Tsisti Dangarembga has managed to bring out how the traditions of Rhodesia, regarding gender, sparked rebellion from the girls who believed that they were being oppressed. The belief that men were more superior compared to the girls, prompted them to start a revolution of gender equality (Bâ and Mariama, 47). For instance, Tambu, faced a lot of disadvantages growing up in a place driven by the African Traditions simply because she was a female. Since she was the second born, with the eldest child being a boy, she stood no chance of being educated because her brother ought to be given priority as per the African traditions. According to the traditions all resources were supposed to be channeled towards her brother Nhamo’s education. Judging
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Women were not included in any discussions that affected the society because they were considered as weak and unable to make the right decisions. Women were only given the task of entertaining guests and singing praise songs to warriors after coming back from successful raids (Ware and Rudolph, 67). Tsitsi Dangaremba, author of Nervous Conditions, has also portrayed the inequality which existed among the African culture during the pre-colonial and post-colonial eras. She uses Tambu’s difficult experiences to prove how the girl child was discriminated by traditions. The story starts by Tambu telling us why she had no regrets for her brother’s death. Instead of mourning her brother’s death, she was celebrating it because she knew that she was going to take his place in school (Wood et.al, 530). It is unfortunate that the African beliefs have gone so far as to creating unsympathetic siblings. So Long A Letter explores gender inequality through the story of Ramatoulaye (Dangarembga et.al, 35). The writer explains how the woman goes through difficult moments after losing her husband. The woman also faced very many challenges during the struggles of raising her twelve children after being abandoned by her husband for another woman. The fact that the traditions allowed men to marry, more than two women shows how inconsiderate the African culture is to their women. The story also shows how girls were intimidated and being denied the freedom to choose whatever they wanted to wear. All the writers of these books have also focused on how traditions affected education of girls in Africa. African traditions stated that boys should be given the first priority in education because they were believed to the future bread winners to their families. Various communities believed that educating a girl was useless since her family will have no one
Women were not included in any discussions that affected the society because they were considered as weak and unable to make the right decisions. Women were only given the task of entertaining guests and singing praise songs to warriors after coming back from successful raids (Ware and Rudolph, 67). Tsitsi Dangaremba, author of Nervous Conditions, has also portrayed the inequality which existed among the African culture during the pre-colonial and post-colonial eras. She uses Tambu’s difficult experiences to prove how the girl child was discriminated by traditions. The story starts by Tambu telling us why she had no regrets for her brother’s death. Instead of mourning her brother’s death, she was celebrating it because she knew that she was going to take his place in school (Wood et.al, 530). It is unfortunate that the African beliefs have gone so far as to creating unsympathetic siblings. So Long A Letter explores gender inequality through the story of Ramatoulaye (Dangarembga et.al, 35). The writer explains how the woman goes through difficult moments after losing her husband. The woman also faced very many challenges during the struggles of raising her twelve children after being abandoned by her husband for another woman. The fact that the traditions allowed men to marry, more than two women shows how inconsiderate the African culture is to their women. The story also shows how girls were intimidated and being denied the freedom to choose whatever they wanted to wear. All the writers of these books have also focused on how traditions affected education of girls in Africa. African traditions stated that boys should be given the first priority in education because they were believed to the future bread winners to their families. Various communities believed that educating a girl was useless since her family will have no one