Gender Interrelations in the Works of Amma Darko

Abstract

The past decades have seen a proliferation of works from women which are of importance to society and deal with current issues going on in Africa. These female authors centered on the woman and her experiences in the real world thereby uncovering the predicaments of the woman on significant issues in society in all totality. However, most works of women have been praised vociferously as emanating from feminist consciousness. This implies that most women writers are assumed to exclusively focus on advocating for better opportunities for women resulting in a large extent to the loss of credibility of their works. The research is based on critical study of Amma Darko, a Ghanaian female author who has gone beyond just writing about issues of women to explore problems of society through her perspectives as a woman. The aim of the research is to study and unearth the interrelations of men and women in the 21st century as presented by the Darko and establish the idea that women writers have gone beyond domestic writing to write about governance issues and societal problems that affect not only the woman but the whole society at large. This will be done by studying the circumstances in which she puts men and women and what strategies they employ to cope with these predicaments in the midst of economic and political pressure. Also the researcher seeks to establish that Darko raises womanist concerns in her works by advocating for the survival of both sexes therefore demonstrating that eliminating discrimination against women does not end the struggle of inequalities. Darko aggressively questions and criticizes existing patriarchal structures in society that continue to marginalize women in contemporary Ghana.