The Concept of Feminism in Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen and Okoye Ife
CHAPTER ONE
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this research is to examine how Buchi Emecheta and Ifeoma Okoye two African feminist writers used their female characters in the novels to portray and depict how women were able to endure the struggles and challenges imposed upon them in the male domineering society and how they came out of it, and were able to challenge women to stop allowing themselves to be treated anyhow by men.
AIM AND OBJECTIVE
Looking at all this, this research will focus on the effort of women writers to make this movement workable in Africa.
We shall take a look at Buchi Emecheta’s contribution in her Novel Second Class Citizen and how she has achieved her goals. Also Ifeoma Okeye’s Behind the Cloud will also be treated with focus on how she achieved her own feminist goals.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
FEMINISM: CONCEPT AND THEORY
The term “feminism” is derived from the Latin word femina which means women, having a quality of females. In 1890, feminism was coined for the first time instead of Womanism. Womanism is made from wifman, which is related to the theory of sexual equality and the movement for women’s right. This word was coined by Alice Rossie in the journal named Athenaeum, in 1895. Feminism is a movement that should not only be spiritual or only for conversation, but should be brought into implementation. Feminism concentrates on the explanation of differentiation in the rights bestowed on both male and female.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines feminism as “the belief and aim that women should have the same rights and opportunities as men; the struggle to achieve this aim” (Hornby 560). Whereas A New Approach Dictionary of Living English defines, “Feminism as a belief or movement advocating the cause of women’s rights and opportunities, particularly equal rights with men, by challenging inequalities between the sexes in society” (Sohoni 200). After taking into consideration some of the definitions of feminism, it is essential to study the nature of feminism and its correlations with various other factors on a broad level. Feminism is mainly a western concept. In human history, women’s existence is observed through male point of view as a result of which women are always considered as secondary. Feminism comes into existence through the struggle for women’s right against the injustice carried out in the society. Feminism involves two important aspects of intellectual commitment and political movement that lead to justice for women and ends in sexism in all forms. According to Deborah Madsen, “feminism deals with women and their status in society and asks questions about oppression, consciousness and gender”. Madsen further states that the concerns of feminist theory are “the unique experience of women in history; the notion of female consciousness; the definition of gender that limit and oppress; and the cause of women’s liberation from those restrictions” (200).
Feminism involves different aspects related to women’s rights in the society such as political, social and economical. These rights allotment provides them a means of participation in politics, business and legal matters that help them to get recognition and build up power in the society. It also covers all aspects of women’s rights.
Feminism covers two major concepts that of gender and patriarchy. Gender is identified through the difference of male and female. It is regarded as sex role in sociology. In the society of the past, all the decisions in the family were dependant on the men and, therefore, women were given secondary status. This position in the family came to be known as patriarchy. This system had a lot of influence on the society. Hence, male enjoyed all the privileges allotted to them by the society whereas women were always given secondary status. From these general observations, feminist theory came into existence that raised the concept of inequality between male and female. Feminists have worked out lots of campaigns in order to gain equal share in the family property and voting right for women. They also promoted women’s reproductive rights. Feminist activities have opposed various injustices such as domestic violence and sexual harassment. Considering the economical factor, they have struggled for women’s rights at the work place including equal wages and opportunities for them. Various definitions of feminism are provided, as according to Chris Weldon feminism is a politics.
CHAPTER THREE
FEMINISM IN IFEOMA OKOYE’S BEHIND THE CLOUDS
INTRODUCTION
Ifeoma Okoye is a contemporary African woman writer who, through her works, paints a vivid picture of the African woman’s life in contemporary society, and challenges the retrogressive patriarchal culture that stifles women and renders them powerless, voiceless and passive. Her works, Behind the Clouds and Chimere are significant as they reflect what I. J. Ogbazi visualizes as a woman-centred world with a tapestry of interactions and relationships (57). Ogbazi further notes that Behind the Clouds, in particular, is “a complex discourse with layers of meanings which highlight pertinent issues that especially border on gender relations…” (67) that are significant and meaningful.
In her evaluation of Okoye’s works, Helen Chukwuma identifies Behind the Clouds as a novel which highlights the significance of motherhood in the African society and the subsequent impact of childlessness on marriages, and goes further to reveal “…the other face of the coin, that women are not always culpable and that some men are infertile…” (“Women Writing” 48); Remy Asiegbu concurs with this notion by remarking that Okoye’s aim is to redeem “the African woman who has blamed herself, and has been blamed for the childlessness that pervades her home” (212), a common marriage-related problem in the African society which has been exposed by many other African women writers for correction. In Chimere, on the other hand, Okoye focuses on “instruct[ing] younger women on the intricacies of man-woman relationship” (Asiegbu 212), in addition to highlighing other pertinent themes such as singlehood, female illegitimacy and the quest for personal identity.
For Charles Nnolim, however, Okoye is a champion of accommodationism (what some refer to as African feminism) who advocates a complementary relationship between men and women, and unity, not separation, between wives and their husbands (“A House Divided” 257). He also notes that apart from being a moral tale, the storyline in Behind the Clouds is “conceived in irony, leading to the circular structure of the novel” (“The Writings” 31), a technique which, in addition to the simplicity of her language and sentence structure, enables her to “represent her cultural analysis of the childless woman in Africa” (Ogbazi 57).
Another scholar, G. I. Achufusi, in her examination of Okoye’s female protagonists, aptly concludes that they demonstrate the capability to make alternative choices which are apart from specifically sex-oriented ones…” (159), a reflection of Okoye’s feminist perspective and a deliberate effort by the writer to reveal the feminist consciousness of her female characters.
Evidently, Okoye’s desire in Behind the Clouds and Chimere, published in 1982 and 1992 respectively, is to create awareness in individuals, that gender inequalities abound and affect them personally and to proffer women avenues through which their lives and experiences can be explained, understood and improved. Other published works by Okoye include Men Without Ears (1984) and The Fourth World (2013) and several children’s stories. Okoye, has been described by Patrick Naagbaton as one of the “unsung” contemporary writers whose message is straightforward though often provocative (“Ifeoma Okoye”).
CHAPTER FOUR
FEMINISM IN BUCHI EMECHETA’S SECOND CLASS CITIZEN
INTRODUCTION
Nigerian writer Buchi Emecheta captures the issue of migration, particularly relating to women, in the phrase “Second Class Citizen”, which is the title of her first novel published in 1974. Emecheta is one of black Africa’s “most prolific female writers” (Okonjo-Ogunyemi 61). She was alienated from her mother tongue by colonialism, and cut off from many other Ibo women by Britain’s classridden society. Her childhood experience of injustice in Nigeria and life in Britain in her late adolescence and young womanhood years considerably affected her works. In addition to these shaping experiences there are her impressions of and meditations on living in exile. Her novel Second Class Citizen is based on her own experiences as both a single parent and a black woman living in Britain in 1960s
(Semenya 20-1). In the novel, her female protagonist, Adah comes to the United Kingdom to join her student husband and is faced with the challenges of being a black woman, and an immigrant.
The establishment of black women’s literary traditions began in a conscious effort to create a space for black women’s writing and to illustrate a distinction between black women’s realities and the realities of others (Christian 348-359). The literature within this tradition is influenced by how black women perceive themselves and the world around them. As a result, identity is an important part of black women’s literature (Hooper 74-81). Race, class, gender are all components of one’s identity and are critical in the formation of one’s lived experiences (Crenshaw 377-383). Besides these crucial factors in identity formation, migration facilitates shifts in identity, and it also defines the forms of agency by which specific challenges may be met (Uwakwe, Rotich and Okpala 19). Emecheta’s literary migrations serve her position within the African canon but they also place her within another literary frame, namely that of Black British or Black diaspora writing.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION
The study was carried out on the concept of feminism in Buchi Emecheta’s second class citizen and Okoye Ifeoma’s Behind the clouds. Feminist consciousness breeds positive attributes such as raised-consciousness, selfawareness, determination and assertiveness – powerful tools through which women can confront and unravel assumptions about themselves individually or collectively in the African society. It is pertinent to note that in Behind the Clouds and Chimere, Okoye successfully explores the theme of feminist consciousness and female assertiveness as avenues through which women can rise above their limitations in an oppressive system and change the way in which their gender is perceived. With these qualities, they can also infiltrate spheres reserved for men and prove that they are indeed capable of playing integral roles in the transformation and development of themselves and society. Through her themes and characters, Okoye has proved to be a worthy and successful champion of this new woman in her works.
For black feminists, black women face triple oppression based on their gender, race and class (Hills Collins 1990). Black feminism’s central concern has been the transformation of societal relations based on race, gender and class. Thus, the issues of gender, class and race through the life and experiences of the female protagonist Adah in Emecheta’s novel are highlighted in this study. Emecheta writes about the female character’s desire to go to England from Nigeria to live a better life and to secure her children’s future. The journey to England is the fulfilment of a childhood dream resting on the myth of the glossy metropolis nurtured by colonized people like her father. It is a pursuit of better economic opportunities and a quest to enjoy matrimony away from the shifting customs of her motherland. Immigrant Adah faces many significant challenges in trying to acclimatize and settle into Britain.
Black women’s struggles with the issue of race, class and gender stimulate their fight towards independence and self-reliance. Emecheta’s novel enriches understanding of how a new milieu can constrain or transform individual identity and relationships. Adah’s quest for individual self-actualized identity sits at the novel’s heart. What worries Adah most is the description ‘second–class’ (Emecheta 38), but she is determined to fight against this kind of humiliating attitude. She feels first-class only in the libraries she works in due to her education in Lagos. Through her jobs at three different libraries, she gradually gains economic freedom. Adah sees education as a way out to liberate herself from the perception of female gender.
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