African Gender Issues in Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen and Nawal El Sadawi’s Woman At Point Zero

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Abstract

This research examined African gender issues in Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen and Nawal El Sadawi’s Woman at Point Zero 
which are texts based on the African context. It investigated the issues that negatively affected the major female characters in the texts that were caused as a result of patriarchy which resulted in psychological and emotional trauma that inhibited the emancipation and liberation of women. Apart from investigating and analysing the gender issues in the selected texts, this study also investigated the linguistic and cultural implications that contributed to the oppression of women by analysing some specific aspects of styles explored by the authors to project these gender issues. This study employs a descriptive qualitative method in carrying out a thematic analysis through the lens of the feminist theoretical framework and examining some stylistic features to explore the language used by the authors. It was discovered that religious hypocrisy, inequality in female education, patriarchal entrapments, female-to-female subjugation, female genital mutilations, marriage, and political limitations are some of the pertinent issues that marginalised and oppressed the women in the selected texts. It was also discovered that the authors revealed that violations of the rights of 
women were propelled through the use of violence to silence the women and their use of language revealed the feminist ideology of the texts as a revolutionary force that resist and bring awareness to the patriarchal structure that debase the female gender. The findings of this study revealed the gender issues as contemporary and recommended that all the major actors in the oppression of women in Africa; the woman herself, the men, the government and international advocacy groups should identify their roles and work assiduously to end gender inequality if not reduced to the barest minimum.