php Subaction=showful&id=1204850565&archive=&start-from=&ucat =1&.(14/01/2011).
- Andrienne,.R.(1983).Compulsory Heterosexual and Lesbian Existence. The signs Reader; Women Gender and Scholarship.Chicago;University of Chicago Press.
- Barrow,.R. and Geoffrey,.M.(1990). A Critical Dictionary of Educational Concepts. 2nd Edition. New York: Harvester.
- Chukwuma,. H.(2006). Women’s Quest For Rights, African Feminist Theory in Fiction. Lagos, Nigeria: Pero Press.
- Cudd,. A.E.(1995). Hypatia- Journal of Feminist Philosophy vol.10 No.3 Summer.
- Cuddon, J.A.(1991). A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory 3rd Edition. Oxford: Blackwell.
- Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia(1994). Discrimination against Women.
- Dangaremgba,.T.(1988). Nervous Conditions. Seattle: Seal Press.
- Emecheta,.B.(1976). The Bride Price. London: Fontane/ Collin.
