Feminism, African Woman, and Femininity: A Postcolonial Reflection

Abstract

Feminism has gained the status of a buzzword with every lover of freedom willing to identify as feminist of some sort. However, uncritical subscription to feminism has the potential to limit and derail genuine liberation, especially where it is not grounded in its own cosmos – this is already evident in the traction between ‘feminist’ and ‘anti-feminist’ discourse in developing societies. Deploying postcolonial theory, this paper argues that the struggle for women liberation is invaluable, yet the struggles of women of different parts of the world are different and unique even as affirmation of femininity is the case of the African woman. I demonstrate this claim through two critical postulations: that feminism in its varied form (in Africa, and indeed, developing world) is imperialism, and that, the struggle of the African woman is different from, encompasses within it, and by far surpasses that of her Western counterpart. It is further argued that variation in African women’s struggle, aided by the logic of divide-and-rule, is retarding the quest to build a virile and formidable front for the rejuvenation of a renascent Africa.

Keywords: Language, Resistance, Feminism, Femininity, Renaissance, Africa, Postcolonialism.