A Revolt against African Patriarchal System: The Beyalan Version in L’Homme Qui M’Offrait Le Ciel

Abstract

The term feminisim is attributed to Charles Fourier and was later borrowed by Alexander Dumas  who wrote L'homme-femme in 1872.  Christine de Pisan author of Cité des Dames and l'Epistre auDieud'amours (1399) was cited by Simone de Beauvoir as the first woman to have written on the relationship of the sexes. Mary Wollstonecraft is one of the most cited in feminism because of her work Défense des droits de la femme (1792). Others are John Stuart Mill, Olive Shreiner, Virginia Woolf etc.

‘A theory is understood as a set of ideas intended to explain facts and events’. Feminist theory is an outgrowth of the general movement to empower women worldwide. Feminism can be defined as a recognition and critique of male supremacy combined with effects to change it. Another defination says “it’s a doctrine or an attitude favourable to the defence and interests of women and the extention of their rights’’.  An organised movement which promotes equality for men and women in political, economic and social spheres. Feminists believe that women are oppressed due to their sex based on the dominant ideology of patriarchy. Patriarchy is the system which oppresses women through its social, economic and political institutions. According to some feminists “femininity is being imposed on women by men” (Solli 2002).

Feminism can take different forms. In the 1970s, women started developing a theory which helped to explain their oppression. By the 1980s, feminists started disagreeing on particular issues linked to feminism. The theory later had different branches with different feminist issues. Today, there are many different definitions about feminism and each depending on a number of factors including beliefs, history and culture.