African Feminism Essay

to work outside of the home, she has no right to own any of it: it is solely for the socioeconomic advancement of her father 's household and later her husband 's. As mentioned earlier, cultural literacy is very crucial to the understanding of the fight of the African woman because without understanding the peculiarity of the culture and society, a feminist or activist will only be speaking for the woman. However, the African woman does not seem to know the way out of the conundrum of finding a balance between whom she is and what the society wants her to be, because she has so much internalized patriarchal and cultural oppression. Therefore, a true African feminism is one that includes the woman in the fight for freedom because “the most important challenge to the woman is her own self and self-perception” (Ngambika 1986). Also, Ogundipe-Leslie’s theory of the mountain is that, of the six mountains on the back of an …show more content…
Indeed, there are many feminisms, depending on the center from which one is speaking or theorizing. These feminisms have to be theorized around the junctures of race, class, caste and gender; nation, culture and ethnicity; age, status, role and sexual orientations” (223). The term feminism evokes negative images and reactions in many cultures in Africa. The reason is not farfetched- “African feminists are generally perceived as frustrated and angry” (Re-Creating 12). Mariama Ba was heavily criticized by Ojo-Ade in his work, Still a Victim? (1982). According to him, Ba is perpetuating Western feminist idea in her work. He sees So Long a Letter as an attack on men, and the Africanity of polygamy (Nnaemeka 1997). Feminism in whatever form comes across as rebellion against culture. However, it is not against culture, but against patriarchal hegemony and neo-colonialism. But it is important to address the phallocratic order and prescription of relationship in these