A RADICAL FEMINIST APPROACH TO THE WORKS OF ZAYNAB ALKALI BY MAUREEN NWAMAKA AZUIKE B.A.

(HONS) ENGLISH, M A. LIT-IN-ENGLISH. A Thesis in the Department of ENGLISH, Faculty of ARTS, Submitted to the School of Postgraduate Studies, University of Jos, in Partial fulfilment of the requirements For the award of the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH of the UNIVERSITY OF JOS. December, 2003 ii

DECLARATION I, MAUREEN NWAMAKA AZUIKE, hereby declare that

this thesis is a record of an original research work, that to the best of my knowledge, no part of the thesis has been presented to any other institution or published anywhere and at any time for the award of any higher degree and that all quotations and references have been duly acknowledged. iii

CERTIFICATION This is to certify that this thesis by AZUIKE,

MAUREEN. N. PGA/UJ/9747/97, was carried out under my supervision: ______________________________ ________________________ Dr. (Mrs.) K. Ugbabe, (Reader) Prof. E. B. Ajulo, Supervisor. Head, Department of English, Date -------------------------- Date----------------------------iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I thank you my God for re-kindling the

unquenchable fire in me that will forever glow to your glory! Thank you Lord for sustaining me through thick and thin. Thank you Almighty for giving me a sound life. I am grateful to my able supervisor, Associate Professor (Mrs) Kanchana Ugbabe for guiding me through the hectic and labyrinthine (academic) corridors of life to this successful end. You are a true giant of Literature-in-English. I am equally grateful to my internal examiner, Dr Dul Johnson, for his invaluable comments, which have helped to shape up this work. Thank you sir. My thanks go to Associate Professor Macpherson Azuike. I would also like to thank my lovely children; Nkem Jr., Nneka and Emeka for keeping hope alive. I am also very grateful to Nwachinemelu Isaac Mazeli my father; Ikechukwu, Nnamdi, Chukwudi and Okechukwu my brothers; Nwando and Onyeoma my sisters; whose love and support encouraged me greatly in my

academic pursuit through the years. I am particularly indebted to Nnamdi a brother indeed. You were there for me from the very beginning and you are there for me now. Your constant support and encouragement have made the completion of this programme a lot easier. Finally, my thanks go to my colleagues in English Department, University of Jos. I am particularly grateful to Mrs. Blessing Emeghara, Professor E.B. Ajulo, Dr I. Lar, Dr. v (Mrs.) Alu, Dr. Akerele and Dr (Mrs) A.F. Miri for their encouragement and support. My most heartfelt gratitude and love go to Mrs Yemi Adebesin The Principal of Canaan High! You are my special friend. Thank you for your encouragement and support and also for being there (always) for me. A big thank you also to Professor Idris Amali, Mrs C.A. Akinmade and Mr J.D. Gwamna for material which have helped to enrich this thesis. Amaka Azuike, December, 2003. vi

DEDICATION TO THE BEST MOTHER THAT EVER LIVED! Late Mrs

Christiana Akuzie Mazeli (1943-2002), The symbol of a true African woman ADIEU, MOTHER, ADIEU! To MY ONLY DAUGHTER: Nneka Chioma, Azuike. My sister, my mother, my daughter and my friend. May you grow to become a rare gem! vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE

PAGE: i DECLARATION:.. ii CERTIFICATION:.. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:.. iv DEDICATION:.. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS:.. vii ABSTRACT: x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION: 1.1 PREAMBLE .. 1 1.2 ALKALI - A BRIEF BIODATA.. 9 1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF STUDY. 11 1.4 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 13 1.5 LIMITATION, SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY OF STUDY 18 NOTES:.. 20 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE: 2.1 FEMINIST

THEORIES 23 2.1.1 Liberal Feminism . 23 2.1.2 Radical Feminism .. 26 2.1.3 Marxist Feminism . 28 2.1.4 Socialist Feminism .. 30 2.1.5 Cultural Feminism . 30 2.1.6 Black/African Feminism .. 31 2.1.7 Womanism .. 32 viii 2.1.8 African Womanism .. 33 2.1.9 Stiwanism .. 35 2.1.10 Motherism . 36 2.2 WESTERN FEMINIST CRITICISM.. 39 2.3 ALKALIS FEMINISM 42 NOTES. 46 CHAPTER THREE: EDUCATION AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN ZAYNAB ALKALIS WORKS: 3.1 GENDER AND EDUCATION. 49 3.2 TRADITIONAL/ CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS 57 3.3 RELIGIOUS CONSTRAINTS. 62 3.4 DOMESTIC AND ECONOMIC CONSTRAINTS. 66 3.5 EDUCATIONAL EMPOWERMENT IN ALKALI. 68 NOTES. 73 CHAPTER FOUR: VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: 4.1 FORMS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN ALKALIS WORKS. 77 4.1.1 Domestic Violence.. 77 4.1.2 Physical Violence/Abuse. 78 4.1.3 Verbal Abuse.. 81 4.1.4 Child Marriage/Sexual Abuse 86 4.1.5 Emotional Abuse.... 89 4.1.6 Widowhood Practices 91 4.2 RADICAL MEANS OF CURBING VIOLENCE 93 NOTES 103 ix CHAPTER FIVE: GENDERLECT IN ALKALIS WORKS: 5.1 DISCOURSE BETWEEN THE SEXES.. 106 5.2 LANGUAGE AND STYLE IN ALKALI.. 116 5.3 AFRICANISMS IN ALKALIS WORKS. 119

NOTES .. 125 CHAPTER SIX: TOWARDS A RADICAL FEMINIST NARRATOLOGY: 6.1 ALKALIS DELINEATION OF THE MODERN WOMAN AS A RADICAL FEMINIST. .. 128 NOTES 150 CHAPTER

SEVEN: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS: 7.1

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.. 153 7.2 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH. 165 7.3 CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE... 167 NOTES... 169 BIBLIOGRAPHY.. 171 Primary Sources . 171 Secondary Sources 171 x

ABSTRACT This study has examined the extent of the

marginalization of the African woman in a sexist society which relegates womanhood to gender roles. It has discovered, for instance, that the persistent inequality between men and women in the Nigerian society, which Alkalis works portray, has contributed to the general disempowerment of women. Alkali, however, projects womanhood in a positive light. She upholds female potentialities which the patriarchal structure has repressed. As a feminist, she arms her female characters with an intensity of vision and makes role models out of them. This study has further discovered that illiteracy among women is on a slow decline compared to that of men. The education of the female child is a rarity in Northern Nigeria. This has affected noticeably the quality of life that the female child experiences. Zaynab Alkali has, therefore, presented education as the most essential weapon for challenging one aspect of gender inequality which is the educational disempowerment of the woman. Violence against women is widespread in many cultures of the world. The study has also examined how in Alkalis works, the physical (sexual), psychological and mental abuse of women can have negative effects on their wellbeing. One of the consequences of sexual abuse, as our primary texts have shown is the infection with STDs and VVF which can lead to severe depression and low self-esteem in women. xi

The aesthetic value of Zaynab Alkalis works has been discussed while attention has been focused on her idiosyncratic use of language. The radical feminist approach has been presented as the most comprehensive perspective for the assessment of womens oppression. The study has concluded that there is a need to reevaluate and re-define gender roles in African society in order to establish mutual complementarity between men and women.
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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 PREAMBLE This research is an indepth study of the works of one of Nigerias most fascinating female writers, Zaynab Alkali. Her works are a splendid display of her admirable ingenuity that has automatically earned her a place in a hitherto maledominated literary arena. Her remarkable talent and her great love for treating issues which are most central to the concerns of the African woman have endeared her to many Nigerians the majority of whom are women. It is no mere coincidence, therefore, that Alkalis general theme borders on the woman a subject which she handles with great compassion and sensitivity. In her works, Zaynab Alkali submits that a truly liberated African woman is one who is not totally dependent on her husband for everything. She is generally an educated person who is also strongwilled and stubbornly determined to carve out a comfortable niche for herself in a maledominated society. As a result of Alkalis treatment of womens issues that include the deliberate evocation and exaltation of the qualities and worth of the African woman, she qualifies to be labelled a feminist. Feminism is largely a socio-political movement which developed from the 1960s onwards and whose purpose is to better the lot of women. Feminism in the West started before the upsurge of radical feminism (which came with the second
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wave of feminism). It began as an institution with the Womens Suffrage Movement; a movement begun by a group of liberal white women whose concerns then were to gain the vote for the woman at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The reasons for the development of feminism in Europe and America are similar to those of Africa even though feminism in Nigeria can be seen as a reaction to, or criticism of western feminism. In other words, western feminism has received a wave of responses from African women. For instance, western

feminism is believed to have been designed to meet the needs of white women since it is a creation of western intellectual tradition. In addition to this, Nigerian women have detected a large dose of racist arrogance which characterizes western feminism. Furthermore, African women do not accept the fact that the status of women in many African societies can compare with that of their western counterparts. This, in effect, is a pointer to the fact that there are different levels of subordination of women to be found in Africa compared to the western world. Finally, while African feminism focuses on socio-cultural (communal) existence or relations, western feminism incorporates issues concerning sexuality, lesbianism and homosexuality. For instance, these experiences are perceived to be totally outside the African womens experience. Many women in Nigeria find the label feminist too strong a tag to bear. The reasons for this are multifarious and
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include the fear of societal ostracism of any woman who publicly identifies herself as a feminist. Another reason is that the foreign press in the early days of the movement caricatured feminists as a man-hating group of unattractive, unlovable and frustrated women. In Nigeria, our pioneer female writers such as Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta and Ifeoma Okoye, to mention a few, have severally denied having anything to do with the ideology of feminism. They simply did not want to be branded feminists. Similarly, Zaynab Alkali easily denies that she is a feminist. It is indeed surprising that women who have championed womens rights and empowerment reject feminism,1 even though their works and thematic concern as women writers clearly portray them as feminists. Zaynab Alkalis rejection may be understandable when looked at from a religious angle. An area of similarity in the doctrines of feminist reformers and leaders, however, is that the movement is aimed at sensitizing women to win greater equality with men. Feminism seeks a subjective identity, a sense of effective agency and history for women which has hitherto been denied them by dominant (male) culture.2 Feminism is also a proposal for social transformation and a movement that strives to end the oppression of women. In the light of this statement, Zaynab Alkali s texts wholly portray her as a feminist as she has strongly

condemned the deliberate exploitation and the crude and constant oppression
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of the woman by her male counterpart. One of the messages in her texts is that the female should strive constantly to assert herself even in the face of an oppressive system of deep-rooted norms and practices and beliefs in female subordination.3 In 1980, Alkali emerged as a lone voice from Northern Nigeria. Her works are a serious indictment of societys attitude to women generally. She clearly sympathizes with the plight of women (especially the women in marriage) and shares the view that African women have not been adequately represented in African literature and are ascribed minor character roles that make them vitally ignored 4 in literatures written by men. Feminist perspectives or theories vary just as there are different analyses (by feminists) of the causes of gender inequalities. This issue will be a major concern in the next chapter. However, it must be stated categorically here that the most frequently cited feminist perspectives or theories are the Liberal, Radical and Marxist (or Socialist) Perspectives. Other feminist perspectives that are also prominent in African literature include the Womanist, the Stiwanist and the Motherist. The approach adopted in this research is a Radical Feminist one which concurs with the ideology that men have treated women unjustly and are the genesis of womens problems in the society. Radical feminists therefore, tend to view men as the oppressors of women rather than capitalism, custom or biology.
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There are some womens groups that have risen to challenge certain cultural practices that do not favour women. In Nigeria, for instance, constitutional reforms have helped to reverse gender discrimination. Some women NGOs also engage in constructive discussions or workshops with relevant governmental organisations in order to alleviate the plight of women. These womens NGO networks include: The Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH), Catholic Womens Association (CWO), Council of HIV Positive People (COPOP), Community Women and Development (COWAD) Country Women Association of Nigeria (COWAN), Gender and Development Action Organization (GADA), Girl Power Initiative (GPI), Muslim Sisters Organization (M.S.O), National Task Force on Vesico Vaginal Fistula

(NTF VVF) Nigerian Association of Women Journalists, (NAWOJ), Oyo state Market Womens Association (OMWA), Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN) and Women in Nigeria (WIN) to mention a few. The main aims of these womens NGOs in Nigeria are to reach out to significant numbers of women and men with their services, to mobilize people and activities, to work with traditional and religious leaders to neutralize resistance to contraception, to end harmful traditional practices, and raise awareness of womens reproductive rights and to contribute to the foundation of a civil society. Remarkably, there is an evidence of what can be called the woman s feminist determination to chart a new course
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for herself in the works of Zaynab Alkali. In The Stillborn (1984) and in Cobwebs and Other Stories (1997), Li and Mama Dinar respectively struggle very hard to overcome certain man-made obstacles which are mounted in their way, rather than give up on life. The obstacles that militate against them are such that are mounted to frustrate the young women from living fulfilling lives. These obstacles include sociocultural practices that do not work in favour of women and totally discriminate against them and contribute to their subjugation. Li and Mama doggedly overcome their man-made problems but they equally pay a price for their independence. Li, in The Stillborn, suffers a long term separation from her husband but finds educational empowerment a magnificent reward. Mama equally suffers a similar fate in Cobwebs and Other Stories. In the face of marital incompatibility, polygyny, patriarchal structures, and socio-economic conditions that have strongly contributed to womens subordination in her society, Mama defies the orders of her husband not to pursue a university education. Her rebellion against the dictates of her husband creates an open door for her to walk in and to begin a new life. (P.21). In many phallocentric societies of which Nigeria is a part, women have had to pay the price for their independence as earlier mentioned. According to Alice Rossi, for instance, A woman graduate student who showed strong commitment and independence is characterised as an unfeminine bitch and others who are quiet and unassertive were referred to as lacking ambition women who will never amount to much. (Sic).5
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Really, the image of women as people who will never amount to anything has been a dominant image graphically painted in many of Buchi Emechetas works particularly in The Joys of Motherhood (1979) and in The Slave Girl (1977). One finds, in novels just cited, the traditional African woman who is too dumb because she has no ambition(s) to improve her lot. She acquiesces to live in abject servitude with a polygamist in a remote village; receiving very little from her husband in terms of love, affection and financial support and (sadly enough) desiring far less for herself in terms of acquiring some education with which to change her destiny. Such a woman is as old as history. But her image should be replaced with that of a modern woman who is strong, sensible, assertive and independent enough to take a bold step towards her survival in a sea like world dominated by (male) sharks ready to prey on vulnerable (female) porpoises. Such a woman is also very well educated! A lot of feminist writings in Nigeria were inspired by the works of pioneers like Emecheta and Nwapa. Zaynab Alkali, for instance seems to offer the African woman the opportunity to better her future through the acquisition of a sound education that will eventually lead to self-fulfilment. The qualities by which one succeeds in life are however active ones. In other words, achievement orientation, intellectuality and analytic ability all require a certain amount of aggression.6 Shirley Chisholm concurs with the aforementioned view and explains further that women have
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not been aggressive enough in demanding their rightsbecause they submitted to oppression and long co-operated with it.7 If women are convinced that they are inferior to men and are much happier if they stayed in their passivity and remained quiescent under the patriarchal and paternalistic system of western civilization, then they have not achieved much in life.8 The reason is that for too long women had been perceived in various societies, but particularly in the developing world, as secondary citizens, objects of the developmental and governance processes. Although women are credited for producing up to seventy percent of the food needs in the developing countries, especially in Africa and are responsible for looking after the home and children, their contributions have not been adequately acknowledged by society.9 The story can be different as Alkali reveals. In Alkalis The Cobwebs, for instance, Mama symbolises women who are beginning

to challenge their subordinate status in society. In the real world, women have recorded a major breakthrough in society with the years 1975 1986 being declared as the Decade of Women by the United Nations. Since then, several important conferences have been held in different parts of the world to advance the cause of womens economic and political empowerment. The most notable one being the Beijing Conference of September, 1995.10 The bulk of this research will be based on the aggressive but necessary strategies adopted by Zaynab Alkalis female characters in order to
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enable them to compete favourably with their male counterparts. 1.2 ZAYNAB ALKALI: A BRIEF BIO-DATA Modern criticism, through its scrutiny of literary texts, has demonstrated that in art beauty and truth are indivisible and one,11 Similarly, the writers experiences in life are indivisible from her subject matter. It is believed, therefore, that Zaynab Alkalis works represent her experiences of life. In other words, the point of view of Li or Nana Ai or Mama, is indistinguishable from the point of view of her creator. One should therefore, read Alkali s texts for what they truly are, and that is the intended revelation of self and of social mode12 Zaynab Alkali was born on February 3rd, 1952 in Garkida, Adamawa State. Her father was a teacher who worked with missionaries as a translator. When he died suddenly eleven years after Zaynab Alkali was born, the little girl was devastated. She was very close to her father although he was a very strict disciplinarian. Many years after his death, he haunted her dreams and influenced her adolescent years in many ways. This accounts for her depiction of Lis father as a strict disciplinarian in The Stillborn. It can be interpreted that the life and experiences of the fictional Li were truly those of Zaynab Alkali who, like, Li, was fostered by her grandfather. Her mother and elder sister also played important roles in her educational training. After her
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primary education between 1957 and 1963, Zaynab Alkali attended the Queen Elizabeth Secondary School in Ilorin and had to travel a great distance from home. Her experiences to and from school, partly account for her vivid description of a very prestigious secondary school for girls attended by the protagonist of her second novel entitled: The Virtuous Woman. In 1968, Zaynab Alkali completed her

secondary education and the following year, gained admission into the preliminary studies at Ado Bayero College (A.B.C), Kano campus of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. In 1971, Zaynab Alkali registered for a degree programme at the University and graduated with a B.A. (Hons.) degree in 1973. Three years later, in 1976, she returned to her alma mater for a masters degree programme. This, she successfully completed in 1979. Insatiable for more knowledge, Zaynab Alkali went back again in 1989 to her alma mater and registered on part-time for the degree of doctor of philosophy in African Literature and successfully completed the programme in 1995. It is interesting to note that Zaynab Alkali, although born a Christian (Nee Tura-mazila), met and married a devout Muslim, Malam Mohammed Nur-Alkali as an undergraduate in Kano on the 4th of April, 1971. Their marriage is blessed with six children. Alkali is a widely travelled and internationally acclaimed author. Her world-wide recognition is as a result of her creative works. Her work as a writer began in 1978 with the
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writing of The Stillborn which was later published by Longman in London, in the Drumbeat series in 1984. The Stillborn was quickly followed three years later by The Virtuous Woman (1987). Her latest achievement in writing is a collection of short stories entitled Cobwebs and Other Stories. One would notice a remarkable gap between her last publication in 1987 and her recent one in 1997. This is because between 1989 and 1995, she was mostly engaged in a Ph.D degree programme which she has since completed. Cobwebs and Other Stories is a Malthouse publication which has six of Zaynab Alkalis short stories which had earlier appeared in Journals and anthologies in Nigeria and abroad. They are entitled: House of Dust, Foot loose, Nightmare, Saltless Ash, Cobwebs and The Vagabond. Most of Zaynab Alkalis works portray the experiences of women in a phallocentric male-dominated society, and their struggles to overcome their problems. Zaynab Alkali has received two major awards in recognition of her creative works. These awards are the prestigious Association of Nigerian Authorss prize for the best Nigerian novel of the year

1985 and the Roll of Honour Award, Creative Writers Association, Zaria (1987). 1.3 AIMS / OBJECTIVES OF STUDY Women are basically the subordinate group or the dominated.13 The main aim of this work is to examine womens oppression and female subordination in Zaynab Alkalis works
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and thus encourage the liberation of all women. The study will subject Alkalis works to radical feminist scrutiny. Through this it is hoped that issues of great concern to African women as portrayed in the works of Zaynab Alkali will be effectively advocated. Women need to actively oppose all forms of oppression and socio-economic and political exploitation of their gender. The study, it is hoped, will help to promote an awareness of female educational development which would lead to the socio-economic and political empowerment of more African women. In spite of serious lamentations and protestations, women are still greatly discriminated against in the world and in the Nigerian educational set-up as chapter three will reveal. However, Alkali has an altruistic support for (and encouragement of) the African woman to further her studies and train well for the profession of her choice. This seems to be the only way the woman can adequately equip herself for the challenges that the Africa of tomorrow will demand of her. More and more women, as Alkalis The Cobwebs reveals, need to enroll in tertiary institutions of learning rather than opt for domestic somnambulance. Although Zaynab Alkali has denied several times in her interviews that she is a feminist, it will be illustrated in this study that all of Alkalis works are essentially feminist. Zaynab Alkali exhibits feminist tendencies in the handling of her themes and characters and she projects womanhood in a positive light. According to Akachi Ezeigbo, the fear of being
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branded feminists, with the possible adverse consequences this might attract in our essentially patriarchal or phallocentric society has compelled some Nigerian female

writers to deny being feminists or to have anything to do with the ideology of feminism.14 The aesthetic value of Zaynab Alkalis works will be discussed while attention will be focused more on her idiosyncratic use of language. 1.4 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Although the concern of this study is less with feminist theories and scholarship and more with the various reasons which have contributed to the misuse and abuse of women in Zaynab Alkalis works, the next chapter will focus on some of the major feminist theories in circulation today. The review of these theories will help to show the need to embark on the radical feminist study of Alkalis works with the aim of providing positive development strategies that will encourage the full empowerment of women and create avenues for the promotion of gender equity. By adopting a radical feminist approach, it is also hoped that this study will help to motivate women to live more fulfilling lives without fear of societal inhibitions or ostracism. According to Valerie Bryson. There is a clear theoretical starting point which distinguishes it (Radical Feminism) from other approaches and provides a unifying Framework within which diverging ideas have been developed. In the first place, it is essentially a theory of, by and for women; as
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such, it is based firmly in womens own experiences. Secondly, it sees the oppression of women as the most fundamental and universal form of domination and its aim is to understand and end this.15 (Emphasis, mine). Concurring with Valerie Brysons remark cited above, the study further hopes to guide the reader to understand the messages that Alkali conveys so fervently in her texts. These messages are, firstly, that the African women have been oppressed for too long and seemingly contributed to their own oppression. Secondly, that an African woman can be rendered whole again through consciousness raising. Thirdly, that men and particularly women must be treated with fairness and justice in the distribution of benefits and responsibilities,

which may accrue socially and economically. Therefore, an aggressive feminist determination to end male chauvinism and oppression and a vigorous method of attaining selfhood, rather than being passive supporters of patriarchy is one of the options that Alkali has provided for her female characters. Niara Sudarkasa for instance has emphasized the African womans economic and socio-political contributions to the survival, liberation and better quality of life for African people; yet patriarchal ideologies have continued to undermine the esteem of the woman and erode her place in the society.16 Similarly, Mariama Bas fiction, especially So Long a Letter (1981), is clearly a resounding call to all women to desist from self-destruction. Ba seems to suggest that all women be seen as productive (and actual) beings who are making great contributions to the development of their countries.
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One of the advantages of the feminist or womens movement is that it has paved way for the recognition of women by every group involved. The activities of feminists and feminist scholarship have helped to inspire women and to give them self-confidence in addition to helping them to strive hard for the total liberation and socio-political and economic empowerment of women. A distinguished Egyptian writer and feminist, Nawal el Saadawi, submits on the consequences of excluding women from any form of human or national development, that: It is no longer possible to escape the fact that the under-privileged status of women, their relative backwardness, leads to an essential backwardness in society as a whole.17 We live in a millennium of rapid and radical changes, which must positively affect the role, and status of women. African male writers are known to have deliberately and constantly denigrated and marginalized the intellectual capacity of women. This is why we seldom find very strong and determined women in literatures written by African male authors. Male authors have previously painted women as weak; people who would amount to naught- people who

readily and willingly accept life as it is, particularly their inferior position as underdogs in society. Recently, however, the same male writers like Ngugi Wa Thiongo, Ayi Kwei Armah and Chinua Achebe have written about their female characters with understanding and sympathy. They have
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focused much attention on the subjugation of women in their works and seem to be encouraging them to rise up against the societal conditions that tend to debase them. By drawing attention to the miserable conditions of women in A Grain of Wheat, Two Thousand Seasons and Anthills of the Savannah respectively, Ngugi, Armah and Achebe express their sympathy for women and by implication call for a change in society. The afore-mentioned authors also have an emancipating vision for women that can compare with that of Zaynab Alkali. In A Grain of Wheat, the stoic disposition of the women will not permit them to yield to the harsh conditions in which they find themselves. In Two Thousand Seasons also, the women are militant and strong and resilient in nature. They are further endowed with the ability to sensitize fellow women and direct them to the right routes in the course of their revolutionary fights. In Anthills of the Savannah, Achebes heroine Beatrice is severally referred to as a very intelligent and very strong woman. She possesses beauty and brains rare combinations that the male authors hardly accord the women. Often we come across women in phallocentric novels, who are portrayed as quiet on-lookers, submissive wives, sex crazy prostitutes or quarrelsome whippersnappers. The complaint is sometimes heard that since most writers of fiction are male, the effect of their works is chauvinistic. As a result of this observation, most Nigerian feminist writers have sought to portray positive female
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characters in their works. Buchi Emecheta, for instance, is reputed for creating female characters who refuse to be derided or controlled by their husbands. Zaynab Alkali is noticeably one of Nigerias female writers who is very

preoccupied with liberating women from the structures that have marginalized them. She achieves her goal of liberating women by bringing them into focus in her works and by raising their consciousness. Although Zaynab Alkali may seem, on the surface, not to challenge the laws that oppress women in her texts or one may observe that her female characters usually end up needing male assistance or needing to be rescued by their male partners, like Li does in The Stillborn, the fact remains that Alkalis female characters are portrayed as strong, assertive and ambitious redeemers of matriliny rather than being passive supporters of patriarchy. Seiyifa Koroye sees Zaynab Alkalis feminist vision as that of an ascetic vision of the truly liberated woman which informs the theme as well as the style of The Stillborn.18 And, a truly liberated woman, must no longer be seen as a queer person but should be taken for what she is a new cultural type. Such a woman is readily assertive and is a very ambitious career person. In addition to portraying positive female characters in their works, Nigerian female writers also aim to expose the poor conditions of women both politically and economically. Omolara Ogundipe Leslie and Adaora Ulasi quickly come to
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mind here as writers of expository literature on the Nigerian scene and on womens experiences generally. Women groups within Nigeria have risen to challenge certain cultural practices within marriage that could bring about difficult childbirth and result in the dreaded condition known as VVF. The maltreatment of widows in funeral rites as Alkali shows in her collection of short stories, Cobwebs and Other Stories, degrades women and creates difficulties for them. These are some of the cultural practices that are still going on in some parts of Nigeria and are, as horrific as it may sound, perpetuated by women themselves. 1.5 LIMITATION, SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY OF STUDY This is a research by a woman on a woman. Regrettably, most male researchers have, since the 1970s and 1980s,

relaxed their interest and effort in carrying out or conducting research in the area of women studies. There is therefore an urgent need to fill this lacuna and thus rekindle a large percentage of scholarly interest and commitment on the study of women and their works in African literature. I have particularly encountered problems with reviewing works on Zaynab Alkali as not much has been published on her in terms of critical opinion. Our methodology in this study is essentially a textual analysis of Zaynab Alkalis works. Hopefully, how radical feminist theories can be used to explain the causes of womens oppressions in the society, would be revealed.
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Stromquist has, however, listed quite a number of methodologies which can be used to work on issues concerning women. One of such (which has been adopted in this research) is the study of the historical background or life history of the author concerned. This method allows the researcher to explore the past experiences of an author, a reviewee or a respondent with the aim of understanding the underlying structures of the persons views of herself, her community, her society and her life in general. These experiences can then be used to critically analyse the persons text(s). Therefore, studying Alkalis works in isolation will not yield much result. Literature, after all, does not occur in a vacuum as Ngugi Wa Thiongo has rightly observed. Literature is given impetus by the political and socio- cultural happenings around a writer.
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NOTES 1 Amrita Basu (ed), The Challenge of Local Feminisms: Boulder, Westview press, 1995, p.6. 2 Patricia Waugh, Feminine Fiction: Revisiting the Post Modern, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1989, p.9. 3 Helen Chukwuma, Otokunefor and Nwodo, (eds) Nigerian Female Writers: A Critical Perspective, Lagos: Malthouse Press ltd; 1989.

p.5. 4 Idris .O. Amali, Zaynab Alkali: A Preliminary Bio Bibliography: Maiduguri, An Unpublished Essay, 1997, p.9. 5 Alice S. Rossi, Sex Equality: The Beginning of Ideology, Voices of the New Feminism (ed) Mary Lou Thompson, Boston: Beacon Press 1970, pp. 62 3. 6 Diane Gersoni Stavn. Sexism and Youth; R.R. Bowker company, New York 1974, p.33. 7 Shirley Chislom, Women Must Rebel, Voices of the New Feminism (ed.) Mary Lou Thompson, Boston: Beacon Press, 1970, p.211. 8 Diane Gersoni-Stavn, op,cit. p.33. 9 Amadu Sesay and Adetanwa Odebiyi (eds.), Nigerian Women in Society and Development: Ibadan: Dokun publishing House, 1998, p.ix. 10 Ibid., p.ix. 11 Mark Schorer, Technique as Discovery, The World we Imagine, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1968, p.3.
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12 Ibid., p.6. 13 Helen Roberts (ed.), Doing Feminist Research, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981, pp. 38-9. 14 Akachi Ezeigbo, Who is Afraid of Feminism? Gender Issues in Nigeria: A Feminine Perspective, Lagos: Vista Books ltd., 1996, p.1. 15 Valerie Bryson, Feminist Political Theory: An Introduction, London: The Macmillan Press ltd; 1992, p.81. 16 Niara Sudarkasa, Mythic Dimensions in the Novels of Mariama Ba, Research in African Literature Vol. 27, No. 2, Indiana University Press, 1996. 17 Nawal Saadawi, The Hidden Face of Eve, London: Zed Press, 1980, p.1.

18 Seiyifa Koroye, The Ascetic Feminist Vision of Zaynab Alkali, Otokunefor and Nwodo (eds.) in Nigerian Female Writers, Lagos: Malthouse Press, 1989, p.47.
22

CHAPTER TWO A REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of some of the feminist theories which scholars employ in examining the woman question and a review of criticism of Zaynab Alkalis works. We shall take feminist theory, here, to mean a body of knowledge which offers critical explanations of womens condition1. We shall restrict ourselves, however, to discussing the major theoretical perspectives while focusing more on the divergences within these schools of thought. The views propounded by radical feminists will be adopted in this study as they are seen as the best vehicle to convey the aims and objectives of this study. Feminist perspectives have some notable themes. These include the placement of high values on women thereby regarding them as important beings and the recognition of the need for social changes that will enable women to lead more fulfilling lives. Feminists, however, differ in their analysis of the causes of gender inequalities and therefore provide different recommendations for change. In Nigeria, particularly as discerned from the works of Zaynab Alkali, feminism does not antagonise men as much as it does in the western community. Also, some feminists in Nigeria accept the marital institution as being valuable and necessary to women. This is why there is a resurgent need for the women to get married and stay married in the Nigerian society which Zaynab Alkalis works portray. But, should failure to experience unalloyed
23

bliss in marriage be a deterrent to a woman leading a meaningful life? Certainly not! Alkalis works reveal that women can find fulfilment in life within or outside the marital institution although African customs prefer the former to the latter. African customs also prefer that women are committed

to the marital institution where they live in total subservience to their husbands. Surprisingly, most Nigerian women are committed to the institution of the family and certainly do not want to do without their men. However, they do not want to be mistreated and are readily interested in working out guidelines that protect women and eradicate discrimination. As earlier mentioned, feminist theory offers some explanations of why women are subordinated. In addition, it treats how women are subordinated, why they have less power to tackle their subordination but, more importantly, what can be done to challenge the imbalance that exists between them and the men with the intention of transforming the society. The following are some of the diverse theories that are useful for the understanding and (perhaps) the challenging of womens subordination. 2.1 FEMINIST THEORIES 2.1.1 Liberal Feminism This perspective is largely derived from the works of early functionalists,2 and is based on two types of justification; biology and religion. The Liberal/Conservative Feminists view women as naturally or biologically inferior to men and that the
24

essential differences between women and men are ordained by God and so they should be contented with their stereotypical roles of labouring at home or near the home, bearing and rearing children. The implication of this perspective is that women are deprived of public life or banned from political spheres that are exclusively reserved for the men. This is noticeably one of the weaknesses that have been observed in this approach. Any discrimination placed on women individually or as a group is unjust because it deprives women of equal opportunities for pursuing their own selfinterest. Talcort Parsons, the father of modern functionalism, sees men and womens roles within the context of the family. Parsons believes that the family has two roles, namely socialization of the young and the stabilization of adult personalities. The womens role within the family is viewed as specifically to provide warmth, security and emotional

support, which are necessary for socialization. Simone de Beauvoir criticizes this view when she states that she is for the abolition of the family. She further submits that it is through the intermediary of the family that the patriarchal world exploits women. It will be useful at this point to briefly examine the roles of women in rural areas where womens subordination is greatly felt, using Zaynab Alkalis texts as case study. This will help us to see the need for improvement in womens lives or in their development within and outside their home. In many
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countries (particularly in the developing ones) women are the principal producers of food. This is in addition to their tasks of taking care of the homes and rearing the children. In Alkalis The Stillborn for instance, the female characters are more supportive in the home front than the men. Awa is, for example, always there to actively participate in domestic work-loads and nutritional responsibilities of the children while her husband, Dan Fiama, popularly called HM, moves from one drinking house to another trying to escape from the hopeless reality of not being man enough to handle his marital and employment frustrations. In the case of Li, her husband Habu Adams migrates to the urban area, like most African men would do, in search of wage employment, leaving the upbringing of their only child, Shuwa, squarely on Lis shoulders. The subordinate role of females in most African societies has thus ensured the division of labour (or domestic tasks) between males and females. As a result, men hardly help out with duties considered traditionally female and women on their part feel they need to work harder in order to justify the bride price paid on them by their husbands. This is why Dan Fiama would remark even jocosely that Each woman looks after herself and her children3 By implication, Dan Fiama does not expect his wife, Awa, to burden him with the troubles of raising the children they both procreated. When Liberal feminism became widespread, it was hoped that women would be accorded equal (natural) rights for the same opportunities, freedoms and responsibilities as the

26

men while campaigns were mounted to eliminate laws that discriminated against them. Furthermore, Liberal feminists appear to favour gender equality (i.e. preferring complementarity between men and women or a total inaction rather than aggression on the part of women in demanding equal rights and opportunities for men and women) but lack the power to challenge the gender inequalities that persist.4 Liberal Feminists have, however, played a major role in bringing about significant reforms like advocating for justice in work places; this means equal pay for work of equal value between men and women, granting women maternity leave, pressing for more services for abused women, among others. 2.1.1 Radical Feminism Radical Feminism grew as a reaction to Liberal Feminism or as a result of the great dissatisfaction with liberal feminisms analysis of the complementary sex roles between men and women. It gives priority to gender oppression, and argues that patriarchal oppression goes deeper than class oppression. Sexism is seen to be at the root of other societal evils, such as class hatred, racism, ageism, ecological disaster and war. Indeed, sex is viewed as the foremost form of oppression. Radical feminists reject a world where men control womens bodies and force women into motherhood or sexual slavery. They, therefore, outrightly blame men as the oppressors of women and hold that all violence against
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women, rape, sexual harassment - indeed all exploitation of women in any way must stop. Radical feminists in Africa have their perception of women liberation similar to that of Western Feminists as suggested by Zulu Sofola and believe that love, marriage, courtship, sex roles or sexuality among others are political issues which suggest patriarchal domination. Radical feminists in Africa also define women as the politically oppressed class and encourage them to fight for their liberation. Suggested strategies to ensure liberation, crossculturally, include androgyny (shared roles) and the joint

efforts of women to decisively end all forms of male oppression. The writings produced by the Organization of Women in Nigeria, (WIN), show a tendency towards radical feminism. WIN activities in Nigeria are visibly committed to the revolutionizing of the society and the struggle (against men) for equal opportunities in all spheres of life. They believe that the economic independence of women and children in Nigeria can only take place after some fundamental changes in our social and economic structures have been made. To begin with, our educational sector must first be revolutionized and sanitized to accommodate equal developmental opportunities for men and women. Enlightenment should also mean a complete change in attitudinal thinking and behaviour towards women. In early Greek civilization, the woman was regarded as and treated
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like a bad omen. Worse still, she was painted in the image of Pandora; the originator of evil. In traditional African society, the woman was not known to be better than an imbecile was. This belief rendered the female child unfit to be sent to school alongside the male child as she was considered incapable of retaining much information and so any financial attempt made towards educating her was regarded as wasteful. Education was exclusively viewed as the preserve of the male child while the female child was to stay at home in order to attend to house chores. Zaynab Alkali certainly disagrees with this view, as the next chapter will show. The messages gleaned from studying Alkalis texts are a pointer to the belief that gender equality should mean fairness and justice in the distribution of benefits and responsibilities. Radical feminism, unlike liberal feminism, has brought about great economic and socio-political changes through its meticulous analysis of the roots of oppression in women. One of its contributions has been its insistence on opening up the personal domain - through the slogan the personal is political as a legitimate domain for the analysis of gender relations. As such, it has legitimized the study of sexuality and its work on

sexual violence and pornography has been very valuable5. 2.1.3 Marxist Feminism Marxist Feminism is a blend of Marxist and socialist feminist theories. Socialist feminism links womens oppression to the class structure. Sexism is a way of rewarding the
29

working class males as it gives them control over women. The biological and capitalistic explanations of women question are the main focus of Marxist Feminism. Marxism analyses the history of the material and economic oppression of women, particularly how the family and womens domestic labour reproduce the sexual division of labour. The Marxist perspective is traced to the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and later to Lenin. The aforementioned Marxists argued fervently in their works, that the monogamous relationships that most women were compelled to have were the causes of the subjugation of their sex by the male sex. According to Engels, the overthrow of womens rights was tantamount to the universal defeat of the female sex. In his book entitled The Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884), Engels outlines the genesis of sexual inequality in society. According to Engels, the strong desire for male supremacy led to monogamous marriages, mens supremacy in the family, the subjugation and the resultant enslavement of the female sex among others. Furthermore, Engels opines that equality between the sexes can only be achieved in a socialist society when the forces of production are commonly owned. Marxist feminism may not be adopted as a meaningful liberation theory in Nigeria because it is believed that capitalism, which plays a major role in the oppression of the weak and the disadvantaged (i.e. women, the unemployed, the peasants, labourers and workers) must be eradicated if women
30

are to gain equality. The approach has been criticized for inadequately accounting for womens subordination in precapitalist society although it greatly focuses on structures of oppression that include the state, family and class. Its

contribution, however, includes providing the basis for another conceptual framework, that of socialist feminism.6 2.1.4 Socialist Feminism Socialist Feminism combines socialist political philosophy and the historical materialist method of Marx and Engels with the radical feminist insight that the personal is political. Socialist feminism seeks the underlying reasons for womens subordination. It sees the issues of gender, race and class as integrated issues that reinforce and feed on each other and must not be treated separately for the adequate understanding of womens subordination and oppression. Unlike Marxist feminism, socialist feminism does not give priority to economic oppression. It rather rewards working class males and gives them control over women. This is because womens work is less valued as it is seen not to produce exchangeable goods. 2.1.5 Cultural Feminism This brand of feminism emphasizes the difference between the male and female gender. Cultural feminists further stress the point that the qualities that are characteristic of women have been devalued in the society.
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Cultural feminists demand an end to the devaluation of women and they work towards a transformation of society that will accord honour and respect to women. Cultural feminism, like Radical Feminism celebrates what can be called womens values and womens cultures which are known to include gentleness, meekness, peace, emotionality, a nurturing spirit and caring for others. This is in contrast to masculine values that include arrogance, force and emotional in-expressiveness among others. 2.1.6 Black/ African Feminism This emerged as a response to white feminism. Womanism is, for instance, a feminist term coined by a black American scholar, Alice Walker, to refer to black feminism. A womanist is described by Walker as a black feminist who is committed to the survival of all people, male and female. Walker explains that a black feminist enjoys a close

relationship with man on equal partnership and not one between the master and a minion. 7 Walkers womanism is among the first reactions against white feminism. It is equivalent to stirring still waters - the feminist pool. Before the ripples could settle, African women re-agitated the waters, setting off more ripples of Stiwanism and Motherism.8 African feminism is similar to womanism in some ways. One major similarity between the two is the recognition by both of a common struggle with men for the removal of all forms of oppression that are meted out to both sexes.
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Furthermore, womanism and African feminism rely on androgyny (shared roles) and on complementarity between the sexes. Each of these African ways of naming feminism has a fundamental concern the use of different aspects of African cultures, historical moments and current global imperatives to make sense of feminist engagement.9 Let us briefly examine the Black American and African versions of feminism with the hope of determining which one is (or is not) a suitable alternative to feminism as a nomenclature. This is because, the problem of a suitable terminology for feminism has remained a debatable issue. 2.1.7 Womanism Alice Walker, a Black American woman, introduced the concept of Womanism (1983) as earlier said. Walkers concept focuses on Black Womens identity and commitment to gender issues.10 Womanism is considered by Walker to be more promising and more effective (especially to black Africans) than feminism.11 Walker conceives feminism to be a white womens movement and so defines womanism as a movement for Africans and for women of colour. Furthermore, she proposes that womanism is unlike (white) feminism because the latter is largely racist or sexist. Womanism strives to overcome the sexist arrogance of feminism in addition to tackling all forms of discrimination that are based on peoples racial or socio-economic identity.
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Alice Walkers womanism, however, has a noticeable flaw in its definition. This is because Walker argues that womanists are neither discriminatory nor separatists; yet by excluding white women from her concept of womanism, Walker is actually being separatist the very bane she sets out to correct. Another noticeable weakness in Walkers definition of womanism is that while she argues that womanists fight for the survival of both sexes, she rejects the inclusion of black men as womanists. The aforementioned weaknesses have made Walkers concept of womanism an inadequate tool for the improvement of the lives of all people be they Africans, Whites or Asians. 2.1.8 African Womanism Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi, a Nigerian literary critic coined the term African Womanism independently of Alice Walkers womanism. However, Ogunyemis concept of African womanism resembles Alice Walkers in many respects12 and also differs markedly from it. One of the differences is that Ogunyemi describes African womanism as an offshoot of feminism whereas Walker has denied any resemblance between her concept of womanism and feminism. Thus, Ogunyemi recognises that African Womanism is not only similar to feminism but can actually be considered as an expanded feminism. In her definition of the concept of African Womanism, Ogunyemi also goes beyond Alice Walkers race class
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gender approach.13 Unlike Walkers womanism, Ogunyemis concept recommends a meaningful union between black women, black men and black children. The only marked resemblance between Ogunyemis African womanism and Walkerian womanism is that Ogunyemi argues for and strongly supports the need to demarcate from white western feminism. This also sounds exclusionary like Walkerian womanism. Ogunyemi further admits that African womanism is finally separatist. She tells us why: As a group, they [black writers] are distinct from white feminists because of their race, because they have

experienced the past and present subjugation of the black population along with present-day subtle (or not so subtle) control exercised over them by the alien, western culture.14 Ogunyemi further supports the need to demarcate from white feminism (and even black American womanism) with the claim that only an African can be an African Womanist. Her major criticism of Walkerian Womanism is that it does not include motherhood in its definition but rather condones or favours lesbianism which is foreign and unacceptable in the African culture. Another area of marked difference between the two concepts is Ogunyemis belief that African American people do not have the problem of gerontocracy which African Womanists encounter daily. Therefore, Ogunyemis African womanism is deeply rooted in traditional African customs which are different from those of the African American people.
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Finally, Ogunyemis concept of African Womanism has, among other things, reinforced the spirit of communalism which is quite peculiar to Africans as against the individualism of the whites. Her concept of African womanism, therefore, includes men as well as the children. The inclusion of men in her conceptualization derives from Ogunyemis belief that men, like women, should be involved in the process of gender transformation. 2.1.9 Stiwanism In 1994, another Nigerian scholar, Omolara Ogundipe Leslie, caused more ripples in the already disturbed feminist waters. OgundipeLeslie proposed Stiwanism to replace Ogunyemis African Womanism. A completely new term seemed like a welcome change which, however, turned out to be the equivalent of an old wine in a new bottle. S.T.I.W.A. is Ogundipe-Leslies acronym for the Social Transformation Including Women in Africa. Stiwanism is thus the act of including African women in the contemporary, social and political transformation of Africa. The whole idea of this new concept is to ensure the equal partnership of women (with men) in social transformation.

Similar to Ogunyemis African Womanism, Ogundipe Leslies Stiwanism is also exclusionary of white women. She conceives it as belonging to African women only. White and African American women are by definition excluded from Stiwanism. Ogundipe-Leslie explains further that the coining of
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the new word is to deflect energies from constantly having to respond to charges of imitating Western feminism.15 Stiwanism also preaches complementarity between men and women. It encourages African men and women to work together for a common goal. But of course, complementarity is based, and thrives well, on equality of rights! Ogundipe-Leslie is, however, decidedly silent on whether African men can jump on the bandwagon and become stiwanists.16 2.1.10 Motherism Nigerian Catherine Acholonu introduced the concept of Motherism. She argues that Motherism is an Afrocentric alternative to feminism.17 Acholonus concept of motherism denotes motherhood and considers women to be the perfect nurturers. She vehemently opposes the doctrines of white western feminism which she considers to be anti-mother, antichild, anti-nature and anti-culture.18 Acholonu considers the tasks of a motherist to include the nurturing of the child, protecting the home and the environment as well. Both women and men can be motherists, she feels, but what she considers most important is that they should be sensitive to the socio-political and the economic and environmental problems which tend to overwhelm man. For instance, Acholonu focuses more on socially transforming the society and neglects gender issues. Acholonu blames the current marginalization of women on colonialism. She considers the notion that women are
37

inferior to men as an imported idea. According to her, women in traditional African societies were not very much disadvantaged until colonialism reared its ugly head and brought, among other things, the violation of human rights; in addition to introducing unfavourable patriarchal powers which

have contributed to the worsening of the situation of women in Africa. Thus, economically and socially, women became much more dependent on men than ever before.19 Like her counterparts (OgundipeLeslie and Ogunyemi), Acholonu also supports the detachment of African feminism from the white western feminism. She claims that African feminism must carve out its own identity, search out its own poetics and adopt a suitable name to describe its own idiosyncrasies.20 According to her, motherism should be the new identity for African feminism because of its proposal for complementarity between the sexes. However, Acholonu is lukewarm in her support of the equality of the sexes. This appears a bit ludicrous because, as earlier mentioned, complementarity is based on mens and womens equality in rights and in status one cannot succeed without the other. From the above discussions, one can clearly see that what we have to contend with as regards the proper terminology or concept to adopt for African feminism is a jumble of facts and a confused mixture of ideologies. The decisive question, however, is whether or not feminism is a suitable term to identify with. For instance, Acholonus concept of motherism is not truly an alternative concept to
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feminism but an anticoncept that strictly denies the necessity of transforming prevailing gender inequalities. This is because for mutual complementarity to be established between men and women, gender roles must be redefined to accommodate the equality of rights between sexes. Truly speaking, the main concern with finding an alternative concept to feminism reminds one of the 80s which were marked by the resurgence of the debate over the language of African literature written in English. No major achievement was made at the many conferences held to resolve the issue of which language to adopt in the writing of African novels. Similarly, the problem of a suitable nomenclature to adopt for feminism remains unresolved. Akachi Ezeigbo, an erudite Professor and genderexpert insists on calling a spade, a spade. She argues convincingly

that whatever the differences between black and white feminism, there can be no doubt that both share certain aesthetic attitudes.21 Why are there moves to alter the term feminism for an African equivalent? Why then, do we need a new nomenclature for feminism in Africa? Akachi Ezeigbo answers this question succinctly: I disagree that we need a new nomenclature for feminism in Africa. There is nothing wrong with the term feminism. I dont think the term Stiwanism is suitable neither the sharp demarcation between African Womanism and American Womanism (none) Can replace the other.22
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In a similar vein, other African scholars of repute like Nawal El Saadawi, Ama Ata Aidoo, Wanjira Muthoni, Bessie Head, Zoe Wicomb and Yvonne Vera, among others, have joined Akachi Ezeigbo to stress that there is no problem with the term feminism neither do they have quarrels with being labelled feminists. They hold that the situation and the problems of women in Africa may, indeed, differ from those of white western women but in principle, the situation and concerns of white and African women are similar in many respects.23 2.2 WESTERN FEMINIST CRITICISM The basic view is that western civilization is pervasively patriarchal (ruled by the father) - that is, it is male-centred and controlled, as is organized and conducted in such a way as to subordinate women to men in all cultural domains: familial, religious, political, economic, social, legal and artistic. 24 The women, themselves, equally contributed to the belittling of their sex and co-operated in their own subordination.25 Since the 1960s and 1970s, three types of feminist criticism have emerged and are identified as the British, French and American. In Britain, Virginia Woolf acts as a pioneer in feminist criticism due to her numerous writings on female authors and on patriarchal issues that have hindered or prevented women from realizing their creative possibilities.26 In A Room of Ones Own (1929), Woolf

particularly recounts her experiences of patriarchy and male40 discrimination even on intellectual grounds. In her essay on Women and Writing, (1979), she discusses womens educational disabilities and the obstacles that the phallocentric world has mounted in their way to hinder their progress in life. In France, Simone de Beauvoir presents a most radical critique of the age-long mythologization of the woman as an inferior object or as the other sex in her book entitled The Second Sex (1949). Her argument is that it is erroneous to assume that only the male can make choices capable of altering his future. As she sees it, both sexes, male and female, can seek equality of opportunities and jointly achieve freedom. Simone de Beauvoir, has therefore, envisioned men and women working together for the same cause.27 De Beauvoirs book also deals with a critique of the married woman syndrome with its accompanying notions: woman as reproducer of a future labour force; woman as provider of unpaid services in return for protection; wife as vassal of the husband - the ideology of femininity entailing catching and keeping your man- all these are described by de Beauvoir. Marriage to de Beauvoir is destructive. It is an experience that mutilates the woman and dooms her for life. It is necessary to state here that French Feminists also laid great emphasis on language in literature which to them is male dominated. Nelly Furnam examines language from a similar perspective and submits that:
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It is through the medium of language that we define and categorize areas of difference and similarity, which in turn allow us to comprehend the world around us. Malecentred categorizations predominate and subtly shape our understanding and perception of reality; that is why attention is increasingly directed to the inherently oppressive, for women, of a male-constructed language system28. From the citation above, it is evident that language is particularly manipulated to entrench patriarchal power in a

patriarchal society. French feminists believe that the structure of language is phallocentric: it privileges the phallus by associating them with things and values more appreciated by a male-dominated culture.29 Whereas feminine language is not discriminatory but rather more rhythmic and unifying.30 Annie Leclerc, an early French Feminist, has suggested that womens language should differ from the phallic representation of the men. Furthermore, she calls on women: To invent a language that is not oppressive, a language that does not leave speechless but that loosens the tongue.31 As regards American feminist criticism, Mary Ellmans book Thinking about Women (1968), discusses the derogatory treatment meted to women by male authors. In 1969, Kate Millet published a highly powerful and controversial book on women entitled Sexual Politics. She, among other American feminists like Carolyn Heilbrun and Judith Fetterley, reexamined the portrayals of women characters, exposing the patriarchal ideology implicit in such works. The study or the
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re-examination of womens works is known as gynocriticism, a word coined by Elaine Showalter. She further refers to gynocriticism as The Feminist Critique. In her article entitled Toward a Feminist Poetics, Elaine Showalter offers an explanation of feminist critique to mean women as the producer of textual meaning, with the history, themes, genres and structures of literature by women. Gynocritical works, thus, include critical writings like Showalters A Literature of their Own, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubars The Mad Woman in the Attic and several other such studies published since the mid 1970s.32 2.3 ALKALIS FEMINISM An African Feminist Consciousness is recognizable in Alkalis texts since certain inequalities and some limitations that exist in African Societies (particularly in the traditional societies) have been foreshadowed. For instance, it is inevitable that Alkalis female characters, given their various experiences and socio-cultural and economic background,

would rise up against the values which are detrimental to their progress. Alkali has deliberately shown some strong women who are capable of being in leadership positions if they are given the chance. (See, for example, the lives and preoccupations of Li and Faku in The Stillborn, Nana Ai in The Virtuous Woman, Mama Dinar, Hildi and Umma in Cobwebs and Other Stories. Alkali paints the aforementioned women as wives or mothers
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but questions obligatory motherhood and the traditionally sexist favouring of male issues. According to Alkali in The Cobwebs, a woman should be accorded the right to decide when and whom she is to marry. She is not to have herself betrothed to a man she does not love (like the estranged marriage between Mama and Aliyu in The Cobwebs) or be forced to have children she is not ready to cater for. Alkali thus attacks the privilege that is accorded to males in marriage in general and the loss of identity that is the bane of the females. (See Dogos view as regards the education of the female child in The Virtuous Woman, (P.47) or Aliyus views regarding a woman in marriage in The Cobwebs, p. 18). Both Dogo and Aliyu in The Virtuous Woman and The Cobwebs, respectively, are so conceited and chauvinistic in their actions and attitudes towards the women in their lives that their role as agents of oppression becomes crystal clear in the texts. As a feminist, Alkali respects the African womans need for self-reliance and independence. She strongly rejects the Over-burdening, exploitation and relegation to muledom that is, unfortunately, the lot of the woman.33 This is revealed in the story she relays of Yabutus experience with Hassan in Saltless Ash. When Hassan becomes tired of living with his wife of so many years, he wishes to replace her with a child bride with the vulgar excuse that she is old and she is a camel of a wife with an elephant trunk (p.89) and deserved to go back to her people (p.90).
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Zaynab Alkali, obviously, recognises the second-class status or the otherness of womens position in the society

and has set out to correct this in her texts. The term feminist thus applies to her handling of the female characters that populate her works. Consequently, she projects, like Micere Mugo , a system where all the oppressive institutions are dismantled politically, socially for the sake of men and women a society that actively encourages the idea of collective responsibility.34 By creating strong, determined female characters with a will of their own and who are ready to fight against the anomalies that exist in their societies, Alkali also qualifies to be called a feminist. Like an African Feminist or a Stiwanist, Alkali is deeply committed to the complementarity that should exist between the African male and female, in order to ensure the survival/social transformation of African societies. One cannot talk of feminist theory and fail to mention the divergent approaches within it. These differences are not just a reflection of various perceptions, each having equal validity but are also an expression of different socio-historical locations in which feminists exist. The socio-historical locations such as class, race and power, etc., have implications for the methods and kinds of changes that women are struggling for. Feminist theory is best understood in relation to the study and understanding of womens subordination. Just as feminist theories vary, the criticisms of feminist theory also
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vary. The following, according to Pereira, are recent criticisms of feminist theory: a) Different groups of women experience subordination in different ways. b) Quite a large number of women are not aware of their subordination and are, surprisingly, unconcerned about female subordination at all. c) Some women tend to exercise power over men (but can the percentage of such power compare to that wielded by men?). d) There is no unique standpoint from which a final or authoritative feminist theory may be constructed.

Finally, there is no doubt in human history that the dignity of women has suffered great exploitation, humiliation and degradation while that of men has been upheld.35 This chapter is concluded with the following remark by Simone de Beauvoir: The masculine in our culture has come to be identified as active, dominating, adventurous, rational, creative; the feminine by systematic opposition to such traits has come to be identified as passive, acquiescent, timid, emotional and conventional.36 With time and a lot of educational exposure of both the male as well as the female gender, the above-cited stereotypical opinion will be eradicated from our subconscious minds.
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NOTES 1 Jackie Stacey, Untangling Feminist Theory, D. Richardson and V. Robinson (Eds.) Introducing Womens Studies: Feminist Theory and Practice: Macmillan, Houndmills and London, 1993, p.50. 2 Dennis Ityavyar, The Changing Socio-Economic Role of Tiv Women, Jos: Jos University Press Ltd; 1993, p.11. 3. Zaynab Alkali, The Stillborn, Lagos: Longman Nigeria Ltd., 1993, P.48 Subsequent page References are from this edition and are indicated in the study. 4 A, Jaggar, Feminist Politics and Human Nature, Brighton: Harvester Press, 1983. 5 Charmaine Pereira, Feminist Theories: A Presentation Prepared for the Gender Institute, Social Science Academy of Nigeria held at OgunOshun River Basin Development Authority Guest House, 22 May 2001, Alabata, Abeokuta, p.7. 6 Ibid., p. 18. 7 Obioma Nnaemeka, Locating Feminism/Feminists, Susan Arndt (ed.) The Dynamics of African Feminism, Trenton NJ: Africa World Press, 2002, p.68. 8 Ibid., p. 12.

9 Ibid. 10 Susan Arndt, The Dynamics of African Feminism, Trenton NJ: Africa World Press, 2002, p. 37. 11 Ibid., p. 38. 12 Ibid.,p. 39.
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13 Ibid. 14 Ibid., p. 41. 15 Ibid., p. 50. 16 Ibid., p. 52. 17 Ibid., p. 54. 18 Ibid., p. 56. 19 Ibid. 20 Ibid., p. 57. 21 Akachi Ezeigbo, Reflecting the Times: Radicalism in Recent Female-Oriented Fiction in Nigeria, Ernest Emenyonu (ed.) Literature and Black Aesthetics, Ibadan: Heinemann, 1990, p. 143-55. 22 A Letter from Akachi Ezeigbo to Susan Arndt, Susan Arndt (ed.) The Dynamics of African Feminism, Trenton NJ: Africa World Press, 2002, p. 68. 23 Ibid., p. 67. 24 M.H. Abrams; A Glossary of Literary Terms: Sixth Edition, New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1969, pp.2345. 25 Ibid., p.235. 26 Ibid., p.234. 27 Toril Moi, Feminist Theory & Simone de Beauvoir, London: Blackwell Publishers, 1993, p.2. 28 Nelly Furnam The Study of Women and Languages Vol.3, No.3, Signs 4 Autumn 1978, p.182.
48

29 Kate Chopin, The Awakening, ed. Nancy A. Walker, New York: Bedford Books, 1993, p.159. 30 Ibid., p.159. 31 Annie Leclerc, Parole de Femme, New French Feminism, Trans Courtivron, n.d., p.179. 32 Chris Baldick, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of

Literary Terms, London: Oxford University Press, n.d., pp.93-4. 33 Davies, C.B. et al. Studies of Women in African Literature, Trenton NJ: Africa World Press, Inc; 1986, p.10. 34 Micere Mugo, qtd in Studies of Women in African Literature, Ibid., p.11. 35 S. Nwachukwuike Iwe, Christianity, Culture and Colonialism in Africa, Nigeria, 1979, p.171. 36 M. H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary terms 6th ed; New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1969, p.235.
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CHAPTER THREE EDUCATION AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN ZAYNAB ALKALIS WORKS The African girls education must be adapted to her personality as an African Woman if she is to fill with dignity, her role in African society.1 Her education must be well rounded not only intellectually, but from the moral and religious viewpoints as well.2 An educated woman is a great investment to her children, her husband and her parents, but most of all to her country.3 This chapter focuses on challenging one particular aspect of gender inequality which is the educational disempowerment of the woman. Illiteracy has been identified as a great problem facing women in their untiring efforts and relentless struggles against inequality. We shall therefore examine the various constraints (i.e., Traditional, Cultural, Economic, Religious and Domestic) which militate against women thereby causing a retardation of their educational growth as presented in Alkalis texts. Zaynab Alkali has suggested a few strategies that focus on the goals of empowering women intellectually thus enabling them to take more control of their lives. 3.1 GENDER AND EDUCATION

Many arguments have been typically advanced to suggest or to explain the difference between the male and the female
50

gender. One of such arguments is the biological factor which proposes that there are inborn differences between men and women. These differences are used to re-inforce the fact that women alone can conceive, nurse or nurture babies which uniquely dictates that they should stay at home all day and shun serious outside commitment4 whereas the male should be more daring, more outspoken, more outgoing and adventurous; more productive and if we dare add, more educated! Historically, when the missionaries established the formal educational system in Africa, they did so by infusing some patriarchal ideologies into the educational system, one of which was the belief that boys, rather than girls would benefit more from the school system. For years, womens history became that of docility and domesticity. Consequently, young girls were to stay at home to practise and perfect their domestic skills which included how to behave as appropriate Christian wives, how to sew, cook and maintain proper hygiene. The boys, on the other hand, were taught how to read and write. Majority of them became literate church members, teachers and technically trained workers. This ushered in the first gender gap between boys and girls that has apparently persisted over the years, unchallenged, particularly in Africa. Furthermore, the woman is believed to be devoid of any brains whatsoever; that is she is all heart and no head and is quite unfit to be sent to school in order to partake in any
51

serious intellectual activity. Time has thus been spent on various methods used to rob the woman of the right to develop to her fullest potential as a career person or as a seasoned academic. In Nigeria, the story of the woman is basically that of a second-class citizen as Emecheta reminds us in her novel of the same title. Statistical evidence below will show that the

education of the girl child in Nigeria continues to suffer grave injustice and much discrimination. This is why Zaynab Alkali has accorded much priority to the education of the girl child in her texts. Her reason for doing so is similar to that given by Kayode Alao and it is that Nigerian women generally are yet to occupy their positions in the Nigerian educational set-up.5 Let us take a look at the following data which will help to illustrate the gender gap between the education of the girl child and that of the boy child in Nigeria.
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Table A: National Summary of Primary School Statistics. 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 Total Schools Total Enrolment Total male Total Female Total Teachers
Total Male Teachers

Total female 35,433 13,607,249 7,729,677 5,877,572 331,915 189,499 142,416 35,446 13,776,8 54 7,741,89 7 6,034,95 7 353,600 202,753 150,847

36,610 14,809,9 37 8,273,82 4 6,532,11 3 384,212 211,650 172,562 38,234 15,870,2 80 8,930,65 0 6.939,68 0 428,097 336,266 191,831 38,649 16,190,94 7 9,056,367 7,134,580 435,21 233,305 201,905 Culled from: Federal Ministry of Education, Annual Abstract of Statistics, Lagos. (1995 Edition), P.159.
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From the figures given, one would clearly detect a deep-rooted gender bias6 in the Nigerian Primary Schools and in the career development of most Nigerians. The teaching profession in Nigeria, as our statistics reveal, is dominated by male teachers. The reason for this is not far-fetched: male participation in all aspects of primary school education was higher than that of the female (between 1990-1994) and is still

higher today. In secondary school teaching, womens participation does not enjoy parity with that of men.7 Women seem to be lagging behind! The following data also illustrate the fact that the story is not different in the tertiary institutions where education is exclusively a male affair.8
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Table B: Nigerian Universities Total Enrolment by Gender. Male Female Total Female 1981 1981/82 1982/83 1983/84 1984/85 1985/86 1986/87 1987/88 60,692 70,365 79,557 90,235 97,546 103,243 114,478 119,236 17,099 20,386 25,217 26,587 28,739 32,540 37,489 41,531 77,791 90,751 104,774 116,822 126,285 135.783

151,967 160,767 22.0 22.5 24.1 22.0 22.8 24.0 24.7 25.8 735,352 229,588 964,940 23.8 Source: National Universities Commission (NUC.)
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Table C: Enrolment in Polytechnics. Males Females Totals Females 1984/85 1985/86 1986/87 1987/88 48,466 46,646 45,405 n.a 12,117 14,490 11,365 n.a 60,583 61,136 56,770 55,569 20.0 23.7 20.0 ---n.a = Information not readily available. Source: National Board for Technical Education.
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Nigerian women are greatly under-represented in all tiers of the educational system shown above due to various cultural, socio-political, economic and religious reasons which do not favour them. From our reading of Zaynab Alkalis texts we are able to detect that gender stereotyping is a prominent feature of the traditional society she describes in her works. However each of Alkalis female characters has rebelled against gender stereotyping by the various moves they make in order to empower themselves intellectually. Alkali is in full support of empowering women in order to enable them to seek equity in their personal as well as public lives. One major strategy of achieving this is in her seeming encouragement of the girl child to participate fully in the academic sphere alongside her male counterpart. The Stillborn is arguably a documentation of Alkalis childhood days in her fathers compound which leads to her adolescence and adulthood. Right from the start, Zaynab Alkali presents to readers a true image of the modern African woman in the picture that she paints of Li, her heroine. Li is a beautiful, confident, outspoken, fearless and intelligent young woman who needs only a sound education (which she strives to acquire) to complete her as the exquisitely sophisticated woman of substance that she longs to be. Unfortunately, she finds herself in a geographical location where her religious principles have combined with patriarchal doctrines in order to legitimize the realities of the degradation of women. Let us
57

examine some of the factors that militate against women in Alkalis novels and see how the women wrestle against these factors in order to liberate themselves. 3.2 TRADITIONAL / CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS The norms of the Nigerian societies portrayed in Alkalis texts are clearly male-oriented. The same norms have dictated that it is useless and unheard of to educate girls because as soon as they are married they cease to belong to their families. For instance, Nana Ai, the heroine of The Virtuous Woman, goes against the so-called acceptable

norms of behaviour or code of conduct for women in her society by aspiring to be very well educated. Nana Ai comes from a social milieu where a man believes that: There is no use sending a female child to School. If she turns out well, the man she marries gets the benefit of her education. If she gets spoilt in the school, I get the blame. Its my name that gets dragged into the mud. Its my house that becomes her refuge. Whichever way you look at it, the father of a female child is the loser. Let the girls stay at home and help their mother; when it is time for them to marry, let them marry. (Emphasis mine.)9 The same negative conception of womanhood and the education of the girl child runs through Alkalis The Stillborn and Cobwebs and Other Stories. In the latter text which is Zaynab Alkalis most recent publication, the author treats in detail the unjust, discriminatory and wicked practices levelled
58

against women in their search for better learning opportunities. Cobwebs and Other Stories is made up of a collection of very vivid and lucidly written short stories. Alkali emphatically documents the sad plight of the African woman in her struggle to redeem herself in the classroom. Alkalis major message in this collection is that the lack of a higher degree has reduced the African womans chances of occupying higher positions in the society than the man. It has also drastically affected the married womans capability to maintain a strong homefront. Women find themselves in an environment like that in The Cobwebs where it is said women did not have to think. The men always did the thinking for mankind. (p.17.). A young woman like Mama Dinar is stifled by religious and customary doctrines which prohibit the normal existence of the woman alongside the man; simply because she is a woman! It is thus unheard of - indeed it is unthinkable in Beta, where Mama lives, for women to dare aspire to be better educated than the men. By the time Mama was sixteen, we are told, her chronic obsession with reading medicine was

crushed, (P.16). However, the feminist streak in Mama prevents her from giving up on her dream of going to school. This feminist streak is revealed in Mama so early in her life when she saw herself as a person with mind (sic) able to think independently (p.17) in an environment where only the men did the thinking.
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[Mama] had married Aliyu, the man destined for her by the people of Beta and her father was happy. Three years into the marriage and two year-old twins and Mama was completely bored with the idle life of a woman kept in seclusion. She was haunted by the desire to go back to school, but Aliyu would not listen. He could not see the need to go back to school. To be educated means to work and a woman is not meant to work. She is meant to remain quietly at home and look beautiful for her husband and have as many children as she can within the period of child-bearing.(pp.17-18. Emphasis mine.) The assumption made above is totally unacceptable to the doctrines taught by the advocates of Women Liberation Movement. Zaynab Alkali, herself, rejects the idea of sentencing a woman to a life of permanent servitude which further robs her of any dignity she has left as a human being. Alkali, in her works seems to be crying out that a woman needs to acquire a higher status in life through her education. Furthermore, education makes the woman independent as she is able to earn her living and make better choices in life; choices that would positively affect her and her entire household. Through a sound education also, a woman will have a security that will enable her to bargain with a man on equal footing. All these, according to B.A. Orewere and M.S. Bargo, however, stand in contrast to the age-long culturally structured traditional roles of the woman.10 Mama goes ahead to enroll herself in the University despite her husbands desire to keep her domesticated. By taking this bold step, Mama begins a long aggressive battle for
60

self-empowerment. Her enrolment into the university was as if a great door had opened wide for her to walk in and to begin a new life beyond her wildest dreams. (p.21). When a man passes a law in a traditional African society, custom demands that a woman is acquiescent despite the fact that some of the man-made laws are derogatory and downright demeaning! The traditional African customs and laws encourage the institution of polygamy, child marriage, male-child preference, poverty and powerlessness of women. This is why (as Alkali has revealed) a man feels free to treat his wife like a common slave or like an inferior being because the custom permits it. For instance, custom permits the man to marry as many wives as he can afford whereas the woman cannot practice polyandry under any circumstance. Well, not all the women in Alkalis works would think of marrying many times for the reason that Grandma gives for doing so in The Stillborn. In this novel Alkali jocosely presents a woman who is ready to challenge the men at their ridiculous game of acquiring many wives. In The Stillborn, Grandma recounts to Li how she had been married fourteen times (P.35) because, in her own words: I was good to look at. My breasts were the size of backyard pumpkins and my buttocks the envy of the village maidens. The men could not resist me (p.35). One cannot help but imagine the underlying sarcasm with which Alkali presents a stark illiterate woman who would rather gloat over her fourteen attempts to hook a man than be found holding an executive job or a University degree!
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However, the qualities that Grandma revelled in were qualities that men admired in women rather than their intelligence or the ability to compete favourably with them in the classroom. An African man would readily exchange a woman with degrees for one who had none but possessed instead provocative breasts, and tantalizing buttocks. The reason for this lies, perhaps, in Vivica Foxs observation of the attitude of many young men as regards female empowerment: It is sad, but a lot of men just cannot deal with a woman who is not totally dependent on them or one who has her act reasonably

together.11 The reality of Vivica Foxs opinion cited above begins to manifest itself the minute Aliyu realizes that his wife, Mama, is going to flout his (patriarchal) authority by going to school. Aliyus reaction to his wifes determination to go to school is to replace her with another woman. He clearly feels threatened by an educated woman and does not want to remain married to one. According to Kayode Alao: This form of thinking [and reasoning] is heavily reinforced by customs, folklores, proverbs, anecdotes and the entire cultural practices of most Nigerian traditional societies. It is therefore not strange that the overt and covert behaviour of most Nigerian women are often in congruence with the traditional stereotype of the complete housewife. This is perhaps why women are not adequately represented in the Nigerian educational system. (P. 94).
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3.3 RELIGIOUS CONSTRAINTS The society has used religious practices to oppress women. Some of these have contributed greatly to the devaluation of women. Gender discrimination is noticeably the worst form of oppression the woman suffers worldwide.12 This is really sad because the Lord Jesus was not known to be discriminatory to women yet the society, made up of mere mortals tends to devalue womanhood and regard women as the Second sex- to borrow the words of Simone de Beauvoir, the French feminist author.13 When Jesus worked as a teacher, He taught women along with men (Luke 10:38-42). He neither disrespected women nor spoke about them in a disparaging way. Instead, He had some women travelling with Him to work with Him (Luke 8:1-3). More importantly, He called women daughters of Abraham (Luke 13:16), explicitly according them a spiritual status like that accorded to men. Is it then surprising that when He resurrected from death it was to women that He first appeared and then permitted them to take the good news to the men. (John 20:11-19; Matt. 28:9-10). Today, social conventions of the day have made it almost

impossible for the women to enjoy the same kind of privileges that the men enjoy. Zaynab Alkali gives us this picture graphically when she states through one of her male characters the following: What is the use of sending a female child to school? If she turns out well, the man she marries gets the benefits of her education. If she gets spoilt in the school, [the man gets] the blame. (p.47, Emphasis, mine).
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In The Virtuous Woman where the above cited opinion is given, the protagonist of the text (Nana Ai) secretly nurtures the dream of becoming a medical doctor like her father. But she is unable to share her dream with anyone because of the fear of societal ostracism which is imposed on women in the professional field. Let us consider her views: Perhaps, she said to herself, If I were a male, I would be a doctor also. She liked and nursed the idea. It never occurred to her that it was in her to be whatever she wanted to be. The only female doctors she had known were Asians and white people; and for some strange reason she never regarded them as women. (p.10). Medicine was a profession that was reserved only for men because it was considered too masculine for women. In Nana Ais days, a woman was not supposed to dream of taking a professional course. Nana Ai breaks the mores and social conventions, however, by aspiring to be very well educated and by travelling far to attend a school in Yoruba land (p.5) in the Western part of the country even though she comes from and resides in the North. Her courage is to be admired greatly especially when she travels as a paralytic in search of knowledge at a time when the daring sons and daughters of the soil, who went out in search of knowledge or trade, would come home with daunting stories of the dangers of the outside world (p.2). The study of Mama Dinars complicated situation in Cobwebs and Other Stories also reveals that the practice of

64

purdah in Islam makes it difficult for married Muslim women to fully benefit from the educational system.14 There is evidence to show that the experiences of Mama Dinar in The Cobwebs are the experiences of a Muslim woman in seclusion whereas those of Li and Nana Ai in The Stillborn and The Virtuous Woman, respectively, are those of women from a Christian background. The Islamic religion frowns at a woman acquiring more knowledge than her male counterpart. The Shariah indeed has spelt out the status and role of the woman. According to Juwayriya Bint Badamasiuy an ardent scholar of womens rights and responsibilities: The realities of our contemporary Muslim societies and nations are that women form the bulk of ignorant lot and hardly able (sic) to play any significant role beyond the natural role of child bearing. The Western educated Muslim women, ignorant of their status in Shariah and the roles bequeathed to them by Islam seem to see beauty and relief in the Western civilization and culture.15 [Emphasis Mine.] Women are thus encouraged to learn petty trading rather than worry about going to school. In accordance with Islamic Law the woman dares not question the decision of a male (father, brother, husband) to keep her at home because of the belief that educating a woman is tantamount to encouraging her to emancipate herself. And the emancipation of women, as an Islamic follower would perceive it, is enabling them to do exactly what men do. This is utterly wrong. Alkali believes in
65

giving each individual the same opportunity to develop to full potentialities. But, a Muslim woman knows the consequences of working towards achieving the aforementioned goal. Furthermore, women are expected to dress differently from men according to Islamic Law. The religious mode of dressing for women is observed by Badamasiuy as follows: She is to cover all her body when going out of the house to attain the high morality in the society which Islam

seek (sic) to achieve and combat corruption and lewdness. Allah in Quran chapter 24, verse 31 and chapter 33, verse 59, enjoins the believing women to cover all parts of their body except the face and the hands when they go out of their house or in public.16 Women Liberation Movement has, however, encouraged the Muslim woman to liberate herself first and foremost, by working hard to gain the right to be educated and secondly, by discarding the veil for western or custom made clothes. Mama Dinar seemingly breaks three rules against the Muslim religion when she attends the University: she goes against Aliyus wishes, she goes out of the house unchaperoned and she later meets and falls in love with a man. The third of the three sins is the most grave which if discovered would attract dire consequences for her. But Mama doesnt care about any consequences. She has become so tired of the estranged relationship between her and Aliyu, her legitimate muslim husband. Religious constraints have contributed to the setbacks in womens education in Nigeria. Even the traditional African
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religion endorses that the woman should remain at the background where she can learn in silence, if at all she must learn, and with all subjection too. This explains why women are usually kept out of shrines and the cults of most traditional religions,17 as Kayode Alao explains. 3.4 DOMESTIC AND ECONOMIC CONSTRAINTS Daniel Barthel best summarizes the helpless situation that the woman finds herself in especially at home. The Woman was obliged to stay at homealways behind the man. She was to take care of the children, the household and she did not have the right to be heard. To some extent she was a slave! The woman was an illiterate and never went to school. She had a negative role she did not participate in anything she stayed at home, made babies and that was it.18 This disparaging view of womanhood is what Zaynab Alkali sets out to redress in all her novels, particularly in Cobwebs and Other Stories. Rather than acquiesce with the

idea of a womans role as negative, Alkali portrays her as playing a great role even as she engages in the onerous task of raising the children. This is because through the solid foundation (laid by a woman) of educating the children, a nation becomes well founded. How then can the womans job as a nurturer of children be termed a negative one? Yet every attempt made to educate the girl child is considered a wasteful one. From the economic point of view, many parents consider womens education as a waste of funds.19 The reason
67

for this is that she will get married to a man and move out of her family into her husbands family. Therefore, when families are faced with the option of choosing between sons and daughters education, the daughters are always the victims. This is further reinforced by discriminatory employment practices which restrict women to low paying jobs, thus discouraging parents further from investing heavily on girls education.20 Ignorance is the bone of contention here. For instance, a bellicose family produces a very bellicose nation; the family after all, is a microcosm of the larger society. Likewise, if a parent is ignorant of his right to acquire a sound education, his child will be the worse for it. An illiterate parent neither aspires to reach the upper echelons of society nor will he dream of his children doing just that.. What Alkali seems to be saying through the characterization of Habu Adams, Dogo and Aliyu in The Stillborn, The Virtuous Woman and Cobwebs and Other Stories, respectively, is similar to the message that Zulu Sofola relays in her essay on Feminism and African Womanhood in Correct Perspective. And this message is that: Ignorance has mystified African reality among the educated African [men]. African womanhood needs to be put in its proper perspective if the resurgence of African woman on national and international scene will make sense and achieve a meaningful purpose. In order to achieve a meaningful purpose in life, every man and indeed every woman in the world must be educated!

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Equal treatment of persons in equal situations will contribute greatly to the eradication of injustice. An educated woman, according to Zaynab Alkali is indeed a great investment to her children, her husband, her parents and most especially to her nation. (p.20). This message is very loud and clear in Alkalis texts. The Nigerian society believes primarily in the role model of women as perfect housewives.21 Only a sound education of the mind can cure this warped and unsound judgment. As a result of this negative conception, the girl child spends more time at home doing house chores whereas the boy child is so free of this time-consuming task and thus has more time to put in his academic work. 3.5 EDUCATIONAL EMPOWERMENT IN ALKALI Alkali suggests in The Virtuous Woman that equal learning opportunities are to be made available to the sexes and all forms of discrimination against women in the educational spheres are to be eliminated. The idea that a girl should stay at home and help her mother and when it is time for her to marry she should do just that (p.47) will create a big gender gap in the nations educational development. In Alkalis texts, education is seen as the ultimate. When everything fails in the lives of Li and Awa in The Stillborn, the young women turn to education and this gives them some form of stability. Lis return to school to complete her education paves way for her obtaining a Teachers Grade I Certificate.
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Thereafter, she returns to the village with the courage she has mustered from her education and rebuilds her fathers dilapidated compound. Education is necessary for both the male and female gender. Awas husbands failure in life (and this leads to his permanent drunkenness) is partly due to the fact that he is not educated enough to head a big school (p.87). As a result of this, a stranger was brought to take his place (p.87) as the Headmaster of his school. Awa laments the sad plight of her semi-literate husband as follows:

They said he wasnt educated enough to head such a big school, so a stranger was brought to take his place. This time a brown man. He wasnt even white. Not the white people we are used to in the village My man was pushed into the junior classes to teach. Those of us that could barely read were asked to work anywhere in the school except the classrooms. (p.87.). The story would have been different if Awa and Fiama were well educated. Zaynab Alkali does not support the withdrawal of girls from school in order to marry them off. This is Alkalis motive for creating Awa, Faku and Mama Dinar. Awas education is particularly terminated after primary school as is customary with her people in order to get her married. Awa, however, does not experience unalloyed bliss in her matrimonial home neither does Mama Dinar in Cobwebs and Other Stories. Both women find themselves in a pathetic situation when their marriages turn sour. Awas husband fails to become a Head teacher in a secondary school like Awa
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dreams of, neither does Aliyu, Mamas husband, provide her with a comfortable home or a secure marriage. Aliyu takes another wife in order to deal with his stubborn, errant wife. Awa is a direct opposite of Mama Dinar so the womens approaches towards handling their problems in their estranged relationships with their husbands differ particularly because of their levels of education. Awa is quiet and not as rebellious in her attitude as Mama Dinar. Her character easily lends itself to sympathy. But it is not our sympathy that Awa truly needs. She needs a resilient attitude and a strong desire to go back to school. She fails woefully, however to redeem herself and is thus left with a broken heart, a drunkard of a husband and a horde of children to cater for. Alkali does not feel that a woman is useless even when such a woman is handicapped. There is still the need for her to get some education. The creation of Nana Ai the paralytic girl in The Virtuous Woman lends credence to the fact that no one should be denied basic literacy. Alkali also suggests that the courage and the determination that Nana Ai exhibits in The

Virtuous Woman in order to attend Her Majestys College located Southwards in Yoruba land are necessary features in any struggle by women to liberate themselves from any bondage in order to redeem their God-given rights. For the good Lord made male and female to complement and be of mutual benefit to each other.22 The female sex should not continue to be disillusioned and silenced neither should she be put down or have her progress obstructed.23 The
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educational backwardness of the African woman is indeed experiencing some remarkable and rapid changes. African societies are beginning to experience also, a cultural rebirth in which the women are playing active parts in many things; especially in their fervent wish to go to school. Women shouldnt therefore, continue to wallow in poverty and self-pity which illiteracy brings. With a sound education, societal attitudes and values will change towards women and the quality of their lives will improve. This, in effect, means that the men also need to be enlightened so that they can let go of the archaic values, practices and traditions that tend to molest, degrade and disempower women. Men ought to be educated to re-programme their perception of women and their role in the home and in the society so as to prepare them to appreciate and respect the true meaning of womanhood as a status that is complementary rather than inferior to manhood.24 Equality is the cornerstone of every democratic society which aspires to have social justice and human rights.25 According to J.P. Clark in The Wives Revolt (1998): In education lies equity; lies equality. In The Stillborn, Li turns to education and it gives her stability and the confidence to return home and rebuild her fathers compound. Quite ironically, she becomes the man of
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the house while the real men wallow in drunkenness, in selfpity and in poverty.

In The Virtuous Woman, Alkali presents the woman as having equal opportunities and privileges as the man in acquiring the basic education (irrespective of societal dictates and socio-cultural norms which tend to de-personalize women) which will help her to become a member of the working class hence a responsible citizen of the nation. Finally, in Cobwebs and Other Stories, Alkalis succinct message is that education is the first step towards the sociopolitical and economic empowerment of todays African woman. It is a strong determining factor in spouse selection as well as the chief source of differences or harmony in marital institutions. Alkali further suggests that the Nigerian woman should, at least, have the basic University education or be encouraged to do so. This is Alkalis reason for creating Mama Dinar, the major protagonist in The Cobwebs.
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NOTES 1 Mary Knoll, World Horizon Reports, No. 26; on African Women Speaking, New York: 1960, p.21. Edited by the Office for UN Affairs National Catholic Welfare Conference. 2 Ibid., p. 21. 3 Zaynab Alkali, Cobwebs and Other stories, Lagos: Malthouse Press Ltd; 1997, P.20. Subsequent page references are indicated in the study. 4 Diane Gersoni-Stavn, Sexism and Youth, New York: R.R. Bowker Company, 1974, p.15. 5 Kayode Alao, Women in Nigerian Educational System Nigerian Women in Society and Development (eds.) Amadu Sesay and Adetanwa Odebiyi, Ibadan: Dokun Publishing House, 1998, p. 83. 6 Ibid., p. 85. 7 Ibid., p. 86. 8 Ibid., p. 88. 9 Zaynab Alkali; Virtuous Woman, Lagos: Longman, 1989, p. 47. Subsequent page references are from this edition and are reflected in the study. 10 B.A. Orewere and M.S. Bargo, Socio-Educational

Trends, Women Empowerment in Civil Society: D.O.A. Foundation: African Council for Communication Education, 1997, p.9. 11 Vivica Fox, Giving it Her Best Shot; Todays Black Woman, New York: Great Eastern Lithographic Corp; 1997, p.34.
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12 Akachi Ezeigbo, Im Female and Proud, Gender Issues in Nigeria: A Feminine Perspective: Vista Books Ltd; 1996, p.74. 13 Ibid., p. 74. 14 Kayode Alao, Women in Nigerian Educational System, Nigerian Women in Society and Development, Ibadan: Dokun Publishing House, 1998, p. 94. 15 Juwayriya Badamasiuy, Status and Role of Women Under the Shariah, Kaduna: Zakara Publishers Ltd; 1998, p.ix. 16 Ibid., p. 23. 17 Kayode Alao, op.cit., p. 94. 18 Daniel Barthel, The Rise of A Female Professional Elite, The African Studies Review : The African Studies Association, ed, Alan. K. Smith; vol. xviii No.3, 1975, p.9. 19 Kayode Alao, op.cit., p. 94. 20 Kayode Alao, op cit., p. 94. 21 Ibid., p.95. 22 Akachi Ezeigbo, Im Female and Proud!, Gender Issues in Nigeria: a Female Perspective, Vista Books Ltd; 1996, p.75. 23 Ibid., pp.75-76. 24 Obiageli Nwankwo, Violence Against Women: An Overview a Seminar on Discriminatory Laws and Practices Against Women in Nigeria, organised by Constitutional Rights Project (C.R.P), Owerri, Imo State; 1995, p.56. 25 Nkoyo Toyo, Women and Militarism Ibid., p.36.
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CHAPTER FOUR VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Violence against women is widespread in many cultures of the world. It is not limited to a specific race or people of a particular geographical location. It has evolved partly from a system of gender relations, which posits that men are superior to women. It is deeply rooted in the traditional practices and customs of many societies and contributes greatly to the cultural subordination of women. Whether they live in the Northern Hemisphere or Southern Hemisphere, in a rich country or a poor one, women are subjected to violence that results in the deprivation of their fundamental human rights1. In other words, violence against women cuts across social differences and status lines. Different women: religious or secular, professional or illiterate, young or old, face various forms of violence because of their gender.2 What exactly do we mean by Violence Against Women? The answer to this question is contained in the following quotation: From early childhood, the norms by which a girl should act are implanted. She is to be quiet, unobtrusive, not boisterous. She somehow learns to be coquettish and how to please the opposite sexShe learns from the example of her mother and female relatives that women have to humor their husbands that they have to be subservient to their decisions, and maybe she learns by experience the price of non-subservience - being battered verbally, psychologically and physically. She
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observes how men put very little value on womens opinions, and maybe even observes how women are belittled, ignored or taken for granted.3 [ Emphasis, mine.] Violence against women states categorically that in all societies, women and girls are subjected to different physical, sexual and psychological abuses. The list of abuses is, indeed, endless: Child-pornography, sexual harassment in schools and jobs, sex-tourism, trafficking in women, sexual and domestic bondage, gender- specific violations of human rights4, female genital mutilation, stoning of women on grounds of infidelity,

restriction of movement and exclusion from the public sphere, called Purdah.5 Violence against women also includes: sexual assault in the work place, rape in war6 and at peace time, women refugees and displaced persons, maids and migrant workers,7 illiteracy, poverty, forced prostitution, child prostitution, wife battering, incest and sexual abuse, homelessness, silencing of women, negation of womens rights, HIV infection through husbands, dowry death, isolation of widows8 and older women, emotional violence in marriage, food deprivation and abandonment in marriage. Violence against women is carried out more easily in patriarchal situations where women are deemed inferior to men. This is because, patriarchy supports the predominance of men and encourages the discrimination, relegation and the subordination of women. It gives men much power over women and they wield such power ruthlessly. Fortunately, today, the womens movement has somehow succeeded in jolting the
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consciousness of men and women about the heinousness of the continuing violence perpetrated against women.9 4.1 FORMS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN ALKALIS WORKS Violence can be categorized by type and scale. The form of violence identified and investigated in this study is essentially domestic. By the term domestic violence, we mean violence against women only. We also mean the unjust, the unlawful and the unwarranted use of force by one person over another within the home or family setting. Violence takes many forms, which include: physical, mental, emotional, verbal, sexual, psychological and financial. 4.1.1 Domestic Violence This is basically the misuse of power or the exercise of control by one person over another as earlier said. It can also be identified as the physical or mental assault of one member of the family by another member. In Alkalis works, domestic violence is largely perpetuated by men. However, it is accepted that some males have been abused by female partners but in the overwhelming majority of cases, the act is

perpetuated by men. The aim of Alkalis works: The Stillborn, The Virtuous Woman and Cobwebs and Other stories, is to reveal that domestic violence takes place mostly in the family. It is often married women and young girls who bear the brunt of mens
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violence and various abuses in the home. And so, the terms domestic violence and gender violence will be used interchangeably in this chapter to denote violence perpetrated by men against women. Suffice it to say that the burden borne by women often has its source in traditional practices. In other words, womens subordination and, or, female subservience are culturally imposed. In Alkalis novels, women are shown to be exploited and readily battered. Lis father, in The Stillborn, for instance, opines that he could easily beat Awa when she erred, no matter her age but not Sule who was his first born male child (p.23). The following forms of violence are recognisable in Alkalis works: 4.1.2 Physical Violence / Abuse The most endemic form of physical violence against women, in Zaynab Alkali'sworks, is wife abuse or wife battering. To put this more accurately, it is the abuse young girls or married women receive from people or from partners they are closely related to or intimate with. When young girls go into a relationship, they least expect their partners to become violent or abusive. This is precisely the case between Alkalis female characters and their spouses. Zaynab Alkalis works have revealed that, often times, women are not only assaulted and battered by their husbands but they also experience verbal, emotional or psychological abuse which they consider to be worse than physical abuse. Let us examine the case of Yabutu and her husband Hassan in Saltless Ash.
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Yabutu is Hassans first wife. Many years after their marriage, Yabutus husband brings home a fourteen-year old girl to share their matrimonial home. Yabutu has no choice but to accept the child-bride. She soon resolves to live amicably with the young girl as her co-wife. Together, the women devise

methods with which to ameliorate their unsavoury situation in the home by fighting for their rights10, in a culture where women are marginalised and subordinated. They fail woefully of course because none of the methods they adopted went down well11 with their old husband Hassan. One day, seventyyearold Hassan decides that he needs another change in his matrimonial home. Again, he desires to marry another childbride with the vulgar excuses that: Yabutu was almost fifty and had long ceased to be attractive with her coarse farmers hands and feetNow the tall, good looking, graceful gazelle of a woman was hunched up and gaunt. She had become morbidly strange and quiet like flowing water under a rocky surfaceAs for young Amsa [Yabutus co-wife], she was either pregnant or nursing a baby. (pp.84 85) It is indeed hard to believe that a man can exchange wives as frequently as he would exchange clothes for the reasons given above. In Hassans village of Betadam, in a far northern part of Nigeria, as Alkalis text, Cobwebs and Other Stories reveals, it is believed that A woman was born to please a man.12 A man may, therefore, feel free to badmouth his partner, torment her emotionally, physically or psychologically or treat her like a sex object and no one would
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raise an eyebrow. Women suffer from forms of abuse other than undergoing a series of verbal abuse. Yabutu and her cowife, Amsa, in Saltless Ash, have been battered regularly by their husband. The reason for a man to batter his wife, as the story reveals, can vary from mere insubordination on the part of the woman to her inability to take care of the home. The most grievous crime a woman can commit in her home is to deny her husband sexual favours. This offence, in some African cultures, is punishable by instant divorce or severe beating by the husband. In the following excerpt from Saltless Ash, Alkali graphically captures one of the moments of wife battering by a husband: A bang followed by a shrill cry jerked her up. Amsa sneaked out quietly onto her veranda as the cry turned

into screams. Usually nobody interferes in a mid-night squabble, but she knew the cause and feared possible injury. At one point, she ran towards her co-wifes room, but remained rooted by the door then suddenly, the screams died down. Almost immediately heavy footsteps, as if someone was staggering under some awful weight, followed. A muffled urgent protest, then heavy thud-thud, preceded by a deep-throated groan and a barrage of curses, then silence. (pp.86 87). The quarrel captured above between Yabutu and Hassan escalates until Hassan decides to send his wife packing from their matrimonial home with the remark that his wife, Yabutu, has become a camel of a wife with an elephant trunk, (p.89). From all indications, home for the married woman in some African societies fails to become the safe, nurturing place she
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pictures it to be before she is married. Domestic violence makes the home un-inhabitable for the victim. If the violence continues unchecked, it can actually break up the home leaving the woman worse off. Lis experience in The Stillborn is no less traumatic than that of Yabutus. However, unlike Yabutu, Lis experiences make her more isolated, more vulnerable to social stigma and more emotionally inadequate until she resolves to separate from her husband. 4.1.3 Verbal Abuse Verbal abuse often goes hand in hand with physical abuse. In most cases, emotional or psychological abuse or a low self-esteem is the end product of a verbal or a physical abuse. As a matter of fact, psychological or mental violence includes repeated verbal abuse, harassment, confinement and deprivation of physical, financial and personal resources, repeated threats to send victim away from the matrimonial home and control of contact with family members13. In Alkalis The Stillborn, Li as a girl-child learns that there are quite a number of traditional practices and customs which keep African women in cultural subordination. As a result, young African women have very little control over decisions

that affect them. For instance, young Li discovers right in her fathers house that issues of polygyny, child or forced marriage, female religious bondage (Purdah) and general traditional rules in relation to women do more harm than good
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to women. They greatly impede a womans ability to exercise her rights. For instance, the image of the African woman which Alkali is trying to correct in her novel, The Stillborn, is that the traditional woman is as dependent on a man as a foetus is dependent on its mother; that she is very much restricted and is as physically and mentally unformed as a stillborn. As a stillborn foetus, the African woman can hardly rebel against the injustices that are levelled against her. These injustices have continued to rob her of the chance to co-exist with or along side the man. Indeed, until all forms of discrimination against her gender are totally eliminated, the African womans journey through life may remain a stillbirth. This is one of the most powerful messages of Alkalis text. What can really be more gender discriminatory than young girls like Li and Awa remaining at home to attend constantly to household chores while their brothers roam about freely, engaging in a series of escapades and frivolous pleasures? Li particularly finds life too stifling in her fathers home. She always complains bitterly about the treatment she receives at home: After a few weeks at home, Li began to find the atmosphere in her fathers compound suffocating. She felt trapped and unhappy. She missed the kind of life she had lived at the primary boarding school; free and gay. (p.3.). Li feels totally inadequate at home. She feels very restricted in all her deeds. She feels imprisoned. Much worse,
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she feels like she would explode or die unless she gets out of her hellish environment (p.4). Her parents verbal annihilation or character assassinations do not help matters, as Li confesses:

Their mother was always rebuking her for what she called her forward and tactless manner. Whatever faults the children committed, Baba would punish them and afterwards lash at their mother with words. They always quarrelled at night behind closed doors, but nothing escaped inquisitive Li, especially when the child in question always faced mamas angry scowl the next morning.(pp.1213). In The Stillborn, Lis father repeatedly lashes out a heathen mother can only have heathen children (p.13). And Baba has never regretted his outburst of rage. Lis inquisitiveness later leads her to the forbidden dance where she meets Habu Adams the man who sweeps her off her feet with his overtures of love. Once conquered, he marries her, maltreats her and abandons her. However, while she is in Habu Adams home, Li further experiences more domestic violence. Her young husband, who comes home regularly drunk, batters her and forces sexual activity on her. He uses the aforementioned methods in addition to his constant threat of violence, to control her behaviour. Li equally suffers other forms of violence which include mental, emotional and economic abuse. The period of four years which Li finds herself abandoned in her fathers house by Habu Adams makes her undergo a mental trauma. She also becomes the topic for
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discussion by every village gossip. Li remembers the following conversation, which she has overheard in the village while waiting for her husband and becomes very disheartened: Whose daughter is that? a man from the other side of the river has asked. Ah that, she is Baba Garus daughter. Still at home? the man asked again. Yes, four years waiting for her husband, Mairama replied, laughing spitefully. What kind of husband keeps a bride waiting for four years? he persisted. Either he has got himself a city wife or he is impotent. The rest laughed. When Li arrives the city, she finds out that Habu Adams has been involved with another woman. He feels no remorse about it too! Gender bias supports and reinforces the idea that

women have no rights and can be treated violently or like goods and chattels. Polygyny is thus a tradition by which a man feels free to keep more than one wife. Polygyny exists all over Africa and denies women the rights to equality in matters relating to marriage. Therefore, the sad discovery that her husband has been unfaithful to her, for instance, does not permit Li, or any African wife for that matter, to marry more than one husband. The unfortunate effect this custom has on women is that it tends to put them in a very low bargaining position in marriage and in family relations. The discovery of her husbands unfaithfulness in The Stillborn emboldens Li in her decision to eventually separate from him. Emotional trauma soon sets in for Li. The encouragement and support she needs to see her through her pregnancy are not forthcoming, certainly not from her estranged husband. Li
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laments her condition to Hajiya the landlady in the following manner before she returns to her fathers house in the village: He does not want me here. I know it now. He treats me as he would treat a dog, with disgust I dont want to think about the child! Li answered vehemently. What happiness will a child bring that was conceived in drunkenness and silence? (Pp.71-2). Verbal abuse occurs sometimes because the perpetrators do not necessarily see it as constituting an act of violence. The following excerpt, culled from Alkalis The Virtuous Woman, shows that even a girl-child falls victim to verbal abuse by the same people whose onerous task it is to nurture and to protect her - her family. Little Hajjo laments her condition in The Virtuous Woman and even wonders if she has, in any way, incurred the wrath of her family members, particularly that of the grandmother who always rains abuses on her. Twice, her grandmother in intense anger, had beaten her on the head and had called her a bastard. She had decided to be liked by her grandparents, teachers and classmates. So she read very hard and always came top of her class (sic). It gave her tremendous satisfaction,

but not the desired effect. (p.7). At the littlest provocation, Hajjos grandmother would shower a string of vulgar abuses on her to the amusement of other children in the home (p.8). This also suggests that some forms of domestic violence are carried out by women on fellow women in Alkalis works. However, this is to get daughters and
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grand-daughters to toe the line to stay within the limits of tradition. But in the overwhelming majority of cases, the perpetrators of domestic violence are men as Alkalis works portray. Hajjos grandmother, who knows, may have been a victim of child-abuse in her adolescence. Little wonder, therefore, that she constantly insults, harasses and denounces her grand-daughter at the slightest provocation. Let us examine the additional victimization that the girl-child, Hajjo, suffers in her home: At home, (Hajjo) had observed that when food was shared, she was always the last to be served, and she seldom wore anything new, except when her mother visited. She was always called upon to do the chores that no one wanted to do. At first she was not aware that she was being treated differently, but as she grew older it began to dawn on her slowly that she was an outsider in her own home. (p.8). It follows logically, therefore, that for real happiness and peace to exist in homes, the total scale of domestic violence, whether against women by men or against women by fellow women, must be stopped. 4.1.4 Child-Marriage/ Sexual Abuse Alkalis The Stillborn, once more, reveals that married women are not only physically, emotionally or verbally abused, they are sexually assaulted too. Rape within marriage is carried out by the man, on his wife, with impunity. In fact, the conceptual idea that a woman in marriage can actually be
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raped by her husband does not exist at all in African custom and tradition. This is because, all sex within a marriage that may be violent or not, is considered consensual whether the

woman in question consents to it or not. As a matter of fact, some traditional marriages involving the payment of bride price result in a womans physical person and her sexuality becoming part of her husbands property. It is, moreover, an unlegislated law in many African customs and traditions that a husband can never be accused of raping his own wife. In the first place, the man sees sex within marriage as his right and privilege whether the wife wants it or not. In most cases, a man may even get violent and therefore, physically abuse his wife if she denies him sexual intercourse. As such, forced sex within marriage does not constitute any offense under (African) customary law. In The Stillborn, the one time that Li experiences any sexual intimacy with her estranged husband is when he is completely drunk. In his drunken stupor, Habu Adams takes advantage of Li who highly regrets the intimacy afterwards. She could still remember clearly that the first time he had desired her was the night he had come home drunk and violent. She bent her head and hot tears trickled down her cheeks. Li knew she had lost her man to the city. This man was not the man she used to roll with on the sand in front of her fathers compound. The man lying on the other side of the room was a well-dressed stranger (p.70).
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Indeed, many African women are forced into early marriages with partners they do not love. The effect is that they are emotionally, sexually, psychologically and physically battered for life! Worse still, they are treated as total strangers and are eventually thrown out of their matrimonial homes or become abandoned for life. Such is the unsavoury experience of the 15 year old Bibi in Alkalis short story, The Vagabond. Bibis mother, Hildi, regrets having a hand in the destructive tendency of a forced marriage on her daughter: Bibi married early, we are told. The man was not only rich but generous, so I thought I was giving her the best in life You see, the marriage barely three years is burnt out and the ashes thrown into my eyes. (p. 102)

The 15-year-old child-bride, who is forced into having sex at an early age instantly gets pregnant and becomes susceptible to complications of childbirth such as vesicovaginal fistula. This disability results from a ruptured uterus with tearing of the bladder caused by obstructed labour. As depressing as it may sound, Bibi, the child-bride, becomes a recluse at 17. She is condemned quite early to a life of domestication. Her husband further abandons her and she later roams the streets like a vagabond in Alkalis story of the same title. Bibi was young and fragile. Didnt know the first thing about being a woman At only seventeen, she has been operated on three times without success. Bibi passes faeces and urine the same passage way and without control. (pp.103 4).
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The above is clearly an illustration of the pathetic plight of most young women who are forced into early marriages and are later sexually abused. Such young girls often lack the maturity to cope with the complexities of marriage. The young girl in The Vagabond is for instance, maimed for life because of her inability to undergo a corrective surgery after being exposed too early to sexual activities. Zaynab Alkali seems to be crying out loud, issuing out a warning to thousands of women in predominantly Moslem, Northern Nigeria who suffer from the afore-mentioned problem. In Northern Nigeria, for instance, one-quarter of all women are married off by the age of thirteen or fourteen, and onehalf by the age of sixteen. Unfortunately, many of these child-brides are rendered incontinent for life as a result of the series of sexual abuse they receive in their marriages. In Alkalis story, The Vagabond, it is evident that the effect of a child marriage, which culminates in sexual abuse, is always a feeling of worthlessness by the victim. The victim of sexual abuse also suffers from severe depression, a low self-esteem and (in most cases) an infection with V.V.F. 4.1.5 Emotional Abuse The above mentioned is often a result of sexual

harassment or verbal abuse. The victim of an emotional abuse may also have been repeatedly exploited or physically abused. Emotional abuse can also occur in a home where the woman is more economically successful than the man. In such a
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situation, the woman may be treated violently in order to reduce her access to economic resources by her jealous husband. Olawale Albert opines that: The more economically successful a woman is in this regard, the higher the possibility of her being constantly subjected to dehumanising domestic violence most especially when the woman is not always ready to use her financial resources to support family upkeep.14 Many of the female characters who are found in Zaynab Alkalis works suffer some bouts of emotional abuse. For instance, Li, in The Stillborn suffers from severe emotional abuse during the period of her confinement or abandonment by her husband. In The Virtuous Woman little Hajjo undergoes repeated verbal abuse and harassment which constantly drain her emotionally. In Cobwebs and Other stories, Mama Dinars experiences prove rather traumatic because she is estranged from her husband, Aliyu and is also deprived of a meaningful relationship with her real lover, Imam. The most traumatising of all experiences, however is the emotional quagmire in which the widow, Maaya, finds herself in Alkalis The House of Dust, following the demise of her husband of thirty-five years. Fifty-five-year-old Maaya wakes up one morning (after the death of her husband) to realise that the man she had worshipped and adored for many years led a life of duplicity founded on lies and deceit.
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4.1.6 Widowhood Practices These include the physical and emotional torture which a widow (in many African cultures) is subjected to as soon as her husband is dead. Some of the practices are known to adversely affect or to undermine the health and the general well-being of the widow. First of all, nothing can be more psychologically or

emotionally debilitating than to lose a loved one. The agony of a woman who has lost her child or her husband is very hard to quantify. When Maaya, the fifty-five-year-old wife of Abdu-Zak learns of her husbands demise in The House of Dust, a part of her dies as well. Indeed, Abdu-Zak was her companion of thirty-five years (p.60) and she loved him unconditionally. Her love for him was so much that she opted out of school for marriage while her school mates went on to the university: Once married, she had invested all she had in marriagetime, energy and love carving out an image of an exceptionally good wife for herself and desperate that peoples cynical comments would not be justified Ten years into the marriage and Abdu-Zak had his headquarters moved to Lagos, some thousand and more miles down south on the coast. He would only come occasionally for visits. (p. 61.) Unknown to Maaya, Abdu-Zaks occasional visits are a result of making a secret family. This revelation also brings to the fore Abdu-Zaks deception and unfaithfulness to Maaya:
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Eight years into their marriage he had abandoned her and she did not even know. Now it came rushing to her without mercy, the two-day long abrupt visits often in a long, long time, the insistent complaints about the pressure of work, the empty promise of Making it up to you soon had all been accepted by her in good faith. Why did he do it? Why this secrecy? (p.81). Surprisingly, Abdu-Zaks treatment of his wife is condoned by the African culture where little or no respect is accorded to a woman because of her gender. For a woman living in such a morbid culture, the most severe violation of her human rights is deeply rooted within the family system bolstered by the popular and acceptable norms of male supremacy and male domination. A young African woman is thoroughly schooled in the acts of pleasing the man, especially in marriage. She is taught from an early age that the man is the head of the household. In some cultures, young women are made to understand that as

soon as they are married, they become their husbands property and must remain in complete obeisance or in total subjugation to them. As married women, obedience to their husbands and hard work are the two important virtues that they must exhibit because the society, in which they find themselves, demands this of them. In Alkalis The House of Dust, Maaya lives in a culture where men are free to do as they please and women have to shape their behaviour to constantly suite mens desires. In such a culture, polygyny is a welcome practice. Polygyny is, however, highly discriminatory against women as it denies
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them their sexual freedom and their rights to equality in matters that relate to marriage. The effect of a polygamous culture in The House of Dust robs Maaya of her rights as Abdu-Zaks heiress. This is particularly following the discovery that her late husband left behind a co-wife who, in turn, has five children. 4.2 RADICAL MEANS OF CURBING VIOLENCE Violence, in itself, is caused by great roughness and force and so requires some radical means of curbing it. First of all, appropriate measures must be taken to quell the abusive culture and these should include legislative action against perpetrators. Furthermore, there should be an abolition of customs, practices, beliefs and laws which constitute discrimination against women. Appropriate provision should also be made for the protection of women from all forms of violence. Women should be made aware that to be battered by their husbands is not their birthright. Women should therefore, be encouraged to stand against wife battering. It is worthy to mention here that the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the African Charter on Human and peoples Rights (ACHPR) are treaties which are strongly in support of the protection of women from violence. In December, 1993, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 48/104, entitled Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against
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Women. In its preamble to the Declaration, the General Assembly states that it is acting out of its conviction that: There is a need for a clear and comprehensive definition of violence against women, a clear statement of rights to be applied to ensure the elimination of violence against women in all its forms, a commitment by states in respect of their responsibilities and a commitment by the international community at large to the elimination of violence against women. According to the U.N. General Assembly on the Elimination of violence Against Women, Violence against women is tantamount to the following as we have discussed earlier: Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life15. Article 4 of the Declaration, which Nigeria is a signatory to, states the following as appropriate moves towards eliminating violence against women: The perpetrators of violence against women should be effectively punished, the government should budget some resources for combating violence against women and Police officers and other law enforcement agents who are charged with enforcing domestic violence laws must be well trained. Furthermore, the cultural
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and social patterns and beliefs that one sex is inferior or superior to another, should be modified.16 Among all the above-mentioned approaches to the elimination of violence against women, Zaynab Alkalis works strongly reiterate the modification of the cultural and social patterns which permit the general devaluation or the discrimination of women. The Nigerian government should also adequately address the issues mentioned above and see to the permanent abolition of violence against women. The reason is that: There is a brazen trend and a widespread of violence

against women which is ignored, denied or adjusted in official circles. Not only are these rampant cases of physical violence against women in the form of physical abuse, acid bath, stabbing etc, cases of sexual assault such as rape, indecent assault, incest etc; there are also innumerable forms of emotional violence and abuse17. There is, therefore, an urgent need to enact a serious legislation that will guarantee the rights of women (and men). Alkalis works suggest, for instance, that women must cease to be treated as inferior beings or exploited as sex objects who are passed around like cheap commodities. As a result of this, there is need to change all the negative and degrading images of women that exist in literature and in the media. The essential idea of feminism is that of equality of women with men. The doctrine advocates the acceptance of women as human beings and not as sexual beings.
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Feminist theology of liberation is partly based on the joint commitment of both sexes to abolish injustice and build a new and just society. The formation of a just society can only be possible if there is equality between men and women, particularly the equality of opportunities as Alkalis works recommend. The structures in society that exclude, degrade and discriminate against women, depriving them of their rights need to be abolished. This is because, there can be neither justice, development nor real democracy if violence against women is seen as acceptable.18 As Alkalis works have shown, societies and societal norms have categorically been responsible for the poor status of women. Any strategy, therefore, to eliminate gender violence needs to confront the underlying cultural beliefs and social structures that perpetrate it. Zaynab Alkali has offered the reader the means of addressing or improving womens lack of access to power (and resources) especially in their homes. Alkali has suggested the education of women, particularly the girl-children, as the

greatest means of ensuring their socio-economic empowerment. Education is a powerful agent of development and progress. The development of any nation is impossible without the full participation of women! Furthermore, Alkalis works suggest that if men are also well educated, they would re-program their perception of women and womens role in the home and in the society. This would also enable men to
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appreciate and respect the true meaning of womanhood as a status that is complementary rather than inferior to manhood.19 Furthermore, education empowers the woman to stand up for herself-to resist battering. Some African customs surprisingly permit the inheritance of the woman and her children by the relative of her late husband rather than allow the bereaved woman to inherit the property of her husband. Let us consider the following situation which obtains in Mariama Bas So Long A Letter.20 Ba, as a Senegalese writer, sheds a great deal of light on the situation of women in Islam and speaks out decisively against the unjust practices which a widow is subjected to as soon as she loses her husband: To reduce Ramatoulaye further to the status of a voiceless possession, on the fortieth day after her husbands death, her brother-in-law, Tamsir, arrogantly informs her After you come out (that is, from mourning), I will marry you. You suit me as a wife. Not only does Ramatoulaye scornfully reject him, she also tells him that she is not an object to be passed from hand to hand.21 In Alkalis works, women are also treated as mere property or as voiceless possessions. According to Ibiyemi Mojola, In Alkalis and Bas representations of society, man is regarded as the substance, while woman is treated as the shadow. 22 As painful as it is, nearly all customary laws in existence in Nigeria, allow wife battering. Alkalis works have revealed
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to us that in marriage, the rights of the woman are totally

subsumed into those of her husbands. As a result, some men seem to conduct a cold and calculated reign of terror over their wives, abusing them in many ways and showing no remorse whatsoever. Perpetrators of domestic violence are always men who are disrespectful of women. They are also men who often suffer low self-esteem and are intensely jealous of their wives. Furthermore, Alkalis works have shown that abusive men often have fixed ideas on the roles of husbands and wives and can, therefore, control them in any way they choose. Wife battering is the commonest form of domestic violence. The best way to curb it is to ensure that perpetrators of the crime are severely punished. Their punishment(s) should range from monetary fines, imprisonment, legal sanctions (i.e. restraining and protection orders) to divorce. Chinua Achebe and Elechi Amadi are prolific Nigerian writers whose novels Things Fall Apart and Estrangement, respectively, are set in rural areas where Nigerian customs and traditions are celebrated. Violence against women by men is hardly rife in such rural communities and are vehemently condemned. Perpetrators of domestic violence are heavily fined. For instance, Okonkwo batters his wife, Ojiugo, very severely in Achebes Things Fall Apart23. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace(p.21). Before dusk, Okonkwo is summoned by Ezeani, the priest of the earth goddess Ani and fined heavily for his abominable act. By the
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priests command, Okonkwo is made to atone for his crime by taking to the shrine of Anione she-goat, one hen, a length of cloth and a hundred cowries, (p.22). Similarly, Ibekwe is found guilty of battering his wife rather unjustly in Elechi Amadis Estrangement.24 In addition to this offence he insults the Omirinya group of women who try to reconcile him with his wife. He is therefore fined the following items: A piece of high quality george and a blouse to match (p. 100) One goat, two jars of palm wine, a case of beer, a bottle of gin and sixteen plates of foofoo.(p. 101)

The fines the men are asked to pay, however, are indicative of the low esteem accorded to women the psychological damage is done, so what use is a goat or two jars of palm-wine? Men who are found guilty of wife battering must take responsibility for their behaviour and must further seek help to genuinely change. Okonkwo in Achebes Things Fall Apart and Ibekwe in Amadis Estrangement are proud, arrogant men who easily give in to bouts of violence which they unleash on their wives. Okonkwo and Ibekwe can be likened to Aliyu and Hassan in Zaynab Alkalis Cobwebs and Saltless Ash respectively. The connection between Alkalis male characters and the aforementioned ones in Things Fall Apart and in Estrangement is that these men are all polygamous. They treat women as sex objects and condemn them to a miserable life of
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domestication and denigration. And so, specific legislation must be passed banning traditional and other practices that reinforce wife battering or any other form of violence against women. Local NGOs and activists must continue the battle to change peoples attitudes towards women, transform cultural beliefs, prohibit and eradicate all forms of cultural, administrative and legal practices that constitute and perpetuate violence against women. 25 Studies on domestic violence have shown that women can actually be involved in violence against men but where this obtains, it is usually in self-defence. Violence against men by women is hardly as rife as in the inverse case. Violence against men also hardly results in injury as violence against women. It has also been discovered that in homes where men are violently attacked by women, the men do not have to live in fear as women victimised by male violence do.26 A rare occasion where a woman thoroughly mutilates a man is however, found in Bessie Heads short story The Collector of Treasures. Heads story is a serious indictmet of the patriarchal social structures.

The narrator in The Collector of Treasures speaks of the existence of two types of men - the irresponsible men who destroy families are contrasted with the responsible fathers of families and loving husbands. In the story, it is bluntly declared that the absolute majority of men created such misery and chaos that he could be broadly dammed as evil(sic) he was responsible for the complete breakdown of family life.27
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Garesego Mokopi, the husband of Dikeledi, the female protagonist of Heads short story, typifies the sex-obsessed, emotionless, arrogant, wicked, irresponsible, narcissistic and aggressive male28 who comes home regularly drunk, has a forceful sex with his wife and repeatedly batters her at the slightest provocation. He shirks his responsibilities as a father to his three sons leaving Dikeledi to provide for the boys by herself. Despite her hard work she [Dikeledi] is unable to pay the tuition for all three of her sons. Fearing that financial difficulties will force her to deny her oldest son a secondary school education, she decides to remind Garesego of his paternal duties. His reaction is humiliating, he advises her to have her lover, Paul, pay the tuition29 Dikeledi endures years of humiliation and battering from her estranged husband, Garesego. However, the straw that breaks the camels back is Garesegos accusation of a sexual affair between Dikeledi and Paul her assumed lover. Dikeledi resolves to kill Garesego. She eventually carries out her resolution by cutting off her husbands genitals during one of his forceful lovemaking. According to Susan Arndt: Dikeledis deed is not to be understood as a destructive act of violence, but as a creative act which is supposed to protect the treasure (Paul) from destruction (by Garesego). This does not mean, however, that the story should be read as an exhortation to kill men like Garesego. The short story is a parable based on the idea that the hope for a new coexistence or

complementarity of men and women embodied by Paul is endangered by men like Garesego30
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No matter the degree of grievous pain which Garesego has caused her, Dikeledis cutting off of her husbands penis attracts a severe penalty life imprisonment! Her deed may have been justifiable in her eyes but her behaviour is considered irrational and she pays for it by being sentenced to life imprisonment. Domestic violence is inimical to the development of any gender male or female. Domestic violence, perpetrated on women, specifically hinders their full participation in their nations plans and policies especially when they are afraid to take leadership positions. Domestic violence causes long-term psychological damage to its victims. It breaks homes and so, it must be curbed!
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NOTES 1 Jane Connors, Treatment of Violence Against Women as reflected in national legislation Legal System, Women 2000. p.9. 2 Elizabeth Schussler et al, Violence Against Women, London: SCM Press, 1994, p.vii. 3 Mary Mananzan, Feminine Socialization: Women as Victims and Collaborators, Violence Against Women, London: SCM Press, 1994, pp47 48. 4 Charlotte Bunch, Gender Violence: A Development and Human Rights Issue, New Brunswick: NJ Press, 1991. 5 For the discourses of Purdah see Edda Kirleis, Between Exclusion and Integration: Women Workers in Bangladeshi NGDOs, Lila. Asia Pacific Womens Studies Journal, Vol.1 1992, pp. 50 65. 6 Sun Ai park and Yvonne Dahlin (eds.) Militarization and Women, Gods Image 9, March, 1990. 7 Carol Medel Anonueve, Feminist Reflections on the International Migration of Women, Lila. Asia pacific Womens Studies Journal, vol.1, 1992, pp.42 9. See also Mayan Villalba (ed.), Women in Migration Gods Image

11/1/1992. 8 Emeka Onwurah, The treatment of Widows in a Traditional African Society: A challenge to Christian Women, Gods Image 10/1, 1991, pp.36 40. 9 Mary Mananzan, op.cit., p.52. 10 Zaynab Alkali, Cobwebs and Other Stories, Lagos; Malthouse Press Ltd; 1997, p.84. 11 Ibid., p.84.
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12 Ibid., p.83. 13 Obiageli Nwankwo Violence Against Women: An Overview. A Seminar on Discriminatory Laws and Practices Against Women in Nigeria Owerri: Constitutional Rights Project (CRP), 1995, p.51. 14 Olawale Albert, Women and Urban Violence in Kano, Nigeria, Ibadan: Spectrum Books Ltd; 1996, p.15. 15 W.R.A.P.A. Newsletter on Eliminating Violence Against Women: The Legislative Approach, vol.3., No.1, April June, 2002, p.6. 16 Culled from WRAPA Newsletter, Vol, 3, No. 1, April 2002. 17 Olawale Albert, op.cit., p.6. 18 Ibid., p.7. 19 Obiageli Nwankwo, Violence Against Women: An Overview, op.cit., p.56. 20 Mariama Ba So Long a Letter, Ibadan: Heineman, 1981. 21 Ibiyemi Mojola, The Onus of Womanhood: Mariama Ba and Zaynab Alkali Writing African Women: Gender, Popular Culture and Literature in West Africa, London: Zeb Books, 1997, p. 128. 22 Ibid., p.128. 23 Chinua Acbebe, Things Fall Apart, Ibadan, Heinemann Educational Books Inc; 1984. 24 Elechi Amadi, Estrangement, Ibadan, Heinemann Educational Books Ltd., 1986. 25 W.R.A.P.A. Newsletter, op.cit., p.7.
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26 United Nations Center for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs, Strategies for Confronting Domestic Violence: A Resource Manual, NewYork: United Nations, 1993, p.4. 27 Susan Arndt, Of Treasures and Destroyers: Men Characters in Bessie Heads The Collector of Treasures, The Dynamics of African Feminism, Trenton: Africa World Press Inc; 2002, p.137. 28 Ibid., p.140. 29 Ibid. 30 Ibid., p.141.
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CHAPTER FIVE GENDERLECT IN ZAYNAB ALKALIS WORKS 5.1 DISCOURSE BETWEEN THE SEXES Patriarchy provides the condition for the noticeable difference(s) in the socialization of the sexes. For instance women are socialized as meek and humble beings, as revealed in many African novels particularly written by men, who must be virtuous at all times. Patriarchal elements have also been used to rationalize the subordination and discrimination of women. The sociological interpretations of men as superior beings who are always active and assertive have helped to reinforce the powerlessness of women in our patriarchal society. Men and women are, therefore, assumed to communicate differently because they have been socialized differently and also because they occupy different positions in society. Genederlect is thus, the sociolinguistic term for describing the differences in male and female speech patterns or in their patterns of communication. Feminists are of the opinion that critics and writers speak from positions shaped by cultural, social, political and personal factors.1 This can be reinforced by the fact that language in a patriarchal society is manipulated to entrench patriarchal power. This chapter examines discourse (i.e the social practice of a given language) between the sexes in Alkalis works under study. There are some controversies to be

tackled: it has to be determined whether there is such a thing

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as a female language; whether such a language is, indeed, powerless and also exclusive to women, and whether the term female language is a negative characteristic or not. Some critics may consider language to be particularly androcentric, that is, viewing masculine texts as symbolic of universal texts. Other critics may, in turn, opine that women s language has a double construction By this implication of being heteroglossic, in nature, womens language may be quite different from the underlying meaning. The researcher agrees in part with this view because being a woman in a predominantly male society (i.e mans world as it is dubbed) may necessitate the double voice that may be said to be noticeable in womens language. The study of Robin Lakoff, as revealed in Spender, 19802, has analysed language as used by women in society and has suggested that: Women use language forms that differ from mens and that this language reinforces the social and political powerlessness of women.3 Dale Spenders Man Made Language (1980) has considered womens language as the language of the disempowered because, as the title of Spenders book suggests, women have been oppressed by a male-dominated language. Similarly, the female socio-linguist, Robin Lakoff, maintains the same view as Spenders and suggests that: Womens language actually is inferior, since, it contains patterns of weakness and uncertainty, focuses on the trivial, the frivolous, the unserious, and stresses personal emotional responses. Male utterance, she
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argues, is stronger and should be adopted by women if they wish to achieve social equality with men.4 What, exactly, does Lakoff refer to as male utterance? What, indeed, determines a male utterance? From the opinion cited above, one would detect a bias, which is as a result of the negative or stereotypical constructions associated with womanhood in a phallocentric tradition. The

negativity of these constructions has contributed to the suppression of womens voices in literary texts as well. It is no wonder, therefore, that Anglo-American criticism has been fronted by Elaine Showalters gynocriticism which is a female centered criticism and which concentrates on the specificity of womens writing; on recuperating a tradition of women authors, and on examining in detail, womens own cultures.5 In analyzing discourse in Zaynab Alkalis novels under study, one tends to find out that language in a patriarchal society readily reflects the position of women as subservient. The studies of male and female patterns of communication in Alkali reveal that husbands/men speak to their wives/women with more authority (or power) than is necessary in an atmosphere of cordiality, which the home should represent. Male discourse in Alkalis works is, noticeably full of instructions and commands. As a result of this, male discourse is considered unnecessarily forceful and authoritarian. On the other hand, female discourse is portrayed as lacking in authority - hence lacking in forcefulness. Let us take a look at
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the following excerpts from Cobwebs and Other Stories in order to determine the degree of unnecessary forcefulness in male discourse. [Aliyu] looked big, muscular and short like a traditional wrestler. His bigness suited him well, being firm, not flabby. He wore a full crown of hair that ran riotous at the sides of his face. The signs of daily shave and his heavy eyebrows lent an unusual darkness to his eyes The intensity of the silence did not disturb him as his primary motive in coming was to find out why Mama came to her fathers house first and not his or the marital home. You are finally home then? he half-stated, half-asked, through half-closed eyes. When mama said nothing, he instructed that it was time she left school. He was tired of waiting for her. She did not bother to tell him that one did not just get up one morning and remove a grown

woman in the final year in the university just to satisfy ones ego. I am your husband, he asserted unnecessarily, getting vexed at her continued silence. I do hope you still remember that it was I who sent you to the university and kept you there [ Emphasis mine] The conversation cited above is unnecessarily abrasive in a domestic setting. For one thing, the words are too emotionally charged and portray the (male) speaker as authoritarian, egocentric and chauvinistic. The concluding part of the above-cited conversation is as follows:
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She nodded full agreement. Before he left for kufam, her husband had instructed her to go home in the next couple of days. If she did not, she was to consider the marriage dissolved irrevocably. (pp.49 50) [Emphasis mine] It is traditionally believed that silence gives proper grace to women.6 However, the silencing of women is a great handicap as it prevents them from speaking out or asserting their rights or in protesting against injustice and oppression. In the excerpt cited above, the woman in question, maintains a rather ominous silence while her husband lashes at her with his tongue. She, in turn, flouts his authority by refusing to return to his home as he has ordered her to do. Her nodding full agreement (p.49) to his threats could be given a double interpretation. On one hand, Mama nods full agreement by way of acquiescing in Aliyus claims of sending her to school. However, an underlying interpretation of her strong acquiescence to Aliyus speech could mean that she is making a mockery of him and his authoritarian attitude. As Alkalis text unveils, Mama, the woman in question, becomes tired of her husbands constant verbal bashing. As a result, a streak of obstinacy rises in her, which makes her acquire a different perspective on life and on marriage in particular. Let us consider the following: [Mama] now had a different set of values, which did not fit into the values of her own people. She now believed

in living by ones own standards. Knowing ones nature and where one was going. What one wanted in life and being in full control of ones destiny. (p.57)
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From all indications, Mama is altogether, a different individual. At this point in the story, she is more mature, and certainly more brazen than when her husband, Aliyu, first met her. Mama can thus, be said to reflect the new spirit of radicalism and liberation from sexual, social and economic constraints that had inhibited women in the past7 Similarly, Amsas reaction to her husbands commands in Saltless Ash is calculated to defy his authority. She greets his remark with a sudden silence, which can be more disturbing than spoken words- especially when the opposite reaction is expected: Cant a man tell his wife what to do without argument? [Hassan] thundered. Tell me, who is the master in this house? He stared at her with blood-shot eyes that could hardly open for the swelling. Amsa s insides rippled with laughter, which she dared not let out. The head of the Turabe clan asked who the master of his house was! Let him ask himself that question, foolish old man,[Amsa] said to herself. (p.87). Alkalis male characters readily issue out orders to their wives. The stereotypes of women as nags, garrulous, chatterboxes, or as whippersnappers are terms which exist in English language to denigrate women. That is why the assertive young Li is described as a he-woman (p.40) who defies all established conventions in a society where men are known to take the initiative in all things. The African culture is noticeably biased in favour of male children. The culture regulates girl children to a socially
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inferior position in society. The language of women is, as a result, devalued for the simple reason that the African culture permits the derogatory treatment of women. Furthermore, women are said to be emotional due to their emotional outbursts. According to Shirley Chisholm:

The softness, warmth and gentleness that are often used to stereotype women are positive human values The strength that marked Christ, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King was a strength born not out of violence but of gentleness, understanding and genuine, human compassion.8 This, in other words, suggests that the meekness, gentleness and soft spokenness that are easily noticeable in womens language should not necessitate the classification of womens language as powerless. However, the aforementioned qualities should be seen as contributing to the differences in genderlect or in male and female patterns of communication. Zaynab Alkalis works have shown that sexist practices and language are reinforced by siblings, by parents and by members of the society. This is why the headmaster uses the generic he to describe Li in The Stillborn as a brave, hewoman (p.40). Awa also refers to Li as the man of the house (p.101). This is suggestive of the fact that Li has become economically and educationally empowered. Li has become rich enough to build a house, thereby performing feats that are considered masculine tasks.
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Dogos sexist language in Alkalis The Virtuous Woman is, perhaps, the most revealing of the devaluation of women in the African society of which Alkalis texts portray. Dogo considers any attempt made to educate the female child as a waste of money and time. He clearly portrays himself as a male chauvinist who believes that women are inferior to men and must be treated accordingly. Let us consider his views: Dogos only misfortune was that he had only one son; the rest were daughters Dogo thought it was his ruin. He refused to send any of his female children to school. Falta, he would say to me, what is the use of sending a female child to school? If she turns out well, the man she marries gets the benefit of her education. If she gets spoilt in the school, I get the blame. Its my name that gets dragged into the mud. Its my house that

becomes her refuge. Whichever way you look at it, the father of a female child is the loser. Let the girls stay at home and help their mother when it is time for them to marry, let them marry. (p.46 47) The reasons given above by Dogo are indicative of why the rate of illiteracy among female children quite triples that of male children in many African societies. Female children have been particularly disempowered by political and socialising agents, which have, in turn, affected their discourse or use of language. It is little wonder, therefore, that rather than aspire to be what she truly wants to be, Nana Ai, in The Virtuous Woman is conditioned by the dictates of the African culture and of the society to be what is expected of her. Her opinion regarding the place of women in the professional field is a
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reflection of the continued devaluation of women which Alkalis text set out to correct. Nana Ai bares her mind to us as follows: Perhaps, she said to herself, if I . were a male, I would be a doctor. She liked and nursed the idea. It never occurred to her that it was in her to be whatever she wanted to be. The only female doctors she had known were Asians and White people; and for some strange reason she never regarded them as women.(p.10) From the opinion cited above, it is pertinent to say that both sexes must be allowed to develop to their fullest potentials. For how long will the female gender continue to be impersonal, passive and relinquish control to the male gender? For how long will she continue to be treated like a technical object in order to satisfy the desires of the male gender? It is said that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world! Similarly, control over discourse is a powerful mechanism for sustaining power. In a society, which seems comfortable with patriarchal values, sexist language, according to Poynton, will not change until society becomes a non-sexist one.9 Language, is a powerful weapon - it can challenge, subvert, transform and alter the distribution of power.10 One of the

feminist objectives is to transform society into a gender sensitive and equitable one. For this to be made possible, stereotypical views of women need to be subverted and sexist language will have to change, particularly, as it contributes to the silencing and the oppression of women.
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Let us examine the following conversation between Kaka and grandma in Zaynab Alkalis The Stillborn. Kaka is Babas father. He is married to grandma. Like Babas utterances in the text, Kakas speeches are tinctured with arrogance always full of instructions, threats, abuses and commands. In the following excerpt, Kaka is noticeably abusive to grandma: [Kaka] sighed and drew up his rickety chair close to Grandma. What happened? he asked in a conspiratorial whisper as he made to sit down. Where? she asked contemptuously without looking up. He stared at her bent head for a second and flopped into the chair. In this compound, of course, where else do you think? His tone was now one of suppressed anger. Nothing happened, she replied nonchalantly. Dont nothing me, woman. You dont wear that face in this house for nothing, he shouted at her. Which face? she asked stubbornly. Your silly twisted face, he answered angrily. My face, she said, has always been silly in this house. As for being twisted, your abusive tongue is enough to twist a virgins face. Listen friend, why do you bother to look for answers to your daily problems on my silly twisted face? You had better ask your precious son if you want to know whats happening in your family. She continued to shell the groundnuts as she spoke. Kaka was silent for a long time. He cleared his throat and finally said, thank you for your advice, and now listen to mine, woman. Next time anything happens in my absence, you scrub that dirty face well before I come in, or else I will scrub it for you. He fell silent and she raised her head for the first time to see if he had finished with her

Ei, ei, ei, she cackled. I shouldnt be surprised, friend. It sounds all too familiar. It must be in the blood. (pp. 26 27)
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From the foregoing, it is obvious that a vicious cycle of violence or verbal abuse against women has been allowed to go on for years. Grandma even retorts to Kaka: I shouldn t be surprised It sounds all too familiar (p.27). She, of course, has the last word! Male Language, just like Female Language can be polite or impolite, emotional, gossipy, talkative, abusive or harsh. However, where the female voice may be self-effacing and too emotional, the voice of authority in the male language may ring out a lot more. This is no reason, however, to conclude that language is generally androcentric or to generalise the language spoken by women as powerless or inferior. 5.2 LANGUAGE AND STYLE IN ALKALI Alkalis style of writing reflects ideas and attitudes which can be defined as feministic on the one hand and naturalistic on the other hand. Naturalists can be said to present a realistic view of human beings as helpless victims of natural forces whose behaviours have been conditioned by such forces and by their social milieu. Naturalistic fiction, among other things, offers detailed investigations to unexplored corners of modern society. In Alkalis works, it is the feminist dilemma. Zaynab Alkalis novels tell us something very important about her characters-she is particularly interested in female characters who have been maltreated by their social milieu. Alkali treats such female characters with deep sympathy and sensitivity. Women noticeably play central roles
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in her works. This has portrayed her as a feminist a courageous one at that; considering her religious background and upbringing in a patriarchal, Muslim, structure which represses female potentialities. In such a background, Helen Chukwuma tells us: It takes guts to be a feminist, to break away, to start anew. It is a demanding choice fraught with its own

dangers. One is bursting a system, setting up her own parameters still within the same society. This has led to being termed accultural and iconoclastic. This, too, accounts for why our female authors disclaim being feminists.11 The vision of the truly liberated woman informs the themes, techniques and style of Alkalis works. She also communicates effectively to her readers. Her simple language and simple style of writing have endeared her to many of her readers as well. Alkalis works are very relevant, thematically, to her immediate environment, particularly to young girls and women. This is because of her presentation of the life struggles of growing girls in a phallocentric world. Her characters are true to life because one can easily identify with them and their experiences. Her female characters, in particular, have emerged as heroines of positive feminism due to their strong beliefs in their hard work, independence, assertiveness and serious intellectual commitment. Another important message in Alkalis texts is that each individual should be encouraged to discover and fulfill his own unique potential and identity unfettered by societys presumptions.12
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Alkali also accords women the respect that the patriarchal society (of Nigeria) has robbed them. All her works have emphasized the point that women are as good as their male counterparts in facing lifes rigours and challenges. What, however, is noticeably a weakness in her writing is her inability to fully develop her characters, particularly the male ones. Many African female writers, according to Oladele Taiwo, seem to have this flaw in their writing. For instance, where Alkali arms her female protagonists with an intensity of vision13 to tackle lifes difficulties, her male characters do not see beyond the matrimonial bed or the drinking parlour. They beat up their wives and often engage in frivolous pleasures that are very displeasing to their wives. For instance, in The Stillborn, Alkali crowns Lis hopes glowingly at the end, making her the man of the house,14

whereas the real men in the text wallow in denial, self- pity and drunkenness. In other words, Zaynab Alkali appears more successful with the handling of her female characters. Li, whom critics have argued is not even well rounded as a major character, grows from a mere, inquisitive child to becoming the man of the house in Alkalis The Stillborn. Nana Ai, Mama and Umma in The Virtuous Woman, Cobwebs and The house of Dust, respectively, are very highly educated young women who find it challenging to live in a society where the men do not consider it their priority to have a sound education. Alkalis intimate knowledge and depiction of domestic matters
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especially the relationships between husbands and their wives further help to make all her works somewhat feminine. This is because, the world of her novels and stories is dominated by women and by feminine practices. Her works are also replete with examples of female characters who are endowed with remarkable and admirable qualities; who are also very long suffering On the other hand, some of Alkalis male characters are presented as abusive husbands and hopeless womanisers. This is probably Alkalis deliberate effort to stoke female awareness to sexist normative patterns and to seek solutions to problems that besiege women.15 Whatever her shortcomings may be in terms of her style, Alkali is to be given credit for her imagistic descriptions. However, her main strength flows from her effective use of language. In the following discussion of transliterations and Africanisms in Alkalis works, the uniqueness of Alkalis use of language is clearly seen as the infiltration of the English language on her mother tongue. It is considered necessary to briefly examine this here. 5.3. TRANSLITERATIONS/AFRICANISMS IN ALKALIS WORKS These abound in alkalis works. Transliterations or Africanisms are communication strategies, which are used by writers to give local colour or flavour to their language. Alkali uses them to Africanise and to embellish her English expressions. The use of these devices can be seen, also, as a form of linguistic experimentation, which is intended to capture African realities. According to Andre Martinet,

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language is an instrument of communication. The use of Africanisms or transliterations is a privileged technique, just like codeswitching avails itself. Africanisms or transliterations afford the writer the opportunity to infiltrate the English language with his/her mother tongue. We may ask ourselves why linguistic experimentation should be an issue in a writers work. This question is succinctly answered by Chinweizu et al as follows: A necessity for linguistic experimentation lies in the fact that Africans do not use English the way the English do, and in the fact that the rhetorical devices of each African language and community are peculiar to it and are a legacy of its cultural inheritance. If a flavour of African life is therefore to be captured in novels written in English, the English language has to be flexed and bent to allow these idiomatic and rhetorical usages to be presented. 16 Bearing in mind the above-cited opinion of Chinweizu et al, as justification for linguistic experimentation, let us consider the following examples, by no means exhaustive from Alkali's works under study. Each of the local expressions cited below is explained immediately and their standard English equivalents are given where necessary. The Stillborn May we live to see tomorrow (p.19) This denotes hope of something expected/ hope of a new day.
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Son-of-my mother (p.21) My brother. Assha! (p.29) This is a local expression used to denote surprise or shock. Childrenofmy mother, (p. 30) My brothers/sisters/siblings. By God, it is you Faku! (p.33) This is used to denote excitement/ surprise at seeing

someone after a while. Daughter-of-my mother(p.56) My sister. She has got the stomach of a pumpkin (p.60) This is used to denote the largeness of the stomach (i.e. pregnancy). It can also mean fecundity, i.e. the woman in question is very fertile and easily conceives. May they live to carry their childrens children and tell stories to them (p.66) And may their children live to bury them! (p.66) These are prayers/wishes for longevity. They also reflect the spiritual and social realities of the people. Mother-of- the- house (p.78). The above is used as a mark of respect and refers to an elderly woman or mother or wife. The Virtuous Woman The college of the woman-chief-of the whites, (p.3).
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A college headed by a white woman. The two girls were the only ones admitted into the collegi of Ingila (p.4). The underlined words denote English College or College of England. Dont you know Lizabet Sukul of Ingila? (p.4). Dont you know the Queen Elizabeth School of England? May God go with you Amin, (p.13). The underlined word means Amen! He wore a richly embroidered kaftan, a dipcharima cap (p.26) Kaftan and dipcharima cap indicate traditional African dressing of the Muslims, especially worn by Northern Nigerian men. Hakuri (p.35) This is a local (Hausa) word for patience. Allah Kiyaye (p.35) A local (Hausa) word for God protects. Allah Sarki (p.62). A local (Hausa) word for God is King.

Cobwebs and other Stories Promises that could put Shaidan to shame (p.9). Shaidan is a local name and the expression is, thus, selfexplanatory. Aliyu and the entire Mai Kufams clan lived in Kufam (p.10)
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Clan is used here to denote family or a group of people who are related. If Baba Modu was a man of God, should not the over-riding feeling in the zaure be that of reverence? (p. 25). Zaure is a local word for a waiting room. Astagafurllah! Mama slapped her thigh in desperation. (p.55). This is an exclamatory remark (in a local dialect) to denote disbelief. Maaya opened her eyes to a world of mixed beliefs. The beliefs of her people the Tsanglang whose praise-names included kuller mashiddu, meaning the people who make mosques of their graves (p. 64). The rainy season was a rainy season then. When it rained, it poured by the gourd (p. 65). Allah karim, Allah Basir, Ar Rahmani, who gives wisdom only to whom He will and withholds wisdom from whom He will, (p.82) Wai-yo Allah, waiyo, she kept muttering, fear written all over her face, (p.99). The three underlined expressions are praise names for the muslim God. Alkali uses local words for want of English equivalents. Although she writes in English, she captures the flavour of the (Northern) Nigerian reality by using some words in their typical
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indigenous forms as shown above. Furthermore, Alkali alters the English language in reporting experiences in Northern Nigerian community so as to include her cultural similes, sayings and proverbs. We would therefore, like to conclude this chapter with a

word about the motivation for alkalis linguistic experimentation. Kayode Omole argues that writers who experiment with language by imposing the structure and thought process of their mother tongue on the English language do so out of populist motivation. Such writers not only borrow from the cultural resources of their environment but also relate their themes and messages to the immediate society and common people.17 Therefore, Zaynab Alkalis linguistic experimentation is a function of the populist motivation mentioned above. The features exploited by Alkali are, indeed, representative of the cultural feelings, emotions, sociolinguistic realities of the people of Northern Nigeria whom she portrays.
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NOTES 1 Toril Moi, Sexual, Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985, p.43. 2 Dale Spender, Man Made Language, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980, pp. 32 51. 3 Robin Lakoff, Language and Womans Place, New York: Harper and Row, 1975. 4 Raman Selden et al, A Readers Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory, 4th Edition, London: Prentice Hall, 1997, p.128. 5 Ibid., p.129. 6 Chris Poyton, Language and Gender: Making the Difference, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989, p.67. 7 Theodora Ezeigbo Reflecting the Times: Radicalism in recent female oriented fiction in Nigeria, Literature and Black Aesthetics, ed. Ernest Emenyonu, Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd., 1990, p.146. 8 Shirley Chisholm, Sexism and Youth, ed. Diane Gersoni-stavn, New york: R.R. Bowker Company, 1974, p.xxv. 9 Chris Poyton, op.cit., p.88. 10 George Kress, Linguistic Processes in Socio Cultural Practice, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989,

p.52. 11 Helen Chukwuma, Voices and Choices; The Feminist Dilemma Literature and Black Aesthetics, ed., Ernest Emenyonu, Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books, 1990, p.1137.
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12 Diane Gersoni-stavn, Sexism and Youth, New York, R.R. Bowker Company, 1974, p.13. 13 Chioma Opara, The Foot as Metaphor in Female Dreams: Analysis of Zaynab Alkalis Novels, Literature and Black Aesthetics. op.cit., p.162. 14 Ibid., p.162. 15 Ibid., p.164. 16 Chinweizu et al, Toward the Decolonization of African Literature, vol.1, Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1980, p.262. 17 Kayode Omole, Linguistic Experimentation in African Literature, The Literary Review: 34,4. Summer, 1991, p.591.
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CHAPTER SIX TOWARDS A RADICAL FEMINIST NARRATOLOGY Narratology has been somewhat problematic as a theory. The most obvious question feminism would ask of narratology isupon what body of texts, upon what understandings of the narrative and referential universe have the insights of narratology been based? 1 Quite sincerely, virtually no work in the field of narratology has considered gender or the specificity of womens writings. By Radical Feminist Narratology we are considering the narratology, which basically or specifically treats or supports a radical overhaul in womens writing. There is a need for womens writings to be recognised and redefined. By this recognition and redefinition, we call for an ardent re-structuring and re-reading of womens texts; even a re-writing of literary history in general but more specifically as it affects womens works or texts. We are suggesting, as Susan Lanser has opined that only a re-writing of narratology

that takes into account the contributions of women as both producers and interpreters of texts2 would suffice. Furthermore, Lanser suggests that until womens writings, questions of gender and feminist points of view are considered,3 it will be virtually impossible to know whether deficiencies exist in the field of narratology or not. Feminist critics tend to be more concerned with characters than with any other aspect of narrative. A narratology that cannot adequately account for womens narratives is an inadequate narratology.4
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To have a re-formed narratology, theres need for a redefinition of womens writing, as we have said, which will provide a series of investigations into certain problems which affect women and for which other theories (including feminism) have not adequately treated. 6.1 ALKALIS DELINEATION OF THE MODERN WOMAN AS A RADICAL FEMINIST Zaynab Alkalis works are subversive works which speak on the surface of womens powerlessness yet celebrate their power. Another way of putting this is that Alkali is sneaky about her stance in support of feminism and female valorization. Her works may appear to be portraying the powerlessness of women specifically as an oppressed group but at a deeper level of interpretation, it is actually the varied strengths and competence of women that Alkalis works demonstrate. Similar to what obtains in Flora Nwapas Efuru and Mariama Bas So Long a Letter , Alkalis strategy of narration is such that seems like the verbalisation of the impotence of her female characters against the power of the men whereas it is their determination and their strength of character that she actually celebrates. This opinion is shared by Nana Wilson-Tagoe who feels that: Alkalis rhetoric of realism conceals certain ironies and is a strategy of narration which presents women in shifting, changeable positions as a way of countering their static definitions in patriarchal society.5

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It is pertinent to state here that in her works, Zaynab Alkali really dismantles certain myths of female subordination which include the view that women are weak and inferior beings in a world where men are central and superior.6 There is absolutely nothing weak in the character portrayals of Li, Nana Ai, or Mama Dinar in the The Stillborn, The Virtuous Woman and in Cobwebs and Other Stories respectively. On the contrary, the aforementioned women quite exhibit their strong independence of the men in their lives and their steely, feminist determination to rely on themselves and not on a man. At one point, Li, Nana Ai and Mama Dinar might disobey tradition, showing their independent will and personal ethics while at other times, they might embrace traditions and values within the communitys definition of womens roles7. As complex as their presentations may seem, the fact is that such female protagonists of Alkalis works as Li, Nana Ai and Mama Dinar are given enough room by Alkali to explore other possibilities for self-fulfilment outside their predictable feminine roles. According to Akachi Ezeigbo: The woman is often overwhelmed by responsibilities in her life - those created by society and by herself. She is expected to perform her traditional roles efficiently: run her home; be a good wife, a super mother and a supportive member of the extended family. She is expected to contribute to the family income. And she must perform creditably at her job or to make progress. And this task she has to accomplish in a culture where she is taught that she is inferior to her male counterpart.8
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With Li, Nana Ai and Mama Dinar, Alkali re-structures or redefines female roles to transcend the general fixations of women as ordinary housewives and baby-making machines. For instance, Alkali equips the aforementioned women to take charge and to re-structure their lives. She also empowers them

to control their destinies and they do so to a large extent. Li, in The Stillborn, for instance, takes a bold decision to forget her marriage at some point in the novel and return to school to better equip herself for the future. Similarly, her best friend, Faku, opts out of a tormenting marriage which leaves her famished in body and famished in soul (p.77), in order to blaze a trail in a new profession. Equally determined to strike it out is Mama Dinar in Alkalis The Cobwebs who dares to flout patriarchal authority (specifically the authority of her husband, Aliyu) by leaving home to attend a university. There is therefore no gainsaying that a woman should retain a certain degree of independence and assert her selfhood. No matter how close she is to her husband, a woman must overcome feelings of grovelling dependence or utter helplessness in life. This message is as clear as day in Alkalis works. Zaynab Alkali further portrays gender equity as her major pre-occupation in The Stillborn and in Cobwebs and Other Stories. Apart from reversing the general misconception of woman as being always subordinate to man, Alkali rewrites the popular saying: Behind every successful man is a woman to read Beside every successful man is a woman.
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Let us consider the following excerpt from Alkalis The Stillborn : Awa shook her head thoughtfully. You are going back to him? Yes. Why, Li? The man is lame, said the sister. We are all lame, daughter-of- my-mother. But this is no time to crawl. It is time to learn to walk again. So you want to hold the crutches and lead the way? Awa asked. No, answered Li. What then, you want to walk behind and arrest his fall? No, I will, just hand him the crutches and side by

side we will learn to walk. (p.105). [Emphasis mine.] The emphasized lines in the excerpt above are suggestive of (or symbolic of) gender equity which neither subordinates women nor subdues men. Alkalis lines, when interpreted deeply, also suggest that it is only when the two genders come together and work out their lives in harmony would there be a more peaceful co-existence between them. It would certainly make female empowerment more meaningful and a lot more possible.
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Without doubt, changing deep-seated, culturally and religiously entrenched attitudes is extremely difficult. However, a change towards a more equal and equitable relationship between men and women would be greatly beneficial to both sexes and to the nation at large. Alkalis ideological focus in her works is best captured in her presentation of men and women as she would like them to be complementary to one another. She deliberately ends The Stillborn like a perfect African womanist would do, and that is by seeking to achieve emancipation for women, by not hating the men. Alkali would rather ally women with men in the womens struggles for total emancipation. Obviously, the denouement of The Stillborn is succinctly clear on this. Alkali portrays, at the novels end, an ideal world where men can help women (and vice versa) to achieve their goals rather than hinder them from doing so. To achieve this aim, there must be equal partnership and mutual support between the sexes. African feminism does not subscribe to a monolithic and exclusive empowerment of women but to a multi-lateral growth that incorporates the woman, her family and her male relations. Equal partnership and mutual support contribute to a successful relationship.9 Radical Feminist Narratology laments womens fate in the home, in the society and further decries the representation of women as playthings or as slaves to the men. In recent times, radical feminist writers have focused

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attention on improving the lot of women - especially the lot of the rural women. Nigerian female writers have, thus, devoted time to highlighting womens experiences and views in their works. This has led to the present creation of self-reliant, economically independent, self-confident, ambitious and positively aggressive female characters in many novels by female as well as male writers. Zaynab Alkali, like other female writers, has gone beyond portraying women as hopeless victims of male subjugation in a patriarchal society. Most radical feminist writers are now demonstrating that women are human beings like men who have to struggle to survive in a harsh environment, who need to articulate their own lives, to have a choice in the tools at their disposal and the work they do as to muster the courage to face the consequences of actions they freely take.10 As a matter of fact, Chikwenye Ogunyemi identifies the feminist novel as: A form of protest literature directed to both men and women. Protesting against sexism and patriarchal power structure, it is unapologetically propagandist or strident or both. It demands that its readers, whether the male oppressors or the female oppressed, be aware of ideological issues in order that it may change their attitudes about patriarchy. For a novel to be identified as feminist, therefore, it must not just deal with women and womens issues but should also posit some aspects of a female ideology.11 [Emphasis mine]. Based on Ogunyemis interpretation of the feminist novel, Zaynab Alkalis works again qualify to be called
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feminist literatures. Alkalis works are ideologically committed to exposing and, or, protesting the general degradation of women while at the same time, celebrating their physical and intellectual capabilities. It, thus, becomes clear that while female African writers like Ama Ata Aidoo and Buchi Emecheta have readily revealed themselves as radical

feminists in their themes and techniques, Zaynab Alkalis works in turn reveal her inclination towards radicalism. We have made this claim because Alkalis portrayals of women in her works have undergone drastic changes with the publication of each of her novels. For instance, Alkalis initial depiction of women as docile, passive and helpless beings in The Stillborn, (i.e. Awa, Faku and Grandma), has given way to a more positively rebellious, more eccentric or deviant and much more forthright exploration of female reality and experience 12 in Li, Nana Ai, and Mama Dinar in The Stillborn, The Virtuous Woman and Cobwebs and Other Stories , respectively. Alkalis female readers would gladly wish to identify with the aforementioned women. The African tradition, particularly that of Nigeria is also undergoing rapid changes which are (positively) affecting women - particularly the stereotypical definitions of women or the roles of women. Zaynab Alkali captures this positive change very succinctly in her depiction of the new woman of Africa. Indeed, this study tallies with Alkalis portrayal of the new woman of Africa as a fully formed, independent person who is definitely not a stillbirth.
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According to Seiyifa Koroye in his essay entitled The Ascetic Feminist Vision of Zaynab Alkali, the female protagonist of The Stillborn , Li, actually demonstrates in the novel that she can achieve great things without using her husband as a crutch. 13 This is indeed a great display of her individualism. Wiry and toughminded, undefeated though brutalised, Li emerges as the model of the heroic and truly liberated woman Mrs. Alkali clearly sets out to celebrate14 Li works out a strategy for survival in The Stillborn , despite being brutalised, deceived and abandoned by Habu Adams. She succeeds remarkably as a woman who, in the face of untold hardship and oppression, coupled with many patriarchal practices used to subordinate women in her society, has striven to assert herself and to win recognition for

herself. Lis success story is made more remarkable because of her experiences in a society which would have ordinarily denied her a place or a voice simply because she is a woman! The radicalism in Lis attitude and comportment also features in the lives of Hajjo or Nana Ai in The Virtuous Woman, and in Mama Dinar in The Cobwebs. With the exception of Nana Ai in The Virtuous Woman, the likes of Li in The Stillborn, Mama Dinar in The Cobwebs , Maaya in The House of Dust, Amsa and Yabutu in Saltless Ash , Bibi in The Vagabond and Faku in The Stillborn, view men as being too unpredictable. In what can be appropriately described as
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an authorial comment, Alkali asks a rhetorical question in The Stillborn, which she immediately gives an answer to: Who says a husband makes for a guardian (sic) or a father? Certainly not the Hausas, who would say, A woman who takes a husband for a father will die an orphan. (p.85). Perhaps Alkalis female character that best reflects the new spirit of radicalism and liberation from sexual, social and economic constraints that have gravely inhibited women in the past is Mama Dinar in The Cobwebs. Mama Dinar treats female empowerment, particularly female educational empowerment, with a greater sense of purpose than Li does in The Stillborn. One surprisingly discovers in Mama Dinar an intense spirit of assertiveness or radicalism, which is not permissive or condoned in a married woman from a Muslim background. Mama Dinars ideas about womens roles, if we may borrow from Akachi Ezeigbos words, transcend the agelong prescribed gender roles: She wanted to do something more than child breeding and rearing and being a good passive wife to a man whose ego she must boost all her days while making sure to submerge every impulse that made her a full human15 Mamas admission into a university in Azir town is received by her with great joy. For Mama, it was as if a great door had opened wide for her to walk in and begin a new life

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beyond her wildest dream.(p.21). Consequently, Mama resolves to excel in the University. By the second year, her love for the University had grown deep (p.21). Mama meets and falls in love with a quiet, pleasant-faced young man called Iman, (p.22) and she instantly begins to toy with the idea of divorcing Aliyu, her legitimate but estranged husband: At first there was nothing to the relationship. It was hardly discernible. They hardly went beyond perfunctory greetings, but they both had a way of holding each others eyes longer than it was necessary At the back of Mamas mind, she knew she was treading on dangerous grounds. She was a married woman and a mother At the same time, her feelings towards Beta were changing. She no longer looked forward to the sessional breaks. Her children, now five, had grown away from her and were now addressing the senior wife as Mother She supposed her values had changed. Her co-wife interpreted the change as acquired arrogance, thus she distanced herself from her. For Aliyu, Mamas new attitude was definitely a mark of rebellion. (pp. 22-4). Mama Dinar is unperturbed by her husbands decision to control or to curtail her desires. She is so certain of her goals, which include a new future without Aliyu that even after she is made pregnant by Iman, her lover, she remains undaunted in her determination to love him. Mama is obviously a very assertive and aggressive young woman - a new breed of African women. And the feminist streak in her reveals itself after the years of betrayal that she has suffered in the hands of Aliyu, her legitimate husband. This could be said to be true
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of many of Alkalis female characters whose experiences in life, in their marriages and in their societies have contributed to or necessitated their radicalism. The new radicalism in female consciousness is such that encourages or supports the present generation of women to fight for the right to make decisions concerning their welfare.

It is such that permits a woman to have options, to disentangle herself from a bad marriage, to be independent of the man if necessary and to desist from feeling bad about it all. Flora Nwapa articulates this new radicalism in female consciousness in an authorial comment in Women Are Different by asserting that todays women were: Telling the men that there are different ways of living ones life fully and fruitfully. They are saying that women have options. Their lives cannot be ruined because of a bad marriage. They have a choice, a choice to set up a business of their own, a choice to marry and have children, a choice to marry or divorce their husband Marriage is not THE ONLY WAY! 16 Elechi Amadi reiterates the above-cited opinion in Estrangement.17 According to Amadi, todays women are independent of their men. They do not consider marriage enthralling especially when it poses as a trap, a deadly trap (p.104) to women. This is because a number of women feel condemned to serve men for life in their marriages it is hardly ever the other way round! Beatrice, Achebes feminist character in Anthills of The Savannah, sums up the new womans opinion of marriage as follows:
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I was determined from the very beginning to put my career first, and if need be, last. That every woman wants a man to complete her is a piece of male chauvinist bullshit I had completely rejected before I knew there was anything like Womens lib18 In Polly Kaufmans words, todays women have demonstrated a will to direct their own lives to an extent that was unusual for the majority of women (of the past generation) and are able to attain a higher level of selfsufficiency than practically any other group.19 It is necessary to briefly comment on Flora Nwapas One is Enough20 as the story of an intelligent, hardworking, young woman who leaves a broken marriage in search of fulfillment outside her matrimonial home. In Amaka, the female protagonist of One is Enough, Flora

Nwapa creates a new African woman who is conscious of the fact that in a patriarchal system men dominate women and treat them like second-rate human beings. Amaka sets out to challenge everyone who considers and treats her like a failure due to her childlessness. Her strong determination to be confrontational or aggressive over the issue of her childlessness makes her to ask the following rhetorical questions, which in turn, reveal the mounting radicalism in her character: Was that really the end of the world? Was she useless to society if she were not a mother? Was she useless to the world if she were unmarried? Surely not. Why then was she suffering these indignities both from her husband and his mother? Was she unfulfilled because
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she had no child? (sic). Was a woman nothing because she was unmarried or barren? Was there no other fulfilment for her? Could she not be happy in the real sense of the word? (pp.23-5). In One is Enough , Nwapa succeeds in her depiction of Amaka as an emancipated female who is quick to recognise that a womans fulfilment in life does not come from motherhood but from a series of so many other virtues. Similarly, Zaynab Alkali portrays her female characters with feminist undertones. Alkalis female protagonists are like Nwapas Amaka in One is Enough : industrious, strong-willed and very intelligent. Through their successful characterization of the new African women, both Nwapa and Alkali demystify the traditional concept of womanhood to be founded only on childbearing and on sexually satisfying the men. Zaynab Alkali particularly seems to suggest in her works that the modern Nigerian woman will no longer accept the inferior, helpless and derogatory position ascribed to her by her male counterpart. This is why she equips her female characters with a sound education and a new consciousness of fighting for their rights as individuals. According to Germaine Greer: The beginning of feminism in a woman is manifested in

her ability to devise her own method of revolt; a revolt which will reflect her own independence and originality.21
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We see Li and Faku; Mama Dinar, Yabutu and Amsa in The Stillborn and Cobwebs and Other Stories, respectively revolting in one way or the other against the cultural expectations of their male-defined social milieu. The aforementioned women quite refuse to play the roles of docile objects that are only expected to be at the whims of their husbands. It is significant to take into cognizance that in all her works under study, Zaynab Alkali focuses on certain basic female stereotypes, which operate in Nigeria. For instance, the spinsters, the barren women, the widows, the divorcees and the illiterate women constitute groups of people who have been severely stereotyped and denied of their basic rights to exist as individuals in our Nigerian society. One reason for this is the socialization process which we have earlier mentioned in our previous chapter. Another reason lies on the fact that in most African societies, which are patrilineal in structure, the womans roles are conditioned within the context of the family. In other words, womens roles in the society are marriageoriented as Mary Mbosowo has pointed out (1990).22 According to Talbot Parsons: A woman has an expressive role within the family as she provides her husband with warmth and security and emotional support. Mans instrumental role leads him into stress and anxiety. The expressive female heals the tension by providing the latter with love, kindness and friendly understanding23.
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The underlying interpretation of the quotation cited above is that an unmarried female in Nigerian (especially the traditional) society is to be seen as a deviant. The system, according to Mbosowo, creates the impression that without a man or a husband, a woman does not experience total fulfilment in life as an individual. Zaynab Alkali has, however,

criticized this notion in her works, particularly in her short story; The Cobwebs and in her award winning novel The Stillborn. In the aforementioned works, Alkali suggests that the modern (Nigerian) woman will no longer accept the position of the underdog and be constantly treated like an inferior, helpless victim. The modern woman can now argue out her demands, take decisions on her own (as they particularly affect her welfare) and speak out loud enough to be heard on socio-political and economic issues. Furthermore, the modern woman has readily accepted the exposure to a sound education and a new consciousness which will enable her to fight for her own rights as an individual. Quite frankly, Zaynab Alkalis works reveal the innermost wish of a writer who desires a complete overhaul in societys assessment and attitude towards women. Alkali s Cobwebs and Other Stories, like Nwapas One is Enough , is meant to serve as a resource material for the study of the changing trend of Nigerian women at the turn of the century.24 We have made this claim because what the authors of the above mentioned works have done is to portray women who have tried so hard to free themselves from the shackles of
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ignorance and tradition in order to assume new roles in their developing African societies. According to Akachi Ezeigbo, It is time our writers began to imaginatively explore the new feminist temper in society today in order to realistically reflect the changes in society, especially the changes occurring in attitude to women and the new feminine consciousness permeating society today It is important that Nigerian novelists, especially the female novelists, interpret and integrate this new awareness in their works by creating female characters who are full and complete women. 25 Mutual interdependence as Akachi Ezeigbo puts it, has been a consistent theme in the works of femaleoriented novelists in Africa. Perhaps this subject could be further explored to accommodate the radicalism in women or in female authors and to focus on the creation and depiction of

women who duly set out to challenge patriarchy and its subordination of women. This challenge should not merely be based on the fact that women have been victims of patriarchy as a system, but because they wish to assert themselves as a people who constitute an important percentage of humanity. It is only then will feminism give both genders what Heilbrum and Stimpson have referred to as the vicarious experience of renunciation and awareness. 26 Ideally, Zaynab Alkali strives for positive radicalism in her works. However, some readers may have the impression that Alkali supports certain social ills like child-marriage, concubinage, wife battering, spousal neglect or abandonment
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in marriage and prostitution. Others may not even consider Alkalis works as being feminist at all. However, the whole idea of providing role models who will help to instill a positive sense of feminine identity in the women is one way Zaynab Alkali has chosen to revolutionize or to cause great changes in feminine consciousness. It is also one method of altering (favourably) the future events in the lives of Nigerian women. For instance, Alkali shares the same vision with writers like Ngugi Wa Thiongo, Sembene Ousmane, Bessie Head and Chinua Achebe who believe that a cultural change is possible through literary study. These writers also believe strongly that womens powerlessness can be remedied and that the system that oppresses women can be dismantled. To achieve these positive changes, however, authors themselves must present, in their works, characters who are women and who are selfactualizing and independent of men. Remarkably, Zaynab Alkalis female protagonists fit the descriptions given above as role models and quite a good number of her female readers would wish to emulate them in their actions. This is primarily because Alkalis women are not like the other new generation of women contractors in Nwapas One is Enough or in Amadis Estrangement who use sex to get rich quick. Neither do Alkalis women consider sex as the only potent weapon with which to confront the men.
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The pain of being women and the acts of betrayal and victimization meted out to women are seen as the forge which toughens and strengthens women to prepare them for radicalism.27 After the harrowing experiences which Awa and Faku, Mama, Yabutu and Amsa, Maaya or Bibi undergo at the hands of the men in their lives in The Stillborn , The Cobwebs,Saltless Ash The House of Dust and The Vagabond respectively, the aforementioned women discover that they could attain fulfilment or economic independence in addition to psychological and intellectual freedom outside their homes. What is most striking about some of the aforementioned women is the determination to pick up the pieces of their lives and move on in life rather than wallow in their various (harrowing) experiences. Chinua Achebe, like Zaynab Alkali has created positive female characters in Anthills of The Savannah. This runs contrary to his earlier works where women are stereotyped as mothers, cooks and sexual objects. In Anthills Of The Savannah, Achebes views on women undergo positive changes as well. He assigns a woman, Beatrice Okoh, a role of surviving the political turmoil that has claimed the lives of her male counterparts, and at the same time she gathers the pieces of broken lives to save what can be saved, and to make meaning out of the events28. There have been other positive developments in the portrayal of women, even, by male writers. Such (recent) positive representations of women in the African novel can be
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traced, according to Oguine, to feminist creations who exist in the works of Nwapa and Emecheta. Adeola James has observed that Nwapa idealises the African woman as a perfect wife who is hardworking, kind and respectable.29 Emecheta, on her part, goes a step further to create real radical, elitist feminists in her works, particularly in Debbie Ogedemgbe, a female soldier, diplomat and a nationalist in Destination Biafra.30 According to Oguine, Emecheta equates marriage with slavery as Alkali also reveals in her works.

Alkalis works strongly show like Chinua Achebes subsequent novels that some literatures describe society and culture as a prison house from which the individual must escape in order to find space and fulfilment.31 In Alkalis works, women are more confident and seem to be more than ever before in control of their lives. This is Alkalis deflationary technique for the male gender. Li struggles towards certain goals which she easily accomplishes without the help of her husband in The Stillborn. Similarly, Faku, we are told, drifts without a proper sense of direction after leaving her husband Garba. Then, three years after, she befriends a kind, elderly woman who interests her in social welfare work. Now Faku was on the way to becoming a social welfare worker herself. Li felt happy for her friend who had found fulfilment at last, (p.102). Mama Dinar, in Alkalis The Cobwebs is in perfect control in her relationship with her lover, Imam. The men in Alkalis works mostly appear to come off worse in their
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relationships with women unlike in earlier African novels written specifically by men. In Alkalis The Stillborn , men are portrayed as losers who have temporary sexual satisfaction which leads them to lust after other women. Men are also depicted as lazy, inconsiderate, illiterate and unappreciative of their wives in both The Stillborn, and The Virtuous Woman and in Alkalis latest publication; Cobwebs and Other Stories . In the works mentioned above, women show strength of purpose while men are weak, shifty and debased.32 Mama Dinars moral laxity by keeping a lover in The Cobwebs for instance, can be seen as an aggressive reaction to her arranged and estranged marriage to Aliyu, the man who is assumed to be destined for her by the people of Beta and by her father, (p.17). Surprisingly, the fact that Mama disliked Aliyu, bothered no one except her(p.18). He also subjects his women to a series of exploitation because by the village standard, Aliyu is considered very rich, although no one knows, for sure, what he does for a living. As morally depraved as Aliyu in The Cobwebs is Abdu-

Zak in The House of Dust who abandons his wife of thirtyfive years and sets up another home with another woman and five children without letting his legitimate wife, Maaya, know about this until he dies. However, unlike the rich Aliyu, AbduZak dies, leaving a full house without money, (p.77) and highly compounds the problems of the women and children he leaves behind.
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In The stillborn and The Virtuous Woman, Alkali portrays the men as the gender which lacks self-confidence and readily feels inadequate. This could be seen, as Akachi Ezeigbo rightly puts it: A feminist ploy on the part of writers to show that men are lacking in many ethical attributes while at the same time positing that women have a right to map out strategies for self-survival in a system that seeks to deny their humanity and identity.33 At a deeper level of interpretation, however, Alkali may be trying to say that moral laxity truly knows no gender and is not limited to women or to men but to both sexes. For example, Fakus experiences as a married woman under Garba initially make her turn to prostitution as a means of survival. But the profession is only temporary. Faku soon gains her dignity as a woman when she leaves prostitution and finds a better fulfilment in life as a social welfare worker. A true feminist, however, focuses more on the positive attributes or the positive experiences of the women in her works and much less on their vicarious pains or on the numerous sufferings they encounter as women. This is what Zaynab Alkali has successfully done in all of her works under study. This idea is strongly suggested in the modelling of successful women in the fields of Education (Li, Nana Ai and Mama Dinar), in Medicine and Law (Abdu-Zaks second wife and Umma, his daughter). The aforementioned women have, in turn proved themselves professionals at what they do in
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addition to courageously handling, rather valiantly, the various emotional, social and economic problems in their private lives.

Alkalis works can justifiably be said to provoke to an extent and also to promote consciousness-raising on the part of women. Alkalis new women visibly disentangle themselves from the web of traditional and sexist African culture and firmly establish themselves as a strong force to reckon with especially in this 21st Century. Our conclusion is that Alkalis works form the seedbed for the redefinition of womanhood and what should constitute the acceptable roles of women in our society. Alkali, as a visionary, foresees a future where all sexist customs which dehumanize womanhood are dismantled leaving a just and free and fair society for all.
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NOTES 1 Susan Lanser, Toward a Feminist Narratology, Warhol and Herndl (ed.), Feminism: An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1997, p.676. 2 Ibid., p.676. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. 5 Nana Tagoe, Reading Towards a Theorization of African Womens Writing, Stephanie Newell (ed.), Writing African Women: Gender, Popular Culture and Literature in West Africa, London: Zeb Books, 1997, p.15. 6 Chinyere Okafor, Rewriting Popular Myths of Female Subordination, Ibid., pp.82-3. 7 Nana Tagoe, op.cit., p.16. 8 Akachi Ezeigbo, Womens Impossible existence in Gender Issues in Nigeria; a Feminine Perspective, Lagos: Vista books Ltd., 1996, p.5. 9 Chinyere Okafor, op.cit., p.89. 10 Ernest Emenyonu (ed.), Literature and Black Aesthetics, Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd., 1990, p.144. 11 Chikwenye Ogunyemi, Womanism: The Dynamics of the Contemporary Black Female novel in English, Signs, vol., 11, No.1, 1985, p.64. 12 Ernest Emenyonu, op.cit., p.145.

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13 Seiyifa Koroye, The Ascetic Feminist Vision of Zaynab Alkali Otokunefor and Nwodo (ed.), Nigerian Female Writers: A Critical Perspective, Lagos: Malthouse Press Ltd., 1989, p.50. 14 Ibid., p.50. 15 Akachi Ezeigbo, Reflecting the Times: Radicalism in recent female Orientated Fiction in Nigeria, Emenyonu, (ed.), Literature and Black Aesthetics, Ibadan: Heinemann, 1990, pp.146 7. 16 Ibid., pp.147-8. 17 Elechi Amadi, Estrangement, Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd., 1991, p.104. 18 Chinua Achebe, Anthills of The Savannah Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd., 1988, p.88. 19 Polly Kaufman, A Wider Field of Usefulness: Pioneer Women Teachers, West 21, No.2, 1982, p.23. 20 Flora Nwapa, One is Enough, Enugu: Tana Press, 1981. All page References from this edition are indicated in the study. 21 Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch, London: Granada Publishing Ltd., 1970, p.20. 22 Mary Mbosowo, New Women, New RolesPaper Presented at the 7th Conference of the Literary Society of Nigeria, University of Jos., 3rd 7th June, 1990, p.8. 23 Quoted in Dennis Ityarviar Theoretical Approaches to Women Studies in Nigeria. Conference paper presented at the national Workshop in Women and Development, Ibadan: January 28 February 2nd, 1990, p.5. 24 Mary Mbosowo, op.cit., p.12.
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25 Akachi Ezeigbo, Reflecting The Times Radicalism in Recent Female Orientated Fiction in Nigeria, op.cit, p.148. 26 Heilbrun et al, Theories of Feminist Criticism: A Dialogue, Donovan (ed.), Feminist Literary Criticism, Kentucky, 1975, p.72. 27 Akachi Ezeigbo op.cit., p.152.

28 Priscilla Oguine, Feminism in the African Novel: A Comparative Study of Buchi Emecheta and Bessie Head. An Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis in the Department of English, university of Jos., 1995, p.218. 29 James Adeola, Idu, Flora Nwapa, ALT., 5., 1971, p.150. 30 Priscilla Oguine, op.cit., p.220. 31 Chinua Achebe, Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays, Oxford: Heinemann, 1988, p.36. 32 Akachi Ezeigbo, op.cit., p.154. 33 Akachi Ezeigbo, p.154.
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CHAPTER SEVEN SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 7.1 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION Critics of feminism, particularly in Africa, have considered feminism as a revolt against the menfolk by women they have branded as aggressive, unattractive and frustrated bunch-women who are said to have abandoned their feminine attributes in order to act as men. This categorization is as depressing as it is untrue. Feminism is to be understood largely as an emancipatory movement whose goal is the transformation of gender relationships1 and should not be reduced merely to lesbian love and the antagonism or the hatred of men.2 This latter view of feminism is intentionally misinformed and must be jettisoned. Various interpretations have been given to female emancipation in this study and some of these have included the explicit and downright rejection, by women, of the lifestyle created by strong patriarchal norms that define and condition what women are and can do. Another interpretation of female emancipation is the more radical one which is tantamount to a psychological revolution based on womens insistence that they have basic right(s) to make choices and to be judged as individuals.3 This latter interpretation of the concept of emancipation is the type which Zaynab Alkali advocates in her work. It is a form of a call to women thereby sensitizing them to their important role in society and also

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encouraging them to present a united front against all oppression and opposition of their gender. It is generally argued by feminist writers, gender experts and scholars that societies have been responsible for the poor status of women. As a result of this fact, gender scholars and feminist writers have continuously lamented the sad plight of women, especially women who are not adequately empowered, in their works. Feminist writers in Europe and America like Virginia Woolf and Elaine Showalter have dwelt almost on the same concerns that dominated the thematic preoccupation of African Feminist writers like Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta, Mariama, Ba, Nawal El Saadawi, Bilkisu Salisu Funtua and Zaynab Alkali among others. Zaynab Alkalis works have been evaluated as feminist in this study. Feminist discourse borders largely on the woman or on womens issues and claims, the feminist spirit and ideal based on equity, fairness and justice. The marginalization of African women, with the accompanied subjugation of their gender has led to a series of literatures, like we have said, which today are geared towards a redefinition of African Womanhood in correct perspective, to use Zulu Sofolas words. The stereotypical portrayal of women as silent, passive beings has given way to a new perspective, which portrays women as strong, articulate and as achievement oriented4 as Akachi Ezeigbo has rightly observed. There is no doubt that the image of women in African literature has shifted from being object to subject as many writers,
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especially women have given their female characters agency. There is a recognisable shift in womens writing and this is a result of change in the material or psychological condition of women or in the vision of the newer women writers.5 Zaynab Alkali belongs to the category of the newer women writers whose duties include reflecting the challenges which women face in their social milieu which have in turn, necessitated the aggressive or the radical changes in

them. It would be right, therefore, to summarise that Zaynab Alkalis heroines have noticeably progressed from selfsacrificing, long-suffering human beings to rebellious victims and to achievementoriented and positive characters.6 There is a special reason for adopting the Radical Feminist Approach to the study of Zaynab Alkalis works. It is important to note that Radical Feminism is, according to Valerie Bryson, a theory of, by and for women and is therefore based on womens own experiences. The Radical Feminist Approach will easily help any reader of Alkalis works to realise, (without any misgivings), that Zaynab Alkali is a feminist writer. She is dedicated to portraying and criticising the oppression of women which has led to their domination by men. We have observed that Alkalis commitment to the alleviation of the problems of women has led to her strong condemnation of the deliberate exploitation and the crude and constant oppression of the woman by her male counterpart. Zaynab Alkalis works further reveal that she treats her female
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heroines, especially the ones who have been maltreated by their spouses or by their social milieu, with deep sympathy and with great sensitivity. It is also true to say that women, noticeably, play central roles in Alkalis works. Alkalis female characters are more dynamic than their male counterparts. They certainly occupy more prominent positions in her works than the men. Alkalis female characters are further portrayed as heroines of positive feminism due to their unwavering beliefs in their hardwork, their independence, their assertiveness and in their serious intellectual commitment. All her works have emphasized, as earlier mentioned that women are as good as their male counterparts (if not better) in facing lifes rigours and challenges. Zaynab Alkali is, interestingly, not alone in her depiction of strong women characters who one can describe as positively aggressive or positively rebellious in their strict rejection of the discriminatory cultural practices and traditions which rule their lives.7 Amaka in Flora Nwapas One

is Enough (1982), Beatrice in Chinua Achebes Anthills of The Savannah (1988), Alee and Christie in Elechi Amadis Estrangement (1991), Adaku and Debbie in Buchi Emechetas The Joys of Motherhood (1979) and in Destination Biafra (1982) respectively, or Rose, Agnes and Dora in Flora Nwapas Women are Different (1986) are female characters who have exploded the myth of female passivity and docility and are blazing a new trail in female consciousness.8 One common experience
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shared by these women, including the women like Li, Mama Dinar and Bibi in Zaynab Alkalis The Stillborn, The Cobwebs and in The Vagabond, respectively, is that all the aforementioned women have all at one time or the other fallen victim of gender victimization or exploitation. They are all feminist characters but the feminist streak in them all manifests after the women have all suffered one form of betrayal or the other. They become assertive and aggressive as a result of the brutalization or betrayal they expeience.9 However, in recent times, enormous progress has been made world-wide (and specifically in recent African feminist novels) to improve the lot of women. Nigerian women, as Alkalis works demonstrate, are not left out of the recent plans to raise the awareness of, or to conscientise women to lift the veil off their eyes, literally speaking, and to map out a new course of action for themselves. On a wider scope, the United Nations Decade For Women (1975-1985) has raised selfawareness and increased self-assertiveness among African Women as individuals and as a group. In Nigeria, many institutions and NGOs have emerged and have been working tirelessly to alleviate the problems of women in general. The establishment of a Ministry of Womens Affairs, for instance, which introduced programmes like Better Life For Rural Women, the National Commission For Women Affairs, the Family Support Programme and more recently, the Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation have all been geared towards important functions and services: to
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mobilize people, to end harmful traditional practices that discriminate against women, to raise awareness of women s reproductive rights, to eradicate female trafficking and child labour in Nigeria and to contribute to the foundation of a civil and democratic society among others. This study, therefore, concludes first of all, that in a sexist and male-child preferent society like ours, especially as shown in Alkalis texts, the woman must possess the initiative, the wherewithal and the educational empowerment to raise awareness and to motivate other women to be selfsufficient, selfreliant and industrious. The new radical heroines that populate the writings of most contemporary women authors, including the writings of Zaynab Alkali, have come a long way and will stop at nothing to ensure that women reverse their perception of patriarchy as being nothing less than slavish and tormenting for women. This is because, within the patriarchal structure of the African society, the women can still be elevated rather than merely accept their degradation and they can be put in rightful positions in society alongside the men as equal partners in progress. This is also despite the fact that patriarchy has contributed immensely to the subordination of women both cross-culturally and trans-historically. A great handicap of women is their inability or rather their reluctance to speak out in asserting their rights or in protesting against injustice and oppression. Women have a tendency to keep quiet and suffer in silence. Society has always prescribed silence,
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reticence, complaisance, patience and gentleness as the greatest virtues of the feminine gender, thus creating an object that Virginia Woolf derogatorily described as the Angel in the House in her book, A Room of Ones Own.10 Secondly, this study concludes that the education of the girl-child in Northern Nigeria continues to suffer grave injustice and much discrimination because the girl-child is greatly disadvantaged from birth. Furthermore, Alkalis texts, particularly The Virtuous Woman, have also revealed that the birth of a girl-child easily gives rise to sexist jokes which

impute greater virility to the father of boys than to that of girls. According to Francisca Omorodion, a preference for sons and educating them is perpetuated by patriarchy. Patriarchy allows sons to inherit the property and status of the parents. It ensures that the family name is maintained through the male line while the girls cannot inherit the fathers property and status in most cases.11 Musa Dogo, a male character in Zaynab Alkalis The Virtuous Woman reiterates his opinion on the educational empowerment of the girl-child in the following speech he makes: There is no use sending a female child to school. If she turns out well, the man she marries gets the benefit of her education. If she gets spoilt in the school, I get the blame. Its my name that gets dragged into the mud. Its my house that becomes her refuge. Whichever way you look at it the father of a female child is the loser. Let the girls stay at home and help
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their mother: when it is time for them to marry, let them marry. (VW, p.47). The assumption made above is totally unacceptable to feminist doctrines. Zaynab Alkali, herself, condemns the deliberate attempt to deny the girl-child her right to a sound education. She encourages female education at all levels of schooling as portrayed in her works. True education is a genuine training of the mind and of the spirit. Bridging the gap between the education of girls and that of boys is a major solution which Alkali proffers in order to curb the alarming rate of illiteracy among the women in Northern Nigeria. A critical review of Northern Nigerian women authors showcases an antithesis towards the denial of education to women which is still prevalent in Northern Nigerian societies.12 However, Alkalis works have portrayed a contradiction between Islamic teachings and Hausa tradition in relation to women and to their education.13 There is no doubt that Alkali has educationally empowered her female protagonists as a way of ensuring that they experience some fulfillment in life. Alkalis texts further point to the fact that a woman

needs a strong motivation which would enable her to succeed in life. Without a strong motivation to return to school, for instance, Li, in The Stillborn would undoubtedly have remained where the traditional society wished to regulate her; in the backyard of the house, like her sister Awa, who
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reproduces many children and bears the brunt of her husbands frustrations Thirdly, the conclusion arrived at as regards the victimization of women, in the form of domestic violence in this study is that the dastardly act is largely perpetrated by men. In Alkalis texts, for instance, the marriage institution is shown to be slavish for women. Alkali has strongly demonstrated her disapproval of domestic violence through her caricature of men who batter their wives. She also uses the assertive wives to confront or to challenge the authority of the husbands who resort to wife-battering as a means of settling scores at home. The infliction of body injury on a woman by a man in the name of correcting her is repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience.14 Zaynab Alkalis works also indicate that wife-battering and verbal abuse have their sources in traditional practices, beliefs and prejudices which have arisen from myth and ignorance about the role of women. Wifebattering, as Alkalis texts reveal, is as old as literature itself and it is a method of subordinating women cross-culturally but particularly in African culture. As it is noticeable, Alkalis works are geared towards attacking and correcting myths of female subordination and they have succeeded quite remarkably to the best of the researchers knowledge. One way in which Zaynab Alkali succeeds in attacking female subordination is by creating
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characters who adopt a positivistic view in crisis and do not just fold their arms in tears and self-pity.15 Fourthly, this study concludes that although feminist theories and perspectives may offer some explanation(s) of why women are subordinated, the real banes of womens

problems in many African societies are the traditional beliefs and practices. These practices include polygamy, childmarriage, widowhood rites and leviratic marriage, among others, which tend to impose acute hardships on many young girls and women throughout Africa. In addition to the aforementioned practices, there are also conditions; biological and social which continue to promote womens subordination. However, marriage remains the model for all other forms of discrimination against women. Zaynab Alkali seems to share this view because all of her works have centered on womens experiences in the marital institution. Alkali specifically criticises the prearranged marriages in The Cobwebs and in the The Vagabond where girls are married off to suit the desires of their parents or the chiefs who dispose of them according to custom. And if no one comes to the aid of such young girls, they are forced to yield to a series of heart-rending conditions amidst threats, blows and tears. The resultant effect is that such young brides are emotionally, sexually, psychologically and physically battered for life. Worse still, a child-bride, like Bibi in Alkalis The Vagabond is forced into sexual intercourse at a very tender age. She gets pregnant quite early in life and becomes
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susceptible to complications of childbirth one of which is vesicovaginal fistula (V.V.F). This disability renders many child-brides incontinent for life. From the preceding discussions the core solution for societal transformation is change. Alkalis texts are very clear on this. There is need for change or for the transformation of deep-seated, stereotyped and long-held attitudes that tend to hinder progress in the lives of the African women. One of Zaynab Alkalis steps towards making a change in her works is in her characterisation of her heroines. For instance she presents, at first, some rural African girls (the likes of Li, Awa and Faku in The Stillborn), as easy-going and very ordinary. Such rural girls initially accept their lot without questions. Later on, Alkali re-creates the images of the rural girls from the docile, dependent, gentle and emotional beings who are

naturally carved out for domestic chores to images of assertive, rebellious city girls who flout patriarchal authority. The new city girls go against the unquestioning acceptance of the inferior position of the women in society and carve out comfortable niches for themselves within the same society. Society is, indeed, dynamic and so Alkali makes her female characters more dynamic than her male characters especially in the relationships between wives and their husbands. Fifthly, this study concludes that men and women are socialized differently and this has coloured their use of language. Language in a patriarchal society can be
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manipulated to entrench patriarchal power. This, in effect, is responsible for the classification of the language of women as the language of the disempowered. In analyzing discourse in Zaynab Alkalis works, we reached the conclusion that language in a patriarchal society can, indeed, reflect the position of women as subservient. It is traditionally believed in most African societies that silence gives proper grace to women. However, silencing women is a great handicap to them. It prevents them from speaking out and asserting their rights. Alkalis works further reveal that sexist practices and language are reinforced by the expectations of members of a society. For instance, when Li performs the feats that are considered masculine tasks in The Stillborn, she is addressed as a he-woman. This term is elevating and appreciative of Li on one hand and quite disparaging of her worth on the other hand. Describing a woman as a he-woman can also mean she has become unfeminine and thus indicating great disapproval and scorn. Finally, this study concludes that Zaynab Alkalis style of writing is unique and fresh. Alkali coins her own words or uses neologism like shemen and he-women to create special effects. Her language is, also, highly metaphorical. This has contributed to her very succinct and highly vivid descriptions. For instance, Alkali makes Manus bride in The

Stillborn to lament her barrenness in the following (but rather captivating) manner:
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My blood is hot, but my flesh is famished, I fear I will burn to ashes. The rains have come, the field is prepared, But my field remains untilled. Do not ask me to stay, my clans people. Who can stand the sneaking whispers of the wicked market women? Who can avoid the mocking looks of the agegroups? Who would rebuke the innocent children when they call me barren? (p.54) Alkalis use of local expressions in her language has enhanced and added colour to it. She particularly adopts the traditional speech patterns of her people and transliterates these into English in unique ways. The strength of her style lies in her descriptive ability and also in the simplicity of her diction. 7.2 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH Firstly, women at all levels need empowerment. They also need to be psychologically empowered to build their confidence, to assert themselves at work if they are to rise to top levels in organizations.16 Without doubt, an educated woman would need to learn to strike a balance between her career and her home life. She needs not allow one to suffer at the expense of the other. However, to strike a meaningful balance between her career and her home, a woman will need the support of her
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man - this would help to empower her in many ways. There is thus an urgent need to encourage more females (particularly of Northern extraction) to write novels that would help to unshackle women literally and metaphorically, from the clutches of cultural inhibitions and religious taboos. In addition to this, more feminist critics are needed to provide the vital service of nurturing and criticizing the works produced by African women writers, which merit attention.17 Secondly, education has been the most important tool in the empowerment of women in all cultures, especially in Africa

and the African Diaspora.18 Alkali recommends education as the guaranteed panacea for most of the problems of the female in Northern Nigeria. Education of the male is also not negotiable. When men are well educated their attitudes towards women will change. There would also be a change in gender-stereotyping which for long, has held African women in cultural bondage. This is, therefore, a call to both male and female writers to produce literatures that would act as a catalyst in the mission to transform society and to encourage the physical, economic and political emancipation and growth of women. Thirdly, a research on the positive and negative effects of feminism on African families as suggested by Priscilla Oguine in her Ph.D thesis (1995) is a fallow ground which research students will need to till. Finally, a research based extensively on Alkalis deflationary techniques for the male gender as a major obstacle that has beset the path to female dreams19 is a must
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for research students because findings and conclusions of this kind of study will be beneficial as a literary work and as an instrument for social transformation. 7.3 CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE This research has discovered through careful study and analysis that Zaynab Alkalis works are a quest for selfautonomy for all of her major female protagonists and by implication for the Nigerian women in particular and the African women in general. She achieves this by indicating that women are physically, psychologically and emotionally weighed down by deep-rooted (cultural and religious) impediments. Like a true feminist, Alkali casts a critical light on the retrogressive cultural norms that exist in a patriarchal structure and which tend to repress female potentialities. In view of this, Alkalis female characters have all, in one way or another, rebelled against the oppressive social structures, which tend to mistreat them. Alkali is a feminist whose works have been discovered to have strong radical feminist connotations as earlier mentioned. Radical feminist texts lament womens woes at

home and in the society and blame men for their discrimination, oppression and mistreatment of women. The male characters in radical-feminist works are by nature, or due to their socialization, hopelessly sexist and usually deeply immoral.20 Furthermore, the women characters unduly suffer physical, emotional and psychological violence at the hands of men. It
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thus becomes clear that Zaynab Alkalis works reveal her inclination towards radicalism because, with the publication of each of her novels, women who populate her works have undergone very drastic changes which cease to portray them as passive and docile but as assertive and aggressive beings. Finally, this research has provided another avenue for the understanding and the re-definition of gender role to be characterized by fundamental equality of rights and opportunities between African men and women. The continuous defiance and denigration of women, in addition to their exclusion from decision-making processes, will lead to a sociopolitical backwardness and stagnation and equally create a future based on economic sterility.
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NOTES 1 Susan Arndt, The Ignorance of Feminism, The Dynamics of African Feminism Trenton: Africa World Press, Inc; 2002, p.17. 2 Ibid., p.17. 3 Judith Bardwick, Women in Transition, Brighten: Harvester Press, 1980, p.12. 4 Akachi Ezeigbo, Siddon Look or Go getter: Identity and Generation Gap in Contemporary Womens Writing. A Paper Presented at the 22nd International Convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) at Makurdi, Benue State, Oct., 30th Nov 2nd, 2003, p.2. 5 Ibid., p.2. 6 Ibid., p.1. 7 Ibid., p.5. 8 Akachi Ezeigbo Reflecting the Times: Radicalism in recent Female-Orientated Fiction in Nigeria, Emenyonu

(ed.), Literature and Black Aesthetics, Ibadan: Heinemann, 1990, p.147. 9 Ibid. 10 Akachi Ezeigbo, Time to Speak out! Gender Issues in Nigeria; a Feminine Perspective, Lagos: Vista Books Ltd; 1996, p.15. 11 Francisca Omorodion, Women in Law, Akintunde Obilade (ed.) sponsored by the United States Information Agency. Published by Southern University Law Center Louisiana and Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Lagos, 1993, p.173.
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12 Isa Sanusi, Feminism and Hausa Literature, Daily Trust, vol.7, No.29, November 5th, 2003, p.32. 13 Ibid., p.32. 14 Francisca Omorodion, op.cit, p.251. 15 Helen Chukwuma, Positivism and the Female Crisis: The Novels of Buchi Emecheta, Otokunefor and Nwodo (eds.) Nigerian Female Writers Lagos: Malthouse Press Ltd., 1989. p.4. 16 Ngozi Anyaegbunam, Gender Equality: A Worthy Cause Vocation or Profession? Comi Ezenwa (ed.), Sunday Times, September 13, 1998, p.10. 17 Akachi Ezeigbo, Siddon Look or Go-getter: Identity and Generation Gap in Contemporary Womens Writing. A Paper Presentation at the 22nd International Convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) at Makurdi, Benue State. Oct. 30th Nov 2nd, 2003, p.2. 18 Ibid., p.9. 19 Chioma Opara The Foot as Metaphor in Female Dreams: Analysis of Zaynab Alkalis Novels, Ernest Emenyonu (ed.) Literature and Black Aesthetics, Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd., 1990, p.164. 20 Susan Arndt, The Dynamics of African Feminism, Trenton: Africa World Press, Inc. 2002, p.85.
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Alkali, Z. The Stillborn. Lagos: Longman, 1984. _______ The Virtuous Woman . Lagos: Longman, 1986. _______ Cobwebs and Other stories . Lagos : Malthouse Press Ltd; 1997. SECONDARY SOURCES BOOKS Abdullah, H. Wifeism and Activism. The Nigerian Womens Movement. Amrita Basu. (ed.). The Challenge of Local Feminisms. Boulder; San Francisco: Westview Press, 1995. Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms: Sixth Edition. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1969. Achebe, C. Things Fall Apart. Ibadan: Heinemann, 1984. ________ Anthills of the Savannah. Ibadan: Heinemann, 1988. Acholonu, C. Motherism: The Afrocentric Alternative to Feminism. Published under the Lets Help Humanitarian Project (LHHP). In Collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), 1995. Alao, K. Women in Nigerian Educational System. Sesay A & Odebiyi, A. (eds.). Nigerian Women in Society and Development. Ibadan: Dokun Publishing House, 1988. Albert, O. Women and Urban Violence in Kano. Ibadan : Spectrum Books Ltd; 1996. Amadi, E. Estrangment. Ibadan : Heinemann, 1991.
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Chislom, S. Women Must Rebel, Mary Lou Thompson (ed.) Voices of the New Feminism . Boston: Beacon Press, 1970. _________ Sexism and Youth. Diane GersoniStavn (ed.) New York: R.R. Bowker Company, 1974. Chopin, K. The Awakening. Nancy Walker (ed.), New York: Bedford Books, 1993. Chukwuma, H. Positivism and the Female Crisis: The Novels of Buchi Emecheta, Otokunefor and Nwodo (eds.). Nigerian Female Writers. Lagos: Malthouse Press, 1989. ____________ Voices and Choices; The Feminist Dilemma. Ernest Emenyonu (ed.) Literature and Black Aesthetics. Ibadan: Heinemann, 1990. Cook, D. African Literature. London: Longman, 1977. Davies, C et al. Studies of Women in African Literature. Trenton NJ: African World Press, 1986. Donovan, J. Afterward: Critical Revision. Feminist Literary Criticism. Josephine Donovan (ed.). Lexington: University of Kentucky, 1975. Driver, D. Reconstructing the Past, Shaping the Future: Bessie Head and the Question of Feminism in a New South Africa. Gina Wisker (ed.). Black Womens Writing. New York: St. Martins Press, 1993.

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_______ Time to Speak Out! Gender Issues in Nigeria: A Feminine Perspective. Lagos: Vista Books Ltd; 1996. _______ Introduction: The Reality of Gender in the Nigerian Womens Experience. Ibid . 1996. ______ Who is Afraid of Feminism? Ibid. 1996. ______ Tradition and the African female Writer: The Example of Buchi Emecheta. Marie Umeh (ed.) Emerging Perspectives on Buchi Emecheta. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1996. _______ Siddon Look or Gogetter: Identity and Generation Gap in Contemporary Womens Writing. A Paper presented at the 22nd International Convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) at Makurdi, Benue State, Oct., 30th Nov 2nd, 2003. ______ Im Female and Proud! Gender Issues in Nigeria : A Feminine Perspective. Lagos: Vista Books, 1996. _______ Womens Impossible Existence. Ibid. 1996. Fox, V. Giving it her Best Shot; Todays Black Woman, New York: Great Eastern Lithographic Corp. 1997. Gakwandi, S. The Novel and Contemporary Experience in Africa. London: Heinemann, 1977. Gersoni-Stavn, D . Sexism and Youth. New York: R.R. Bowker Company, 1974. Greer, G. The Female Eunuch . London: Granada Publishing Ltd., 1970. Hanley, E.A. Stoicism in Major English Poets of the Nineteenth Century. New York: Haskell House, 1964. Hawthorn, J. Studying the Novel. London: Edward Arnold, 1985.
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