When
most people talk of culture, the idea of a shared pattern or certain behaviour
pops into their mind and because there can be no culture without a people, most
Nigerians often relate culture to the ways they interact socially. The
popularity of this culture is aided by communication which is a pivotal medium
that brings and disseminates old and new ways of life such as marriage, food,
clothes, language, religion, education etc. Looking closely at the roles of
women’s writing in culture and how effective their articles, books, plays,
poems and novels have been vital when it comes to their relevancy in such
societies. These go a long way in defining the strength and power their writing
commands.
The questions thus arise- “How
powerful is women’s writing?”
“How
relevant are their works? “Do these questions open sores covered with mud or do
they uncover the sores only to seal them with another mud?”
These
questions might remain unanswered looking at them literally; however, an
in-depth study of these questions will bring the painful images of realities
that surround them all: North, eastern, west and southern regions around the
river Niger and the river Benue. With different norms of life, the voice of
women have been overshadowed and the struggle against powerlessness and
dehumanization of women. Still the questions remains unanswered like an open
sore left untreated, oozing unpleasant smell. “What is communication doing and
how wide must it spread its wings across the vast cultures in Nigeria?”
The
need to act arises before the proverbial hawk that hovers around, waiting for wandering
reptiles and the unfortunate chicks whose unlimited strength is enough to end
their existence. One might ask: “even if their power aids them, the hen and the
bigger reptile need to do better rather than rising aggressively to the
hovering hawks. This will open doors to many rooms if not mansions that have
been shut with victimization and misplaced by those who control and make these
cultural norms that seek to favour their propagation at the expense of governed.
Navigating the stormy waves of Nigerian cultural milieu safely on a steady ship
together with the adequate communication channels, the injustices fuelling the dehumanization
and subjection women underwent and are still undergoing without the prior
knowledge of their strength are still visible. These acts include obligatory female
circumcision, harassment, rape, prostitution, forceful marriage for the second class
role in the family.
With
a positive sense, one must show how powerful “writing” is with its ability to
be spoken, read, recorded and translated. One will be left to examine the wide
notions that distinguish women writing after brutality and women writing for their
independence.
Texts
of Nigerian female novelists like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Zainab Alkali,
Buchi Emecheta and Sefi Atta, look at the feministic impulses that give rise to
the emergence of a strong Feminist literary era and its intent. They also explore
a powerful voice and how effectively it creates images that promote growth and
awareness of the under-privileged, the literate and the illiterate.
Through
Gender studies, I have looked deeply into the aspects of culture that make males
superior to females and how the opposing sex is privileged while the later is
subjected not on the basis of technical know-how or intelligence. African writers
such as Ama Ata Aidoo, Nadal El Saadawi, Flora Nwapa and Buchi Emecheta
arguments for women’s innovation at the face of oppression link the woman’s
need as it travels across the land of male-oriented culture that favours males
and oftentimes relegates women to the role of child bearing and home
management. Although, urbanization gives more women office jobs to earn as much
as their male counterparts, culture still binds them together with their kinds
in rural areas.
Though
many would say Nigerian female writers’ voice are not as audible as their male
counterparts, the audibility of their voice can be grossly enhanced with
adequate communicative forum available from villages to cities in an audacious
crusade to positively shake the imbalance foundation which limits the liberty
of women in Nigeria. Nwapa Flora (1998) asserts that portrait of women differs
from place to place as it would differ from the writing of that of a man and to
a woman. Women seek to write against stereotypic figures and images painted by
men likewise as to show how their societal norms are the foundation of their
deplorable state. It is this state that Nwapa writes against, giving insights
into the resourcefulness and industriousness of women. Similarly, Lauretta
Ngcoobo (1986) adds that the nature of marriage often limits Nigerian women to
continuous dependency which in the long-run blurs all illusion before marriage
for disillusionment.
Like these women, Molara Ogundipe is of the
view that different groups notions of the term “feminism” controls a unify language
against subjection. The group known as Federation
of Muslim Women in Nigeria (F.O.M.W.A.N.) criticizes Women in Nigeria (W.I.N.)
for her “pervasive” traits such as lesbianism. This creates a demarcation between
similar groups that changes the direction of their struggle. It is no doubt
that religious fundamentalism can affect the growth of the need for improved
conditions for women in Nigeria. She concludes that Feminism is not solely
opposing the males but is only a watch dog against the “second class role”
dictated by the males. It is only adequate information that can make poor women
in rural areas realize that there is no reason to sink when you can make not
just a canoe but also a ship to sail across the injustices and inequalities in
the society.
All these women seek to address the
woman’s reality and positively control the excesses of indigenous Nigerian
cultures that subdue the voice of women. They also seek to create avenues that
try to correct gender imbalance and injustices.
In
conclusion, to elevate the poverty of awareness, the creation of communicative
channels will decentralize the centre of culture thereby creating a gender
friendly environment. In a bid to
decipher the texts of these writers, we must debunk standard practices where men
are favoured for their manly status. With this, we can look objectively into
the issue of gender inequality and will successfully encounter the difficulties
that women face from birth to marriage in order to provide better solutions to
the problems Feminine Literature writing seeks to address. The work of
sensitization will be further enhanced with a wider range of digital and mass
gadgets for possible results that will produce good fruits in the form of a
world where gender would no longer be a factor that decides who gets what in
the society.
Magaji Joshua is
a Fresh graduate of English Literature from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He shares
some of his thoughts on twitter as @MagajiJoshua
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