Feminism in the Works of African Female Playwrights

Abstract

Feminism has been discussed in different contexts with diverse categories and implications. Molara Ogundipe-Leslie‘s interpretation of feminism acknowledges the different ways in which it can be understood within the African context. The writings of African women go a long way to reflect the true identity of the African woman and her conditions. Tsitsi Dangarembga and Tracie Chima Utoh-Ezeajugh are two such African women writers, some of whose works truly tell the situation of the African woman. This research therefore examines a work each of these women to assess the various ways in which women were portrayed. This research, therefore, examines Utoh-Ezeajugh‘s Nneora: an African Doll’s House and Dangaremba‘s She No Longer Weeps, to ascertain how women are portrayed for the purpose of social stereotypes and contracts. Based on these works, the study highlights the meaning of womanhood and stereotypical notions attached to a woman in specific African contexts and its place in the changing world. Descriptive and interpretative methods of research were used to analyse all the plays which results in findings of feminist ideologies in the works of the two playwrights. Furthermore, there are so many controversies surrounding the idea and existence of feminism in Africa. The selected plays were, therefore examined within the theory of feminism and African feminism, to validate or otherwise, these assertions.