Female Heroism and the Feminist Discourse in Wale Ogunyemi’s Queen Amina and Irene Agunloye’s Emotan

Abstract

Drama in 21st century Nigeria no doubt has embraced the feminist discourse. Issues of womanhood 
and the place of the African woman in a rapidly changing world have occupied a firm position on the 
Nigerian stage. This paper is a study of the works and ideological framework of two notable Nigerian 
playwrights – Wale Ogunyemi and Irene Agunloye in the context of renegotiating the womanhood 
question in Nigeria’s contemporary socio-political and economic life. The study is a critical overview 
of the plays – Emotan by Irene Agunloye and Queen Amina by Wale Ogunyemi with the objective of 
exploring and bringing out the context from which the plays approach the subject of feminism and 
gender issues. This comparative study addresses the highly contestable cultural construct of Africa in 
the global feminine quest to rewrite and consequently realign the stereotypical images of women in 
Africa. It concludes that Africa’s path in the feminist agenda is dichotomous to the mainstream 
feminist movement of the West as women in Africa urgently seek a fair representation in its 
leadership. For this to happen, the African woman needs to go to the past and seek inspiration from 
her legendary folks who courageously stepped up and changed the course of history and their society.